Charity
Caring With Love
As members of the Catholic Women’s League we follow our motto of ‘Caring with Love’ diligently and this shows through in the many fundraising events and charitable projects carried out at Section, Branch and National levels. We are always ready to support our brothers and sisters overseas, especially when natural disasters occur. This is seen most clearly in our work with CAFOD, of which CWL was a Founder member. Because of this, the charity holds a special place in our hearts. CWL members reach out willingly to provide support for such disasters as the Haiti Earthquake, Floods in India and Pakistan and of course, most recently the Turkish/Syria devastating earthquakes.
The members find many different ways of helping others, firstly with their own Section fundraising events such as coffee mornings, cake sales, bingo, quiz nights, Christmas parties and Easter parades. We are also noted for our Afternoon Tea events which prove very popular in the summer. Whatever we do, having fun with a great sense of camaraderie is the hallmark of such events and building relationships with the charities we support is key. Funds raised from these events often benefit small local charities such as Hospices, Food banks, Homeless shelters and suchlike.
Not only do members fundraise, they also rise to the challenges set for them to support projects such as knitting trauma teddies, guardian angels, Easter rabbits, woolly hats for seafarers and hats for premature babies. These are only a few examples of the tasks undertaken and they provide not only much needed items but double up as wonderful social events. It is also a great way to get other people involved in these projects and who knows, maybe you will be encouraged to become a member?
Currently for 2023 – 2026 the League’s special project is providing support for prisoners on release by working closely with The Prison Advice Care Trust
This is the National President’s, Mrs Siobhan Garibaldi, National Project. This is the current National Project where members are busy making ‘A Cross in my Pocket’ and providing backpacks containing essential items for prisoners who have nothing on their release. Money will also be raised to support Pact.
In 2021 CWL raised £8600 for Ukraine. As well as the cash, goods were taken over to the Polish/Ukraine Border to help all the victims of war.
2019 – 2022 Based on Pope Francis’ appeal to ‘walk a mile in trafficked shoes’, members were encouraged to organise sponsored walks in their communities to raise money for the Trust.
Since then, an amazing £14000 has been raised to provide refuge and freedom from modern slavery. The Trust is the largest provider of supported safe house beds for victims of modern slavery in the UK.
In 2019 CWL England and Wales reached out to our CWL Australia members at a time when they were suffering devastating Bushfires. Together CWL members raised monies to assist with their most immediate needs as well as knitting small nests which were used for baby koalas and kangaroos who had so tragically lost their mothers in the fires.
For the period up to 2019, members again responded to Pope Francis’ call to take in Syrian Refugees fleeing the war in their country. CWL worked very closely with Caritas Salford and provided much funding for their project of housing refugee families.