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Caritas Ambassadors
It is with great pleasure that I inform you of the recognition of the tireless work of our school's Caritas Ambassadors. On Thursday 14 November, at a Caritas Love in Action volunteering award ceremony, our dedicated pupils were presented with a special trophy in the presence of Archbishop Vincent Nichols and Bishop Paul McAleenan.
The deputy director of education for the Diocese of Westminster, Amanda Crowley, movingly summarised the Ambassadors' work in thinking of the homeless in London and putting those concerns into positive action. Their commitment to serving the community and living out the values of Caritas has been truly inspirational.
Under the dedicated guidance of Mrs McGivern, our Caritas Ambassadors have demonstrated an unwavering dedication to making a difference. I am sure you will join me in congratulating them on this well-deserved accolade. We are immensely proud of their achievements and the way they have represented our school.
This recognition is a testament to the strong sense of social responsibility and compassion that permeates our school community. It is a privilege to witness our pupils putting their faith into practice and making a tangible impact on the lives of others.
Please join me in celebrating the success of our Caritas Ambassadors. Their work is a shining example of the power of young people to effect positive change in the world.
Mr O'Rourke
Headteacher, St George's Catholic Primary School
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In October 2023, 6 children were appointed to be Caritas Ambassadors. The children looked the principles of Catholic Social Teaching in greater depth. The children learnt that our faith calls us to follow Jesus’ teaching to ‘love your neighbour’ (Matthew 22: 39) especially those living in poverty. By living out our school motto, ‘In everything we do today, we’re following Jesus and His Way’ we hope to make the justice, love and peace of God present in our world.
After the Ambassadors looked at the principles of CST, they started working on their social action project. They researched the needs in our local area and decided to focus on homelessness. The Ambassadors research different homeless charities in London and decided to support the non-profit organisation, ‘Hands On, Hand Out’. The Ambassadors chose this charity because not only do they offer food and drink to those who are homeless, but also laughter and a listening air.
The Ambassadors were particularly touched by the words on the Hands On, Hand Out website, where it said, Remember these people are someone's Mother, Father, Nan, Grandad, Son, Daughter and so on. Everybody matters whatever their situation or circumstance. This really resonated with the children, along with a phrase that they read during the Caritas programme, ‘Thrive, Not Just Survive.’
We were delighted when Paul and Justine from Hands on Hands out said that they would be happy for us to support them. They came into school and led a very powerful assembly which had a great impact on all of the children and staff at our school.
We also met with Fr Patrick and showed him a poster that Lily made, including the ‘Thrive, Not Just Survive’ slogan. Fr Patrick showed us some sculptures called the Homeless Christ and the Begging Jesus and it reminded us that we should see Christ in everyone that we meet. We used this inspiration to add to our special poster. Our poster highlights that everyone is special, included and loved. The figure of Jesus cannot be easily distinguished from the other figures- this is deliberate to show that anyone can be affected by homeless, that we should see the face of Christ in all and that we need to treat everyone we meet with dignity. The figures also show all races, including those with disabilities. The candle shows that Jesus is the light of the world and provides hope for us all.
We also met with Sr Silvana – and Nigel P.Enguin - from Caritas Westminster and told her about all the work that we have been doing. We learnt about the importance of being an ambassador and showing Jesus’s love to all that we meet. We were very proud to receive our special badges.
We launched a special Easter appeal where we have asked our school community to donate some items. These included,
- Easter eggs
- Chocolate
- Biscuits
- Crisps
- A £5 gift voucher for Starbucks/Costa Coffee/Café Nero/Pret a Manger/ Greggs
Paul and Justine said that our homeless friends would love any of these treats. One of the things we asked for was a £5 gift voucher because we thought it was important that our homeless friends are able to also choose the items that they would like to receive- this links back to the Catholic Social Teaching principle of Dignity.
As part of the Caritas Ambassadors programme, we learnt about the importance of working with our Parish. We spoke at the end of the 12pm Mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St. George on 17th March and spoke to the parishioners about the work we are doing and why we are doing it. We asked if they would like to donate towards our appeal.
We were delighted and overwhelmed with the generosity from our school, home and parish community- we received so many Easter eggs, chocolates, biscuits and crisps and also over £200 worth of gift cards. The donations even made Justine cry happy tears- both she and Paul asked us to pass on their sincere thanks.
On Tuesday 21st May, we attended a special celebration at Westminster Cathedral where we celebrated the work of all the schools in our Diocese who are also putting Love into Action via the Caritas Ambassador programme. We were so proud to participate and to hear the good work that children in other schools are doing.
Photography © 2024 Paul Hampartsoumian
Our next project is to raise money to purchase hygiene products for our homeless friends. We are going to hold an ice cream and slushie stall at the Summer Fayre called ‘Caritas Pops’ to help raise money towards this. We also aim to turn our special poster, ‘Thrive, not just survive’ into cards and to ask members of our school, home and parish community to write messages to our homeless friends to show our solidarity with them.
