Although much that we do at Immanuel takes place within our walls, we do try to be outward looking as much as possible and include in our prayers those situations we know of in the community around us, the town and the wider world.
We feel it is important to show 
practical support when we can, and as well as supporting the work of Christian Aid, two other ways are our affiliation to ‘Amnesty International’ and the fact that we are a ‘Fairtrade Church’ (we use “Transformtrade” products whenever we can).
Another way is our Harvest Appeal: for more than forty years throughout October, in addition to bringing gifts of produce on Harvest Sunday for later distribution (this year it goes to Swindon’s Food Collective – the Food Bank), we challenge our members to give to a specific charity. It is often a charity in the Third/ Developing World, which has been proposed by our World Concerns Committee.
Harvest Appeal 2026
This year for our Harvest Appeal we are supporting “Action Through Enterprise” an agency that works solely in Ghana and which over the past 15 years or so has done amazing work in the remote areas of the north. What ATE manages to do is to inject desperately needed finance into local projects that are managed by local people. This year we are aiming to raise £2,000 towards the cost of fertilisers . These increase the yield of crops such as maize for subsistence farmers, many of whom have disabled children. Every donation will help provide families with the wherewithall to overcome acute hunger in the short term, and improve health and well-being in the longer term!
Sarah Annable-Gardner, CEO of “Action Through Enterprise”
In a very moving presentation during the Sunday service on 20th September, Sarah explained why and how she came to set up this remarkable organisation that is enabling the local community to help itself.
Previous Appeals:
2000 Kabarore, Rwanda: nursery school classroom £2538
2002 Joint Appeal for Prospect Foundation (Swindon) and Stepping Forward (Swindon) £2,600
2003 Centre for Rehabilitation for the paralysed in Bangladesh £2,641
2004 Kigali, Rwanda: wells and water catchment system £3,733
2005 Twingi School, Zambia: school construction and lighting £3,049
2006 Kagitumba (a partnership project) 3 classrooms, toilet block and water tank £12,000
2007 Joint Appeal for The Swindon Mediation Centre and Missionvale South Africa (feeding programme) £2,657
2008 Ankavandra (Madagascar) – a village well building project £3,447
2009 Muniguda (India) – a hospital for cataract operations £3,100
2010 Mbale (Uganda): Musiquality – support and tuition for abandoned children £2,945
2011 Phnom Penh; Cambodia: medical centre – first aid facilities £3,469
2012 Casa Materna, Ocotal, Nicaragua: Training programme to raise awareness of sexual abuse £3112
2013 Lebanon and West Bank (Partnership project) Christian Aid supported project to support the disabled £10,354
2014 Christians Against Poverty (Swindon) Harbour Project (Swindon) the latter is a project to support refugees and asylum seekers £3,446
2015 “Help Madina” – a project to build a well and improve sanitation in a village in Sierra Leone £3,970
2016 Bamyan High School, Afghanistan: a project to build and equip a science lab for girls, £3,000
2017 The Swindon Foyer (a partnership project) raised funds to support homeless young people of the town and improve the facilities on offer: £8,700
2018 Vavuniya Special School, Sri Lanka: support in enhancing facilities in a school for children with special needs: £3387
2019 “Shelterbox” : in a tremendous response to the appeal, a total of £4025 was sent to “Shelterbox” and 7 boxes purchased by Immanuel for use in emergencies around the world.
2020. Although our aim to support the Desai Memorial School in Nairobi was halted by the pandemic, after the explosion that rocked the port of Beirut. we did send £1500 to the emergency appeal (match-funded by the URC) and in addition sent substantial donations to the Disasters Emergency Committee’s international coronavirus appeal.
2021 Together across our Partnership we raised £8,200 for the Desai memorial School in Kenya (£3,200 from Immanuel). This will be used to provide new classrooms and with luck a kitchen, as well as extend the water supply.
2022: Tools for self reliance: a wonderful £2597
2023: A non-government agency based in Hyderabad, India called “VOICE 4 Girls” works with marginalised adolescents and Immanuel raised the sum of
2024: A partnership project to raise funds for local charities: “Youth for Christ” and “Street Pastors”. Immanuel’s contribution came to £4,373 (including the proceeds from a summer garden party )
2025: a “Tear Fund” project was supported to provide clean water and sanitation in villages in Africa – almost £2,500 raised.