Known as the Love Manchester van, Manchester Vineyard’s VW Campervan has been a beloved member of their family for a number of years. It was bought following the Manchester bomb and since has allowed the team a quick and easy way to put the ‘living room of the church’ in the heart of their city whenever and wherever it has been needed. The van has collected so many essential items for families over the last four years and delivered thousands of essential meals throughout the pandemic to those isolating or in desperate need.
In August 2021, Manchester Vineyard decided to host a Crowdfunder campaign, running a prize draw to offer people the chance to win the campervan for £10! Their goal was to raise £22,000 to support their renovations of 422 – a building that was once a library, then a youth centre, before standing empty for many years. Manchester Vineyard is in the middle of turning 422 into an incredible community hub in an area that experiences some of the highest levels of deprivation in the UK. 422 will include space for an affordable Community Cafe, a community pantry, income maximisation support, sports and other clubs and so much more.
The campervan campaign to raise money for 422 drew to a close a few weeks ago, raising an incredible £10,000 but not quite hitting their big target. Below are some of Paul and Steph (Senior Pastors) thoughtful reflections on the outcome.
“Some have asked if we’re disappointed that we didn’t manage to raffle the van. Of course, we would have loved for someone to have won the van for a tenner, BUT 100’s of people joining with us and sharing the 422 Manchester story is always worth it. Plus a few are now interested in buying the van outright, and others have decided to still give what they pledged.
We’ll always take risks and step out, especially for the sake of the poor. If we can’t model that we don’t always hit the perceived target, we won’t see many people give everything for the cause or raise a generation of risk-takers. When we ran the £1 challenge a little while back, we set our to raise £100k, but we ‘only’ managed to raise £10k. We can see now that £10k has gone a long way to invest in the community.
Faith is always spelt R-I-S-K. If the only risk is our pride, then it’s a no brainer!”
#CourageNotSucess
