Our house to house collection during Christian Aid week this year officially raised £ 999.25.That is the amount I have put into the bank account, but small additional amounts are still coming in. The amount raised is well over a hundred pounds more than in 2006, and it is the first time we have exceeded the £ 1000 mark. Even in the heyday of the rich and varied Christian Aid weeks of years ago we didn’t raise that much money.

 

So, what has happened? The number of house to house collectors went down from 18 last year to 14 this year. Each of this year’s collectors covered on average slightly fewer streets than last year. Also, stories from collectors suggest that more people are refusing to give money at the door. With such bleak thoughts in mind, I went to the bank with some trepidation, expecting to be told that we had not bagged the money correctly. But we had. To the last penny (excluding the Euros, an old Peseta and the obligatory button).

 

So how come the amount we raised increased? It can only be that those who are giving are giving more than before. The average donation at the door is now about £ 2 per household. By the way, translated into real money that is one third of a mango tree. Few people ever buy dried mangos from the Traidcraft stall at St Andrew’s, but in the third world, mangos mean life.

 

Our preacher on 3^rd June talked of how Christian Aid week is an opportunity for witness to faith. Maybe, but house to house collection has developed a real cringe factor for many people. So, how about some inspiration from the following (true) story from one of our collectors? I have changed the language a little to give it a more prophetic tone.

 

There was in the city a woman with four young children who lived in poverty. She was feeding a baby when a collector did call. As she was not able to move quickly, she did not reach the door before the collector moved on to the next house.

 

So, she called down the street, “Come back in ten minutes, and I shall give thee an hundredfold of coins.” The collector, weary of rejection on the doorstep, had it in her mind to refuse, but said, “Very well, I shall return.” And ere the sun did set, she returned to the woman, who was holding one babe upon the one arm, and another babe upon the other. The woman stretched out an envelope and said, “Wilt thou not give me a spare envelope so that I may fill it too?”

 

So she did, and the woman did say, “Behold I have completed the gift-aid slip on the one envelope. Will it suffice for the twain?” And the collector did mutter yea and went away with a lightness she had not felt for many a day.

 

So, why not sign up for the big success story next year. Christian Aid week is 14^th to 20^th May 2008. And sincere thanks to those who confronted the streets and to those who donated money.

 

Sigurd Reimers

Christian Aid Organizer.