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 IRELAND's DA REPORT - JANUARY 2012
from
Barbara Morrison
Psalm 16 v 8
“I have set the Lord
before me. Because He is my right hand I shall not be shaken.”
It is hard to believe
that 2011 is gone, they say time flies when you are enjoying yourself,
and the Lord works and moves mightily when we keep ourselves busy for
Him.
Things have been really
busy in Ireland, and the Lord has been working and encouraging us
throughout 2011. The last quarter of the year has brought about even
more interesting and successful fundraisers for Smiles.
We all work as a team, committed
to helping the people in Romania, sharing God’s love in this practical
way and following His calling on our lives to serve, what a privilege!
Thank you everyone for all
your work, we have varied gifts and interests, and each part is so
important to make it happen. There is something for everyone with
Smiles!
.JPG) One fundraiser in 2011 that has
been a great team effort is the
Clothes Collections.
We are blessed on the farm with plenty of space to collect, sort and
store, so everyone around the province has been collecting. Often at
our meetings we come home with a trailer load and car full of clothes.
We have had 5 collections
this year, 9.78 Tonnes of clothes, valued at £6016.00 – fantastic
effort.
The Enniskillen Team
had one of the biggest Bag Packs ever, raising an amazing
£1010.00
in Asda from 10.30 am – 5.30 pm. This must have been a hard day’s
work!
Christmas wouldn’t be
Christmas without a
Craft Fair and Coffee Morning
– but Richill did do things a little bit differently. They linked up
with the Youth Club and got the kids selling and fundraising for
Smiles on the day, and you know how persuasive and successful they
are. This day brought in
£1030.00, many cups of
coffee and scones later!
The Ballymena Team
organised a Sponsored
Walk amongst a few
people, intending it to be a fairly quiet, low key event. As always
the loyal supporters put heart and soul into the event which finally
raised over £2000.00.
It was great fun and everyone enjoyed the walk and photographs at the
band stand. Barclay’s Bank
matched a target figure
which was a great boost to the income.
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We had another wonderful
event on November 25th – 27th with
The Voice of Hope Choir
singing “The Gift”.
This is always a great outreach of God’s love in song, testimony and
readings while supporting Charity with the proceeds. The event is
held in Ballymena, is the vision of a lovely Christian lady,
Alyson Reid.
Everyone involved are volunteers and all is done unto the glory of
God.
We were privileged to be the chosen charity for this particular
event along with Radio Cracker, a local Christian Radio Station, who
have also supported Smiles in the past. The amazing thing is that many
of our Smiles supporters are also involved in this event, some
singing, some on cameras and producing, some car parking and welcoming
and some attending.
It was great to be there, set up our Smiles stands
and information table, greet and talk to many of the 900 people each
night, some who had never heard of Smiles. It was a great opportunity
to raise the profile of the charity.
Adrian Pogue
did a great job introducing the work in Romania, and we presented a
slide show during the offering. We were then invited on Christmas Eve
to a Cheque presentation of
£2350.00,
much more than we ever imagined – what a Christmas present! |
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 Schools are a very
important link for us, and we are grateful to them all for their
support this year with various fundraising activities. One that has
really made a big effort is
William Pinkerton
Memorial Primary School in Dervock,
a small village school with a huge heart to help others in need. I
have visited four times this year and encouraged them with their 20p
Tuesdays, filling Smartie Tubes. Recently they held their annual Carol
Service and sang in Tesco’s. I was presented with
£501.00 on the last day of
term, but must mention the private concert put on especially for me
that morning......magic! This brought their fundraising total this
year to £942.40.
Thank you kids and teachers for your commitment and support this year.
Moycraig Young Farmers Group
have shown interest in Smiles over the past year, and we are grateful
for a cheque of £500.00
for the Farm Project following their fundraising events. We look
forward to joining them for an evening, and presentation of the farm
work in Arpasel in January.
I always emphasise the
importance of taking every opportunity available to speak and present
the work of The Smiles Foundation. By doing this the best thing that
can happen is to get another invitation to go somewhere else. These
evenings explain what is happening in Romania, but also gives us an
opportunity to ask for some things we need to send out from the wish
list.
Rockport School in Hollywood
took up this challenge and collected essential toiletries. Many ladies
groups have been knitting hats, scarves, gloves and beautiful blankets
for winter. We were able to get a lot of these away to Romania on a
lorry, so those going on the December Mission Trip filled suitcases
with many more and distributed them during the week.
It is great to spend a week in
Romania, at any time of the year. It reminds me of the great need
there is out there, but also the great need there is here, to continue
in the fundraising
and increasing support. St Teresa of Avila said,
“Christ has no body on
earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the
eyes through which Christ’s compassion for the world is to look out;
yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good; and yours
are the hands with which he is to bless us now.”
 My
prayer is that we can continue together in 2012, to be a part of
making a difference
to the lives of these
dear people we love in Romania.
1 Cor 15 v 58
“Therefore, my dear brothers,
stand firm. Let nohing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the
work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not
in vain.”
HAPPY
NEW YEAR!
God Bless
Barbara
Barbara Morrison
Development Associate
for the Smiles Foundation
Ireland
Email Barbara
Previous DA Reports
December 2011 - North Midlands
November 2011 - South West of England
October 2011 - North West of
England
September
2011 - Scotland
August 2011 - Ireland
July 2011 - South East of England
June 2011 - Wales
May 2011 -
South
East England, Region 4
April 2011 -
North East, Region 1
March 2011 - North Midlands, Region 3
February 2011 - The South West
January 2011
December 2010
Scotland, November 2010
Wales,
October 2010
Northern Ireland, September 2010
North East, August 2010
South East, July 2010
Southern Counties, June 2010
North West, May 2010
North Midlands, March 2010
Scotland, February 2010
South East
Counties, January 2010
Southern Counties, December 09
North East, November 09
South
West, October 09
Northern Ireland, September 09 |
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