Caritas Westminster Annual Review 2020

Caritas Westminster 2020 Annual Review

Caritas Westminster 2020 Annual Review Page 1

Caritas Westminster 2020 Annual Review

In 2020, Caritas Westminster never closed:

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Staff at St Joseph’s made 3000 phone calls to keep in touch with 200 families while the centre 47 signed or interpreted was closed.

Masses were provided for members of the Deaf Community.

Caritas Bakhita House celebrated its 5th Birthday

50 different people attended 11 Young Caritas events

Supermarket vouchers worth over £175,000 were sent to 122 parishes and schools to distribute

All our work at Caritas Westminster is underpinned by Catholic Social Teaching and this is reflected in our principles as an organisation.

We want to:

• Meet basic human need

• Develop human potential

• Support engagement, social inclusion and belonging

• Promote social justice and fairness

Our services and the projects we support usually reflect all four of these values in different ways. In this report we focus on the importance that each one played in our work during the extraordinary year that was 2020.

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Cover photo: Aina Omo-Bare founder of Idia’s Kitchen in Hoxton.

Caritas Westminster 2020 Annual Review

New words and new ways of serving

to satisfy our need for connectedness. Parish churches rose to new challenges providing ‘LiveStreaming’ and ‘Covid-Security’.

But for Caritas Westminster the key words were ‘Open’, ‘Solidarity’, Resilience’ and ‘Advocacy’.

Projects and services remained ‘Open’ – even when this meant adapting to provide online and telephone support. New volunteers presented themselves to enable social outreach to stretch ever further. Staff generously supported and covered for colleagues.

It was encouraging to witness solidarity increasing through successful projects and to see true community building flourish.

Dear Friends and Supporters, In the Gospel of St John Jesus says, “My Father goes on working and so do I” (John 5:17).

Essential work can never cease whatever the circumstances, in fact there are times when it becomes more important.

In 2020, assailed as we were by the Coronavirus crisis, Caritas Westminster kept on working.

We are indebted to Caritas workers and volunteers who tirelessly and generously served the Common Good through imaginative undertakings.

The Pandemic gave us a new vocabulary.

Hundreds of thousands of people in our Diocese became familiar in a personal way with the words, ‘Furlough’, ‘Redundancy’, ‘Universal Credit’, Foodbanks’. We learned language which indicated we needed to keep apart, ‘Shielding’, ‘Social Distancing, ‘Lockdown’ and we welcomed the opportunities to ‘Zoom’ and to ‘Bubble’

The Road to Resilience Programme began in November. It provides multiple resources designed to support those in desperate circumstances, because no one should be consigned to relying on handouts and food banks.

Combined with practical assistance, Caritas Westminster continued to advocate on behalf of those in need. It sought to raise awareness of difficulties faced by those with disabilities and campaigned for wider provision of free school meals.

You will find in this report not only the inspirational good work of Caritas Westminster but also its commitment to follow the example of Christ and live out the principles of Catholic Social Teaching, that is justice, equality and working to ensure that all have the means to live a dignified and fulfilling life.

Bishop Paul McAleenan, Chair of Caritas Westminster

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Caritas Westminster 2020 Annual Review

Meeting basic human need Responding to an emergency and providing for immediate needs

hen the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry T and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “ The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.

Matthew 25, 37-40

Queuing for a foodbank run by Social Apostolate of St Ignatius Parish in Stamford Hill.

March 23rd 2020.

For many this was the start of financial difficulties for the first time in their lives. For others it was another shock pushing them further into destitution.

Government statistics show that in the two weeks between 20 March and 2 April 2020 there were 1.1 million claims made to Universal Credit. This is 10 times the average number.

But in too many cases, government support comes too late. A mother who received support from the Borehamwood Foodbank told us that her first Universal Credit payment had come through ten weeks after her last pay cheque.

Research for the Food Standards Agency found that in the first three months of the lockdown, 7% of the population said they had used a food bank or food charity, with 13% of households with children having done so. In London, food bank use doubled in the twelve months from April 2020.1 Page 4

Children who had received free meals at school were now at home. Vulnerable children were still allowed in school but in April only 5% of those considered vulnerable were attending.

Families were protecting themselves from the virus. Teachers courageously found new ways to support these children and their families.

Churches closed, but the foodbanks run by parishes remained open, and volunteers stepped up to provide deliveries where people were unable to come to the venue.

Caritas Westminster provided supermarket vouchers worth over £175,000 for parishes and schools to distribute.

122 schools and parishes received vouchers.

