Charities and Social Action

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Charities and Social Action

Charities, social action and support for the most vulnerable has always sat at the heart of the Holy Spirit MAC. In March 2020, we began delivering food to families experiencing financial hardship. This was the beginning of a programme of social action within and beyond the local community which has proven to be a defining feature of the Catholic life and mission of the MAC. Our Catholic mission has become a lived experience for the community, enabling all those involved to be able to articulate and understand how the Gospel values and the social teachings of the Church can be translated into action. To give just a few examples:

Successful fundraising since March 2020 (in excess of £39,000) and donations of several tonnes of food to the MAC Foodbank, enabled us to provide regular meal deliveries to families. It also funded several specific projects including delivery of Easter Sunday dinner to over 500 people and our biggest project to date which was the delivery of over 1500 meals to families at Christmas, along with presents for every child in each family. Over 200 staff gave up the first day of the Christmas holiday to prepare and deliver the packages and many more gave their own time to plan and organise the event.
In total, since March 2020, we have provided over 25000 meals, vouchers, food deliveries etc. We now deliver to families within the MAC and beyond, with requests coming from as far away as Leicester and Coventry.
From December 2020, we became conscious of quite a different need locally. We began a programme of ‘community deliveries’ to people living alone and feeling isolated. We requested nominations from parishes, parents and those in the wider community and we received an overwhelming response. We also actively sought to engage with parishes by requesting volunteers to make the deliveries, with a view to supporting the development of relationships between parishioners and those living alone. The impact of this project was very positive as we now have established contact with many people who have had very little human contact for over 12 months. We also provided all those receiving a meal with a mobile telephone number they can call at any time should they need any kind of help or support. Many staff have chosen to continue to visit and telephone the people they delivered to and we ensure ongoing contact for all recipients by repeating the deliveries every couple of months.
Most recently, we began an appeal for Ukraine which saw over 70,000 items donated which were sorted and boxed by staff ready for delivery. We actively linked with Fr. Michael White in Tamworth who organised transport for the donations and as a result, they made it to the centre of Ukraine within 72 hours. We also had over £10,000 donated during the appeal which we used to finance the purchase of 200 beds which enabled the opening of a refugee centre on the Polish border.
Our programme of charities and social action is no longer a series of planned events, instead it is part of the core of the Catholic life of the school. Staff, children and the wider community know that our faith is alive and in action through our support for the most vulnerable. Our pursuit of justice, our uncompromising drive to preserve human dignity and to provide an option for the poor is now who we are as a Catholic community. We continue to run our foodbank and to be responsive to the needs of the families in our community and those beyond.

Weekly foodbank in Action - Feeding Hope

Each week across our Trust, something very special happens. In a true spirit of community, compassion, and teamwork, our weekly Foodbank provides around 1,000 meals to families within our parish who are facing difficult and unexpected challenges – whether due to job loss, illness, or other unforeseen circumstances.

What makes this initiative so powerful is that it is led by our schools – one each week from our family of five schools, plus our Central Team. Each team takes on the responsibility of raising funds, creating a thoughtful meal plan, shopping, and sorting the food into bags ready for distribution.

It’s not just the adults who make this happen – our students are at the heart of it all. From fundraising and helping to plan meals, to sorting and packing the bags, they play a central role and do so with genuine care and enthusiasm. It’s an incredible opportunity for them to develop empathy, responsibility, and an understanding of the importance of serving others.

Together, we’re not just providing food – we’re providing hope, dignity, and a reminder to families that they’re not alone.

This work truly embodies the words of Pope Francis:
“Never tire of working for a more just world marked by even greater solidarity.”

Thank you to every school, student, staff member, and supporter who helps make this weekly mission possible. You are making a real difference – meal by meal, week by week, heart to heart.

Fr. Hudson Appeal - Donate £1 2025

Across our Trust, students and staff have once again shown the power of coming together for a good cause. This term, all our schools have taken part in fundraising efforts to support Fr. Hudson’s Caritas, a charity dedicated to making a difference in the lives of vulnerable people across our communities.

