Should you wonder what happens to the donations recieved - each year our Church supports two charities. Over the years we have supported Water Aid, Guide Dogs for the Blind, Congenital Melanocytic Naivi, Alzheimers Society, MAF, Smile Train, Open Doors, St John Ambulance, The Walton Centre and many more.  In addition we also support a number of charities on an annual basis - Save the Children, Bootle Salvation Army, Christian Aid and Samaritan's Purse (Christmas shoe boxes).  We continually support South Sefton Foodbank, Action Aid and Committment for Life and one-off events such as charity lunches have raised even more funds for other charities, eg comic relief.      This year, as mentioned before, our chosen Charities are MENCAP - we all know what good they do, particularly helping younger people with difficulties in this field, and Hearing Dogs for the Deaf which are a great help to people hard of hearing.  The dog and owners undertake long and serious training for many years.  Apart from helping the owner with things like making them aware of door bells, fire alarms, alarm clocks, etc. having a hearing dog helps to break the barrier which socially prevents a deaf  person being engaged with other people - after all it is not obvious that a person is hard of hearing.