Fundraising

The first of our Advent stories is about how solidarity from a continent away restored hope to the life of one displaced but not defeated woman in Nigeria.

This past month, Vancouver had its first university THINKfast at St. Patrick’s Parish. The event was organized in collaboration with Catholic Christian Outreach (CCO), a pan-Canadian university student movement dedicated...

On May 9th, I entered into the beautifully decorated church hall of All Saints Parish in Coquitlam, B.C., where a sold out benefit dinner gathering over 200 Iraqi-Canadians and Catholics from across Vancouver was about to take place.  Since the fall, a dedicated group of local Iraqis along with the Knights of Columbus worked diligently to organize this event aimed at bringing awareness about the crisis in Iraq that has displaced 2.5 million Christians, Yazidis, and other minorities this past year, and raising funds for aid. 

The first time I heard about Sierra Leone, I was 14 or 15. I read an article about child soldiers who were fighting in the civil war. From the pictures I saw - children with guns, drugged and dismembered - it certainly did not appear “civil.” My heart broke. I couldn’t stay silent about this injustice so I wrote a paper for a high school project. At the time, the civil war in Sierra Leone was not on many people’s radar and the international community only started to talk about blood diamonds years later.

Last Friday, March 13th, staff and National Council members had the privilege of experiencing the first edition of a fundraising activity initiated by the Fundraising/Communications Working Group of the Share Lent Campaign organizing committee: a silent auction!