Volunteering Archives - Page 4 of 5

Great Generation: Nelson Mandela Day

July 18, 2016

Francis (right) at the climate march in London.

Today is Nelson Mandela Day. In 2005 at the ‘Make Poverty History’ march, Nelson Mandela called young people to be part of a ‘great generation’ to work to eliminate world poverty. Francis Hillen reflects on what being part of the ‘great generation’ means to him.

Francis is a youth worker at the Kenelm Youth Trust in Birmingham Archdiocese where he supports young people on their faith journey through retreats and outreach work. He’s the CAFOD ambassador on the team there, championing the inclusion of global justice in the programmes.

“Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.” Nelson Mandela

When I think of this quote I think of the power we all have to make a difference or a change. Nelson Mandela is a great example of a man who during his lifetime made a remarkable positive change.

During Mandela’s lifetime we see how the people of Britain were able come together and campaign against the injustice of apartheid and Mandela’s imprisonment throughout the 80s. This most definitely will have gone some way towards his freedom and subsequent election as President of South Africa. For example the song ‘Free Nelson Mandela’ was written by a group of lads from Coventry, it later became an anthem used by the movement.

In today’s world there are many people who lack freedom and through my work with Kenelm Youth Trust as a gap year volunteer, and as a CAFOD Ambassador, I’ve seen the yearning of young people to make a difference. Children I’ve worked with have written truly sincere messages of hope for refugees and teenagers have offered words of solidarity.

Send a message of hope to refugees. Continue reading “Great Generation: Nelson Mandela Day”

Great generation: My year as a CAFOD young leader

July 12, 2016

Flavia at the CAFOD young leaders celebration day.

Flavia has been volunteering for CAFOD this year as part of the Young Leadership Programme. She’s had a busy year of fundraising, campaigning and raising awareness in her school of CAFOD’s work and social justice issues that are important to her.

Earlier this year Flavia was nominated for the Dorothy Day award, a Million Minutes award for fostering community participation. Here is an extract from her sixth form leavers’ speech, where she reflected on the journey she’s had in college and with CAFOD over the past twelve months.

My journey began last year when I went on a climate change rally to lobby MPs. At first I wasn’t very interested in the topic, however after going on the rally and understanding the impact that our voice has in the world we live in, it really surprised me that I can make a change. It may not be a massive change, but I learnt very quickly throughout this year that it’s the little things that make the biggest difference.

Download our Olympic resources to explore global justice issues with your youth group, class or group of friends.

Continue reading “Great generation: My year as a CAFOD young leader”

Volunteers: the heart of CAFOD

June 9, 2016

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As part of Volunteers’ Week, CAFOD celebrated a special Mass to give thanks for the many people across England and Wales who volunteer. After the Mass, CAFOD director Chris Bain spoke about the passion volunteers bring to CAFOD:

CAFOD Volunteers and staff pray at Mass during Volunteers' Week. — CAFOD volunteers and staff pray at Mass during Volunteers’ Week.

We were started by women who saw things in the world that needed action, who believed that we as a Catholic community of England Wales—particularly the families of England and Wales—should do something about this, and started the very first Fast Day in 1960. They were volunteers. CAFOD was a voluntary organisation at its core right from that point onward.

Learn more about volunteering at Fast Day

We rely even today on thousands of committed volunteers in our parishes, in our schools, and around the world. All of us who work for CAFOD and are lucky enough to be paid by CAFOD should be serving those volunteers in their work.

Continue reading “Volunteers: the heart of CAFOD”

“A marathon like no other” for CAFOD

June 8, 2016

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Justin Rowntree owns the highly acclaimed Silversmith’s Restaurant in Sheffield. On 5 June he ran the Ugandan Marathon in memory of his late mum, Sarojini, his grandmother, Angelina, and to support CAFOD. He set himself the challenge of raising £4,000 to cover the cost of building a borehole in the Gulu region of Uganda. He spoke to CAFOD’s Katherine Binns about the race:

CAFOD Volunteer Justin Rowntree during the Ugandan Marathon — Justin Rowntree during the Ugandan Marathon

The week before the marathon was truly life changing. Meeting people in the remotest of villages rebuilding their lives after 20 years of war, [and seeing] their dignity, determination and relentless strength to improve their lives is something we in the west can learn so much from.

