The Caritas Community Development team works closely with parishes and schools across the Diocese to support them in setting up or developing social action initiatives. The Food Programme and Caritas Volunteer Service provide support across the Diocese, whilst our Development Workers focus on parishes, schools, projects and partners in their designated episcopal areas, as well as leading on certain areas of Caritas Westminster’s work. When not busy with emails, phone calls or preparing resources, you’ll find us out and about around the diocese; whether that’s meeting parish priests and key partners, visiting schools and social action projects, or attending deanery meetings.
Here are a few highlights from the past month…
At the end of January, our Food Programme Support Officer Iman joined volunteers from Neighbours in Poplar for one of their regular visits to Calais. She returned to Poplar with Stephen Curran, our Head of Community Development, where they represented Caritas Westminster at a ‘Justice, Peace and Hope Day’ hosted by the parish.
The event featured stalls and presentations from participating charities, who shared stories and experiences relating to the day’s theme before a closing Mass for Peace and meal.
Closer to home, Iman is due to visit the Cardinal Hume Centre, to which staff at our Diocesan HQ in Victoria donated items as part of our annual Caritas Advent Giving Calendar initiative.
Elsewhere, Rocio, our Development Worker for North London, accompanied our Food Programme Lead Niki on a visit to the Social Apostolate at St Ignatius parish in Stamford Hill.
The project provides hot meals, food bags, clothes and other essential support to over 70 people who are homeless or in need. Rocio and Niki took the opportunity to help with serving meals, while finding out more about the project’s work and the people it serves.
Two members of our team have been keeping busy in schools. Fran Moore, our Development Worker for South Hertfordshire, spent three days at St Joan of Arc Secondary in Rickmansworth, where students were learning about Modern Slavery in the week leading to the feast of St Josephine Bakhita. Assisted by Stephen and in collaboration with the charity A21, Fran led two assemblies and six workshops on the themes of Catholic Social Teaching.
Meanwhile, Sr Silvana Dallanegra has been out and about in the west of the diocese. Along with her trusted assistant Nigel the Penguin, Sr Silvana delivered assemblies at St Swithun Wells Primary in South Ruislip and at St Joseph’s in Chelsea, where she gave badges to their eleven Caritas Ambassadors and heard about their latest social action initiative. As always, Nigel was the star of the show!
Back in HQ, Elke and Juliet from the Caritas Volunteer Service spent much of the month preparing for our Jubilee Volunteering Fair on Saturday 8th March in Cathedral Hall.
Twenty-one charities attended, advertising a wide variety of roles both in parishes, across the diocese and further afield. Elke and Juliet were delighted to be able to promote the event on air with Radio Maria England and talk about the many benefits of volunteering.
The month ended on a high for Liz Wills, our Development Worker for North Hertfordshire, and our friends at the Hitchin Pantry, when one of their volunteers received a North Herts Heroes award from the District Council.
One of our favourite aspects of being part of the Community Development team is our regular contact with hundreds of caring, committed volunteers across the diocese, who go the extra mile in their generosity and service to parishes or social action projects.
This includes our growing number of Caritas Parish Representatives, who act as the main social action link between their parish and us. If you have a heart for social action and a few extra hours, perhaps this could be a role for you: why not contact your area’s Development Worker to find out more?
