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Million Minutes Video
In this video we explore why silence is a great way to to stand up for, and raise money for, young people. With Fr Christopher Jamison OSB, Margaret Mizen and Paschal Uche.
New Resources Avaliable!
We've been working hard on some new resources and updating others to help you do all you can to get involved! We have some more in depth info on the benefits of silence from Fr Christopher Jamison OSB and Delia Smith along with loads of activities and ideas for individual and group fundraising. We’ve got a couple of things which should help you tell everyone about the great things you’re doing! Most of these are in the two packs, the participant pack and the spread the word pack, but not all of them. Head over to our Resources page to have a look!
St Vincent's, Whitstable, get creative for Million Minutes
The amazing team at St Vincent's Youth Retreat Centre in Whitstable have been getting creative, looking at how to get young people going to their centre involved in Million Minutes. Not only have they been baking Million Minutes biscuits but they have put up a fantastic display on one of their notice boards to track their progress! Here is what they've said:
Southwark Catholic Youth Service and St Vincent’s Centre are supporting Million Minutes and are getting ready for the big ‘be quiet’ in a variety of ways.
In the common room of our retreat centre we now have a board devoted to raising awareness and money for our Million Minutes pledge.
As well as helping us to track the money we have raised, it also has space for the visitors to our centre, old and young alike, to write their pledges and take information and resources away on how to get involved. Our hope is that every school and parish group that join us over the coming months will take away an action pack and join in the big silence with us!
We will also be going into the parish of Whitstable once Lent has begun and are hoping to get more people involved. We’ve been practising our baking skills, pledging a Million Minute biscuit for every pledge in the parish we get.
Our community at St Vincent’s are very proud to be supporting such an exciting initiative, although we are all slightly nervous. As a group who struggle to be quiet at the best of times and who are quite attached to our facebook accounts and mobiles, we know it won’t be easy! Let’s just hope that lots of people will join us on the 8th of May when we will be silent for 24 hours.
Thanks for all your hard work! We can't wait to hear more about your progress and have a taste of the Million Minutes biscuits!
Million Minutes Launch Press Release
To see our launch press release, please follow this link.
More than 350,000 minutes pledged at Million Minutes launch
PRESS RELEASE – for immediate release, 1 February 2011 378,000 minutes of silence were pledged by those attending the launch of a new Catholic charity that will support young people to take action in their communities and speak out on issues that concern them.
Million Minutes encourages young people and all who care about them to stay silent in solidarity with young people who are silenced by society and as a way to get sponsored to raise money for local projects both in the UK and overseas.
Speaking at the launch, which took place on 31 January 2011 (feast of St Don Bosco) at St Mary Moorfields in the City of London, Mrs Margaret Mizen, a Million Minutes Champion, said, “Young people aren’t bad, but many do lead tough lives. I’m thrilled to be part of a new Catholic initiative that will help.”
Pascal Uche, who greeted the Pope on the steps of Westminster Cathedral during the Papal Visit on behalf of the young people of England and Wales and is also a Million Minutes Champion, said, “My friends and I are going to stay silent – it’s a great witness to our faith and our faith in other young people”.
The launch attracted more than 130 people, including young people from residential centres and local youth groups, clergy, and many from the youth ministry and justice and peace communities from around the country.
Speaking at the launch, trustee Danny Curtin said, “This is an idea whose time has clearly come. It’s wonderful to be able to get people to do something countercultural and based in our Catholic tradition and at the same time raise money for a great cause.”
Delia Smith, Britain’s best selling cookery writer and Million Minutes Champion, sent the following message of encouragement: “I am supporting Million Minutes because it's important to stand alongside young people. You have so much to offer the world at present.”
Million Minutes aims to get 695 people or groups to stay silent for 24 hours, which would equal more than a million minutes. Anyone can take part, and all details are on the new website, millionminutes.org
Notes to editors
- To arrange an interview with any of the Million Minutes champions or the team behind Million Minutes, please call Danny Curtin on 07957190516. Please note, Delia Smith is unable for interview due to diary commitments.
- Photos from the launch of Million Minutes are available, please contact stephend@millionminutes.org
- Fr Christopher Jamison OSB is the Director of the National Office of Vocations and was Abbot of Worth Abbey. His TV programmes include The Monastery and The Big Silence. His books include Finding Sanctuary and Finding Happiness.
- Margaret Mizen runs the Jimmy Mizen Foundation with her husband Barry. The Foundation is committed to working for peace among young people.
- The Youth champion is Paschal Uche, who welcomed Pope Benedict XVI on the steps of Westminster Cathedral during last year’s Papal Visit.
- Million Minutes is a company limited by guarantee (number 7442390) and a charity registered in England and Wales (number 1140079)
We launched!
Thanks to the more than 130 young people, Champions, clergy, church colleagues, parishioners, friends and assorted hangers on who came to the MM launch last night. What a brilliant event! Our Champions said some inspirational words and it was great to see so many people who care so much about young people. As part of the eventing we got people to pledge to stay silent. We were bowled over by the response: 378,720 minutes already! We're more than a third of the way to our million minutes target. So thanks to everyone who pledged - we'll be getting in touch with you all to make sure you heave everything you need to make a splash!
