A New 2023 Year Thank You from SVP

Your SVP conference would like to say yet another big thank you for your generous support and donations through Advent. 

Our Advent Soup Lunches raised £1150 for local SVP groups in Sudan and South Sudan. The funds will be used to provide essential rations and meal supplements at feeding centres for malnourished children (£150 feeds a child at the centres for 1 year), free health care at the St Vincent de Paul Health Care Centre, vocational training enabling people to get jobs and support their families and food items and clean water at the camps for displaced persons.

Thank you for responding to our suggestion that we could make use of Sainsbury’s vouchers this Christmas. We received £1,200 in vouchers which together with our own funds allowed us to support 57 local families.

Horsham Foodbank and the SVP Crawley Shop also appreciate your constant support. It makes a big difference to peoples’ lives.

It is important to our Conference that you know how your generosity is spread throughout not only your local community, but globally.  Many, many thanks from your SVP Conference.  You helped to make a difference this Christmas.

Timothy 6:18

Tell them that they are to do good, and be rich in good works, to be generous and willing to share.

You are in our Prayers

An opportunity to make someone’s Christmas

Your SVP conference would like to say yet another big thank you for your generous support and donations through Advent. 

Thank you for responding to our suggestion that we could make use of Sainsbury’s vouchers this Christmas. We received £1,200 in vouchers which together with our own funds allowed us to support 57 local families.

Horsham Foodbank and the SVP Crawley Shop also appreciate your constant support. It makes a big difference to peoples’ lives.

It is important to our Conference that you know how your generosity is spread throughout not only your local community, but globally.  Many, many thanks from your SVP Conference.  You helped to make a difference this Christmas.

Timothy 6:18

Tell them that they are to do good, and be rich in good works, to be generous and willing to share.

You are in our Prayers

SVP Soup Lunches

Our Advent Soup Lunches, the first ones after lockdown, were a lovely opportunity for the Parish Community to gather together and enjoy good food and good company.

We were very grateful for the support of our local parish primary schools and their teachers ,as their young pupils volunteered their time, energy and enthusiasm to help with the lunches. This brought great joy to all.

The lunches raised £1150 for local SVP groups in Sudan and South Sudan. The funds will be used to provide essential rations and meal supplements at feeding centres for malnourished children (£150 feeds a child at the centres for 1 year), free health care at the St Vincent de Paul Health Care Centre, vocational training enabling people to get jobs and support their families and food items and clean water at the camps for displaced persons. 

Annual  Bereavement Parish Mass

We would like to thank Darren Perks (Parish Bereavement Support), Fr Aaron and Deacon Tom, for planning and leading this moving Mass.

Many parishioners, attended accompanied by families from outside of our Parish.

 It was a beautiful, reassuring and uplifting service as Father read the names of all those from our Parish who have gone to Our Lord this year, praying for them with their loved ones and placing a candle on the cross in remembrance.

Lots of people came through into the hall afterwards,  enjoying the support and social opportunity to talk with others over coffee. and cake, 

We at the SVP were delighted to support to this event.

SVP want to Thank You

Following our Appeal Weekend at the beginning of October, our Parish, once again, have been extremely generous and your total donations came to £1915.47. Plus £83 raised from Teas & Coffee after mass. We cannot express just how grateful we are. 

With your continuing prayers, we aim to provide help and support to all those who approach us over the coming year.

Thank you!

SVP Annual Appeal Weekend

St Vincent de Paul Conference Horsham are making their annual appeal at all  Masses this weekend, 1st & 2nd of October. During the past year many people, children, families, schools and local charities have benefited from your wonderful responses to our appeals. Be it items like IT equipment, bikes, food for our local Foodbank, clothes for the SVP shop in Crawley or financial donations, you have supported us in helping others.   Thank you so much.

The need for support continues and we anticipate a greater number of people will require our help as the winter months approach.

Annual Report 2022

SVP activities

We have 32 members who give their time to SVP according to family, work, health and other commitments.

Visiting

Since January 2022 we have had between 12 and 15 members regularly visiting our VIPs. (We call the people we visit our VIPs). We have made 229 visits taking 342 hours and made 145 phone calls taking 53 hours.