See the impact your efforts during Lent have made

I saw how wells already implemented by CAFOD changed the fortune and lives of whole communities. No six hour trips for water by the children meant school could be attended, hygiene and health improved tenfold, and crops had a chance to survive drought.

As one village leader said to me “building a well is giving life, as here water is life”

Continue reading ““A marathon like no other” for CAFOD”

Why I volunteer: “…the best decision you will ever make!”

June 7, 2016

This Lent, Joe Andrew celebrated 20 years of volunteering with CAFOD. Here, he writes about the journey on which volunteering has taken him:

My involvement with the Catholic Church and with groups like CAFOD has gone in waves or cycles all my life. As a teenager I was an altar boy, went to Mass several times a week, and did house-to-house collections, sponsored events, all that kind of thing.

Volunteer Joe Andrew accepts a cheque from pupils at English Martyrs school in the Birmingham Diocese

In my 40s I returned to my youthful faith and enthusiasms, and with it a renewed sense that ‘faith without deeds is dead’. With a few like-minded people in the parish I helped set up a local CAFOD group. We did lots of different stuff: raised money by auctions, coffee mornings, raffles and all the things that Catholics are so good at. Within a few years, I felt the need to go further, and applied successfully to become what was then known as a Covenant Volunteer for Birmingham Archdiocesan CAFOD. (‘Covenant’ meant that you ‘covenanted’, that is, committed to spend x hours a year on work for CAFOD).

Now the arrangements are more informal and you do what you can. For me my main role is as a Media Volunteer, and I also speak at Mass around the two Fast Days, visit a few local schools at those times, and also help out with fixing up speakers at Mass for the two Fast Days.

See how you can volunteer with us

Continue reading “Why I volunteer: “…the best decision you will ever make!””

Volunteering: my journey to Parliament

June 5, 2016

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Molly McCaffrey recently spoke at a CAFOD reception at Parliament

When CAFOD invited me to speak at their parliamentary reception, I panicked. I’m a

UK - Parliament - Molly McCaffrey — Volunteer Molly McCaffrey in Parliament

student at Durham University, in the midst of end-of-term essay-writing. How was I going to plan a speech that was worth listening to, in between revising?

I decided to use my speech to reflect on the journey and experiences that CAFOD have facilitated for me; the people who have inspired me; and the conversations that have taught me to think and question.

See how you can start your volunteering journey

Continue reading “Volunteering: my journey to Parliament”

Why I volunteer: running in memory of my dad

May 29, 2016

Ben McMullen is the Deputy Head of All Hallows Catholic High School in Preston. In April he ran the 2016 Virgin London Marathon for CAFOD in memory of his father, Vin McMullen. Just before the marathon, he spoke to Jade Till of CAFOD’s media team, about the inspiration from his father and the course that CAFOD continues to run through his life.

Ben McMullen, CAFOD volunteer and deputy head of All Hallows Catholic High School, Preston — Ben McMullen, deputy head of All Hallows Catholic High School, Preston

CAFOD’s been a part of my life since I was 10 years old. My dad, Vin McMullen, worked for CAFOD for 16 years, from 1981 – 1997. He was the very first regional organiser outside of London. His area was originally the north of England, and then eventually covered Salford, Shrewsbury, Liverpool, and Lancaster dioceses.

A gift to CAFOD in memory of a loved one could change someone’s life forever

Vin McMullen (centre) with Julian Filochowski (left) and others at the first Liverpool Fun Run in 1984

Eventually every diocese had a regional organiser so he covered Liverpool. All through my teenage years I volunteered. My dad was the one who set up the Christmas Fun Run in Liverpool in 1984, which still goes on.

My dad was away a lot, and when he came back, all of the photographs and video clips really raised my awareness of how other people have to live. He was particularly involved with the Philippines. He wrote a book which the geography department at my school still uses.

CAFOD’s changed a lot from those days and it’s grown enormously now. Continue reading “Why I volunteer: running in memory of my dad”

How volunteering helped me work for CAFOD

May 25, 2016

Liam Finn is our UK News Officer and volunteered for CAFOD before working for us. Here, he talks about the opportunities he gained as a volunteer and how it helped him to start working with CAFOD full-time.

