Charitable Giving

One of the ways churches can witness to the world is by giving to those in need and Blaby Congregational tries during each year to support as many charities as we can.

We like to balance our charitable giving between UK and overseas projects and try to support some local charities regularly especially those which we have a personal link to such as the Countesthorpe Foodbank and The Community of Grace in Leicester

We raise funds in several ways, one being the coffee mornings we hold each month and at a Church Meeting each year we discuss which charities to support at the coffee mornings so each Church Member has the opportunity to bring forward a charity they wish to support.

See our events pages for more information about the dates for the coffee mornings and the charities we will be supporting.

Another method of fund raising is sponsorship and during this year members are being sponsored for walking around Rutland Water (The Leprosy Mission), for cycling or walking to as many local churches as possible (Leicestershire & Rutland Historic Churches Trust) and giving up chocolate (British Heart Foundation).

Every Christmas we collect money in lieu of sending Christmas cards to each other as well from a retiring offertory on Christmas Day which goes to the RNIB.

Blaby Congregational Church also makes donations directly from church funds at Christmas and again our Church Members agree which charities to support. In December 2018 we made donations to Barnardo's, The Salvation Army, The Congregational Federation Church of the Year (Newton Burgoland) and SHARP.

As you may not have heard of SHARP - the Shelter Housing Aid and Research Project I will explain more about this local charity.

SHARP was established in 1974 by Leicester Shelter Group and it is the only independent Housing Aid Centre that covers all of Leicestershire and Rutland. For over 40 years they have provided much-needed advice, help and support for thousands of people who have been homeless or facing serious housing problems in the city of Leicester and the counties. Last year, they assisted over 1000 single people and families.

Churches Together in Leicestershire helped to co-ordinate the appeal at Christmas and it has recently been reported it raised a total of £5200.00 to assist with SHARP's work in 2019 and we are pleased to have contributed to this.