This year’s Lenten Alms Appeal is now under way. One of our major annual fundraising efforts, the Appeal raises money through local parishes and schools, to directly fund a particular St Cuthbert’s Care project. This year, because of increasing need for its services, the funds are again being used to support the 5p Bus – our mobile clothing distribution project.
In January this year, local news headlines revealed “73,000 North East children living in poverty” (The Journal, 26 January 2010) while the latest official statistics announced that the gap between the rich and poor is a gulf which persists into the new decade.
With invaluable help from parishes our 5p Bus, which offers relief to the region’s impoverished, has already been making a difference to people living in deprived communities since the project began over a year ago. It costs around £40,000 a year to operate the service which distributes donated clothing and other goods to the needy, the homeless and the disadvantaged. With our Lenten Alms target of £25,000, we aim to develop the service further and reach out to even more people suffering hardship.