Each student was invited to donate £1.00, but the creativity and generosity went far beyond that! Schools organised an amazing variety of fundraising events, including:

Non-uniform days
Raffling of huge Easter hampers
Coin trails winding through the playground
Cake sales bursting with sweet treats
Pie the teacher
Penalty shootout's
And so much more!

From the youngest children to the oldest students, everyone got involved – fundraising with huge smiles and even bigger hearts.

We’re delighted to share that, in 4 weeks we have raised £11,739 to support the incredible work of Fr. Hudson’s Caritas. That's over £5.00 per pupil and almost £500 per day.

This initiative has not only helped raise vital funds, but it’s also reminded us all of the importance of giving back and supporting those who need it most. We’re proud of the compassion and community spirit shown by our schools – it truly reflects our shared mission to serve others and live out our faith in action.

A heartfelt thank you to every student, family, staff member, and friend who has donated, supported, and taken part. Together, we are helping to change lives.

Incredible, wonderful, amazing, humbling!! A huge thank you. Fr. Hudson Caritas

The generosity of the whole community never fails to amaze me

Chez Kane

The Christmas Foodbank 2024

This Christmas, our MAC community came together once again in a powerful demonstration of compassion, solidarity, and generosity. Our annual Christmas Foodbank Appeal, supported by our parish and local community, raised an incredible £15,000 to help families in need across our MAC and parish.

In just 24 hours, the parish community raised over £5,000, with donations pouring in from all of the churches within our parish. We are so grateful for this overwhelming support, which will go a long way in providing food and essentials to those who need it most.

As Pope Francis reminds us: “Never tire of working for a more just world marked by even greater solidarity.” This quote truly reflects the spirit in which our community has responded to this year’s appeal.

We are also incredibly proud of the students from St. Thomas More, who gave their time and energy to support the appeal. They packed food bags at Asda and sold raffle tickets, helping to raise awareness and funds for the cause. Their enthusiasm and commitment were inspiring and a testament to the values we strive to instil in all our young people.

Local people and businesses also played a huge part in the appeal’s success. We were fortunate to receive some amazing raffle prizes, including meals out, beauty treatments, and much more. These generous donations brought joy to many and helped us reach our fundraising target.

To everyone who donated, volunteered, or supported us in any way – thank you. Your kindness has helped make Christmas a little brighter for families in our community.

Together, we’ve made a real difference.

Reverse Advent Calendar

We are consistently blown away by the generosity demonstrated by the families within The Holy Spirit Catholic Multi Academy Trust for the Reverse Advent Calendar. Our recent charity drive exceeded all expectations, culminating in the remarkable achievement of filling three mini-buses with donations.

These contributions have made a significant impact, supporting Fr. Hudson's Caritas who will distribute the items to refugees, asylum seekers and people living on the streets. This collective effort not only highlights the compassionate spirit of our academy but also reinforces our commitment to social responsibility.

Engaging in these charitable initiatives offers a valuable platform for our students to learn about empathy, teamwork, and the importance of giving back to the community.

We are deeply grateful to all parents and guardians who encourage and support these values. Your involvement is essential to the success of our programs and helps foster a culture of kindness and generosity across our academies. Together, we are making a difference and setting a powerful example for our students to follow into adulthood.

Working in partnership with our friends in the catholic schools across the Archdiocese of Birmingham, we hope we've supplied enough toiletries to keep FHC going for a good few months.

God loves a cheerful giver - Janet Miller

Walk a Mile with a Friend - Fighting Loneliness in Our Community

As part of our Charity and Social Action Pledge for 2023-2024, the Holy Spirit MAC proudly coordinated a meaningful initiative on March 21st, focused on combating loneliness in our community.

