St Eustachius’ Recent Campaigns Summary
Many of you will be aware that we have been running a number of online and offline campaigns since the start of the Lockdown in March. They are largely summarized on the church website, but I thought it would be helpful to provide a summary for the November issue of the Parish Magazine.
There have been 3 types of campaigns really: major campaigns for local charities, monthly campaigns for the church’s ‘Mission of the Month’, and other campaigns to support the church funds which have taken a severe drop in income since the start of the Lockdown. Here is a summary:
Major Campaigns
NHS Tavistock Hospital: This was largely driven by the sale of high quality items made by our own Vintage Green Team, supplemented by some straight donations. It raised a massive £2342.11. This has been handed over to the League of Friends of Tavistock Hospital, who have used it to buy a portable Doppler Machine to measure blood flow, which the hospital needed. It wasn’t possible at the time to have a formal presentation of a cheque, but it is intended, when feasible, to have some event, possibly a service, to mark the handover of money and also generate a local press story.
West Devon Children’s Centre: This raised the big total of £1,461.21 driven largely by Sarah and Pam’s sponsored walking marathon, and again supplemented by direct donations. The money has been passed to the Children’s Centre, to assist their support of local families made more urgent by the ongoing pandemic. Again, it is hoped to celebrate this as above in the same way, and probably at the same event as for the Hospital appeal.
Missions of the Month
May: Christian Aid raised £411.75
June: Farming Community Network raised £137.50
July: Mission to Seafarers raised £191
September: United Society Partners in the Gospel raised £187.50
November: Christian Solidarity Worldwide – now open for online donations at this link
All of these were raised by a mixture of online donations on the church website and a retiring collection at a service within the month.
Fundraising for Church Funds
Churchyard Tree Appeal: This was launched to fund the cost of removing a dying tree from the churchyard, before it caused an accident, and replacing it with another. This campaign raised £594.50 out of an estimated £1000 for the work, and the Friends of St Eustachius are going to fund the rest of the cost.
Pat’s Pet Portraits: Pat Alexander has been producing beautiful bespoke portraits of people’s pets in return for donations. This campaign is still ongoing through the church website at this link and it has raised £260 so far.
Auction of parishioners donated items: This was started before Lockdown by Barbara Miller, but postponed for a while to let things settle down. It happened though and raised £928.66. This would not have been possible without the generous support of Tavistock Auctions, who did it commission free for us.
Vintage Green Teas: This campaign was unfortunately the victim of a turn in the weather, which made the idea of outside teas less enticing. Nevertheless, it raised £50.
Fashion Fundraising Parade: Organised by several of our ladies, this campaign is still ongoing online (currently in the process of setting up more garment photos for the website) and to date has raised £95. Also, there are clothes available to browse in the church tower, so if anyone would like to choose a garment and give a donation to Barbara Miller, Hilary Sanders, Cathy Sherlock, or Judy Hirst, they would be delighted to see the clothes going to good homes.
Print or Card Maps of Tavistock, by Terry Townson: This is still ongoing and available on the website at this link, or from the Pop-Up Sales in the church on Wednesday (see below).
Other Fundraising: There are of course other fundraising activities that have been going on for some time, for example The Craft Group have raised over £150 selling greetings cards at 50p each! (contact Ruth Glanville: ruthglanville47@gmail.com). The Craft Group will also be selling at the Pop-Up Stall in church on Wednesday 9th December (see below).
And some of you will have already seen the Pop-Up Stalls taking place in the church every Wednesday between 11.30 and 2.00. These are now suspended during the new Lockdown, until Wed 9th December – There is a list of these sales on the website at this link.
And finally:
If anyone has any good ideas for fundraising within the current pandemic constraints, we would be delighted to hear from you. Please contact Barbara Miller barbara.miller42@btinternet.com, or Martin Pendle m.pendle@icloud.com
Martin Pendle