There are more than 350 food projects run or supported by Catholic parishes and schools in Westminster Diocese.

1. Data from the Trussell Trust. Data from the Independent Food Aid Network supports these figures but is not broken down by region.

Caritas Westminster 2020 Annual Review

Meeting basic human need Group, along with donations of food from shoppers at Iceland and Co-op as well as several schools and churches. However, now that we are open weekly instead of fortnightly and serve more people we are relying more on monetary donations, and are grateful to all who have given so generously, as well as our enthusiastic volunteers.

“Please pray for continuing blessing on the work of Copenhagen Street Foodbank.”

Volunteers at Copenhagen Street preparing bags for clients.

Copenhagen Street Foodbank is one example of many food-provision projects which have changed and increased their service during the pandemic.

Sr Miriam Bruder reports on a year of struggles and solidarity: “When we celebrated our second anniversary on 5 March, 2020, little did we know that the way we had operated would soon come to an abrupt halt.

Until then, we welcomed 50 – 60 clients fortnightly to have a cuppa, socialise and choose items from our “shop”.

“During the first lockdown we could no longer welcome clients and volunteers (many in the “vulnerable” category) into the hall, nor could we have queues on the street. In a fast reorganising, we partnered with the local Mutual Aid Group who delivered food parcels to those who requested them - at one point they were delivering 110 parcels to people with various needs.

Caritas Westminster has been on hand to support the numerous schools expanding or setting up foodbanks in response to the extra needs they saw in their communities.

Staff and pupils at St Philip Howard Primary School in Hatfield made space in their entrance area for a food bank. Open every weekday from 7am – 7pm, the food bank also provides school uniforms and books. A local women’s rugby club has donated hygiene products with the aim of ending period poverty. The permanent presence of the food bank helps staff and students remember that not all the children have their basic needs met, and enables them to focus on what is important as a community.

“Since June, the food bank began operating again at Blessed Sacrament Church Hall. By the end of September, home deliveries had been greatly reduced and were being made by Kings Cross Church Foodbank with whom we collaborate.

In December, an average of 101 individuals and families came each Thursday to receive prepacked food parcels (including fresh and nonperishable food and sundries).

“When we closed in March there were very few families among our clients. Now there are numerous families, some very large.

“We continue to benefit from the Mutual Aid

The Foodbank at St Philip Howard Primary School.

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Caritas Westminster 2020 Annual Review

Meeting basic human need

Everyone In? Finding new ways of working with people who are homeless.

Caritas Grants Thanks to the St John Southworth Fund we are able to provide hardship grants to people who find themselves in a crisis. Very often something as simple as a household appliance breaking can push someone on low income over the edge, forcing them to get behind with rent and bills, or get into debt.

At the beginning of 2020, 24 Winter Night Shelters were being run or supported by Catholic parishes, along with 29 homeless drop in centres. Lockdown forced these to close.

The Government’s “Everyone In” policy of putting those sleeping rough into hotel rooms, worked to a certain extent. People who had never received help before, could be reached and supported.

One single mum was helped when her car battery failed and she had a leak in her kitchen in quick succession. She told us. “I was feeling so stressed about it as I [was] unable to work during lockdown, and the pressures just seem to keep rising. I want you to know how much I appreciate the support, care and kindness.”

However, for the few hundred homeless left on the streets, things got worse – no soup kitchens, no passers-by to ask for help, nowhere to even get a cup of water and no public toilets open in the whole of central London.

The response from faith groups was swift, imaginative, and well co-ordinated. Fr Dominic Robinson SJ from Farm Street in Mayfair recalled: “St Patrick’s in Soho Square started feeding over 200 people a day. After a few weeks their resources were running low. Two large hotels in our parish stepped in straight away. While already housing and feeding NHS staff they volunteered to provide 200 meals twice a day for three months completely free.

“Meanwhile, in Soho Square there were complaints of antisocial behaviour – not surprising when homeless people had nowhere to go and the nearest public toilets were two miles away. The council asked us to help so we assembled a large team of volunteers from Farm Street and neighbouring parishes to create a refreshments and pastoral care hub in Trafalgar Square”

Fr Dominic McKenna preparing food in Borehamwood – this foodbank has been a recipient of the St John Southworth grants.

This project evolved into a homeless service under the name of Central London Catholic Churches – a new partner for Caritas Westminster.

£33,430 was granted to 34 families from the

St John Southworth Fund.

More than £80,000 was awarded from our funeral fund, helping 55 families.