Recognising the impact of isolation on individuals living alone, our dedicated staff and students came together to visit local residents who are experiencing loneliness. Each visit included a thoughtful delivery of a Frank Parker meal, alongside a personalised card and letter crafted by our students. In addition, we brought along Easter eggs, cupcakes, and prayer cards to brighten their day.

What truly made this initiative special was the personal connection established during these visits. One of our staff members took the time to engage in heartfelt conversations with the residents, and many even stayed for a cup of tea. These moments of companionship fostered a sense of community and reminded our visitors that they are not alone.

Through this initiative, we reaffirmed our commitment to supporting those in need and demonstrated the power of coming together to fight against loneliness. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this wonderful effort. Together, we are making a positive difference in the lives of those around us!

The Christmas Foodbank 2023

We were blown away by the generosity of parents and parishioners in the run up to Christmas 2023! We set ourselves a very challenging fundraising target to enable us to deliver the Holy Spirit MAC Christmas Foodbank on 22nd December. We had just two weeks to raise almost £9000 which seemed like a pretty tall order but we are absolutely delighted to announce that we raised over £14,500!!!

Thank you so much to all those who donated following our parish appeals and thank you to the parents and students who donated!

We had two fundraising events on the go... the Holy Spirit MAC raffle with some fantastic prizes on offer! Also, a whole MAC non-uniform day, where we asked everyone to bring a minimum of £1.

To all those in the Holy Spirit MAC community... you are simply the best!

Christmas Foodbank 2023 is complete… 454 bags were packed and delivered. Thanks to all those who made it possible!

Special thanks to Poplars Farm for donating the potatoes and supplying all the vegetables and to Crowhill Butchers for supplying the meat.

Patricia Finelli Calder

Just wow! Well done to everyone! You’ve supported so many families this Christmas. The Holy Spirit in action yet again!

Courtney Louise Ralph

Well done all! I am grateful to be part of this school community…it really is an outstanding mac merry Christmas everyone!

Clare Temple

So proud that you are a school in the community well done one and all x Love Clare Temple x

Jean Smith

Fantastic work! The generosity of The Holy Spirit MAC is simply amazing!! Wishing you all a happy and peaceful Christmas after an extremely sad week

The Big Sleep Out 2023

The Big Sleep Out 2023 has come to an end! A huge well done to our amazing students and our wonderful staff. As always, you showed that if something is worth doing, it’s worth doing well. Fantastic memories made and a huge amount of money raised to help the homeless.

So far we have raised a whopping £3900 so let’s see how far we can push that total once all donations have come in.

What an amazing experience…100 of our fantastic students took part in the Big Sleep Out!

The students enjoying making soup, creating art and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Thank you to Kevin from Fr. Hudson’s Care and to Shelly from Crisis for their inspirational talks followed by a candlelit procession as we prayed for the homeless and reflected on how we can challenge injustice before we all settled down to watch a movie in the sports hall.

We once again thank you for your generosity! and getting behind those who braved a night in the cold by encouraging friends, family and colleagues to donate to this very worthy cause!

Lydia Mcphilimey

This is so powerful! What a brilliant idea to create awareness and raise these vital funds

Janet Miller

Golden young ladies and gentlemen....not to mention the caring Staff who made it all possible.

Clare Davenport

Really beautiful…thought- provoking x

Ukraine appeal

Thank you all again for your donations. The beds you provided have been distributed between three refugee centres in Poland.

Thanks to your generous donations of almost £6000, today the Holy Spirit MAC sent 100 brand new beds to a centre for Ukrainian refugees in Poland. With freezing temperatures, beds are essential so we cannot thank you enough for your kindness and generosity - it has been truly overwhelming!

Jean Smith Wonderful work. God bless the people of Ukraine

Ukraine appeal

What an absolutely unbelievable day! We never could have imagined just how generous our fabulous community would be. There are so many people to thank for donating, sorting, packing and wrapping the 69,000 or so items

Janet Miller “The Lord loves a cheerful giver” …especially those who give their time.

