Press Release: Church Open Garden to Save the Ecuador Rainforest

Press Release on 25 June 2012

Church Open Garden to Save the Ecuador Rainforest

CEL (Christian Ecology Link) has thrown out a challenge: could 100 churches rise £100 to fund conservation work in one of the world’s endangered tropical rainforests? St Edmund’s Parish Church, Roundhay, Leeds, through its Green Group, picked up the challenge.

The Green Group wanted to support Ecuador, whose forests are under threat and chose to support the World Land Trust. This has a scheme to buy up acres of virgin forest, 2,431 to date, to create Nature Reserves or extend existing ones and hand them over to local NGOs to manage them.

An Open Garden with strawberries and cream was planned for June 17. Members of the group were allocated their tasks for the event.

Jill Vogler, one of the organisers said:

“Then a week before D-day the unseasonable, wet, cold weather of June became even wetter and colder and more unseasonal, and we thought no-one is going to turn out in this, but being British we soldiered on, the weather also being British, had a trick up its sleeve. On Sunday morning it had stopped raining and the sun managed a shaky appearance. By the afternoon it had grown in confidence and appeared at regular intervals AND people came! – with people from the covenanted churches, St Edmund’s, St Andrew’s URC and Ledgett Park Methodist joining local friends and neighbours.

Strawberries and cream were eaten. The splendid collection of plants embellished with red and pink geraniums and begonias from Red Hall disappeared rapidly. The wonderful assortment of ‘produce’ somehow all went and the book stall which had an impressive collection of modern who-dun-its, respectably reduced in size.

And our reward? – we managed to raise £612.02 which will be enough to buy over 6 acres of tropical rain forest.

We hope that other churches in the Ripon and Leeds Diocese will take up the challenge too.”

Next: Seventh church now raising money for CEL’s Rainforest Fund

Previous: Strawberry Cream Tea and Open Garden for Rainforest Fund

Author: | Date: 26 June, 2012 | Category: Biodiversity Media Release | Comments: 1

Comments on "Press Release: Church Open Garden to Save the Ecuador Rainforest"

Mark Hancock:

July 8, 2012

I am from Avenue St Andrews URC. We are linking our harvest meal on 8th sept to the Rainforest appeal. It will be a meal on LOAF principles which we have done before. This time we will raise money for the rainforest. Also we are focussing on 'Water' this year. i'd like to register this with Ecology LinkMark Hancock

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