£114,000 was distributed to 13 long-term

© Anthony Doran

social action projects.

Refreshment hub at Trafalgar Square.

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A new grant was distributed in 2020 – the Covid-19 emergency project grant. This helped parishes and schools respond to the extra hardship they were seeing as a result of the pandemic. 18 projects received £500 each.

Caritas Westminster 2020 Annual Review

Meeting basic human need One of the recipients, Newman Catholic College, used their Covid-19 emergency project grant to set up a food bank. They went on to gain more funding from the construction company Wates and the St John Southworth Fund in early 2021 and now have a permanent, weekly food bank housed in a port-a-cabin, and run by staff and students for the whole community.

© Marcin Mazur

On behalf of parishes, schools, and all social action projects and services in the Caritas Westminster family we would like to thank the following organisations who were among those who helped us to meet basic human need in 2020: The Felix Project, City Harvest, Fareshare, Edible London, North Hertfordshire District Council, Hasbro, The Albert Gubay Foundation, and the donor who has been funding the Funeral Grants since 2016.

hen we attend to the needs of those in want, we give them W what is theirs, not ours. More than performing works of mercy, we are paying a debt of justice.

St Gregory the Great

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Caritas Westminster 2020 Annual Review

Developing human potential Finding new ways of working to respond to changing situations and building on what we have learnt for the future. fter this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two A by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like l ambs among wolves.

T he seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”

He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven!”

Luke 10 1-3, 17-18

For those of us working with vulnerable people, the pandemic has been a huge test of strength, and of our ability to adapt. Our clients were amongst those hardest hit by physical and mental health problems, by isolation and loneliness during lockdown, and by financial difficulties. And we couldn’t always respond in the way we were used to.

Staff at our services rose to the challenge, and like the seventy-two who responded to Jesus’s call, they found they were given the grace and inspiration to do what was needed.

The Caritas Deaf Service Caritas Deaf Service started 2020 with our usual programme of events with signed and interpreted Masses, catechesis opportunities, pastoral support and access to diocesan events for the Deaf Community. This was swiftly switched to an online service in March with remote signed and interpreted Masses, online bible studies, and a virtual pilgrimage to Walsingham. Prayer opportunities included signed Stations of the Cross, the rosary and an advent reflection.

Pastoral support continued remotely using video calls, text messages, social media and written correspondence. The Cardinal’s video messages throughout lockdown were interpreted for the Deaf Community. BSL taster sessions continued online and the priests who sign were supported via virtual training sessions.

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The 47 Masses provided reached beyond the usual client base with up to 285 people watching them online.

Signs of Hope, the counselling service that is part of Caritas Deaf Service, celebrated their 20th anniversary in January 2021, with 24 clients being supported during 2020.

A sign-interpreted live-streamed Mass.

Caritas Westminster 2020 Annual Review

Developing human potential

Caritas Bakhita House The pandemic brought great changes to the lives of guests, volunteers and staff at Caritas Bakhita House: n March we reluctantly closed our doors to • Inew arrivals, to protect guests and their babies. olunteers, including tutors, were no longer • Vable to come, but many successfully moved their sessions, including English classes, online.

ore staff members moved into the house, • Csharing lockdown with eight women and

three newborn babies. Two staff members had the experience of being birthing partners, supporting the mums during labour.

We continued to support guests working with the police to secure convictions of their abusers.

One woman from Romania bravely gave evidence about her forced prostitution. The two brothers who trafficked and enslaved her, were sentenced to a total of 30 years in prison.

This year we also contributed to two reports that will build a better understanding of trafficking, sexual exploitation and modern slavery: a framework from Skills For Care, to train people in the caring professions, to identify and support victims, and a Stop the Traffik report on the exploitation of women trafficked from China.

These women had spent much of their lives ‘locked down’, so it was vital that, although confined, they felt free and were given new experiences to help them grow and move on.

The guests were encouraged to keep active. They began sharing their talents and a real sense of community was achieved. At Christmas one guest taught the others to make a Christmas tree from rolled-up newspaper.

In August we were able to start welcoming new guests and moving others on when they were ready.

We welcomed 12 new guests in 2020, and 15 were able to move on.

Caritas St Josephs Caritas St Josephs, our lifelong learning centre for adults with learning disabilities in Hendon was closed completely between April and September. During that time, staff kept in touch with the students, including those who had been attending the Connect @ centres in Hounslow and Feltham and provided activities for the students to do at home.

Staff made 3000 welfare calls to all of our students and their families, helping in any way that they could. They sent over 1500 resource packs home to students.

