Guest Speaker Ian Mills

The speaker for our Rotary Zoom meeting was Ian Mills who is a trustee of the charity Abraham’s Children in Crisis (ACIC), a small organisation working in the Holy Land to support the welfare, education and medical needs of children. Many live with extreme poverty and could face abandonment, family breakdown or the death of one or both parents. The physical and psychological damage can be heart-breaking and to deal with such challenges, the charity has advisers both in the UK and in the Holy Land who are qualified and experienced in the care of children in the area in which the charity seeks to give support. After 10 years in Cleveland Police, Ian went to work in the chaplaincy at Durham Prison where he met our very own Mike Dixon. A theological trip with Mike led to an interest in the welfare of children in Israel and Palestine and on returning home, Ian contacted a charity in Newcastle, became a trustee and made many visits to Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

Since 2011, Ian has spent half of the year in the Holy Land and the other half in the UK trying to raise funds and awareness of the plight of affected children and in 2014, along with friends, Ian formed Abraham’s Children in Crisis. They are still going strong although coronavirus has meant that they are mostly unable to give talks or fundraise in the usual ways. Ian told us, ‘many children live with feelings of hopelessness and to be able to offer hope and see the smiles is worth everything’. If anyone would like to know more about our work, Ian would be happy to respond at ianmills1959@gmail.com or if you would like to become a sponsor, you can find details on the web page. www.acincrisis.weebly.com