Turning Concern into action around England & Wales

St Joseph’s RC Primary School, Sudbury

The children raised funds for the SVP by using an Advent calendar ‘chore chart’ to complete tasks every day throughout Advent. The money raised was collected by the Mini Vinnie representatives and later used to purchase gifts from the SVP Christmas catalogue. By 17^th December, they had raised £167, and money was still flowing in. Great work from the young people at St Joseph’s and a whole load of chores taken care of.

St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Beckenham

In a wonderful addition to the SVP Christmas lunch, the Mini Vinnies at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School sang a repertoire of carols. Their performance was well received by the audience.

St Winifred’s Catholic Primary School, South East London

The Mini Vinnies ran a novel 'Back to Front' Advent calendar at their school. The Lewisham Donation Hub were extremely grateful for everyone at the school for collecting goods for their winter appeal.  Great work on behalf of the community from the school rep and his family, who dropped the donations off at the hub.

St Luke’s Academy, Essex

As we know, lockdown for many meant a big shift from face-to-face working and learning to navigate our way around Zoom and Google classrooms. The Mini Vinnies at St Luke’s Academy, Essex, were very concerned that many of their fellow pupils did not have a laptop, phone or even Wi-Fi and were therefore unable to access their online learning. Hearing this, the Mini Vinnies were keen to help out by campaigning on the issue.

The Mini Vinnies chose to write a letter, addressed to Rt Hon Robert Hafron MP, Chair of the Commons Education Select Committee, outlining this issue and the problems surrounding government cuts to educational resources. These concerns were forwarded to the Minister of State for School Standards, Rt Hon Nick Gibb MP. Both MPs responded with highly positive messages, thanking the Mini Vinnies for their caring and thoughtful letter, and outlining the action that has been taken and is ongoing to ensure that access to digital resources is improved. The trust to which St Luke’s belongs has supported a number of families with laptops during the pandemic and continue to do so.

The children’s action is a reminder that we can all advocate through our local MP to get justice for those most in need. What could you advocate for today?

Our Lady and St Kenelm Catholic Primary School, Halesowen

Mrs Finnegan, headteacher at Our Lady and St Kenelm Catholic Primary School, was pleased to share with us that their Mini Vinnies have been awarded a Certificate of Merit by Her Majesty the Queen’s Lord Lieutenant for the West Midlands for their efforts.

The children, all 80 of them, have been working so hard to maintain their action and concern for others, especially as part of the Catholic Social Teaching in school. Their great efforts also include amazing fundraising for the SVP through their tuck shop at school. They recently raised £239.90 and received a Certificate of Achievement for their hard work. A wonderful achievement which has been deservedly rewarded.

St Thomas Aquinas School, Milton Keynes

The Christmas Hamper Appeal held by the Mini Vinnies at St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Primary School was a great success. Children from each class were asked to donate items to make a Class Christmas Hamper. The response was very positive, and each class created more than one hamper. The hampers were handed to the SVP group of All Saints Church, Bletchley and Saint Thomas Aquinas Church, Bletchley who handed them to families in need in their church community. A fantastic effort by the Mini Vinnies.

St Cuthbert’s RC First School, Berwick-upon-Tweed

Mini Vinnies from St Cuthbert's RC First School in Berwick-upon-Tweed have been raising funds for the Children's Eye Cancer Trust (CHECT).  "One of our nursery pupils has been diagnosed with cancer of the retina and unfortunately has had to have her eye removed.  The Mini Vinnies wondered how they could help and decided to hold a Dance-A-Thon to raise funds. It was extremely successful, and along with donations from our parish we also raised an amazing £366.06 for the charity," said Headteacher Clare McGregor. 

Our Lady of the Wayside Catholic School, Shirley, West Midlands

Our Lady of the Wayside Mini Vinnies organised a Christmas shoe box appeal for St Chad’s Sanctuary, a charity which supports asylum seekers and refugees in Birmingham. They also made Christmas cards for a local residential care home where they were distributed to elderly residents who had no visitors at Christmas. The last day of term also saw the Mini Vinnies tidying up gardens for parishioners of Our Lady of the Wayside, including Fr Andrew’s garden with a little help from Fr Andrew’s dog, Monty.