Over the summer we were lucky to receive a grant and were able to go virtual so that when St Joseph’s re-opened in September, students

Celebrating Bakhita House’s 5th Birthday in June 2020.

who have underlying health conditions had a choice whether or not to stay at home or learn remotely. In addition to this, a lot of changes were made to keep students and staff safe, for example, moving around the building a lot less, smaller class sizes and restrictions on catered lunches. The students coped well, understanding the importance of protecting their friends and ensuring the centre stayed open.

136 students were registered in September with around 50 choosing to come in

remotely.

For those coming in remotely resources were sent home so that they did not miss out on the whole lesson experience and were able to keep up their skills whilst shielding to protect themselves and others.

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Caritas Westminster 2020 Annual Review

Developing human potential

SEIDs

Anita says of SEIDs:

SEIDs runs two training and mentoring programmes for budding entrepreneurs and business owners. In order to continue supporting the trainees, the whole programme was reworked. They changed facilitators, recruited new mentors and, crucially, moved everything online without losing a single participant. The sense of camaraderie that emerged amongst a group of people who haven’t ever met in real life was remarkable. More participants attended workshops than ever before.

“The programme overall was really helpful. Being able to talk to people at the same stage of setting up their own business was invaluable – so many fresh pairs of eyes! The workshops were useful and they got better over time – I found the finance workshop especially beneficial.

In 2020, 35 people took part in SEIDs programmes that aim to increase economic empowerment through self-employment.

15 people took part in a pre-start up business programme, a twelve-week course run in partnership with the School for Social Entrepreneurs, which finished in December, and 20 people took part in the year-long Start Up Business programme, which, due to delays caused by Covid, finished in May 2021. Another 20 signed up for this course in September 2020.

Since starting the programme, I hosted my first paid workshop and since then have gone on to earn extra income through a range of events including workshops with Rethink in Harrow, a series of winter wellness workshops, and a mental health at work session as part of the SEIDs Startup Business Programme.”

Meet two of the successful businesswomen who took part in the first SEIDs Business Start Up Programme: Iman Founder: Enhance Online Enhance Online is an award winning writing workshop service that helps amateur and professional writers on their path to becoming established authors.

Iman says of SEIDs:

Anita Founder: Flourish ​ lourish provides training courses designed for F developing a better understanding of mental health and writing workshops that promote wellbeing.

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“The programme gave me the opportunity to network and collaborate with other start up business owners – they were such an inspiring, friendly and diverse group! The peer-to-peer mentoring sessions were especially useful as they gave the group the opportunity to explore common start up problems and challenges, and opened up avenues for working together.

T​ he SEIDs workshops were amazing – I felt they kept my business knowledge up to date. The finance workshop was especially informative and helped me with budgeting and pricing.”

Caritas Westminster 2020 Annual Review

Developing Human Potential

We would like to thank the following organisations we have worked with, among others, in supporting our clients and the communities to develop their human potential: The Metropolitan Police, St Mary’s University, Bakhita Centre for Research on Slavery, Exploitation and Abuse, The Good Things Foundation, DevicesDotNow (part of FutureDotNow), School for Social Entrepreneurs, Brent Borough Council, The Bible Society, and the Modern Slavery & Exploitation Group of the London Boroughs of Kensington & Chelsea, Westminster, and Hammersmith & Fulham.

he struggle against destitution, though urgent and necessary, is not T enough. It is a question, rather, of building a world where every man, no matter what his race, religion or nationality, can live a fully human life, freed from servitude imposed on him by other men or by natural forces over which he has not sufficient control; a world where freedom is not an empty word and where the poor man Lazarus can sit down at the same table with the rich man. This demands great generosity, much sacrifice and unceasing effort on the part of the rich man.

Pope Paul VI, Populorum Progressio

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Caritas Westminster 2020 Annual Review

In November 2020, Caritas Westminster launched the Road to Resilience. This is a new programme of work focussing on helping people out of poverty and empowering them to be more resilient to the shocks and challenges that cause insecurity.

The Road to Resilience is a network, a series of events and training courses, and a set of resources .

Working as a network – We are stronger together.

By coming together we can share ideas, overcome challenges, form partnerships and collect the data that helps us understand and respond to needs.

We can deepen our understanding of Catholic Social Teaching and encourage and inspire each other.

You can join quarterly meetings for those involved in different areas of work, including those supporting the homeless, working with refugees and migrants, or involved in food programmes.

Providing expert training – equipping you with skills you need

to support the people in your community.

