Together We Can Do Great Things

On  4^th September 2016, there were great celebrations around the world as Blessed Teresa of Calcutta was canonised. As part of the celebrations, I am delighted to be able to share the story of St. Teresa of Calcutta’s connection with the Association. Incidentally, SURVIVE-MIVA’s Patron Saint is St. Thérèse of Lisieux and, when Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu (now St. Teresa of Calcutta) took her first vows as a religious, in 1929, she took the name Sr. Mary Teresa, apparently choosing Teresa because St. Thérèse of Lisieux was one of her favourite saints.

SURVIVE-MIVA’s archives hold correspondence between the then Mother Teresa and staff at SURVIVE-MIVA: a copy of St. Teresa of Calcutta’s signature is shown in the picture opposite. It was agreed that SURVIVE-MIVA would supply (thanks to the fundraising efforts of the Catholic Parish of Sawston, Cambridge) a nine-seater minibus for the work of the Missionaries of Charity in Cairo.

On the vehicle application form that was completed by the Sister Superior in Cairo, the work the Sisters were engaged in was described as follows:

‘Our main work is with the Dustbin Dwellers in Muqattam. The sisters go daily to this area where there are about 8,000 people living from collecting and selling the rubbish from the city. We teach the children hygiene, reading, writing and sewing. We have a weekly dispensary in a little room…When someone is very sick we take them to hospital. The sisters go to two other poor areas to give medicine to the poor.’

In the summer of 1982, when the vehicle was almost ready for transport to Cairo (in those days vehicles were sent by land and sea whereas nowadays, of course, we provide grants for in-country purchase), it so happened that Mother Teresa was visiting her sisters based in Seel Street, Liverpool quite close to the SURVIVE-MIVA office (then in the Liverpool University Chaplaincy Building, Mount Pleasant, Liverpool 3). Of course this presented a great photo opportunity and the press and scores of people turned up to catch a glimpse of Mother Teresa receiving the keys to the vehicle; she was, even then, acknowledged by many as a saintly woman.

Perhaps you were there when Mother Teresa visited Liverpool? Maybe you were a parishioner of Our of Lourdes Parish, Sawston and were involved in the fundraising?  If so, then please share your memories with us on Twitter (@SURVIVE_MIVA) or Facebook (@SurviveMIVA).

“I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot;
together we can do great things.”
St. Teresa of Calcutta.

Theresa Codd
Assistant Director (Development), SURVIVE-MIVA

Gifts of Time and Money

In the UK, the 1^st – 12^th June is designated ‘Volunteers’ Week’ (www.volunteersweek.org/- 12 days maybe seems like only a week when you are having fun volunteering!) and, like so many organisations, SURVIVE-MIVA could not function as effectively as it does without the support of volunteers. Thank you one and all!

The main volunteer role at SURVIVE-MIVA (although occasionally we have office volunteers doing administrative tasks) is that of ‘Speaker’. We have about 50 people (dotted across England, Wales and Scotland) in this role, which involves making appeals at Sunday Masses in Catholic Parishes. We know, from the feedback we receive, that our volunteers gain a lot of satisfaction and enjoyment from making appeals and visiting different parishes, but we also know that they put up with many inconveniences (including early starts on a Sunday morning!) as they inspire others to engage with our work and raise funds for the charity.

In 2015 there were around 250 parish appeals for SURVIVE-MIVA and our Speakers must, therefore, have addressed several thousand people in the year. As a result of their work many people: signed up to receive our twice-yearly magazine, Awareness; prayed for SURVIVE-MIVA’s work and that of our overseas’ beneficiaries; and made a donation to support the Association.  The income we received in 2015 from Parish appeals was just over £115,500, which is approximately 19% of total income for that year.

An additional source of income from parish appeals comes from the Gift Aid scheme. Our Speakers encourage any UK tax payers in the congregation to Gift Aid their donations and this really does make a difference to the Association’s income each year. During ‘Volunteers’ Week’ we submitted a Gift Aid claim to the Inland Revenue (amounting to over £18,000 for donations received over 6 months) and this  prompted me to look again at the draft version of SURVIVE-MIVA’s  Trustees’ Report & Accounts for 2015 (draft because it has yet to be approved by members and, hopefully, they will do this at SURVIVE-MIVA’s Annual General Meeting on 23^rd June) to remind myself of the Gift Aid income we will receive for donations made during 2015: the Gift Aid scheme yielded £40,531 for SURVIVE-MIVA in 2015, which is 7% of total income in 2015.

The total funds transferred overseas in 2015 amounted to some £286,731, which means that we could say that 40% of the vehicles funded by SURVIVE-MIVA in 2015 were paid for by appeals' income and 14% of the vehicles were paid for by Gift Aid income! 

You can learn more about:

a) being a SURVIVE-MIVA Speaker here: www.survive-miva.org/Involved.htm

b) Gift Aid here: www.survive-miva.org/downloads/DonationFormWeb2016.pdf

As 'Volunteers' Week' in the UK ended, 'Laudato Si Week' began (an international event running from 12 - 19 June 2016). 'Laudato Si Week' has been set up to mark the first anniversary of the release (on 18th June 2015) of Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si': On Care for our Common Home. In this encyclical the Pope calls on us to take action and, if you would like any ideas on how you can get involved, you can find out more at: www.catholicclimatemovement.global/act/.

One of the actions on the Catholic Climate Movement website is signing a petition to be sent to local, national and international leaders, calling on them to honour commitments made at the Climate Summit in Paris in December 2015 (representatives of the governments of more than 190 countries attended). The text of the petition is:

Climate change affects everyone, but especially the poor and most vulnerable people among us. Inspired by Pope Francis and the Laudato Si' encyclical, we call on you to drastically cut carbon emissions to keep the global temperature rise below the dangerous 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold, and to aid the world's poorest in coping with climate change impacts.

I’ve just signed the petition and invite you to do the same – surely a good use of our time?

Theresa Codd
Assistant Director (Development), SURVIVE-MIVA