Liam worked as a communications volunteer for CAFOD

I began volunteering for CAFOD in 2013 after graduating from university, working in a diocesan office as a communications volunteer.

I’d been a CAFOD supporter since I was in primary school, so it was great to be directly involved in our work. I decided a few years ago that I wanted to work in the media as I believe that providing information and telling stories is the best way I can help to bring about change in the world. But I had the same problem so many people face when starting their careers: applying for jobs, going to interviews, and being told “you don’t have enough experience”.

Volunteer with CAFOD

This is why I’ll gladly admit that a big motivation for volunteering was so that I could gain that experience. Continue reading “How volunteering helped me work for CAFOD”

Youth leaders: The People’s Climate March

January 13, 2016

Leah Fox is a volunteer at Youth Ministry Team in the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle. Here she reflects on her first experience of campaigning with CAFOD. In March Leah will be continuing her journey with CAFOD’s campaigning in a visit to Parliament with other youth leaders from across the country.

At the end of November I was asked to go and join CAFOD at the People’s Climate March in London. This was a peaceful demonstration to voice the opinion to world leaders that they need to act against climate change, just before they met in Paris to make some very important decisions. Climate change affects so many people across the world, but especially those living in poverty, so I was very excited to be joining others to help encourage world leaders to recognise and act on this issue.

SAMSUNG CSC — Leah (left) campaigning with other youth leaders at the climate march.

Get crafty and make, wear and share a green heart this Valentine’s Day

When I was asked to go, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I had never been on any sort of march so I naively thought that there might be a few hundred people marching through London, interrupting people’s busy lives. So I was very surprised to join over 50,000 people walking from Hyde Park to Whitehall!

When we first arrived at the meeting point for the entire march we made our way to the section which had people from different faith groups marching together, towards the front. CAFOD was one of many faith-based charities that were marching. There were more people there already than I could ever have imagined. Soon we all had a CAFOD placard and a few others and myself drew green hearts on our faces to represent CAFOD. The energy from the march was amazing, with cheering, music and people talking over speakers. Politicians from every major political party spoke before the march to show what their party would do to prevent climate change.

Find out more about climate change

Blog 2 edited — The climate march took place ahead of the Paris COP where world leaders met to discuss climate change

Throughout the march we saw people from different charities marching on behalf of different reasons (some were even dressed as polar bears or bumble bees!) but despite the many reasons for people being there, it felt amazing to be united with so many people, marching for one outcome – to stop climate change. I got to talk to many people from CAFOD and other charities over the course of the march and talk about my faith and the amazing things we can do to help raise awareness of climate change and how it’s affecting communities across the world.

At the end of the day, we were all very tired from walking, but left the walk feeling very happy and fulfilled knowing that we had helped raise awareness to people that climate change is a problem and needs to be stopped.

Join our campaign, One Climate, One World to protect our common home.

My Harvest Fast Day – a day in solidarity with those who do not have enough

September 15, 2015

Rosemary has supported CAFOD for over 30 years – buying World Gifts, taking part in LiveSimply, praying for our partners around the world, and even running the London Marathon. Rosemary tells us why giving is important to her and what her plans are for Harvest Fast Day.

Justice in my family

Rosemary after running the London Marathon for CAFOD in 2015

When my husband and I first moved to Norwich, about 34 years ago, our finances were quite tricky. We prayed and decided we would put God first. We decided to tithe our income and give 10 per cent back to the Lord for his Kingdom work. A big proportion of our funds went to CAFOD. We wanted our tithing to go towards justice and peace work because we believe there has to be justice before there can be peace. How can people live peacefully in their hearts when others are struggling? As Pope Paul said: “If you want peace, work for justice.”

Download Fast Day resources to help you organise a Fast Day collection in your parish.

I brought my children up to think about justice within the family and being fair. We don’t take things from each other without asking because we’re depriving that person of a chance to be generous. If you’re asked, the kind thing is to say: “Yes, you may borrow it.” But you have to ask first, otherwise you’re taking from that person and presuming they’ll be generous. Then they can have the blessing from making a good choice. Continue reading “My Harvest Fast Day – a day in solidarity with those who do not have enough”