St Peters Church in Hale, Cheshire, took innovative steps to raise their fundraising creativity to a new level – shoe shining on the streets of Hale to support orphans and schools in Syria!

Keith Neal, the Church Warden stated, ‘In the church it is customary during Lent to have a ceremony when the priest, as an act of service, offers to wash the feet of any parishioner. This reminds everyone of what happened on the night before Jesus died when He washed the feet of his disciples. The idea of a shoeshine comes from this and was introduced to us by Reverend Paul Deakin, Curate of St Peter’s’. Reverend Keith Addenbrooke, Vicar of St Peter’s (left) and Reverend Robin Pye, Assistant Curate (right), cleaning the shoes of locals.

Mr Neal added that passers-by were more interested in finding out about the work of Syria Relief than getting their shoes shined.

“Many people stopped because of this unusual activity on the pavement! Although a lot people were wearing shoes that couldn’t be polished, many accepted Syria Relief leaflets and gave a donation. £317.45 was given in total. The event gave opportunities for conversations about the plight of people living in Syria and what we could do to help.”

Syria Relief would like to thank all at St Peters Church for their efforts. We looking forward to working again with the church and its supporters in the future!