“Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. “i was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me,’ (Matthew 25:32)

With this parable the Lord calls us to feed the hungry, to give hospitality to the strangers, to clothe the naked and to look after the sick, to visit those in prison.

We encourage members of our community to help us to support local and international charities and initiatives with special events, collections and volunteering. The work of some of the charities that we regularly support is described below.

Paradise 4 Kids

P4K is a volunteer organisation. It guarantees that 95% of all donations reach those who need it most.  The remaining 5% covers bank charges and other financial fees. 

P4K has recently agreed to provide funds to feed over 650 children at a primary school in Waterloo, Sierra Leone daily and feed the 16 children of the associated orphanage in Waterloo. There is scope for this number to increase depending on the generosity of donors. 

Help P4K offer more help to those in need by visiting the link below and setting up a monthly donation.  

Fod Nicolaou is the P4K contact in our community for P4K. Fod has volunteered for P4K in Sierra Leone and regularly assists with fundraising.

For more information https://www.justgiving.com/paradise4-kids

The Shrewsbury Ark

The Shrewsbury Ark is a drop-in centre, just opposite the Railway Station, for homeless and vulnerable people;  up to 30 or so different people come in each day. The Ark offers hot food and drink, toilet and shower facilities, laundry, phone and IT access and a poste restante address for mail; but, more importantly, there are staff and volunteers with the time and the will to listen to the clients’ own stories, and to find out what their problems and aspirations are.  In addition, the Ark runs an Outreach Service on behalf of Shropshire Council, responding to reports of people sleeping rough anywhere in the County, finding them, trying to address their problems and moving them to proper accommodation. The Ark has a Charity Shop on Castle Street, which helps to raise the funds needed and also provides clothing for Ark clients as necessary.

Shropshire Council pays a grant towards the cost of the Outreach Service, but there is no direct government financial support for the drop-in centre, the Ark’s core business.  All the funds needed to run it must be raised from charitable sources.

Each Christmas the youth club of our community provide presents for the children under the care of the Shrewsbury Ark and the community makes a special collection on each Sunday of Advent. Spyridon Onions, community member also collects clothes and bric-a-brac from community members to sell in the Shrewsbury Ark charity shop.

More details of ways to help the Ark can be found at www.shrewsburyark.co.uk.

Street Pastors

Shrewsbury Street Pastors is a volunteer-based initiative with a mandate to be a tangible Christian influence in Shrewsbury.

The 37 Christian volunteers are drawn from 17 churches from 7 different denominations, and work in partnership with Shropshire Council, Shrewsbury Town Council, Team Shrewsbury and the West Mercia Police, known as “The Urban Trinity”.

A team of Street Pastors (consisting of 3 or 4 trained volunteers) patrols the town centre every Saturday (and the occasional Friday, Sunday and Wednesday), between the hours of 10.30pm. and 4 am (approx.) to help, care for and listen to those in difficulty without judgment or discrimination. A bottle of water for those who are dehydrated, a pair of flip-flops for those struggling to walk in high heels, a space blanket for those without a coat, a phone call to track down missing friends or arrange a taxi home, or simply a listening ear – all are part of a night’s work for a Street Pastor.

Since March 2018 the Street Pastors have had the use of a 3.5 Tonne vehicle that has been donated by The Office of Police and Crime Commissioner West Mercia Police. This vehicle is the Shrewsbury Street Pastors Triage Support vehicle, nicknamed ‘The Donkey’. It has been used to support the work of our foot patrols out on the streets of Shrewsbury.

For more information: https://www.streetpastors.org/locations/shrewsbury/

Severn Hospice

Severn Hospice gives specialist care and support free of charge to families across Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Mid Wales who are living with an incurable illness.  Many members from our community have received excellent support at Severn Hospice and the community supports the work of the hospice.

The hospice supports families through the good days and bad days because it believes that when cure is no longer possible, care is. Since 1989, the Severn Hospice has given free care and support to more than 34,000 people and their loved ones during their time of greatest need. It now helps more than 2,000 local people every year.

The hospice is part of health services offered to people living in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and Mid Wales but it is not part of the NHS. It is a completely independent charity, having to raise around two-thirds of its running costs.

All of the care it provides to thousands of people every year is only possible thanks to the generous support it receives from the communities it serve.  Its services are funded through a combination of kind donations from local people, fundraising activities, its lottery and retail departments, gifts in people’s wills and grants from the NHS. For more information visit: https://www.severnhospice.org.uk/