I am e-mailing you to draw your attention to this project which you may have read about in the recent Inquirer. Your congregation will also have recently received a letter of appeal sent via Essex Hall.
I know from experience in Edinburgh, that we seem to be in perpetual fund raising mode and so I sympathise that this is another call on your resources.
Our Unitarian friends in Chennai do not share this option of fund raising as their congregationis drawn from the neighbourhood of rather poor families living in inner city Chennai. Raising the £30,000 required to rebuild this old church is simply beyond them.
This is why I am urging all UK congregations to share in this important fund raising. We need to help the Madras congregation secure a good future for the church and the wonderful social outreach projects they have developed both in Chennai and the (largely Dalit) village of Ammanabakkum.
These projects are financed by Edinburgh and Glasgow Unitarians who are partnered with the Madras church.
We only need 300 donors to give £100 each. It is gratifying that what is relatively speaking, a modest amount for us can be an enormously beneficial investment for this isolated Unitarian community in India.
Please help if you can. We know the Madras church well. We know that they deserve support because they do so much good and worthwhile work.
All donations will be received with much gratitude. With thanks and best wishes,Jon Bagust
Project Co-ordinator
Please forward your donations to:
Mike West, 33 Grigor Ave, Edinburgh EH4 2PG, Scotland.
Cheques should be made out to: 'Madras Church Development Project'.
P.S. Please contact the writer if you would like any further information or display material:
Jon Bagust, 5b Strathalmond Road, Edinburgh EH4 8AB
e-mail: bagust.chang@virgin.net or tel: 0131 339 8401