This year my Lent Appeal is for the outstanding work undertaken by the Aberlour Child Care Trust, a charity that has longstanding links with our Scottish Episcopal Church, a charity dear to my heart, and a charity that is there for Scotland’s hidden children, whose considerable difficulties have been hugely exacerbated over the last year of pandemic.
The list of work done by Aberlour is extensive and enormous, encompassing early years to young adulthood, and including residential and fostering services, addiction recovery programmes, support for early years children and for families affected by child disability, early intervention programmes, urgent assistance funds, self-directed support and school support.
More detail is available on Aberlour’s website, and I would urge all members and friends of our churches in the Diocese of Glasgow and Galloway to contribute to our appeal through this JustGiving page, whence your contributions will be channelled directly to Aberlour.
Please feel free to share this page far beyond our own churches and members: last year our Bishop’s Lent Appeal raised over £10,000, so we hope to exceed that amount in what has been a very challenging period for everyone. And, in Aberlour’s case, “because every child deserves the chance to thrive…”
If you are contributing from or on behalf of one of our churches, it would be helpful if you add the name and town of your church in the comments section, even if you would prefer your own name to remain anonymous. And, if you are able, please allow Gift Aid to be claimed on your donation. But, more important than anything else, please give generously to this tremendously worthwhile cause.
+Kevin
Bishop Kevin has chosen Aberlour as the subject of our Lent Appeal this year. Aberlour supports children, young people and families to give them the best chance to flourish, and has been doing so for over 140 years. The origins of the charity have a fascinating history and explain the strong link with the Scottish Episcopal Church (see the history section on their website, which also tells you much more about the charity: www.aberlour.org.uk).
A New Way to Donate: Bishop’s Lent Appeal JustGiving Page
The preferred and easiest way is to donate electronically and instantly to the appeal, either for individuals or for treasurers sending collected charge donations. For individual donations, it means that Gift Aid can be added to your donation, adding 25p to every pound donated (if you pay tax). Whether donating as an individual or as a Church via your Treasurer, please add the name of your church to the Donation Notes (even if you are an individual who prefers to remain anonymous). Please donate through this page (which donation goes directly to Aberlour) rather than through Aberlour’s own JustGiving page:
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/diocese-of-glasgow-galloway
For those who prefer to send cheques, they can be sent directly to Aberlour (including details of the church they are sent from), but it will be administratively much simpler – for us and for Aberlour – to send them via the Diocesan Office to ensure they are added to our final total. See below.
Other Ways to Donate
Cheque Payments should be made payable to Diocese of Glasgow and Galloway, please include a note to confirm the name of your charge and your contact details. Send to:
Diocese of Glasgow & Galloway, Bishop’s Lent Appeal, 5 St Vincent Place, Glasgow G1 2DH
Our post is being redirected to Christine Hughes at home, who will bank cheques and acknowledge receipt by email to your Treasurer, copying in Iolanthe Stack. The money will be transferred to Aberlour on a regular basis and included in the final JustGiving total. This will also apply to the following method…
Electronic Transfer to the Diocese, although it remains easier to transfer electronically via our own JustGiving page, it remains possible to do so through the Diocesan account. Send by BACS to the following details: Sort code 83-41-00, Account Number 00162089. The account name is GW & GALL GEN FUND 7. Please use the reference Lent21 and your quota number for ID, and also email Iolanthe Stack at iolanthe@glasgow.anglican.org to confirm a donation has been sent, and from which charge it has been sent. Iolanthe will acknowledge receipt by email. If you are sending a personal donation, also use Lent 21 and your surname for ID, again copying in Iolanthe for information, and she will reply to confirm receipt.
Finally…
People sometimes ask about the fees that are levied by JustGiving, but Aberlour have asked us to point out that any transaction of donations involves a fee of some kind, and that JustGiving is a very easy, time-saving (as well as cost-saving) platform for them to use, meaning these charges are a very effective investment, and cover the varying costs of processing different payment types. JustGiving also gives donors the option to make a voluntary contribution to the cost of maintaining the platform, which enables them to keep charges to all charities low, but this is completely optional. In short, it should be stressed that the increased ease of donations and smaller administrative costs of using JustGiving far outweigh the small charges that they make.