CHRISTIAN Aid Week is celebrating its 50th birthday. And one of its volunteers, 95-year-old Madeleine Sims, has made a house-to-house collection in each one.
‘I do the area around St John’s Church and I do it because there’s a lot of people out there who need help.
‘The people I collect from are always very ready and generous to give towards such a good cause.’
She joined other volunteers in the Town Church to celebrate the start of this year’s collection, which began yesterday and runs until Saturday.
Christian Aid Week is the UK’s longest running door-to-door fund-raising week and is an integral part of the charity’s funding, bringing in more than £15m. last year.
In 1957, the first one saw people in 200 locations collect £26,000.
Now there are now 300,000 volunteers and the organisation has annual expenditure of nearly £100m. due to the funds received from governments, including Guernsey’s.
This year’s theme is: Help poor communities grow a future this Christian Aid Week.
In 1961, Guernsey raised about £3,000. In 1990, it exceeded £15,000 for the first time and last year £52,000 was collected.
Guernsey organiser Steve Mauger said the aim was to beat last year’s total.
‘It’s a well-oiled machine. When it was first held in Guernsey a lot of preparation went into it and the plans we follow now are the same as back then. We just try and get as many collectors as possible to cover the Bailiwick. Without them, we would never collect as much.’
He estimated there were more than 60 people at yesterday’s service. One of them was 74-year-old Margaret Tostevin.
She has helped to organise the northern collection routes for a number of years and currently covers the area around the Vale war memorial.
Mrs Tostevin said Christian Aid was just as important now, if not more so, than in the past.
‘I do it because I think it’s very valuable work, especially now that Christian Aid is more to the fore.
‘In the past you were quizzed about what you were doing but people expect us now. I’m even known by people as the Christian Aid women.’
David Johns, 60, who has done a house-to-house collection for 25 years, added: ‘It’s absolutely vital, even more so now. There’s a lot of people worldwide who need help, especially in disaster areas.’
Article posted on 14th May, 2007 - 12.00am
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