We mainly visit for a chat but we do some practical tasks too, such as helping arrange hospital appointments, transport to an appointment, company on a walk, helping with shoping.

Occasionally tasks are a bit more involved such as building flat pack furniture, mending a fence after the storm, assisting with a house move, bringing a bed downstairs.

Parish events

We are also involved in:

• Soup lunches during Advent and Lent
• SVP Mass with the Anointing of the Sick
• Assisting with the Community Fridge
• Collecting for the SVP shop and Foodbank
• Collecting bikes and IT equipment for our schools
• Collecting bikes, blankets, bed linen, pillows, towels etc for the Horsham Refugee Support Grou

Day of Reflection for SVP Conferences across the Diocese held at Our Lady of Consolation,  West Grinstead

The day of Reflection was led by the National Spiritual Adviser to the SVP, Father Paul Roche as pilgrimage and a day of Reflection at the Shrine of our Lady of Consolation at West Grinstead. It celebrated the September Feast days of St Vincent de Paul (27th September) and Blessed Frederic Ozanam (9th September). It was well attended by the Diocesan SVP members who appreciated the interesting talks, informative lectures and the opportunity for personal prayer and devotional reflection.

St John's Parish Fayre

Thank you for all who attended and showed an interest in supporting our Parish through the many societies we have available.

Our SVP Conference Day Out

Our SVP conference enjoyed a lovely summer visit to the seaside for our members. We travelled to Worthing and had a gam of putting, a walk around the hardens a cup of the at a cafe by the sea. It was a great way for us to socialise and relax. A big thanks tp Peter for his organisational skills.

Mass for the Anointing of the Sick in June

The SVP would like to thank Father Aaron, Father Ian and Deacon Tom for celebrating our Parish Mass with Anointing of the Sick on the 24th June.

It was a privilege for our group to organise this and to see the benefit this sacrament gave to so many.

The Mass was followed by a chance to relax with our VIP's over a light lunch.

Lenten Soup lunches

Thank you for the support and encouragement we received from those who kindly attended our Lenten Soup lunches.

We are very pleased to announce that, through the generosity of those who came, we raised an amazing £879 for Sudan.

Your donations will help fund these projects run by the SVP in South Sudan where for the third consecutive year severe flooding is again destroying crops and homes.

·       The Nyarjwa baby feeding centre which supports around 300 children

·       The ‘Be in Hope’ street children programme rescues, supports and educates boys who would otherwise be living on the streets. They receive food, accommodation, clothing, education and skills training, and spiritual and mental health support.

• Basic food items for thousands of people, the majority of whom are women and children who live in displaced persons camps waiting for the situation to be sufficiently stable for them to return to their own homes and begin rebuilding their lives.
  
  
• The St Vincent de Paul Health Care Centre is probably the only free public healthcare centre in South Sudan 
  
  
• The vocational training centre provides training in a variety of technical skills which enables students to secure employment and support their families. 
  
  
• The recent purchase of a tractor, generously funded by SVP members, has enabled the South Sudan office to start a farming project of planting crops and hiring out the tractor when not in use to generate additional funds to reinvest.

(Funds cannot be sent to Sudan at the moment as the government does not comply with the regulations to ensure the money is used appropriately.)

February 2022 Update

Thank you for your generous donations

Thank you for donating so generously to SVP funds. In the last quarter of 2021 alone, we received nearly £5000. We used most of this money to support families both directly with supermarket vouchers and hampers and importantly, through our two primary schools, St John’s and St Robert’s. It is the teachers who see the children every day and meet the families at the school gate who recognise those needing a little extra support. Through your generosity, SVP have helped fund programmes the schools are running to support all children but particularly those with more limited opportunities outside of school. In the words of one teacher ‘thank you for making an impact on little people’s lives’. 

We have also allocated funding to:

·      Crawley SVP run a foodbank for families at St Wilfrid’s who the staff have identified as struggling. We contributed £550 to this initiative at Christmas. 

