'Truly, it's a miracle'

One such moment has been sent to us from West Moors.

The Revd Andy Muckle explains:

"Close to Christmas an envelope was anonymously put through my vicarage door containing a substantial amount of money to be given to those in need."

Andy worked with the Headteacher of St Mary’s CE First School and Nursery, Roy Sewell, to distribute the money to 4 families who were facing the prospect of an unbelievably difficult Christmas.

Since then, members of the congregation and others have also popped money through the door and this has meant that the school could afford to buy some refurbished iPads for a number of children who were facing ‘IT poverty’.

To date, acts of love and generosity have donated £1170, and this was without ever being asked for!

As Roy wrote in an email to the congregation:

"I am writing to offer our sincere thanks for the many generous donations received here at St Mary’s School. Before Christmas, we were able to extend much needed help to several families who were facing financial difficulty. I have no doubt that your kind donations made all the difference at such an important time in the children’s lives.

"Since our school has been forced to restrict access to pupils and families, many more children are accessing their learning from home. In some families, our pupils may find that they do not have either an internet-enabled device or, if the family has more than one child, then it is often the youngest children who find themselves missing out as older siblings are given priority.

"Your generous donations have meant that we can purchase additional devices to support those learners through this hiatus.

"This has been crucial as St Mary’s, like many other schools, are still waiting to receive their allocated laptops from the Department for Education. We have regular discussions with our pupils about how we all belong to the St Mary’s ‘Family’, indeed we recently adopted the value of ‘Family’ as one of our principle school values.

"It is incredibly humbling for me, as their Headteacher, to feel the generosity and warmth coming from the wider St Mary’s family. However remote we currently are from each other, you will each and every one be always be in our thoughts and our prayers."

Andy and Roy are working on some projects to look at food poverty in the community in partnership with a local community trust, and social justice and supporting local families in need is a real passion for both church and school as it is central to both the vision of the church (Loving God Loving West Moors) and the school (Believe in better, be more awesome, for anything is possible with God).

Andy further reflected on the ‘miracle’ these acts of love and kindness have been when speaking about the wedding at Cana on the third Sunday of Epiphany in the church’s streamed service.

"The unbidden generosity and outpouring of the love of God has truly been a miracle."