Cards for Good Causes at St Michael & All Angels
Each year from early November, we sell hundreds of Christmas cards for charities, through the
Cards for Good Causes shop in the Church. They include St Michael's own cards (2011 image, right, by David Beresford) At least 75p in the pound goes to the charities -
out of which they pay for the production and distribution of their cards and any VAT (see below).
The cards shop was officially opened by Elizabeth McGovern,
star of ITV1's Downton Abbey,
in 2010. 
She's seen here
cutting the paper chain with Father Kevin Morris, vicar of St Michael & All Angels, and Anne Mower, the shop manager.
Photo by David Beresford.
The shop opens from early November until mid December: Opening hours: 11am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday (except Wednesday when it opens at 1pm, after Mass).
The shop also sells Advent calendars, a range of gifts and stocking-fillers, and everything needed to wrap Christmas parcels. We ask customers to bring their own shopping bag - as part of our 
Green Christmas campaign, supported by St Michael's and Cards for Good Causes, we encourage recycling and the use of fewer plastic bags! The shop is managed by Anne Mower and Gill Stevens and staffed by volunteers from the church.
The St Michael's Christmas Card for 2010 was 'Christmas Night' painted by parishioner and local artist, Nigel Woolner (right).
The image for 2009 showed a view from Acton Green of St Michael & All Angels in the snow, below right, photographed by David Beresford . As a result of its popularity we sold more of these cards than for any other individual charity.
The shop offers around 300 designs on behalf of more than 30 charities, so no one in Chiswick needs go far to enjoy a huge choice. It forms an important part of the church's outreach to the local community, bringing many people into the church for the first time. Providing a space for Cards for Good Causes also enables charitable giving for the whole community.
Many of the charities are large, nationwide concerns, but we always include local good causes too. In 2009 for the first time we sold cards for the Hammersmith Kidney Patients Association and from 2010 we have had cards for Musequality, founded by David Juritz, who lives in the parish.
Links to the charities are:
Action for Children (formerly NCH), Alzheimer's Society, Arthritis Research Campaign, Barnardo's, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, CARE, Cystic Fibrosis Trust, Diabetes UK, Epilepsy Action, Help the Aged, Leukaemia Research, Macmillan Cancer Support, Mencap, Mind, Multiple Sclerosis Society, National Autistic Society, NSPCC, Perennial: Gardeners' Royal Benevolent Society, Queen Elizabeth's Foundation, Royal National Institute of the Blind, Royal National Lifeboat Institution, Save the Children, Shelter, SSAFA Forces Help, The Home Farm Trust, National Deaf Children's Society, The Stroke Association, Christian Aid/Traidcraft, Multiple Sclerosis Trust, National Animal Welfare Trust, The 1959 Group of Charities, The Children's Society, Epilepsy Research UK, Unique: Rare Chromosome Disorder Support Group, National Eczema Society and St Michael & All Angels Church.
Cards for Good Causes Limited (CFGC) pays the participating charities (or their trading subsidiaries) at least 75p in every pound from their card sales, less the VAT payable on the amount retained by CFGC. The retained amount covers CFGC's costs of running the temporary charity Christmas card shops. In addition to these costs, the participants have to pay for the production and distribution of their cards.