Caritas Westminster is organising training in five key areas: food poverty, getting into work, homelessness, social isolation and finance.

Resources and toolkits – to put the skills at your fingertips.

We are building up resources to help projects assess the needs of those they work with and come up with practical ways to support them.

Find out more by visiting our website www.caritaswestminster.org.uk/road-to-resilience.php or email caritaswestminster@rcdow.org.uk Page 12

Caritas Westminster 2020 Annual Review

Social Justice Project Set up Resilience

Community Building Expert Training

£

Finance

Jobs

Networking Food Shelter

Social Inclusion Ongoing Relief

Catholic Social Teaching

The Why

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Caritas Westminster 2020 Annual Review

Supporting engagement, social inclusion and belonging Keeping connected, getting people involved and working in solidarity with those we serve T here are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ... If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together with it.

1 Corinthians 12: 20-22, 26

Volunteers preparing food at the Holiday Club in Stevenage in February 2020.

Throughout the pandemic Caritas Westminster remained open. We remained available and we kept in touch with projects in parishes and schools across the diocese, finding out their needs and connecting them with others who could help, whether that was volunteers or organisations like the Felix project to distribute food.

Thanks to technology we have had more people than ever attend our online events and have been able to set up new networks including the Young Caritas Westminster Forum.

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There are more than 900 social action projects run or supported by Catholic parishes and schools across the diocese.

Caritas organised 49 events to raise awareness of issues, increase understanding of Catholic Social Teaching or encourage involvement within parishes and schools.

We were involved in 22 events organised by our partners.

Caritas Westminster 2020 Annual Review

Supporting engagement, social inclusion and belonging With our seven hubs, each having a Development Worker, plus Caritas Representatives in – so far – around 50 parishes, we were able to create and support networks to share experience and offer practical help.

In the summer of 2020, Feed Up Warm Up – the drop-in centre for homeless people supported by our North Hertfordshire Development Worker, was offered a huge amount of surplus food from the local council. This was more than was needed in one area, so our Development Workers contacted all the food projects they knew of, and soon a little convoy of cars and vans was heading to Hitchin.

For those who wanted food, but couldn’t travel, someone else collected it. A volunteer from Neighbours in Poplar took food from Hitchin to Copenhagen Street in Islington, and Fr Ugo

from Archway delivered food to Idia’s Kitchen in Hoxton. That week 25 food projects each received a large amount of food.

The following week, more food was available, and more volunteers from food projects collected food to distribute to families relying on their services. Once again, people delivered food to neighbouring projects with West Londoners proving they could show the same solidarity as their friends in the East.

Special thanks go to Hertfordshire Couriers Ltd who collected the food from the council free of charge, and even put crates of food on one of their lorries which made a detour in its journey to deliver food to St Gregory’s school in Harrow.

Witnessing acts of solidarity like this has been a highlight of the year for us at Caritas Westminster.

Helping Hands – volunteers collecting food from Letchworth.

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Caritas Westminster 2020 Annual Review

© Marcin Mazur

Supporting engagement, social inclusion and belonging

The Foodbank at Newman Catholic College.

Working with Schools

One child at St Paul’s school in Cheshunt said:

Our programme on Catholic Social Teaching for primary and secondary schools, called Caritas Ambassadors, grew in 2020. By the end of the year 15 schools had taken part in the Ambassadors programme. The resources have been praised by teachers for including clear lesson plans with linked slideshows. At the end of the course students look at their area and its needs and decide on a social action to take, such as writing to elderly people in a care home, supporting a local project or taking an action to protect the environment.

“I really enjoyed making the Vinnie packs because I like helping others just like Jesus tells us to in the Bible. The boxes had lots of warm things in like socks and gloves to help the homeless on the streets over the winter month. The packs also had face masks in to help keep the people safe.”

To mark World Day of the Poor in November, 675 children from fourteen Catholic schools packed 3375 “Vinnie Packs” with winter essentials and hygiene items for homeless and otherwise vulnerable people The distribution of these Vinnie Packs was coordinated by the St Vincent de Paul Society with support from Caritas Westminster in storing and delivering them.

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Pupil at St Joseph’s Harlesden receives her Caritas Ambassadors Badge.

Caritas Westminster 2020 Annual Review

Supporting engagement, social inclusion and belonging

Young Caritas Young Caritas was launched in the midst of lockdown in the summer of 2020, in response to a need for connection expressed by young people across the diocese.

