Logo

 

Banner Image:   Baptist-Times-banner-2000x370-
Template Mode:   Baptist Times
Icon
    Post     Tweet

From Haworth to Calais

How West Lane Baptist Church in Haworth, West Yorkshire and its community are helping refugees in Calais. By Nick Drury

Jungle campThe refugee crisis has been the bedrock of the news and media for much of the year, and the question we’ve asked ourselves as a church and community is what we in Haworth can do to help those people over 300 miles away in Calais, without using the distance as an excuse to not act?

I started as a Student Minister at West Lane in Haworth in September, and during this time there’ve been numerous fundraising initiatives and projects set up for helping the refugees in Calais, both through the churches in Haworth and also the wider community too.

In September under the banner of ‘Churches Together in Haworth’ we helped set up and publicise a collection point for different items such as tents and sleeping bags to be donated then passed on to one of the charities linked with the refugees in Calais. We offered to collect heavier or numerous items too, and built up quite a mountain in the pews of the local parish church.

In October we plugged and advertised an auction event set up within the community where all of the money raised would go to charities for the refugees. Everything to be auctioned was donated by local businesses, and ranged from afternoon tea for two, to a professional sculpture. This event was extremely successful and raised £6,500 across three different charities.

In addition, a few months ago the community started fundraising for the ‘Worth Valley Tent Project’. This is where a European Company is producing eight-man UNHCR style tents designed for the conditions in Calais, and a page has been set up to raise funding for these; http://gogetfunding.com/provide-shelters-to-migrants-in-calais/ So far more than £1,600 has been raised through different initiatives, which is enough for three of these winterised tents.

In early November I accompanied two others from another church, in a van loaded with items to distribute to the refugees. In the lead up to this we had done some fundraising and received donations that had been listed as required by a charity in Calais.

One initiative we set up was to have a ‘Super Sock Sunday’ at our church where people either bought or donated socks to take down to Calais. This worked really well as socks were something everyone could give and get involved in, regardless of their financial position.

The Calais trip had an obvious impact for the refugees, however, through reporting about it in a number of local newspapers and magazines, and focussing services around the experience and exploring the question of what it means for us to do ‘mission’, further awareness has been raised too. After Calais I was also asked to share at the local Labour Party about the experience to help them explore what they can be doing to bring aid to these people.

There’s also a committee of people from the area that’s been formed recently and it’s discussing how we can help refugee families who get placed in the Bradford area in the near future. Our plans are to team up with the organisation designated by the Government to house these families, and to offer whatever services we as a community can provide – ranging from dentistry and medical care, to befriending and help with accounts. If this happens we will be exploring as church what role we can play in getting alongside and helping these refugees.

Picture: Layton Thompson/Bible Society


Nick Drury is the student minister at West Lane Baptist Church

This story originally appeared on the Yorkshire Baptist Association website and is used with permission



 
Baptist Times, 06/01/2016
    Post     Tweet
YBA Home Mission Stories
Examples of how Home Mission funds are being used in the Yorkshire Baptist Association
SubArticleD2019
'She’s a beacon of light'
A church in an East Yorkshire town is doing sterling work through community chaplain Tracy Green, funded by a £12,000 grant from Baptist Insurance
St Hild appointment for Nike Adebajo
The Revd Dr Nike Adebajo will lead the first year of the Baptist Formation programme at the St Hild Centre for Baptist Ministry, it has been announced
'His skills are directly aligned with our focus on planting, revitalising and reimagining church'
St Hild has announced the appointment of the Revd Dr Nick Allan as the Director of its Centre for Baptist Ministry
Shipley Baptist Church unveils new banner for Easter 
The new banner features the Risen Lord Jesus alongside several specific local references
'It creates space to understand the powerful emotions we all feel when someone close dies' 
Oakes Baptist Church in Huddersfield has run the Bereavement Journey five times. Trustee Richard Waller explains more
‘You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew’ 
The story of how Skipton Baptist Church in Yorkshire transformed an empty row of Victorian cottages next door, which has given the church more capacity to meet growing community needs and be more missional
     Regional News 
    Posted: 16/09/2024
    Posted: 05/04/2022
    Posted: 06/01/2022
    Posted: 07/09/2020
    Posted: 09/04/2020
    Posted: 18/12/2019
    Posted: 01/11/2018
    Posted: 31/10/2018
    Posted: 31/01/2018
    Posted: 28/06/2017