Now that Share Lent 2023 is over, let’s relive the highlights of Development and Peace ― Caritas Canada’s annual fundraising campaign.
The launch of Share Lent
Ash Wednesday, February 22, 2023, marked the beginning of Share Lent, our annual fundraising campaign. This was our 55th Share Lent, a tradition that began in 1968. For the past 55 years, churches across Canada have taken up a special collection for Development and Peace ― Caritas Canada on Solidarity Sunday, i.e., the fifth Sunday of Lent.
This year, we not only launched a new campaign: Stand for the Land, but also a new overarching theme inspired by our 2022 Orientation Assembly that will guide us for the next five years: Create Hope.
On Saturday, February 25, 2023, we officially launched the campaign with a national webinar. Over 200 people from across Canada joined us!
Members mobilized across Canada
Our animation team worked hard to offer campaign workshops across the country. A total of 1,113 people participated in 51 workshops organized for Share Lent. Many members and diocesan councils also organized a multitude of fundraising events, including solidarity meals and meetings with our solidarity visitors.
Our Colombian guest, Raquel Soto
The face of our campaign, Raquel Soto, a campesina (peasant woman) and activist filmmaker from Antioquia, Colombia, was with us from March 17 to 30, 2023. Many of you had the chance to meet her in person or virtually at events in La Prairie, Montreal, Laval, Ste-Adèle, Nicolet, Quebec City, Rivière-du-Loup, Edmundston and Moncton. To learn more about Raquel and the Quebec portion of her visit, read this article.
Raquel’s visit to Quebec was made possible with financial support from the Ministère des Relations internationales et de la Francophonie.
Our Cambodian guest, Ramy Chan
Having missed her presence at our June 2022 Orientation Assembly because of visa issues (which many of our Global South partners unfairly face), we were very happy to finally welcome Ramy Chan, executive director of the Youth Resource Development Program in Cambodia, to the Atlantic Region. Ramy met with our members physically in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland, and online at a national webinar organized by Development and Peace ― Caritas Canada’s youth program.
Our Honduran (virtual) guest, Elvin Hernández
Also unable to obtain a Canadian visa in time was Elvin Hernández, who joined Raquel online from Honduras for a few events, including a national webinar on March 21 and the Sud EAU Nord event organized in Montreal for World Water Day. However, we are pleased to announce that he has finally received his visa and will be able to come to Canada this fall.
Solidarity Sunday Masses, Way of the Cross and Symbols of Solidarity
We would like to warmly thank all the people whose commitment made the Lenten campaign come alive in their communities. We saw beautiful tables presenting the Symbols of Solidarity, many people participated in the presentation of our Way of the Cross online and in person. And finally, thank you to the bishops of Canada who continue supporting our organization, as they have done since 1967, by dedicating a collection for Development and Peace ― Caritas Canada on the fifth Sunday of Lent.
Giving monthly is rewarding!
For the third year running, we renewed the matching fund, which doubles the annual contributions of new monthly donors and increases to monthly donations pledged by existing monthly donors over Lent. To date, we have 82 new monthly donors (contributing $2,528 per month) and 57 people have increased their monthly donations (by a total of $745 per month). That’s a $39,276 more per year! There is still time to take advantage of double-impact offer, which ends on May 28, 2023. Don’t hesitate. Become a Share Year-Round donor today!
Many thanks!
Share Lent is THE major campaign through which we raise the funds needed to continue our social justice mission in solidarity with communities in the Global South.
Thank you all for your support. Thank you for giving generously.
Here’s a look at some of the highlights of Lent:
