1/ Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group give out second hand clothes to the men held in immigration detention at Gatwick (Brook House and Tinsley House detention centres), currently need Medium t-shirts, Medium & large sweatshirts, Medium & large hoodies, Medium jogging bottoms, Small, medium or large jeans, second-hand trainers. Men’s clothes only. If you have any please place in the boxes at both churches. http://www.gdwg.org.uk/
2/ Live Simply Tip of the Week Nurture your relationships—Prioritize your time with family and friends. Find free and or inexpensive ways to spend time together like going on walks, playing games. Institute personal or family time when no one will use electronics.
3/ The Season of Creation 1st Sept to 4th during the churches annual ‘Season of Creation’ 1st Sept to 4th Oct.’ all Christians celebrate and respond to the needs of our world. This year Pope Francis calls us to “Hope and Act with Creation” and particularly urges us to act to protect our environment. This ‘Season’ will be used to encourage Parishes and all Faith groups to endorse & promote the ‘Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty’ (FFNPT). This initiative calls for a global effort to urgently transition to renewable energy, end expansion of fossil fuels, and fairly phase out production in keeping with what science shows is needed to address the climate crisis and protect our world.
Hundreds of organisations, including the European Parliament and World Health Organisation, supported by scientists and academics around the world have signed up to endorse the Treaty and join the call for world leaders to agree to phase out fossil fuel use at their next Climate meeting in Nov.
A growing number of national governments has already endorsed the need for a Treaty but the UK has not.
There is more info about the FFNPT and a Petition at both ends of the church calling on our local Council to endorse the Treaty and lobby our government to do likewise. Please take time to sign & add your voice.
More information at- https://fossilfueltreaty https://seasonofcreation.org/ https://globaljustice.org.uk/
4/ Report from Fr Silvester https://stfaustinamedicalcenter.com/ Warmest greetings from Uganda in the name of our lord. I express our sincere thanks for all the support obtained for the community health centre. I am happy to report that the centre is now thriving with your support and the service-users and the community are much grateful.
Updates 1. The centre has received 3 consignments of medical item from Worthing & Lancing over the past 8 months. 2. The centre is soon to receive from the customs warehouse a big consignment of scholastic materials that you did send in March of this year. We shall be distributing these items to the school pupils as soon as they come back from holidays. We shall send you a detailed report about their distribution. 3. We have obtained financial donations via our website. These have greatly helped the centre to purchase essential drugs and pay the salaries of our nurses. We still face a problem of paying staff salaries. We have made an application for government support (PHC) but this takes time. User contributions are very low. We face a challenge of paying for shipping charges for donated items
Looking Forward. We mentioned the possibility of the registration of a UK Charity to support our work where possible. There is an example in another diocese of Uganda where this has been done successfully with a group of American sponsors.
We want to set up a “Soup kitchen” at the centre to support the local elderly who face malnutrition and isolation. Food items can be donated by the local community. All we would need is support to set up a structure and the purchase of some catering implements.
We need support to set up a maternity ward for expectant mothers. They are currently (inconveniently) mixed up with other patients. We still will be grateful for more physical donations of medical and light school/scholastic items. Used shoes, uniforms, clothes (esp. children), glasses and wheel chairs are all much needed. Those that have been donated have been of tremendous help. We pray for more sponsors to subscribe to our website donation page. The equivalent of “A cup of Costa coffee” per month can help support a Nurse’s salary for the month. We much welcome visitors from the UK/Worthing in view of conducting medical camps in the villages or just visiting to pray for and support our work.
Sincerely and gratefully yours Fr Silvester K Bukenya Director