·      £350 to local SVP groups in South Sudan to support the baby feeding programme and clean water projects

·      Sponsoring 10 school children and 1 university student in India

·      £200 available to support those wishing to go on the Lourdes pilgrimage this summer. 

·      £900 in a reserve fund to assist those we visit in the coming months if household bills become overwhelming.

The welcome return of home visiting

Following two years of keeping in touch with those we visit (we call them our VIPs) through telephone calls and cards, we can now resume home visiting. If you know anyone who is feeling isolated or is anxious about leaving the house or indeed anyone who would welcome a friendly visit, company for a walk or a lift to Mass, please let us know. Our contact details are in the newsletter or please leave a message with the Parish Office. 

New members always welcome

If anyone would like become a member of SVP, we would be delighted to have you. We have been incredibly fortunate with the number of people interested in the SVP and since August/September of 2021 we have welcomed 9 new members to our conference. Now we have 28 active members and can increase our visits and support to those in need of a little friendship. But there is lots going on, always things to do and many isolated people who would welcome a visit. Do send us a message or leave your details with the parish office if you think you might like to know more about us. 

We look forward to the challenges of 2022 with optimism and strength. 

THANK YOU ALL!

Working With Our Community

COMMUNITY FRIDGE

(Thank you for your generous donations)
- In conjunction with Horsham Churches Together (HCT) and Sussex Green Living, (SGL) there is a project to help to remove one of the worst 'crimes' of the present age: FOOD WASTE. The project is called 'Community Fridge'. Food from our supermarkets, which otherwise would go into landfill, is collected and given, free of charge, to anyone who would make good use of it is distributed from church venues on Saturday mornings on a 'first come, first served' basis. Parish of St. Johns has agreed to help with this and our SVP conference has already volunteered and  assisted with this worthwhile project.

For the next available sessions, please see Dates for your Diary.

SVP Appeal – we need your continuing support

The St Vincent de Paul Society, or SVP for short, is a group of volunteer parishioners who set out to help anyone in need.

Firstly SVP Conference, Horsham would like to thank everyone who has supported us, financially and with your time, since our last appeal.  Through a very difficult year when things weren’t easy for anyone, as always you were brilliant – THANK YOU.

SVP Conference, Horsham is appealing once again. We are a small team and need your assistance now possibly more than ever. The variety of people needing our support has greatly increased. There are local families short of food, lonely people who need a friend, people worried going out and resuming their normal activities after Covid restrictions, people struggling with financial hardship, or those facing illness. 

In order to support those we do at the moment and inevitably those who will need our help in the year ahead, please consider becoming an SVP member.  Work with us to help in whatever way you can – whether it’s shopping, phoning someone for a chat, spending time on the telephone rescheduling hospital appointments, practical help around the home.  Even if it’s an hour once in awhile, you’ll be supporting us supporting others. 

In addition, if you could make a donation that would also be a huge help too. 

Thank you

Telephone 07765778413 or email stjohnssvp’outlook.com. Please help – we can only do this with your continuing support.

Thank you.

Events from 2021

Coffee Mornings during Advent

The SVP were pleased to provide coffee and biscuits after each Sunday morning Mass during Advent.

Thanks to those who attended, we raised £160 for Sudan and South Sudan in donations.

Result of the SVP September Awareness Month

September is a special month for your parish’s SVP members as we celebrate the feast days of Blessed Frédéric Ozanam and St Vincent de Paul on September 9th and 27th respectively.

During our appeal in September 2021, we were delighted to say our Parish had as ever, responded with great kindness and generousity.

The money raised was £1160. We also had a very  good response with people enquiring about membership to the SVP.

Many thanks to Fr Aaron for his kind support of our appeal.

SVP Appeal – we need your continuing support

The St Vincent de Paul Society, or SVP for short, is a group of volunteer parishioners who set out to help anyone in need.

Firstly SVP Conference, Horsham would like to thank everyone who has supported us, financially and with your time, since our last appeal.  Through a very difficult year when things weren’t easy for anyone, as always you were brilliant – THANK YOU.

SVP Conference, Horsham is appealing once again. We are a small team and need your assistance now possibly more than ever. The variety of people needing our support has greatly increased. There are local families short of food, lonely people who need a friend, people worried going out and resuming their normal activities after Covid restrictions, people struggling with financial hardship, or those facing illness. 

