A long-time Crieff church member, Dr Stephen Logan, was recently honoured by his church for helping in the ongoing battle to “Make Poverty History”. The local newspaper also highlighted the story, which has an interesting background that goes back to the 2005 G8 Summit at Gleneagles.
The Make Poverty History campaign urged world leaders to take responsibility. Although far from being world leaders, Steve and his local Seventh-day Adventist church in Crieff took this message seriously. As a result, Steve was inspired to launch Crieff Aid Projects (CAP) in 2006. At this time two projects were undertaken involving supporting an AIDS orphanage in Maluti, SDA hospital, Lesotho and a Romanian old people’s home in Chesau, Romania.
In the intervening 17 years, CAP and this small congregation of under a hundred members, have raised over £300,000 for further projects in Africa, Middle East, India and the Far East as well as home in Scotland. CAP has now funded 42 projects and counting.
The CAP motto has remained the same since its inception: “So the poor have hope and injustice shuts its mouth.” Job 5:16 NIV
Steve shares a story that inspired him as to how to put this into action. “You are what your bank statement says you are”. So said the speaker at a seminar on how to act ethically in day-to-day life. She had asked us to look at our bank statements and consider what we spent our money on. “That”, she said, “is what is important to you. It doesn’t matter what you say is important, it’s what you do that matters. And your bank statement is a reflection on what you do”. Since its inception CAP has been, and still is, the single biggest expense in the Crieff SDA church bank statement.
After seventeen years of excellent leadership Steve is now handing over the baton. The church held a presentation at the start of a recent service to honour his long commitment to helping the poor. Also recognised at the time were two other hardworking CAP supporters, Harry Wilby and John Dutton, as they too were thanked for their part in the ongoing CAP story.
Steve will continue his humanitarian work and is a board member of ADRA UK.
The work of CAP at the Crieff church goes forward, and a new leadership team is now in place. Crieff Aid Projects continues to put words into action.
