Appeal to help us continue our life saving work.

I'm very grateful that we don't often need to make an extremely urgent appeal for funds. But today is one of those occasions. 

We are able to make and plan for the foreseeable, but so often in the lives of the women that we help the unforeseeable presents itself. 

A good example of this is "Lydia" who spoke at the Brixton 40 Days for Life half-way event. She told us,  “I went to Brixton abortion clinic for a consultation and they thought I was only carrying one baby when I arrived. They gave me a scan and told me there was more than one heartbeat. I was totally shocked. They told me they thought it was twins and I thought straight away at that moment I cannot go ahead with an abortion. They said they could not proceed because I could sue them because I was not mentally prepared to abort more than one baby so I had to have time to think about it and return for the abortion at a later date but I had already made up my mind that I was not going to return. I went for my first antenatal scan at the hospital and they told me that I was expecting quadruplets. I nearly collapsed. I was very shocked.” [You can read the rest of Lydia's talk here]

She kept her quads and is very happy. We had to arrange to get a pushchair that could carry four babies! Day in day out we see women considering abortion because they have real practical problems and we need to find real practical solutions to those problems, so that they feel they can continue their pregnancies. 

At the moment our funds are as low as they have been for at least the last 5 years. There are more than 20 women that we are currently providing ongoing help and assistance to, as well as many others who we provide a range of support to. This week we have given out almost £500 worth of food vouchers to women who have no recourse to public funds. But we do not have the money to be able to do this or anything like it next week.

It is Lent, a time of almsgiving, a time when Catholics are asked not just to fast and abstain, but to use the money saved to help those in need. I would ask you therefore at this time to please make a donation towards our work, so that we can continue to help these mothers and their babies, who don't qualify help elsewhere. 

You can donate here or donate through our Just-Giving appeal [Justgiving has started to ask for an extra bit of money to fund their website etc, but you can change the amount that they suggest to as low as zero] and we are now able to take donations over the telephone 020 7723 1740.

Please join us for 9 days in saying this prayer to St Philomena, for help with our financial situation.

NOVENA PRAYER TO ST. PHILOMENA

O FAITHFUL VIRGIN and glorious martyr, St. Philomena, who works so many miracles on behalf of the poor and sorrowing, have pity on me. Thou knowest the multitude and diversity of my needs. Behold me at thy feet, full of misery, but full of hope.  I entreat thy charity, O great Saint! Graciously hear me and obtain from God a favourable answer to the request which I now humbly lay before thee, that Good Counsel will raise the funds they need and that as many lives as possible will be saved through their work, [& add your own petitions.] I am firmly convinced that through thy merits, through the scorn, the sufferings and the death thou didst endure, united to the merits of the Passion and death of Jesus, thy Spouse, I shall obtain what I ask of thee, and in the joy of my heart I will bless God, who is admirable in His Saints. Amen

Fundraising Job Opportunity at Good Counsel

Guild of Our Lady

of Good Counsel

P.O. Box 46679, London NW9 8 ZT

http://www.guildofourladyofgoodcounsel.co.uk/

http://mariastopsabortion.blogspot.com

 

Fundraising Co-ordinator Required

For March 2014           0.6 post  (hours negotiable)

Salary:  circa £25,000 (pro rata)

 

The Guild of Our Lady of Good Counsel, a Catholic charity, is a life-affirming women’s organisation which offers a free pregnancy test, free advice, medical information, practical help and moral support to women seeking abortion.

We offer women highly practical help and moral support which they may need to keep their child, from accommodation and financial help, baby clothes and nappies, to friendship, on-going support and advice as well as planning for the future. As a Catholic charity, staff at The Guild offer their time and work to Jesus through Mary.

Due to the high demend for our services, and the subsequent costs, we require a fundraiser who can focus on helping us to meet those costs.

We are looking for someone who is committed to the work of the charity and who has some experience of fundraising, including online fundraising. The successful applicant will have excellent communication skills and the ability to build and maintain good relationships with people from a wide variety of organisations.

Whilst based at our London office, there will be the opportunity for some working from home. Some unsocialable hours such as evenings and weekends may be involved.

 

For further information and an application form, or for an infomal discussion about the role, please email fredathome2@yahoo.co.uk. Closing date for applications:  1^st March 2014

Pro-Lifers Really DO Give Double the amount Pro-"Choicers" Give During 40 Days!

 

Having spotted pro-death supporters in Cardiff on twitter,  planning to give money to bpas, effectively "sponsoring" each day of the 40 Days for Life Vigil and using this to donate to BPAS, please remember that we run a counter-fundraising campaign called Pro-Lifers Give Double During 40 Days for Life. This is one of our biggest fundraisers of the year, and so far Pro-lifers have doubled the efforts of our Pro-abortion friends every time the campaign has run. Although they have hundreds of donors and we may have a few of dozen, the Pro-lifers generosity has far outweighed that of our Pro-Choice friends in both the last two 40 Days for Life campaigns. Here's a reminder to please support our work during this excellent, but extremely busy and financially demanding time:

It's back - our fundraising campaign which runs during every 40 Days for Life Campaign.
During "40 Days", women are called away from the selfish act of abortion to a selfless and sacrificial acceptance of Motherhood in difficult circumstances.
Can we pro-lifers match their sacrifice?
This is why we are asking pro-lifers to give double during 40 Days for Life.
We have already had 7 turnarounds in the first 4 days of 40 Days for Life. We also had 2 turnarounds today from a Helper's of God's Precious Infants Vigil. All 9 of these women need concrete practical and financial support, and that is on top of another harvest of turnarounds just before 40 Days started as well as our normal stream of visitors seeking assistance in difficult pregnancy situations.
Can we help them?
Yes with a little support from you.
And please sign up for our 40 Days Campaigns at Whitfield St and Ealing [see here for other locations]
And do please say a prayer to the patroness of the "Pro-Lifers give double during 40 days" campaign
Thank you and God bless, Clare McCullough

It's Back! Pro-Lifers Still Give Double During 40 Days for Life

St Philomena, Helping Pro-Lifers to Give Double During 40 Days for Life!

