Generosity Ministry Team • Giving Away the Plate
Unity Church began giving the Sunday collection back to the larger community on October 15, 2006. Each Sunday, thirty percent of the offering goes to support of the Community Outreach Ministry at Unity Church and seventy percent is placed in the hands of the chosen community recipients.
From October 15, 2006 through December 31, 2008, Unity Church gave $120,943 to community organizations that help bring our values into the world. From January 1, 2009 through May 10, 2009, Unity Church has given $20,977 to 13 community organizations, about $1600 per recipient.
At its October 2007 meeting the Generosity Ministry Team decided to establish relief collections when local and state emergencies occur. One hundred percent of the money collected in these emergency collections will go directly to targeted disaster relief.
The Generosity Ministry Team oversees the distribution of the Sunday plate. Members of this team for church year 2008-09 are Dick Buggs: unuseddreams@msn.com, Matt Brown: mhbrown@usfamily.net, Lisa Brosseau: lisa.brosseau@mindspring.com,
Rebecca Flood: rebeccaflood@visi.com, Pat Haff: pat@unityunitarian.org, Kate Heider: kate_heider@hotmail.com, and
Brandon Miller bmiller@usfamily.net.
The Generosity Ministry Team members want to hear form you. Please bring any concerns/opinions you may have have to their attention. To nominate a plate recipient, please complete the nomination form available on this website. Send that completed form to any team member. To nominate a recipient for a second time, please resubmit the original nomination form.
Offering recipients: August and September 2010
August 1: Casa de Esperanza
Since 1989, Casa de Esperanza has mobilized Latina and Latino communities to end domestic violence. Their starting point is supporting and assisting Latina communities to recognize their strengths, build on them, and reach their goals. This process builds on the belief that effective responses to domestic violence are shaped by where people live—home, workplace, market place or church—and that it is the community that will end domestic violence.
http://www.casadeesperanza.org/
August 8: East Side Learning Center
This is a one-on-one tutoring program for children in grades K-4 that began on the East Side of St. Paul with a group of concerned citizens and the School Sisters of Notre Dame to address gaps in school success. In the past year, over 180 volunteers tutored over 150 students who needed help in reading and literacy. Last year, Unity Church member Harry Wernecke volunteered an hour a week at ESLC and is “highly impressed with the great books and clever teaching games used in the program.”
http://vento.spps.org/eastside_learning.html
August 15: Hamm Clinic
Hamm Clinic provides premier mental health care for our community, particularly for those who are underserved because of racial, cultural and financial barriers. Some of the outstanding features of the Hamm Clinic include bilingual, bicultural therapists; an active research department; and active participation in many community events. As a Hamm Clinic participant, Unity Church member Liz Curran has benefited greatly from this program.
August 22: Bridging, Inc.
Founded in 1987, Bridging Inc. is a Twin Cities non-profit organization that provides the economically disadvantaged in transition with quality furniture and household items free of charge. Bridging Inc. bridges the gap between those who have and those have not, benefiting those in desperate need including refugees, immigrants, victims of family violence or natural disasters and the homeless.
August 29: East Side Learning Center
See August 8 description.
September 5:
Project for Pride in Living Emergency Repair Program
Project for Pride in Living serves low-income individuals and families by providing grants to help homeowners afford critical repairs which, if left unattended, would render their homes uninhabitable. The majority of Emergency Repair participants are referred by the Greater Twin Cities United Way’s 211 Resource Directory and the Salvation Army. In 2009, this program provided financial assistance to 21 extremely low-income families and individuals whose incomes averaged about $13,500.
http://www.ppl-inc.org/housing/other-resources/emergency-repair
September 12:
The Youth Farm and Market Project (YFMP)
YFMP is about youth gardening, cooking, nutrition, entrepreneurship, bringing quality healthy food to urban neighborhoods, and exploring culinary traditions from around the world. Since 1995, YFMP has provided year-round development programming for almost 500 youth ages 9-18 with the youth farming nine garden sites over two acres of urban land in Minneapolis and St. Paul and by cooking and distributing over 11,000 pounds of fresh local produce. YFMP also engages over 300 youth in neighborhood and after-school-based activities including gardening, cooking, and taking field trips to farms, restaurants, and food banks.
September 19:
Center for Victims of Torture
CVT exists to heal the wounds of government-sponsored torture of individuals, their families, and communities. They are based in the Twin Cities and have healing centers in St. Paul, Minneapolis, and in refugee camps around the world. Unity Church has supported CVT's efforts to ban our government's use of torture and has also provided coats, art supplies, meeting space, individual work with clients, massage therapy materials, money, and volunteer time gardening and painting the St. Paul Healing Center. As a congregation we've received the opportunity for spiritual growth as we've seen the triumph of the human spirit in the clients we have supported.
September 26:
Summit University Living at Home Block Nurse Program (SULAH)
With an office on the second floor of the Unity Church building, SULAH serves seniors living in their own homes in the Summit University and Frogtown neighborhoods. Some of the services provided by SULAH include education and exercise programs, transportation, friendly visits, arranging for in-home nursing and personal care. This past summer, SULAH delivered vegetables donated by the Unity Church Children’s garden and other community members to neighboring seniors.
If you would like to nominate an organization, please fill out the Recipient Nomination Form (pdf) and return it to any Generosity Ministry Team member. Offering Criteria Revisited The Unity Church Generosity Ministry Team and the Executive Team developed the following new criteria for Sunday Offering nominations from congregation members. Potential offering recipients must meet the following criteria:
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