Charlotte Lucie This is brilliant, what a community

Holy Spirit MAC Reverse Advent Calendar in support of Doorway.

Together we can make a HUGE difference to young people at risk of homelessness.

Sarah Beacham That’s an amazing achievement!

Claire Wright Amazing effort! Well done to all the wonderful families in the Holy Spirit MAC!

Family Picnic - in memory of Amy Norton

The 'Picnic Project' was in memory of Amy Norton, the daughter of Mrs. Norton at St. Francis, who tragically died recently aged just 21. Instead of flowers or cards, Mrs. Norton and her family asked for donation to the Holy Spirit MAC Just Giving page and as always, you gave very generously. We feel that lots of our families enjoying a picnic and enjoying time together is a fitting tribute to Amy.

548 picnics were hand delivered by Holy Spirit MAC staff to families across the MAC and beyond, ready for the start of the summer holiday! Well done everyone!

This time we want to ensure families in need of support started the holiday well and we thought what better way to mark the start of the summer than to have a family picnic!

Claire O'Donohoe Thankyou so much. Its meant a lot to us today. Life has been hard this past year but its school support that has kept us going.

Jenni Taylor The Holy Spirit Catholic MAC when you get it right, you are lovely.

Janet Miller My heart goes out to the family who have so thoughtfully put others in front of their own needs. Thank you, God Bless and Help you all through your great sadness. Wonderful gesture

Easter meals for the community

Another 1800 meals delivered across Nuneaton, Bedworth, Atherstone and as far away as Coventry and Leicester! Thank you to all our wonderful staff. Thanks too to the volunteers from the SVP!

Wishing all families and staff in the Holy Spirit MAC a very happy and holy Easter!

Leona Mupanda Many thanks for your hard work and dedication!!

Mark Hanlon Thank you Everyone involved in The Holy Spirit Mac Group and thank you for our generous Easter gifts. We are eternally grateful The Hanlon’s

Lesley Allton-Reynolds Absolutely fantastic and so kind, above and beyond as usual

The holy spirit mac needs you

Would you like to get involved with the Holy Spirit MAC social action? If so, we would very much appreciate your help!

We know from the deliveries we made just before Christmas to people who are living alone or who are isolating, that just seeing a friendly face at the door and being able to have a brief socially distanced chat makes a huge difference.

We are very fortunate to have a great team of willing and enthusiastic staff volunteers in the MAC but we also know how great it would be if we could grow our network of volunteers so that we can have an even greater impact.

On Friday 5th February 2020 we are planning to deliver a meal and a message from the children in the Holy Spirit MAC to people nominated to receive a visit. All our volunteers would have to do is come to St. Thomas More and collect a meal and deliver it to the nominated recipient. We'll be asking our volunteers to allow an extra 5 or 10 minutes to chat to the person they are delivering to and to check if they are ok.

So this is the challenge... we are delivering a meal to 100 people and we are hoping to get 100 volunteers so that each volunteer only has one delivery to make.

If you can help and you will be able to collect a meal from St. Thomas More between 11am and 2pm next Friday and deliver it straight to the nominated

Christmas deliveries

A huge thank you to the large number of people who gave up their time today to support with the Holy Spirit MAC meal deliveries! We wanted to remind all those nominated by their parish, friends or neighbours to receive a gift at Christmas that we are still thinking about them! Thank you to all those who supported us to spread a bit of love!

Alana Emma Great job, our neighbour has just told us about the lovely package you delivered to him - thank you so much, it really cheered him up x

Marie Burbury You all do amazing job thank you x

Saturday night takeway

Staff from the Holy Spirit MAC delivered 517 meals to families across the MAC! #saturdaynighttakeaway #lookingaftereachother #pizzafriesandallthetakeawaytrimmings

Janet Miller - It is the Holy Spirit at work!

Reecey Roo

You're all amazing, what a wonderful community we are a part of