Outreach
St Vincent de Paul Society (SVP)
Our aim is to tackle poverty in all its forms through the provision of practical assistance to those in need.
The concept of need is broader than financial hardship, so visiting people who are sick, lonely, in prison, or suffering from addiction is also a significant proportion of our work. The essence of our work is person-to-person contact and spending time with people is our greatest gift.
Our 10,000 volunteer members, motivated by their faith, are committed to meaningful and long term befriending. Inspired by the message of the Gospels they seek and find those in need and offer them sincere friendship. They visit them in their homes, in hospital and in care homes on a regular basis and offer additional practical support such as food, furniture or financial help where needed. They also organise trips and events for older and isolated people. If you would like to find out more, please CLICK HERE for the person to contact in the parish.
Edsknitters
Our parish knitting group EdsKnitters came into being during the pandemic, and has linked up parishioners who were busy knitting or crocheting at home and formed a community with a shared purpose.
Our group knits for several charities and in response to their specific needs and requests. Currently we knit for the seafarers charity Stella Maris, for patients on the dementia and neo-natal wards at the Royal Surrey hospital; and for vulnerable children supported by social workers via Knit for Nowt. The charities provide us with free patterns and there is a wide choice of knits ranging from basic knitted squares for blankets to puppets, twiddlemuffs and balaclavas. Some items can be crocheted as well as knitted.
If you are thinking of joining us on this venture, please know that there is no rush to complete and deliver an item! This is about doing something you love together with others, and at the same time helping someone else. Knitting is also known to be a therapeutic activity which helps to improve wellbeing and relieve stress, and increase feelings of usefulness; and it can help combat feelings of isolation by connecting with a group, so we hope the venture will offer these benefit as well. Even if you haven’t tried knitting before, perhaps now might be a good time to start?
We keep in touch via our WhatsApp group and we hope to arrange get togethers for a chat and a cup of tea as we knit. For more information, please contact Sarah in the parish office: godalming@abdiocese.org.uk