Throughout the year parishioners at St James are always very generous in supporting special collections. This may be a money collection during Sunday worship or during Lent; it may also be donations of dried goods at Harvest; or clothing for our link parish in Pemba, Mozambique. Many people are also giving unwanted gardening tools, fabric, scissors and sewing machines to Tools With A Mission (our parish contact is Janet Nunn on 020 8979 6325).

Every May we join the nationwide fundraising efforts during Christian Aid Week. This means delivering and collecting envelopes across the parish, a task undertaken by parishioners under the devoted guidance of Margaret Taylor. Some years we hold a special event, such as a concert or a Quiz Night, to boost the amount we can give to Christian Aid. It is a charity dear to our hearts that works with people, of all faiths and none, in around 50 countries, to combat poverty and injustice.

Much closer to home St James supports the work of Welcare in Richmond, a Christian charity working with parents and young children in need. Welcare greatly values its links with local churches, whose grants go towards paying the salary of a full-time social worker to facilitate groups of women, children and families on various topics from parenting skills to self-esteem and stress management.

A little further away in Hammersmith, we support the work of The Upper Room, a community charity that has been helping people in need for over 18 years. It is based at St Saviour’s Church in Wendell Park and their Project Manager, Bruce Marquart, is preaching at St James on Sunday 12 July.

An outreach project on the White City Estate in west London, the Upper Room for Kids (UR4KIDS) is now in its sixth year, providing fun activities and a nutritious breakfast before school for more than 40 children in need from five primary schools. Even with local parents as volunteers, it costs about £100 per day.

The Upper Room is just one of many urban community projects that benefit from the Church Urban Fund, a grant-making charity set up by the Church of England 21 years ago as an expression of its mission to serve the poorest within our society. It began in the wake of a major recession and sadly, in 2009, is seeing an increase in demand for the very same reason. St James is very happy to support this charity as part of its national outreach.

St James has always valued being part of the world Church, supporting the work of the Church Mission Society (CMS), USPG: Anglicans in World Mission and the Diocese of London’s partnership link with Mozambique and Angola, known as ALMA.

Through CMS we support a mission partner, most recently the Revd Joanna Udal who was in Sudan for eight years. Now that Joanna has returned to London to be the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Secretary for Anglican Communion Affairs, we are looking for a new mission partner - perhaps in South America.

Through USPG: Anglicans in World Mission we have supported healthcare at the remote hospital of St Luke’s in Milo, south-west Tanzania, for at least 30 years – exchanging letters with their clinical officer Benaiah Kilwale. In August Ann Peterken will be visiting the hospital – the first ever visit by a parishioner as the hospital is definitely off the beaten track!

ALMA means soul in Portuguese and this thriving diocesan partnership will be 11 years old on Sunday,12 July.

As well as supporting ALMA projects, such as recent Lent Appeals for water provision and school building, St James is linked with the parish of Santa Maria Madelena in Pemba, right up on the north-east coast. We share this link with St Peter and St Paul in Teddington and benefit greatly from joint discussion and action.

Our charitable outreach at St James is about more than money – it’s about understanding the work that each charity does and building relationships with the people who do the work. This is why our committee is called Charities and Links.

CAN YOU HELP?
Early in the year Benaiah asked if we could help to sponsor some students who will work at St Luke’s Hospital in Milo on completion of their nursing, midwifery and pharmaceutical courses. In all our years of correspondence this is the first time Benaiah has made such a request. He is obviously concerned about staff shortages and we wanted to respond.
So as not to interfere with the Lent Appeal, a targeted approach was adopted and the wonderful news is that £4198 (including Gift Aid) was received from 19 donors at St James and has been sent. It is enough to sponsor Sarafina Chaka and Christine Kilwale, plus the first year of nursing for Hongera Komba. We would like to raise another £1000 to fully sponsor Hongera for her three-year course. If you can help please telephone Ann Peterken on 020 8891 5862.

Source: Ann Peterken, The Spire Magazine - 2009 March