Young homeless people and children with physical and learning difficulties will share more than 160 Easter eggs thanks to the United Reformed Church’s (URC) children’s and youth work team.

Since February, the team has been collecting Easter eggs donated by colleagues at Church House after they registered the building as a ‘donation station’ through the ShareTheMiracle initiative.

In total, 164 chocolate eggs were collected and shared between Action for Children's Camden and Islington Short Breaks service, and the Single Homeless Project (SHP), both in Islington.

Simone McArthur, Service Coordinator for the children's service, said: ‘We were very happy and excited to receive Easter eggs from the United Reformed Church. We will be having two Easter egg hunts, one each week during our Easter club. The children will be very happy to receive some chocolate. Thank you for your kindness and Happy Easter to you all.’

ShareTheMiracle began in 2013 and is a simple initiative that helps individuals and organisations build stronger communities through acts of kindness at Easter.

Donation stations are collection points, registered with the organisation, where people can drop off Easter eggs. These points can be churches, businesses, schools or volunteer centres for example.

Dr Sam Richards, Head of the URC’s Children’s and Youth Work, said: ‘It has been wonderful to be part of this. It's such a simple idea and a concrete way to share God's love at Easter.’

The remainder of the eggs were donated to SHP on 16 April.

Steve Higgins, Manager of the SHP Centre, said: 'These will really be appreciated. Everybody loves a bit of chocolate. Thank you so much for thinking of us. Feel free to think of us again next Easter.' 

Top picture: From left, Dr Sam Richards and Heather Wilkinson and Simone McArthur.
middle picture: From left, Simone McArthur, Dr Sam Richards and Heather Wilkinson.
Bottom picture: From left, Mohamed Choudhury and Steve Higgins with the Easter eggs. 
Published: 12 April 2019