CAFOD Lent 2024 Family Fast Day User Guide

Catholic Agency for Overseas Development
Family Fast Day
FRIDAY 23 FEBRUARY 2024

Your Family Fast Day parish guide: Lent

In Liberia, James the fisherman now has the equipment he needs to fish safely and sustainably – to find good fishing spots and return home safely.

Please encourage your parish to help hardworking people like James the fisherman to get home safely and feed their families for good.
Invite your parish to join in
Family Fast Day on Friday 23 February and give to the collection at Masses on 17/18 or 24/25 February.

Family Fast Day: Planning made easy

Ask for help!

• Check that your collection envelopes have arrived (usually sent to your parish office) and that there are enough. If not, please tell us straight away on 0300 011 5680.
• Order prayer cards from the CAFOD Shop if you want to distribute these in church, shop.cafod.org.uk
• Ask volunteers to read the Fast Day short talk at all Masses in your parish on the weekends of 17/18 or 24/25 February after checking with your parish priest. If you can’t find  anyone to read the talk, ask your local CAFOD office if they can help.
• If you would like more resources, these are available online at: shop.cafod.org.uk

Parish website and social media

• Share our short video and link to donate online on your parish Facebook page, WhatsApp and other social media.

Preparation for Masses on 17/18 or 24/25 February

• Pin up the Fast Day poster somewhere really noticeable in church before 17 Februrary.
• Put an announcement in your parish newsletter about the Family Fast Day collection and any events you are holding.
• Check arrangements for yourself or someone else to give the short talk at Mass.
• Ask parish greeters or stewards to help you hand out envelopes before or after Mass.
• Make pens available to help people complete the Gift Aid panel and/or sign up for a regular gift to CAFOD on the envelope.
• Arrange to include the Family Fast Day prayer of intercession or Family Fast Day prayer at Mass.
• Make arrangements for completed envelopes or cash donations to be collected at the end of Mass.
• If you hold the collection on the first weekend, leave a clearly marked donation box at all church entrances on the second weekend and remind people they can still donate.

Family Fast Day Friday 23 February

• Hold a simple soup lunch in the parish or at home and say the Fast Day prayer together.
• Check out our A-Z of fundraising ideas for other activities you could try in your parish community.

Contactless devices for the collection

• Go to cafod.org.uk/contactless for the latest advice about using contactless devices in your parish including on how to use your smartphone as a collection device with Zettle’s Tap to Pay facility.

https://qrstud.io/vbop3h9

Volunteer lanyard and QR codes
Wear your CAFOD Volunteer lanyard with QR code when you are holding the collection or helping with CAFOD activities.
Encourage people to scan the QR code and give online if they don’t want to use the envelope. There is also a QR code on the envelope and the poster.
You can order more lanyards online at: shop.cafod.org.uk

https://qrstud.io/jppjyx3

• Register for a CAFOD Zettle account so you can use Tap to Pay on your mobile phone to collect donations to CAFOD this Fast Day.

After Family Fast Day

• Ensure the collection envelopes are emptied , and the collection is counted and checked against the Gift Aid details.
• Make a cheque out to CAFOD for the total. Send the donation form (on the back of this booklet), the cheque(s) and any Gift Aid information back to CAFOD, all together in the same envelope – we’ve provided one. Please ensure no donations are left in the envelopes. Please send your donations ASAP and please do not send cash.
• Place the thank you newsletter announcement in your parish newsletter and put up the ‘thank you’ A4 poster.

Children’s Liturgy resources The reflection, prayer, songs and activities are a lovely way to help children consider the meaning of the Gospel in their lives – and to learn about Family  Fast Day this Lent: cafod.org.uk/childrensliturgy

Pray with us this Lent
Find our online Lent prayer resources and order Stations of the Cross postcards for your parish at: cafod.org.uk/lentprayers

Are you up for a challenge this Lent?

Take on The Big Lent Walk! Walk when and where you choose – 200km over 40 days, alone or with friends.
This year we are joining forces with SCIAF, our sister Catholic aid agency in Scotland, to make this the BIGGEST Lent Walk so far! Encourage your friends to sign up at walk.cafod.org.uk, get sponsored and raise money to help people as they overcome poverty.
Could your parish walk as a group? Join in a community Big Lent Walk along with Catholic parishes all over England, Wales and Scotland on Saturday 18 March – or another day that suits your parish. Go to walk.cafod.org.uk for more information.
Put the Big Lent Walk poster on your parish noticeboard, either to advertise to individuals or promote your community walk and put a notice in the parish newsletter in January. Remember to invite your parish to sponsor you or other parishioners who are joining the Big Lent Walk.

walk.cafod.org.uk

Lent prayers of intercession

17/18 February
We pray for those who go to sea and all those who face danger in order to feed their families. May God be with them always, keeping them safe. Lord, in your mercy…

24/25 February
We pray for everyone who struggles to get enough food to eat. May God guide us all to share what we can and to work together so that everyone may look to the future with hope. Lord, in your mercy…

Parish Newsletter notice for Masses on 17/18 February and 24/25 February

CAFOD Family Fast Day – Lent appeal
This Lent, your donations to CAFOD’s Family Fast Day appeal will help hardworking people like James the fisherman in Liberia with resources, tools and training to feed their families for good. Give today using the envelope or online at cafod.org.uk and please join us in praying with James that our sisters and brothers around the world have what they need to feed their families.

