Donation #1 handed over – now I need your help to select charity #2

This week I had the amazing privilege of being able to hand over a cheque for £126 to Keswick Ministries thanks to all the wonderful people who bought copies of For the Love of Lentil during Keswick Convention.

Okay, so £126 might not seem a lot. It’s certainly got fewer digits than the tens of thousands that some fundraising efforts generate. But to me it is significant, because to me it is the first financial gift we have been able to make through Lentil’s legacy. It’s a tangible measure of good borne out of difficult and challenging of circumstances. And (planning consent permitting) the Derwent Project, which the money will go towards, will be something truly lasting, which I look forward to being part of, one way or another, for years to come.

But the convention sales don’t just represent a modest financial boost for the Derwent Project; they also represent 78* copies of our story – Lentil’s story – which are now out in the world. That’s at least 78, probably more, who Gary and I hope God will touch through our story. Some we already know He has, which is wonderful and humbling. Others we have every faith that He will.

This won’t be the end of Lentil’s legacy, though.  God hasn’t called us to sell our story for money and store up all the proceeds for our own gain. He calls us to be generous with the resources He gives us. And through that generosity with our earthly resources, He grants us blessings that money could never buy. Proverbs 11:24 tells us, “One person gives freely, yet grows all the richer…” And Matthew 6:19-21 says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

So it’s time for For the Love of Lentil to benefit another charity, and this time it’s going to be a charity that works in the field of baby loss. So many families are affected every year – every day, in fact – by baby loss in one form or another, be it miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal death. There is so much work to be done in supporting the people affected and carrying out research to try to reduce the number of babies lost in the future. And for

that reason there are many charities working in this field, all of which could benefit from whatever little contribution we are able to make.

Baby Loss Awareness Week is coming up in October, supported by about 60 charities all working in the field. So, off the back of the money we’ve raised for the Derwent Project, I’ve decided to donate £1.50 for each book sold through my website from now until October 15, when Baby Loss Awareness Week ends, to one of the charities that supports the campaign.

But I need your help. See, I don’t have any personal experience of any of these charities but I know plenty of people out there have. Those people – maybe you – will know which charity provided you with a lifeline when you needed it, or which carries out valuable research into exactly the situation you have faced. So I’m handing it over to you to decide which charity I should support.

I’ve narrowed it down to four charities that do work surrounding miscarriage, as that’s what we experienced with Lentil, and I’m putting it to a public vote for you to decide. I’m not asking you which cause you think is most deserving, because each one is undoubtedly very deserving and nobody could be expected to choose one over another on that basis. And I don’t want to create a popularity contest. But if you’ve been helped by one particular charity, or you know someone who has, I’d be really grateful if you could give them a vote to help me know that whatever we manage to raise will be put to good use helping people like you or your loved ones.

The charities I’ve shortlisted are: Baby Lifeline, Miscarriage Association, The Mariposa Trust/Saying Goodbye and Tommy’s.

You can cast your vote in my poll on Twitter, which will run until Saturday, August 18. And I will donate £1.50 for each book sold through this website between now and October 15 to the charity with the most votes.

And, let’s all remember, whatever we donate to whatever cause, the amount you give is not the key to focus on. Luke 21:1-4 tells us, “Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” What matter is not how much we give but the heart behind out giving.

*For all the numbers-orientated people out there, those figures are right, honest; there was £9 in the £126 that didn’t come from copy sales.

Sarah Moore is the author of For the Love of Lentil, A journey of longing, loss and abundant grace, which tells the story of her experience of pregnancy and miscarriage. Copies of the book are available here.