A group of young adults, aged 18 to 30, have been exploring topics of social justice as part of the virtual Young Caritas Westminster Forum. Caritas Westminster launched this forum in partnership with the Young Christian Workers and the sessions have drawn from the ‘see, judge, act’ framework. The young people heard from experts working for social justice in different areas.

Participants were encouraged to see and understand an issue, judge the impact of their actions and discuss how they can act to bring about change. The sessions, therefore, have been an opportunity to experience Catholic Social Teaching at work in the Church and

understand the resonance it has when applied to contemporary and contextual social issues.

Sessions covered topics such as mental health in young people, racial inequality, environmental issues, homelessness and modern slavery – mirroring many of Caritas Westminster’s areas of work. Discussion focused especially on the context of the pandemic, and how it has greatly exacerbated inequality.

One attendee reported: “I feel really empowered as a young person to develop my faith and share my experiences with others.

We can become stronger together and make a difference to the lives of others. It is important for us to See, Judge and Act - a good way to become young leaders and to surround ourselves with people who can help you grow”.

11 Young Caritas Events were held 50 different people attended these events

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Caritas Westminster 2020 Annual Review

Supporting engagement, social inclusion and belonging

Where would we have been in 2020 without volunteers?

Volunteers played a massive role in helping communities all over the country cope with the fallout of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Covid-19 and its effects dominated the work of the Caritas Volunteer Service. The coronavirus outbreak meant imminent events had to be cancelled. The core service element, connecting volunteers with charities via a ‘matching webpage’, was already online and the timely launch of a new website enabled the speedy addition of further elements to address changing needs.

The key issues were:

harities, faced with sudden loss of core • Cvolunteers through self-isolation or shielding, needed to recruit volunteers urgently.

urlough and the desire of people to • Fhelp led to an oversupply of volunteers in many places, though not all.

eeping up with official guidelines and • Krestrictions.

• Isolation and lack of ‘offline’ events.

In response, the Caritas Volunteer Service

upported charities and parish projects, • swith focus on food relief and isolation, by enabling speedy connections through a simplified process

A volunteer with the Jesuit Refugee Service.

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stablished the “Caritas Covid-19 • eResponse Team”, together with the

Caritas Food Collective, a standby team of volunteers to help with food distribution and to respond to short notice urgent calls for help

dded a dedicated webpage for urgent • acoronavirus-related volunteer needs

• linked up charities aximised choice of volunteering • mopportunities by providing links to local volunteer centres, mutual aid groups and NHS volunteer recruitment.

rovided information and guidance, • pincluding links to relevant NHS and government advice

and hosted events to meet the need • rforan connection, communication and

training (Virtual volunteer gatherings, volunteer management for parish project leaders, introduction to volunteering, self-care sessions)

By the end of 2020 the Caritas Volunteer Service website had 1,159 registered users (potential volunteers) and 84 charities signed up to recruit volunteers through the website.

33 charities had advertised volunteering opportunities through our Caritas Covid-19 Response Team, which had a mailing list of around 130 individuals offering to volunteer.

Caritas Westminster 2020 Annual Review

The knitting team from St John Fisher in Harrow, has been knitting clothes for guests at Caritas Bakhita House for over four years. In August 2020, they met in an open-air venue, and reconnected after months of lockdown and isolation, showing solidarity for each other and for the women at Bakhita House.

A staff member at the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) said:

A volunteer at St Monica’s Hoxton Food Shelter Services said:

“We are very grateful for all your help and support, not only during the pandemic, but beforehand as well. We are heavily reliant on an amazing team of volunteers to ensure our services can run smoothly at JRS and having Caritas Westminster as a way of recruit more volunteers has been a great help.”

“The sensation of really helping someone in need and to see their smiles occupying their faces because they got enough food for the day, or clothes for their children, or just a conversation to forget the loneliness for a while, brings to you such a great satisfaction that feeds you enough to do it again and again. … We need to volunteer, to make this world a bit better every day.”

During 2020 we were pleased to expand our network of friends and partners, and would like to thank all the organisations who have engaged with us, including: The Society of St Vincent de Paul, The Irish Chaplaincy, Advice4renters, PACT, Resurgo, Providence Row, The Passage, Housing Justice, Mayday Trust, Word 4 Weapons, Compassionate Communities, Christians Against Poverty, Quaker Social Action, Jewish Volunteer Network, Million Minutes, YCW Impact, Feast with Us, University College London, and Newman House.

rayer to God and solidarity with the poor and suffering are P inseparable. In order to perform an act of worship acceptable to the Lord, we have to recognise that each person ... is made in the image of God. From this awareness comes the gift of God’s blessing, drawn by the generosity we show to the poor.

