What we're doing
Amnesty International(http://www.amnesty.org/) We regularly participate in the letter-writing campaigns co-ordinated by Amnesty International. The campaigns serve both to alert oppressive regimes to the fact that the world is watching their injustices, and also to offer a personal message of support to those people who are suffering. Personal testimonies reported back to Amnesty confirm how much it can mean to prisoners of conscience around the world when a stranger sends a simple card to show that they have not been forgotten.
Manchester ChangeMakers
(http://www.changemakersmanchester.org.uk/)
ChangeMakers is a growing network of grassroots organisations in the UK
working with local people to enable them to bring about change in their
local communities and their city regions. Their aim is to tackle injustice
and to bring about change by training people of all ages, faiths and
backgrounds to take action, engage with power-holders and inspire others to
become involved.
The idea of Broad Based Organising is to build up community groups and to
develop leadership skills. It is a values-based process where people are
brought together to act in the interest of their communities and the common
good. It is a strategy that revitalises communities and allows the
individuals to participate and incite social change. It empowers the people
directly involved and inspires action for change.
Our Social Action Co-ordinator, Steve Gray, is presently leading on a
campaign to make the Azure Card work fairly and consistently for asylum
seekers. The card was introduced in 2009 to replace supermarket
vouchers for asylum seekers whose claim had been refused but who were still
unable to return to their own country.
The card is topped up weekly with £35 for a single person and can be used
in a limited number of supermarket outlets. It cannot be exchanged for cash,
and only £5 can be carried over to the next week. However
this article from the Refugee Council, and
this article from The Guardian, indicate that the system has major
failings which cause serious hardship to asylum seekers.
Steve has been leading a group within ChageMakers which has brought
together senior representatives from the supermarkets and other agencies
involved with the card, under the chairmanship of the Bishop of Manchester,
in order to expose the problems experienced by card users and get those
problems addressed.
The Hunger Site
 While you're online, why not make a free donation of food to the starving people of our world by visiting the Hunger Site. Just click on the logo above, follow the directions, and, for the cost of a few moments of your time, the site sponsors will donate food through the scheme.
This is an open invitation to get involved in bringing about God's new realm of justice. Please consider it seriously and speak to Steve Gray about what you can do to make a difference.
| Steve Gray Social Action
Co-ordinator |
| 
