What We Do
CBF helps brothers and sisters and their families in the UK who are struggling financially. Outside the UK this role largely falls to another of our Charities i.e. the Christadelphian Bible Mission.
As disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, we learn to cope with many of the ups and downs of everyday life for the majority of the time. However, sometimes things can go wrong causing hardship and distress as well as affecting those we love. Often help can be found within the wider family circle or from our ecclesia, but when this is not enough CBF is there to help.
The CBF can help if you’re struggling to make ends meet on a low income, or faced with a financial crisis because of unemployment, redundancy, sickness or an accident. The CBF can also help fund nursing and residential care as well as respite care. All applications for help made to the CBF will be dealt with quickly and sympathetically and in strict confidence in conjunction with your Recording Brother/Secretary (the administrator of the ecclesia).
Help with fuel and water bills
When money is short it’s hard not to cut back on necessities, such as fuel for heating/cooking and water. The usual maximum for households of 1 or 2 people is £450 for energy and £250 for water. The usual maximum for households of 3 or more people is £600 for energy and £250 for water. In 2020 The CBF made grants of £33,207. Speak to your Recording Brother/Secretary with regard to applying for help. You can download the forms from this page.
Help with holidays and respite care
A holiday can be a welcome break from everyday routine and help recharge the batteries, and a respite break can make a big difference for the elderly and infirm and those who care for them. The CBF can help with a grant of up to £500 per person per week for a maximum of two weeks, and up to £200 per person towards the cost of travel.
These amounts are reviewed each year, and in 2019 The CBF made grants of £36,684 and in 2020 £26,258. Ask your Recording Brother/Secretary for the application form.
Help for UK Bible Schools
The CBF also help UK Bible Schools to offer subsidised rates to those unable to afford the full cost. In 2019 The CBF made grants of £28,686 for this purpose.
Help with nursing and residential care in Christadelphian Care Homes (CCH)
Funding the cost of going into care can be a major worry for you and your family when you become elderly or infirm, particularly as state and local authority funding become more difficult. However, when the time comes for nursing or residential care, and your family and ecclesia cannot make up any shortfall, The CBF help fund the shortfall by making a quarterly grant direct to CCH (Christadelphian Care Homes). In 2020 this amounted to £80,475.
Help with the unexpected
Unexpected problems can arise however carefully you try to plan ahead, for example if you lose your job, or become ill, or have to deal with major one-off bills when something breaks down unexpectedly. The CBF can help by making a grant
Here are some examples of the one-off help The CBF have given. They’re all anonymous and some minor changes have been made to protect their anonymity.
- A sister with long-term mental health problems had been receiving weekly counselling funded by her local authority, but this came abruptly to an end because of local government cuts. The CBF funded the counselling sessions for a further year to enable the ecclesia to assess the best way of helping in the longer term.
- A brother and sister on low incomes with three young children had struggled to cope with rising living costs and had fallen into arrears of £2,500 with their mortgage, including a secured loan, and council tax. The ecclesia made a loan of £500 to be repaid when possible, plus a grant of £1,000, and CBF made a grant of the remaining £1,000.
- A brother and sister with two children accumulated credit card debts of £2,000, because the brother had to give up work to care for his seriously ill wife. They were in receipt of state benefits and had been helped financially by the ecclesia and family members. The ecclesia asked CBF to help because the mounting debt was causing further worries and health problems. CBF agreed a grant to clear the credit card debts.
In 2020 grants for unexpected emergencies amounted to £10,978. The CBF have also helped our new Persian Brothers and Sisters with Grants of £7,751.
Urgent Help Scheme
The Urgent Help Scheme was introduced in March 2020 when the first lockdown commenced. It has provided urgent financial support during the Covid pandemic period before benefits or Government Grants are received. The maximum grant is £650.
In 2020 grants for the Urgent Help Scheme amounted to £24,725