The clocks have fallen back and the nights are drawing in. This is the time of year when the SVP team ask you to please keep an extra eye out for any vulnerable neighbours in the community. Awareness is the key watchword. You never know: It could be that one phone call, or that one wave through the window, that makes all the difference to a lonely person. Loneliness claims too many people each year in the U.K. so let’s try and do our little bit to help address the issue.
Our Young SVP Team have had an uphill struggle, having being launched a short few weeks before the pandemic and lockdown arrived. But, wow, have they ‘Risen to the Challenge’!! From the outset of lockdown, they have been a core part of our food bank team each and every Saturday and their second initiative included a major clean up of the lane way between The Croft and Victoria Road in August.
In this SVP Awareness month, and indeed since the pandemic started, the SVP has tried to ‘Rise to the Challenge’ and keep its activities going. Our food bank and home deliveries are some visible examples of this, but our Bereavement Care group have also been very busy. So much so, that we now have a dedicated phone number for this group, 07562 412 986.
Please share this number among your friends and family, as you can never be sure where the need exists. Thank you in advance.
Around this time each year, the SVP conferences in the Westminster diocese work on a common project known as ‘Vinnie Packs’. A ‘Vinnie Pack’ is basically a small bag that contains essential items for a homeless person in winter time. It contains such things as a thermal hat, thermal gloves, 2 pairs of thermal socks, toothbrush and paste, wetwipes, copy of Pavement magazine, a pen and an information sheet with useful numbers. 11,500 Vinnie packs need to be assembled ahead of winter.
The annual, national SVP Awareness Campaign has now commenced and this year it is labelled ‘Rise to the Challenge’. Throughout the world, including within our own parish, the SVP volunteers have been rising to the many challenges presented to us by the COVID19 pandemic. The Foodbank has remained open, home deliveries have been put in place, phone buddying continues at pace, hospital visits have been conducted safely, bereavement counselling continues, local issues of poverty have been addressed and twinnage activity with our sisters and brothers in the developing world have continued. The work of our SVP Conference is mirrored by thousands of SVP Conferences throughout the world.