St Alban’s Catholic Primary School, Denaby Main, Doncaster

The cold winter weather prompted the Mini Vinnies at St Alban’s Catholic Primary School to discuss what they could do to help their community and those in need. The Mini Vinnies decided to organise a clothing collection for the St Vincent’s Community Shop. Thanks to the community’s generosity the Mini Vinnies received hundreds of items, including warm coats and shoes. The Mini Vinnies sorted and packed the clothes which were then sent to the shop to be sold or given to families who really needed them.

St Bede's Catholic Primary School, Washington

Organised by teacher Mrs McQuade, the Mini Vinnies at St Bede’s ran a reverse Advent calendar, which was set up to benefit the Washington Community Food Project. The kind donations for their campaign were amazing. The families and friends of St Bede’s were proud to support such a worthy cause. Congratulations to the St Bede’s Mini Vinnies, whose efforts have made a huge difference to the lives of so many.

St Alban’s Catholic Primary School, East Molesey

In December, it was a privilege to be invited to St Alban’s Catholic Primary School to visit their Mini Vinnies. I went to the school with some examples of posters we were having made for the spring term. Our aim was to create a poster that could be a year-round presence in schools to tell staff, children and visitors about the work of the St Vincent de Paul Society (SVP), to share a prominent message from our patron, and to provide a place to find out more.

After some group discussion, the favourite was the handprint poster with our quote from St Vincent: “Go to the poor, there you will find God.” According to the children, it was “colourful” and “eye-catching”. The comment which made the biggest impression on me was that, for the children, the handprints signified that everyone can be involved with the work that we do; everyone can be that helping hand.

Those same hands shot up with great excitement when I asked them about being a Mini Vinnie, and their answers were given with such pride and warmth. In the words of the children, they are “mini St Vincents, chosen by God to help people in need.”

The projects they have completed, such as their Go Green Challenge for CAFOD in the autumn term, preparing Christmas boxes, many of which were sent to Liberia, and wearing red to raise awareness for Stop for Racism are just a handful of wonderful things that these children have undertaken. These projects highlight the concern the Mini Vinnies have for what’s going on around them. They also have a close link to the Kiltegan Fathers, with one Mini Vinnie heading up a project, which you can read about here.

St. Patrick’s Missionary Society - the Kiltegan Fathers, written by a Mini Vinnie rep from St Alban’s

St Patrick’s Missionary Society was founded in 1932 on St Patrick’s Day. They are a Catholic society. They began their missionary work in Nigeria, but over the years this has spread across Africa, South America and the Caribbean. They are committed to spreading the word of the Gospel and helping the local communities. Their headquarters are in Kiltegan, County Wicklow in Ireland.

Our family friend Father John Gary is a member of the St Patrick’s Missionary Society, also known as the Kiltegan Fathers.

I have known Father John all my life; that’s a whole nine years! When I became a Mini Vinnie, he was extremely proud of me. When we meet up or chat over Zoom, he will also ask me how things are going with the Mini Vinnies. I like to tell him all about the work we do, and I was sharing how we were thinking about how we could help the members of our community. He asked me if the Mini Vinnies would be interested in helping St Patrick’s Missionary Society with one of their fundraising projects, especially as we are neighbours.

Father John arranged for me to meet with Father Richard Filima (he is the Director of Promotions for England and Wales). When we met, he asked if the Mini Vinnies could help with one of their fundraising projects. Father Richard explained that they collect used postage stamps and sell them on, raising funds for the charity. He asked if we would be able to help with collecting and preparing the stamps.

We arranged with the help of Miss Daly (our Mini Vinnies Co-ordinator) for Father Richard to come into St Alban’s and speak at our assembly. Father Richard told us all about St Patrick’s and the missionary and charity work that they do. Not only did the other children get to meet Father Richard, but it was a good opportunity for us learn a little bit about our neighbours and how they try to help others.

As a Mini Vinnie, I think it is important that we help and support the members of our community. Even if we can only help in a small way, it feels good that we are doing something and making a difference.