Parish Newsletter notice for Masses on 2/3 March

Thank you for giving to CAFOD’s Family Fast Day appeal
Thank you for giving to CAFOD’s Family Fast Day appeal this Lent. Your generous donations, given in love, will support families around the world and help them with the resources to feed their families for good. You can still give online at cafod.org.uk
You can also use the notices above in parish Facebook posts.

The CAFOD Family Fast Day envelope

Parishioners can use CAFOD’s Family Fast Day envelope to make their donation in the parish collection – enclosing a cash gift or their credit or debit card details. They can also take the envelope home and send donations directly to CAFOD if they prefer – or scan the QR code to give online.
See below for advice you can give parishioners about the detachable Gift Aid form and direct debit instructions on the envelope.

Gift Aid
Filling in both the address details and ticking the box means donations can be Gift Aided, adding an extra 25p for every pound! (see page opposite) This needs to be completed each time to enable Gift Aid. Address details are also needed to set up a regular gift.
Envelopes can be returned via the parish collection or Freepost (no stamp needed).
There are tick boxes to find out about our free will-writing service and to receive updates via email or phone.

The envelope also includes this Direct Debit form which enables parishioners to set up a regular gift to CAFOD, should they wish.
If setting up a regular gift please ensure parishioners fill in both side 1 and side 2 of the form – we need their address.
The entire form should then be detached by tearing across the top and placed inside the envelope.

CAFOD, Romero House, 55 Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7JB
Tel: 020 7733 7900 Email: cafod@cafod.org.uk
Charity no 1160384 and a company limited by guarantee no 09387398
Photos: CAFOD Printed on paper from well-managed forests recycle

Boost donations with Gift Aid

Why is it so important to Gift Aid?
When you donate to CAFOD and fill in a Gift Aid form, you can increase the value of your gift by 25p for every £1 you give – at no extra cost to you! This extra 25 per cent makes a big difference and means that we are able to support our local experts with additional funding.
In the last year alone we’ve raised just over three million pounds through Gift Aid donations from supporters like you. Just think of all the lives that money has changed.

How does it work?

1. For CAFOD to claim Gift Aid, HM Revenue and Customs requires that CAFOD must be able to match every donation to the donor, which is why it is important these forms are completed.
2. The donor must be a UK taxpayer (and have paid sufficient Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax), for CAFOD to be able to reclaim the basic rate of tax paid on their donation, however large or small.
3. Please use the CAFOD Fast Day envelopes, which have the Gift Aid slips on them, and encourage everyone who is eligible to fill in the Gift Aid slip when they donate.

Information for parish counters
The most important thing for your parish counters to do is to check the donation in the envelope against the amount declared on the Gift Aid declaration.

• If the amount enclosed is the same as the amount declared, please do not change the Gift Aid declaration.
• If the amount enclosed is more than the amount declared, again, please do not change the Gift Aid declaration.
• If the amount enclosed is less than the amount declared, please change the amount written on the declaration to match the amount donated.

Please ensure all donations have been removed from the collection envelope before being returned to CAFOD.
Once the declarations have been checked, please send the completed Gift Aid declarations together with your cheque(s) and completed donation form to CAFOD.
You can use the Freepost envelope provided or post to: Freepost CAFOD

Donation form

Please return this form with your donations to help us to process them more efficiently. Please also make a copy of this form to enclose with any subsequent donations your parish may make to Lent this year.

1. Parish details
   ____

2. Donation details****
   Parish Cheque/s| £
   ---|---
   Cheques| £
   CAF Vouchers| £
   Other| £
   Total| £

Please do not send cash in the post

3. Gift Aid
   Have you included your Gift Aid slips?
   Yes  No
   Sending your Gift Aid slips together with your donations will save CAFOD time and money.

4. Does your donation include monies raised from an event your parish held in support of CAFOD this Lent?
   Yes  No

5. Your details (in case we need to contact you)
   Name of sender: ____
   Daytime telephone number: ____

Please return this form in your return envelope. You can also post it to: Freepost CAFOD
Or call 0300 011 5680 to talk to us about anything we can help with.

References

• CAFOD - Catholic international development charity
• cafod.org.uk/childrensliturgy
• cafod.org.uk/contactless
• cafod.org.uk/lentprayers
• CAFOD Shop & Resources | Campaigning, Theology & Fundraising aids – CAFOD Shop
• The Big Lent Walk 2024

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