How the vision was born
In the 1990s a group of Christians in Cambridge investigated the possibility of establishing a Care Home. This vision went dormant for a time but was initially revived in the 2000s and then again in 2014 when Anne Jarvis, Cecilia Brassett and David Farrer decided to explore further. The group soon expanded to about ten members from various Cambridge churches and the Campassion Care Trust was registered as a charity in July 2015.
Almost immediately a partnership has been developed with the Pilgrims’ Friend Society and over three years three joint annual conferences held in Cambridge to promote Christian care and love for older people. Carmel McDonnell joined Campassion as their Care Home Liaison Officer in 2016 and has been investigating links between existing local Care Homes and Cambridge churches. This has resulted in a number of new initiatives where services have been held and churches linked with Care Homes.
We worked with Linking Lives another fine Christian organisation working hard to combat loneliness amongst the elderly.
A further conference was arranged 2022 in collaboration with Embracing Age, a Christian charity based in Twickenham and elsewhere, also pioneering the need to value our elderly folk.
At Easter 2024 Rachel Simonson left her job and has been working part time (20 hrs per month) as a freelance project worker since then. She is trying to increase our profile and keeps her ears to the ground in the county with other initiatives and new homes etc. She continues to build relationships and support wherever she can. We are very grateful to all those who provide financial support to make this appointment possible.
At present the charity has four trustees, a working core group of ten members (who meet monthly online to discuss pray and support one another and the vision) and approximately 150 supporters.