Project
The church project from September 2011 to August 2012 is to help children in Cambodia.
Other charities supported by Elvet are mentioned below.
Elvet Project 2011 – 2012 "New Hope In Cambodia"
In February 2011 five members of the Elvet congregation visited two projects in Cambodia that Global Care North East have undertaken to support over the next few years. They visited a project in Phnom Penh which offers an informal education to street children in the capital city. Then they progressed on to Poipet, a town on the border of Thailand and Cambodia. A quote from a former volunteer worker in Poipet describes it as “There are no words to describe how bad this town was. Just knee deep in rubbish, mud and filth everywhere. We saw whole families on the street, young girls aged 6-9 looking after 3 younger siblings, carrying a baby – it was all very upsetting.” Here the charity operates a family group residential facility (New Hope Orphanage) with day schooling in the community for 20 orphaned and abandoned street children who are aged 3 to 18.
In 2008 a paddy field was purchased that enabled the Home to become self-sufficient in rice as well as providing feeding to approximately 200 other street children. We recognise that many of the children in the Home will have to make a living from the land and to help with this they need to learn practical skills as well as educational skills. Our aim with this Project is to help buy land next to this paddy field in order for us to build a new orphanage and develop a self-sustaining farm around it. The plan is to develop a fish farm, rear and farm pigs, quails and chickens, as well as cultivate a vegetable garden. The land will be enclosed and surrounded by mango bushes thus producing fruits as well. In addition to producing self-sufficient foodstuffs the children will also be educated in learning the basics of animal husbandry, poultry care as well as fish farming.
The New Hope project is seeking to develop as much self-sufficiency as possible as they seek to ensure the long term care of the children in the home. They recognise that the more self-sufficient they become the more secure the future for these children is. A new home, in the rural community, will provide a much safer environment than is the case in the town of Poipet, and this is our goal. In September 2011 we get underway with a number of fund raising events which are aimed at trying to raise enough money so that land can be purchased and buildings can be erected so that the New Hope Orphanage can relocate and over the next 3-4 years become totally self-sufficient.
Previous Projects
We support a different project each year. We alternate between local projects, and overseas projects.
The church project from September 2010 to August 2011 was to help asylum seekers in the Tees Valley area through Justice First.
From September 2009 to August 2010 we supported The Kwagala Trust. The previous year we supported Beverley School (a Specialist school for children and young people with autism) and the year before street children in Cambodia, supporting work done by Global Care.
We also support charities with a retiring collection after our communion services.