 

Last spring the lenten 40 Days campaign drew out much spite from the pro-death lobby, resulting in the pathetic "Boycott 40 Days for Life" which asked their supporters to donate to BPAS for every day 40 Days prayed outside their abortuary.
Pathetic because even for those believing in the cause, they know that BPAS as the Uk's biggest abortion provider, carrying out thousands of NHS abortions paid for by the Government are hardly strapped for cash.
And pathetic too as an attempt to put people off praying! Did they really think that BPAS getting more money would worry us? We are aware of what BPAS are prepared to do for money already and they are welcome to all the money in the world if that's what it takes to "earn" it.
However, we also put up a fundraising page at the time, "Pro-lifers give double during 40 Days for Life" and in fact our page raised a fantastic £27,000. It was our biggest fundraiser of the year so far. And helped us to support about 40 mums and babies for months.
This time around " 'Education' for 'Choice' " is the group chosen to benefit from pro-death spite at the "40 Days" season.
So we have also re-launched our "Pro-lifers give double during 40 Days for Life" campaign to raise funds for our pregnancy Centre which supports all the 40 Days Vigils in London and cares for their turnarounds. Because we believe that pro-lifers are twice as generous! You can help by donating here http://www.justgiving.com/Good-Counsel-Network and please share the link with your friends. If everyone who reads this gives what they can and spreads the word we can help save more lives and support more Mothers.
St Philomena is the patroness of the Pro-lifers give double campaign.
God bless
Clare McCullough

Pro-Lifers Give DOUBLE During 40 Days

The Unborn: Help us to keep them safe and their Mothers supported!

A supporter of BPAS has set up a fundraising page called Boycott 40 Days for Life where pro-abortionists donate for each hour or day that 40 Days witnesses outside BPAS Central London abortuary. They are now approaching their fundraising target of £4,000 by 1st April, they have
raised over £3,000 so far. The intention is to deter 40 Days Vigillers by making them feel that their presence is raising money for the abortuary.

We are asking you to show women in need that pro-lifers care more for their Crisis Pregnancy Centres by donating double the total BPAS raise to Good Counsel.

As we blogged about last March, we have had a FIVE-FOLD increase in women coming to
us and receiving support instead of aborting. But we haven't had as great an increase in support in that time, we have had a drop in income, with the recession and higher living costs. We cannot survive this, and financially we are on the brink of disaster, so please support our
appeal, 'Pro-Lifers Give Double' today and help us raise £8,000 by 1st April.

Find all the options for donating here on our website including online donations. Direct transfers, the quickest way of donating can be made to:

THE GUILD OF OUR LADY OF GOOD COUNSEL,

Sort code: 23 – 83 – 95 Account no: 00287036

and cheques made payable to THE GUILD OF OUR LADY OF GOOD COUNSEL can be posted to GCN, PO Box 46679, LONDON, NW9 8ZT

You can also support us via http://www.justgiving.com/Pro-LifersGiveDouble page. This is not the fastest way to give. But we will be logging all the donations received there, so check in to see how generous pro-lifers really are!

Lastly, you can give by text message. Just text the code MQYD73 followed by £ and the amount you wish to donate (eg MQYD73 £1 if you want to donate £1) and send it to 70070.

As well as supporting our work financially, your donation will show your moral support for the peaceful, prayerful 40 Days Vigil. And will allow us to financially support 3 of the 4 turnarounds (the 4th did not need financial help when she chose life) they have had during this campaign so far. It will also prove the truth of the Title of this blog! So please help if you can and please spread the word.

Please attend the 40 Days Vigil if you can. Why not attend on Friday 30th March to support Bishop Hopes who will be there from 7pm - 8.30pm. The BPAS abortuary is at 26-27
Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3HP. Nearest tubes are Tottenham Court Rd or Goodge St.

Many thanks, Clare McCullough

Carol Singing for The Good Counsel Network in Advent

I want to thank everyone who attended our St Raphael's Credit Crunch Ball recently. I was very glad that it was so well attended, so well attended that the hall could not have had any more people inside!!! Thank you for supporting The Good Counsel Network in this event which we hope to run again next year.

Our next big fundraising event is our annual Advent Carol Singing in tube stations. This year we have four dates booked. find the details at the bottom of this blog.

This is one of our most popular events, which everyone enjoys. Do not worry if you feel you cannot sing, people of all ages and abilities help. If you do not want to sing at all you can still help by holding a collecting bucket.

Please be aware that Carol Sheets will be provided, so please do not bring your own as we will not be able to use them.

The dates are as follows:

Wednesday 15th December: Baker Street Tube Station
Monday 20th December: Oxford Circus Tube Station
Wednesday 22nd December: Green Park Tube Station
Thursday 23rd December: Waterloo Tube Station (Not the mainline Station)

Teas, coffees and soft drinks provided. We normally go for a drink together afterwards as well.

Please contact Conor to let him know when you can come on 0207 723 1740 or info@goodcounselnetwork.freeserve.co.uk

Conor Carroll