Our Outreach Project for 2018/19 
Lansdowne Church Council has agreed that the charity Malvern Welcomes should be our Outreach Project for the year to April 2019. We have received an update on the current position from a Trustee of this charity, Sue Wolfendale. Sue thanks Lansdowne for choosing them for our outreach project and says that our offer comes at a very significant time, as they have just been approved by the Home Office to take their first Syrian refugee family to Malvern. This comes after many years of campaigning and latterly of wading through endless paperwork. Throughout this process Malvern Welcomes have kept in mind their aim to offer a safe and welcoming place to a family (and hopefully families) who have escaped the horror of war.
The application has been made through the government's Full Community Sponsorship Scheme, which means that Malvern Welcomes are responsible for provision of all the support that the family will need when they arrive here and begin to settle in and integrate to life in Malvern. This will involve costs such as the provision of translation services in the initial weeks; there may be a need to pay rent to hold the property before the family arrive and costs to set up the house. In addition, Malvern Welcomes may need to pay transport costs. It is possible that there will be a need pay for specialist counselling, etc. Thus, financial support from Lansdowne will be hugely welcomed.
Malvern Welcomes have already submitted an application to take on another family, as they have always envisaged a cluster of families in Malvern. In addition, Worcestershire County Council have agreed to take a second group of 50 refugees to the county. Malvern Welcomes will be working with the County Council to assist these families and it is possible that some will also be placed in Malvern.
We have been reading the news about the plight of ordinary families in Syria for years and have felt powerless to act. Now we have the chance to help desperate people find hope and a new life in our community. As in previous years, members of the congregation are invited to hold fund raising events such as coffee mornings, concerts, sponsored meals, barn dances, auctions of promises, sponsored exhibitions, etc. Please lend your support to this worthwhile, exciting and ground-breaking project.
David Tweats