Churchgoers in Meltham have been giving the phrase spend a penny a whole new meaning with a new fundraising effort to twin their toilets with their poorer neighbours in Uganda and Nepal.
Since September, visitors and worshippers at the four churches (eight toilets) in the Parish of Christ the King, Meltham have been encouraged to spend a penny when they spend a penny and hope to have reached their minimum goal of £480 by Christmas.
Curate, Charlene Smith explained: “I was recently on retreat at the Community of the Resurrection, Mirfield and saw they had twinned all their toilets in the retreat block. I thought it was such a simple and easy idea to raise the profile of a serious problem that I brought it back to the parish for discussion and the parish agreed.
The countries chosen by the four churches are: St Mary’s (2 toilets) and Christ Church (1 toilet), Nepal. St James (3 toilets) and St Bartholomew’s (2 toilets) have chosen Uganda as they aleady have links with Uganda through their Mustard Seed project.
Said Charlene: “this project is very important in raising the profile of sanitation and in providing clean safe water and hygiene education to prevent the spread of disease. This project will enable families and communities to lead healthier lives.
“And closer to home, it will benefit our parishes by raising awareness when people visit our toilets; get them talking about these issues and focused on making a change.
Special Spend a Penny boxes are in each of the churches for people to “Spend a Penny” and also invite one off donations.
Pictured here is Verger, Catherine Moulson,holding one of our saving boxes outside the toilet door at St Bartholomew's.
ANYONE wanting to donate should contact the parish or donate direct through the Toilet Twinning website. http://www.toilettwinning.org
Bawili in the Congo who has benefited from a toilet twinning