Pope Francis, message for World Day of the Poor 2020

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Caritas Westminster 2020 Annual Review

Promoting social justice and fairness Raising awareness of church teaching on social justice issues, learning from each other and campaigning for change o not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for D what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Matthew 10, 19-20

Love in Action being presented at Mass at Potters Bar.

Always inspired by Catholic Social Teaching In 2020 many of us discovered Zoom and livestreamed liturgies… and Catholic Social Teaching - that “best-kept secret” of papal documents guiding us on how to respond to God’s call to live our faith and work towards the common good - gained a wider audience.

During Lent two parishes, Kenton and White City, had started our Love in Action programme, in Page 20

which themes from CST are embedded in the Sunday Mass over six weeks, with material for further reflection at home. Sadly, this had to be suspended due to the first lockdown. But then, in the autumn, Potters Bar parish started the programme, with the parish’s livestream enabling a much wider participation than usually possible.

Follow-up and action planning meetings were conducted via Zoom into 2021, and the parish was supported throughout by members of our Development Team.

Caritas Westminster 2020 Annual Review

Promoting social justice and fairness CST is at the heart of what we do; our “Why”, underpinning our work, priorities and attitudes. It is also an essential part of the Road to Resilience, through our new, reflective resource, The Why, which we offer especially to all the parishes, schools and projects responding to needs in their communities. It’s an opportunity to pause, and to discern the way forward, by reflecting in the light of the values and calls of Catholic Social Teaching, and seeing to what extent these values are evident in how we plan and deliver our services. The first workshop – on Dignity – was held in October, and attended by 34 participants from around the diocese, with more planned for 2021.

Speaking out for justice The contrast between the “haves” and the “havenots” in our society has never been more visible.

As we witnessed increased hardship among those who had already been struggling before the pandemic we renewed our commitment to speak out. We made connections with other organisations who were working for change in some key areas, most notably in the issue of child poverty and hunger, and we asked our supporters to write to their Members of Parliament.

eep The Lifeline is a campaign supported by • KCatholic charities, to make permanent the £20 uplift to Universal Credit that the Government introduced at the start of the pandemic. This campaign continues.

August we joined 60 other organisations • Iinn asking for free school meals to be made

available to children from families who have no recourse to public funds. We continue to highlight the disadvantage faced by approximately 175,000 children whose families are unable to claim any benefits, usually due to their immigration status.

s part of networks including the Clewer • AInitiative and the Santa Marta Group, we

raise awareness on the prevalence of modern slavery and campaign for better provision for survivors of trafficking and slavery.

We have been grateful for the mutual support of many other organisations with similar aims of promoting social justice and fairness, including: Caritas Social Action Network (CSAN), UK Welcomes Refugees, Jesuit Refugee Service UK, Sustain, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, The Children’s Society and the Diocese of Westminster Justice and Peace Commission.

•

Magic Breakfast is calling on the government to properly fund school breakfasts so that no child is too hungry to learn. The School Breakfast Bill passed its first reading in October.

We know by the response people who follow our social media accounts and read our newsletters, that there is a shared passion for something better to come out of the Covid crisis. We cannot simply return to the old “normal”.

Page 21

Caritas Westminster 2020 Annual Review

John Coleby, Director of Caritas Westminster writes: Caritas Westminster has been at the forefront of this work in our diocese, alongside parishes, community groups and many other charities, both Catholic, and of other faiths and none, across London and Hertfordshire.

As we publish this Annual Report, already many months into 2021 and therefore ‘behind the times’ one cannot fail to reflect on the last 18 months which have devasted many people and their families in so many different ways.

Notwithstanding the suffering, we have seen communities come together to console each other, share resources, provide material support and give hope to one another.

As we move forward our focus will be to consolidate our networks of support so that we can strengthen and grow our capacity to help communities become more resilient and build back better. Thank you for being a part of this, whether as a financial supporter, a volunteer, a member of a partner organisation, or simply by remembering us in your prayers.

Whatever the future holds, Caritas Westminster will continue to shine a light on injustice and work to ensure that no one is left behind.

e must not let the current clarifying W moment pass us by. Let it not be said, in years to come, that in response to the coronavirus we failed to act to restore the dignity of our peoples, to recover our memory and to remember our roots.

