Help make poverty an election issue

Now the General Election has finally been called, Christian Aid are asking supporters to help turn politicians’ minds to the crucial issues of tax dodging and climate change, as part of Christian Aid’s bid to keep global poverty high on the political agenda.

They are not suggesting who you should vote for! However, they hope that every new MP will have been asked, repeatedly, about his or her views on climate change and tax dodging before they enter office. Every MP should be fully aware that ambitious action to tackle these issues is exactly what many of their constituents demand.

Join the Christian Aid Election Campaign Trail and keep up with developmrents by becoming a fan of the Christian Aid Facebook page or follow on Twitter.

Quizaid

Q: What’s the smartest way to help people in the world’s poorest communities help themselves?
A: Quizaid.

It's the best quiz night in town – and it’s organised by you. Quizaid forms part of Christian Aid Week 2009, which will run from 10-16 May. Last year, the first Quizaid raised £185,000 for Christian Aid's overseas development work. This year Quizaid aims to raise £225,000 with your help!

You can put on a quiz anywhere you like – at home, at your local church hall, up the road, over at your mate’s or in your local pub. Wherever you hold it, you'll be helping to raise money for the world’s poorest people.

The Quizaid question pack is bursting with hints and tips on how to make Quizaid a fun and memorable event. Quiz questions are included, covering up-to-the minute topical questions. Question rounds include brainteasers on: history, music, geography, maths, pot luck and much, much more. Christian Aid have thought of everything – so you don’t have to. Order your Quizaid pack online now!

Christmas recipes

Travel and illness have resulted in a bit of a hiatus in blogging. This also means that the only online Advent resource I've followed has been the Christian Aid emails suggesting frugal gift ideas and promoting Present Aid. The tip on 7th December was this:

Don’t buy gifts, bake them! Check out these Christmas recipes for Gingerbread, biscuits, fudge, truffles, and jams. Spending time baking for a loved one is a great way to show you care and a great way to save the £s too. Why not check out your local charity shop for a container to present your gift in and then wrap it in Christmas ribbon for some festive fun. Click here for more ideas about making your own gifts.

Online Advent resources

In addition to the WhyWeAreWaiting website, here are some other online resources for Advent:

• Sign up to Christian Aid's Advent-inspired email and receive daily tips to help beat the credit crunch this Christmas. The handy hints, which will be emailed daily from the 1st December until Christmas Eve, are designed to help you save cash, cut carbon emissions and have some Yuletide fun.
• The Evangelical Alliance offer their Advent Prayer Guide for 2008.‏
• The IVP Advent Calendar offers excerpts from the Bible and from a range of IVP books each day - gems that point us to the coming of that pearl of great price, the greatest gift of all, the Lord Jesus Christ.
• Paperless Christmas offers a time-locked Advent countdown of 24 videos produced by Jerusalem Productions Limited, in association with Bible Reading Fellowship.

19 September is Tea Time

Whether it’s lapsang souchong or a mug of builders’, it’s hard to beat a nice cup of tea. Unless it’s a nice cup of tea that could help make a fairer world...

On 19 September, Christian Aid is asking people across the world to get together, put the kettle on and help give poor communities the chance of a better future.

• Order your free event pack

• Download free resources – including delicious cake recipes

• Send out your invitations

Quizaid

Christian Aid Week 2008 will run from 11 - 17 May. As always, the website provides a range of downloadable resources. A new fundraising idea this year is Quizaid. The blurb says "Quizaid is the best quiz night in town – and it’s organised by you. Challenge your friends, colleagues and neighbours to dust off their brain cells and join in the fun. You can put on a quiz anywhere you like – in your home, at your local church hall, over at your mate’s or in your local pub. Wherever you hold it, you'll be helping to raise money for the world’s poorest people this Christian Aid Week"

21st September is Tea Time

Just received the summer Christian Aid newsletter, which alerted me to their latest fundraising challenge (which should be quite close to the heart of most Infusion members): Tea Time on Friday 21 September 2007. The idea is you can hold Tea Time anywhere: in your office, at church, at home. You simply ask your friends to give you a donation to Christian Aid in return for a cup of tea or delicious piece of cake. At 4pm on 21 September, people across the UK will be drinking tea together to help end poverty. Christian Aid provide a free event pack and there are other downloads, including recipe cards, available.

Also, the Christian Aid website has had a makeover - its well worth checking out.

Christian Aid East Midlands Conference 23 June

This Conference will take place at the Schofield Centre, near Sainsbury's in Loughborough, 10 am - 4 pm. Speakers are Roy McCloughry, on Acting Justly in Local and Global Communities and Daleep Mukarji, giving examples of Turning Gospel Hope into Action.

Roy's credentials are: Chair of Third Way magazine, a Director of Lion Publishing, Vice President of the Shaftesbury Society, and he lectures in Social Theology and Ethics at St John's College, Nottingham.

Daleep Mukarji is the Director of Christian Aid.

There will be 4 workshops on:

1. Acting justly in worship
2. Acting justly with the environment
3. Acting justly in youth groups
4. Acting justly in churches.

Bookings to Christian Aid in Ashby - 01530 417522, ashby@christian-aid.org.

Christian Aid Week

Its the end of Christian Aid Week, but the 2007 materials are still available on the website (do check out the animated envelope!). In addition to material for prayer and reflection, there's the Christian Aid Week report for 2007, Human tide: the real migration crisis, which predicts that at least one billion people will be forced from their homes between now and 2050 as the effects of climate change deepen an already burgeoning global migration crisis.