Charitable organization, Christian charity, Christian faith, registered charity,
Friday 14th January 2011
All 39 UCKG HelpCentres in England and Wales are pioneering a new way of supporting two of the UK’s leading cancer charities with an organised, large scale collection of bric-a-brac and unwanted but useful household items.
Both Marie Curie Cancer Care and the Helen Rollason Cancer Charity will benefit.
Throughout the remainder of January, UCKG church members will be asking their families, friends, neighbours and work colleagues to turn out unwanted ornaments, vases, crockery, glasses and similar items that are suitable for resale.
The items that are collected will then be sorted at the local UCKG HelpCentres and distributed, as agreed with the two charities, for sale in their high street shops.
This follows two highly successful national clothing collections that UCKG branches ran during 2010, when almost 13.5 tonnes of garments were donated. These comprised generous quantities of garments suitable for sale and warm winter clothing for use by London’s homeless.
Bishop Pierre Dessaint, who heads the UCKG in the UK, said: “As far as we know no-one has ever tried a major collection of bric-a-brac before, so we have great hopes for the success of this pioneering initiative.
“As a Christian charity we have an ongoing commitment to supporting established charities, particularly those concerned with healthcare and the wellbeing of people who are affected in any way by their own illness or that of others.
“Naturally, we always try to keep on our toes with new ideas that will appeal to our members and other potential donors so that we maximise the benefit to the charities we are supporting.”
From an organisational angle, the UCKG’s 2011 bric-a-brac collection will be run in two parts. From Sunday, January 16 until the end of the month UCKG members will be seeking donations from colleagues, friends and their families.
In addition there will be a publicity campaign targeting homes in selected areas linked to each HelpCentre. Leaflets will be posted through the letter boxes of homes in the chosen areas on Saturday January 22. Volunteers will then visit the area to collect unwanted but saleable items on the following Saturday, January 29.
Note to editors Marie Curie Cancer Care both supports people who are terminally ill with cancer and other conditions, and campaigns for better end of life care.
The Helen Rollason Cancer Charity is the legacy of sports broadcaster Helen Rollason MBE, who died of cancer in 1999. It funds three services. These
are its support centres, which provide emotional support and complementary therapies for cancer patients, plus support for their families, carers and friends; pioneering clinical drug trials; and scientific research into breast cancer.
UCKG is a Christian church and registered charity that offers a range of practical support activities alongside spiritual support and comfort. It was formed in 1977 and is active in over 200 countries as a church in the mainstream Pentecostal tradition. It reached the UK in 1995 and has gone from strength to strength, providing support and spreading the Christian faith. There are 39 UCKG branches in England and Wales.
For further information please contact Jenny Walton or Lucy Andrews at The Remarkable Group, tel 01962 893 893.