Pope Francis – Let Us Dream

Page 22

Harvest,

Caritas Westminster 2020 Annual Review

North Hertfordshire District Council,

City Harvest,

Our Partners and Supporters have included: [1st section]

On behalf of parishes, schools, and all social ac2on projects and services in the Caritas Westminster family we would like to thank the following organisa2ons who were among those who helped us to meet basic human need in 2020:

Hasbro,

eshare,

The Felix Project,

ble London,

Fareshare,

St Marys University, Bakhita Centre for Research on Slavery, Exploitation and Abuse Edible London,

North Hertfordshire The Gubay Use logo for St Mary’s on previous AR. on previous AR. Use logo for St Mary’s StAlbert Marys University, Marys University, Use logoFoundation, for St Mary’s onStprevious AR. District Council, Bakhita Centre Bakhita for Centre for Research on Slavery, Research on Slavery, and Abuse Exploitation andExploitation Abuse

Hasbro, and the donor who has The Good Things The Goodthe Things been funding Foundation, Funeral Grants since Foundation, 2016.

DevicesDotNow, part of DevicesDotNow,FuturedotNow part of [2ndFuturedotNow set]

The Good Things Foundation,

We would like to thank the following organisa2ons we have worked with, among others, in suppor2ng our clients and the communi2es to develop their human poten2al:

[Set 3]

iversity, tre for Slavery, and Abuse

Resurgo

Edible London,

The Felix Project,

City Harvest,

for Social

Entrepreneurs, expand our network of friends and School for Social Metropolitan Police;partners, and would like to thank all Entrepreneurs,the organisa2ons who have engaged During 2020 we were pleased to

DevicesDotNow, part of FuturedotNow

[1st section] On behalf of parishes, schools, and all social ac2on projects and services in the Caritas Westminster family we would like to thank the following organisa2ons who were among those Fareshare, who helped us to meet basic human need in 2020:

The Albert Gubay Foundation,

School [Set 3]

During 2020 we were pleased to expand our network of friends Use logo for St Mary’s on previous AR. and partners, and would like to thank all the organisa2ons who have engaged with us, including:

City Harvest,

with us, including:

The Society of St Brent de Borough Vincent Paul

The Society of St Vincent de Paul

Brent Borough Council,

Council,

and the donor who has been funding the

The Bible Society, The Irish Chaplaincy Funeral Grants since

hings

School for Social Entrepreneurs, The Irish Chaplaincy

Now, part of w

The Society of St Vincent de Paul

& Chelsea, Westminster, Advice4renters and Hammersmith & Fulham.

The Irish Chaplaincy

ocial rs,

The Bible Society,

4 Weapons

e Modern xploitation London Kensington Westminster, rsmith &

Take from previous report

Housing Justice

Edible Metropolitan Police; Mayday TrustLondon,

Million Minutes

Advice4renters

CAP

Million Minutes

Advice4renters

ociety,

Providence Row

and the Modern The Passage Slavery & Exploitation [2nd set] Fareshare, Group of the London We would like to thank the following and the Modern organisa2ons we have worked with, Boroughs of Kensington Slavery & Exploitation among others, in suppor2ng our & Chelsea, Westminster, clients and the communi2es to Group of the London and Hammersmith & develop their human poten2al: Boroughs of Kensington Fulham.

Brent Borough Council,

gh Council,

2016.

The Bible Society,

[Set 3]

During 2020 we were pleased to expand our network of friends and partners, and would like to thank all the organisa2ons who have engaged with us, including:

and the Modern Slavery & Exploitation Group of the London CAP of Kensington Boroughs & Chelsea, Westminster, PACT and Hammersmith & Fulham.

Take from last years report

PACT

Quaker Social Action

Take from last years report

Million Minutes

YCW Impact

Take from last years report

PACT

YCW Impact Jewish Volunteer Network

Quaker Social Action

passionate munities

Use logo from last year

Feast with Us YCW Impact

Feast with Us Feast with Us

Jewish Volunteer Network

Use logo from last year

Justice and Peace Page 23

Caritas Westminster 2020 Annual Review

Registered Charity No. 233699

Caritas Westminster seeks to bring about a world where everyone lives a lifethanks of dignity worth.

With for the and support of the Caritas Board: Bishop Paul McAleenan (Chair) David Barnes, Jasdeep Brar, Ruth Cairns, Paolo Camoletto, Alba de Souza, Pat Fernandes, Thank you for your support.

Mick McAteer, Andrew Ndoca and Fr Mark Woodruff.

Contact us: twitter.com/CaritasWestm facebook.com/CaritasWestminster Instagram.com/caritas_westminster www.caritaswestminster.org.uk Page 24