In order to support those we do at the moment and inevitably those who will need our help in the year ahead, please consider becoming an SVP member.  Work with us to help in whatever way you can – whether it’s shopping, phoning someone for a chat, spending time on the telephone rescheduling hospital appointments, practical help around the home.  Even if it’s an hour once in awhile, you’ll be supporting us supporting others. 

In addition, if you could make a donation that would also be a huge help too. 

Thank you

Telephone 07765778413 or email stjohnssvp’outlook.com. Please help – we can only do this with your continuing support.

Thank you.

Our Lady of Consolation SVP Day of Reflection 14th July 2021

5th June Socially Distanced Mass for those who have been self isolating to celebrate Corpus Christi

On Saturday 5th June there was an additional Mass at 4pm with a short time of Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament after. It is Corpus Christi weekend which made it very special.

The numbers were  severely restricted and seats were  by reservation only.

This was to give our Parishioners who have been shielding, an opportunity to attend mass with confidence if they have not been already able to do so

There were 20 usable benches so the plan was to seat only one person with one member of their bubble/carer per benchIt was a lovely occasion and very moving for those who attended.

Thank you to Fr Aaron for his help and support.

14th- 22nd May- Novena for India

Pray for our Brothers and Sisters in India

As you know, India has been ravaged by the rapid spread of Covid-19. As a Society we have a very close relationship with SVP India through our Twinnage programme. I have been in contact with the National President of India, Jude Mangalraj, to express our concern and desire to help on the part of our members in England and Wales. His urgent plea was for our prayers.

To facilitate this, and as a show of solidarity with the SVP in India, we arranged a Novena (nine days of prayer) and invited all members across England and Wales in solidarity with our Indian Twins. You will see that we are also being well supported and encouraged by the Shrine in Walsingham, the Congregation of the Mission and the Daughters of Charity, who were all keen to join us in this time of concentrated prayer. This Novena, running for nine days from 14th May, will be marked with the celebration of Mass to both start and end it. I hope you were able to join in some of this as a unified sign of our support through prayer.

How to donate

In addition, many of you have asked how you can help financially. This can be done by donating to the SVP Disaster Fund by visiting the SVP donate page. The money will be transferred to India SVP as soon as it is possible (as soon as Indian banking arrangements permit) and will be used to help alleviate poverty caused by Covid-19.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

             SVP Virtual Walk

 Together with our friends and families in the UK & overseas we have achieved our goal and walked 1268 miles on our Horsham to Lourdes Virtual Walk.

For every step we have taken we hope to raise funds so we can help support families and the vulnerable in our community and allow us to continue our support of SVP projects in India, Sudan and South Sudan. 

Take a look at our photos and memories of our H2L walk by visiting SVP 2021 Events on our parish website. 

Do please help us by donating via our SVP page on our parish website 

www.stjohnssvp.com/donations 

or via

 https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/SVP-Horsham-Lourdes 

or leave in an envelope marked SVP st our parish office.

We do appreciate your continued support.

 Thank you

Our virtual route takes through the Sussex countryside to Chichester along the Solent Way to Porthsmouth, ferry to Caen (France) and then trek south to the Pyrenees on the GR36, GR65, GR653, and finally GR101 into Lourdes.

It is a long way so do share your milage by email or a phone call.

  Total milage report

01 May  + 103.60 miles

     02 May  + 101.84 = 205.44 miles

     03 May + 159.20 = 364.64  miles

     04 May + 137.20 = 501.84  miles

     05 May +   95.74 =  597. 58 miles

                                                                                                                    06 May + 152.70 = 750.28   miles

     07 May + 225.64 = 975.92   miles

     08 May + 159.84 = 1125.76 miles

               09 May + 135.75 = 1268.01 miles !!!!!!!!

Lent

This year, as Lent approached, we handed out to those we support in our Parish Community, Stations of the Cross booklets and leaflets with a weekly prayer focus on so that we could all prayer together. We also provided  Rosary rings when requested.

