STAY siLENT FOR A CHANGE
Each year million Minutes' runs siLENT - creating a deafening silence to speak up for young people!
Lent 2018 was a great year. We reached a huge milestone - we clocked up a million minutes of silence!
Million minutes started in 2011 to give voice and support to young people to change their lives and our world, raising money through sponsored silences. Thanks to a partnership with the Diocese of Brentwood, in Lent we have smashed the million minutes target and are well on the way to our second million.
Million Minutes' Director Danny Curtin said: "I'm delighted that together we've clocked up more than a million minutes of silence! It shows that we're prepared to stand with young people, especially those who don't get heard in today's world."
The last seven years have seen some big new projects, from the Celebrating Young People Awards to the Courtyard detached youth work project. The silence continued with siLENT 2018 supported by Frank Cottrell Boyce, Delia Smith, Margaret Mizen, Bishop Alan Williams and a host of schools and parishes.
In siLENT 2019 we created 195,495 minutes of silence, these minutes are being built on through our new initiative Million Minutes of Change, we want to create a million minutes of social action in 2019-20 showing the church and the world how great our young people are. Find out more here.
News from some of our siLENT Participants
We are delighted that the Sisters of the Holy Family - and many of their wider lay family - stayed siLENT in 2018. Togeterh they clocked up 1,000,000 seconds! It was truly inspirational. Here are some photos
And Sister Margaret from Austin Friars' school sent us this reflection of her quiet time:
"Lent is a perfect time to make sacrifice for a worthy cause. Joining Million Minutes in creating a deafening silence in Lent this year is one of the most rewarding and a spirit-filled experience I have ever had. February 23rd 2018 is a day we will not forget so easily in Britain. When I chose that date for my sponsored silence I had no knowledge of what lies ahead. What a day to be quiet with all the heavy snow showers and wintry wind sweeping across Britain. Despite all the excitement and anxiety of the snowing, I managed to keep silence the whole day. Being in school on that day when all the staff were getting the pupils sorted and reorganising the work and the whole school’s activities because of the snow was not easy to keep silence, but that’s is the real sacrifice and I braved it.
As for the rest of the Lenten season, I minimized the use of social media, makingless phone calls, only calling when necessary. I struggled and succeed not posting any of the pictures of the snowing on my Facebook page which is quite unusual of me, normally I would share the pictures of the snowing and all the events of that day on Facebook and WhatsApp with friends.
It was an interest experience for me and I’m grateful to God for the strength to do it and graces bestowed on me. I also thank my colleagues in Austin Friars, my friends in the parish of our Lady and St Wilfrid at Warwick Bridge in Carlisle who sponsored my silence. A total of £230.00 was raised. It is my hope that this will also help one of those young people that Million Minutes is working with."
Sr Margaret Ochigbo, HHCJ
Read Corey Scott's story of staying siLENT 2017 here
