Wider World Group

The Wider World Group is a group of people with a passionate interest in making the world a better place through supporting various charities, both in the UK and overseas.  Its members organise fundraising events and collections of various kinds, and keep the congregation informed about the charities, usually focusing on a different one every month in the church newsletters.

In recent years we have supported: major disaster appeals via DEC, Uyogo/Kenilworth Friendship Link, MACS (Malawi), Karenni Student Development Programme (Myanmar), Jeel Al Amal School in Bethany, Zimbabwe Victim Support Fund, CORD (toilet twinning), Action for Children, Waverley Road Day Centre, Singing for the Brain (Alzheimer’s Society), Homewood (MHA), Doorway in Nuneaton, Coventry Refugee Centre, the Methodist Ministers’ Housing Society and some other Methodist Church national charitable funds as well as Kenilworth's Spring Playgroup and the Helping Hands Club.  You will find more information about many of these elsewhere on this page.  Two members of our group have close connections with Madagascar, leading KMC to host Madagascar Day, a conference for Malagasy people living and studying in the UK, along with those who have worked in Madagascar, and/or have a connection with Madagascar charities.  KMC is pleased to have been able to support Money for Madagascar (MfM) in recent years. We have also begun to support a local charity called Carriers of Hope, supporting Asylum-Seekers in Coventry. 

At Christmas time in 2022, we donated shoeboxes of toys to the children of asylum seekers being housed close to Kenilworth, and a packet of cookies to all the adults, as a small token that they were being thought about. We also ran a Christmas party for these children and for some from our own church community, and the parents were offered refreshments as they watched their children enjoying party games.

Recently we have opened up our kitchen to a group of asylum seekers from the local hotel and encouraged them to cook a meal for their families and friends. Hospitality is an important element of life in the Middle East and Africa, and they are deprived of this while lodging at a hotel. Four cooks made a delicious meal, much appreciated by all, both asylum seekers and some members of KMC who helped to prepare the rooms and look after the children.

Other activities undertaken by members of the group include the sending of Amnesty International Christmas cards to give hope to political prisoners.  Some members attend local UNA meetings to acquire and disseminate relevant information, and others champion Green issues and encourage us all to think about the impact of our individual actions on the wider world.