This was also supported on the parish website and included special prayers for our younger SVP members, the Mini Vinnies.

Events from 2020

St John’s Horsham Fund Raising Activity - H2P And Beyond Walking Challenge

Towards the end of October St John’s Horsham SVP Conference faced a situation which will be familiar to many charities. Our funds were very low as our usual fund-raising events had not been possible due to Covid restrictions.

We had been able to support families over the summer with vouchers supplied through the Diocese and kindly donated by the Gubay Foundation, but there were very few of these left. Now we were aware of a family needing urgent support. Thanks to the generosity of two local conferences and support from a parish fund, we could help with their immediate problems. 

However, Conference realised we had to find ways to raise some funds. With the usual appeal at Mass not possible due to lockdown, we used the parish newsletter and social media to connect with parishioners.  A pamphlet was attached to the newsletter describing the wide variety of activities carried out by our group since March.

 We also hit upon the idea of a virtual walk.  Horsham is just 9 miles from L’Avenue Verte, a cycle route connecting London and Paris, which was opened to celebrate the 2012 London Olympics. Members, parishioners, family and friends were invited to sign up for the H2P Walking Challenge to take place during the first week of November. Everyone reported through WhatsApp the miles they walked locally each day. Each evening the total mileage was plotted on the route map and the group’s destination for the night reported along with a brief tourist guide to the regions visited that day.

 Such was the enthusiasm that the group reached Paris within three days. It was decided to turn left and head for Rome via the ancient pilgrim route, Via Francigena.  With miles being logged in San Francisco, Melbourne, Scotland, Poland, Liverpool, Hull, Preston, Worcester, London, Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire and all around the Horsham District we had just crossed from Switzerland into Northern Italy by the end of the week. Our original plan had been to walk for one week but having changed our destination and with the weather being so nice, unanimously it was decided to continue on to Rome. Tired legs reached the steps of St Peter’s two weeks after setting off from Horsham, a total of 1327.5 miles. 

We really enjoyed and appreciated walking in the beautiful area we live in, sharing photographs and experiences and (apart from a very wet start) the amazing weather and autumn colours. We definitely recommend a walking challenge as a way to get out and about, particularly during lockdown, and to keep connected with family and friends. 

 Our virtual walk also proved a successful fund-raising activity. We kept the parish informed of our progress with updates in the newsletter. We set up a JustGiving site which greatly assisted with collecting donations especially with personal contact so reduced due to Covid restrictions in place. While some walkers were sponsored in the traditional amount per mile manner, other donations came in from walkers and their supporters. Either way we have had a very generous response. After this successful initial attempt, we would hope to encourage more parishioners to take part in future events. Without Covid restrictions it will be easier to promote the event and we will be able to enjoy our walks in groups. 

We raised a total of £3,500.00! A huge thank you to all who took part, provided sponsorship and supported us, your generousity has been amazing!

Rest assured the money raised is being used to  support those in need within our parish community, as well as our continued commitment to India, Sudan and South Sudan.

Thank you for reading and best of luck with your own fund-raising efforts 

St John’s Horsham Conference 

An Important message from Fr Aaron and the SVP for the people of the parish

Events from 2019

SVP District Meeting

On 11th February, the District Meeting was hosted by our Conference. 

Fr Alban celebrated Mass for the SVP and told us of his experiences of working with the SVP in Athens, helping refugees and those in prison.

This day was also the World Day of the Sick and The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, so a very appropriate day for us to gather for Mass which was very well attended. 



Meeting was Chaired by Peter Wells, District President

Congratulations to one of our longest Standing Member

January was highlighted for the conference when amongst our usual commitments, we were delighted to celebrate with Carmen Hornung, her 90th birthday. With Carmen’s usual generosity, she invited all conference members , Rev Fr Aaron and Deacon Tom to a wonderful lunch at her home. Carmen has a beautiful traditional crib which we were privileged to visit before the celebration.

I am sure many parishoners will have worked with Carmen as not only is she a member of the SVP, she also supports Open House and Friends of Mother Theresa. 

 Please remember this wonderful member in you prayers in thanksgiving for her service over many years.