So it's game on for MM now - we have another 700,000 minutes to go, so don't forget to sign up or get someone else to! Thanks again to everyone for coming - we can do it!
1140079: our new lucky number
So, after a great deal of effort, this is it. It doesn’t look like much but it really is. It’s our brand new charity number, and we’re very pleased with it. In a very practical way, it means we can set up our online giving portal, we can print resources, and we can get letterheads and business cards. So far so boring. But it also means that our mission has been recognised as being expressly charitable: “We see a world in which young people make a difference, where they are the difference. Where they enable the transformation needed for everyone to live a life of dignity. Million Minutes campaigns with young people, raises money, and funds youth action and advocacy activities that give voice and support to young people to transform society, inspired by Catholic social teaching”
It might just seem like a hoop we had to jump through, but from where we’re standing, it’s one of the major hurdles we had to get over in order to make the Million Minutes magic happen. It opens the door to a great deal more work, but I reckon it’s a great start.
Catholics urged to ‘stay silent’ to raise £1m for young people
Thousands of Catholics from all over England and Wales are being urged to stay silent for up to 24 hours to raise money to fund projects supporting young people as part of an innovative new charity to be launched this month.
For immediate release – 24 January 2011 Thousands of Catholics from all over England and Wales are being urged to stay silent for up to 24 hours to raise money to fund projects supporting young people as part of an innovative new charity to be launched this month.
The charity, Million Minutes, has been set up to raise money to promote youth participation and advocacy by supporting projects that give young people vision, purpose and responsibility. The organisation aims to fund projects in England and Wales as well as internationally.
The charity’s focus in 2011 will be raising £1m through a UK-wide sponsored silence. The charity is urging thousands of people and groups to stay silent for 24 hours from midday on Sunday May 8th 2011. If just 695 people or groups manage it, more than a million minutes will have been achieved.
Speaking ahead of the launch on the Feast of St Don Bosco, patron saint of young people, on the 31 January, Million Minutes champion, Fr Christopher Jamison OSB, presenter of BBC TV programme The Big Silence, said:
“This is a great way to bring together two really important and overlooked things: silence and young people. In a world that’s dominated by being busy, silence offers so much more than a means of escape, it helps us to reconnect with our deepest selves.”
Fellow Million Minutes champion Margaret Mizen, mother of murdered teenager Jimmy Mizen, said:
“Young people are often overlooked in today’s adult-led world. But it’s important that they are supported to play their full role in society – young people’s passion and creativity really can transform society.”
Million Minutes Champions will be joined in their silence by many others who have already pledged to get involved, including young people, lay chaplains, teachers and even parish priests.
The charity, Million Minutes, is a unique collaboration between young adults across charities that work on social issues. Co-director and co-founder Danny Curtin, former President of the Young Christian Workers, said:
“A few of us have thought for a while about how best to raise money for young people and raise their profile in the Church as well as in the rest of society. Million Minutes seems to be an idea whose time has come.”
Notes to editors
1. To arrange an interview with either of the Million Minutes champions or the team behind Million Minutes, please email info@millionminutes.org.
2. Fr Christopher Jamison OSB is the Director of the National Office of Vocations and was Abbot of Worth Abbey. His TV programmes include The Monastery and The Big Silence. His books include Finding Sanctuary and Finding Happiness.
3. Margaret Mizen runs the Jimmy Mizen Foundation with her husband Barry and their family. The Foundation is committed to working for peace among young people.
4. The third Million Minutes champion is Paschal Uche, who welcomed Pope Benedict XVI on the steps of Westminter Cathedral during last year’s Papal Visit.
6. Anyone can volunteer to stay silent and get sponsored for it. More details can be found on the new Million Minutes website, www.millionminutes.org
7. Million Minutes is a company limited by guarantee (number 7442390) and a charity registered in England and Wales (number 1140079).
Growing up fast
Silence keeps inspiring us. We wrote off to register the charitable company this week, with Stephen Davies and Nicky Pisa who are joining us on the Board. Terribly grown up! And all you tech-heads out there, we bought some other domains (not the .com one, though - it's advertising games in America, apparently), so we'll be secure in our silent online home.
Last up in our little tour of recent activity, we've commissioned a very able young fellow to snaz the site up, we've asked two people to join us as Champions (both famous in their own ways), and got randomly festive at the thought of Christmas.
And we planned the launch - January 31th (the feast of St Don Bosco, the patron saint of young people). Put it in your diary. So it's all hands on deck, frankly.
This is Million Minutes
Kicking off our online presence!
Hi there! Thanks for stopping by. This website is a bit of a work-in-progress, but we're super excited about kicking off our online presence here. We'll be adding photos, names, ways to get in touch, basically everything any self-respecting website needs. So, comment below, recommend, add us to your favourites, and just watch out. Million Minutes is not a million miles away anymore.