2009 OUTREACH SUMMARY

OVERALL GOAL: To assist Christians battling poverty, hunger and injustice.

OUR 2009 COMMITTEE : Jenny Carmichael, Jackie Gullage, Don Lovegrove, Linda Miner, Bob Miner, and Juanita Owin,

 

·         Changed its name from "Mission Committee" to "Outreach Committee" to better reflect our overall goal

·         Continued to check out the ratings of groups requesting financial assistance to make sure they use the funds wisely

·         Continued to give monthly Outreach Moments or Impact Statements (Sept. – May)

·         Continued to write informative monthly Lantern articles

·         Contributed $375 per month to the basis support of our conference’s outreach ministries

·         Continued to organize the 3 major conference fund raisers – Neighbors in Need, Christmas Fund and One Great Hour of Sharing

·         Cncouraged our congregation to bring in food items for the Billerica Food Pantry the 1st Sunday of each month

·         Provided Palm Sunday dinners to UCC shut-ins

·         Supported the Outdoor Church of Cambridge by attending 1 of their services along with providing many sandwiches and white socks for these homeless people

·         Helped Rosine, who was recently granted asylum, by bringing her some furniture

·         “Manned” the grills for “Rally Day”

·         Held our 2nd annual Alternative Christmas Market with the following groups represented: the Billerica Food Pantry, Equal Exchange, the Lowell Transitional Living Center and Church World Service

·         Arranged for National Grid to perform a free energy audit of our church

·         Authorized supporting the following agencies –

·         Andover-Newton Theological School         $300

·         Angel Tree                                $200

·         Billerica Food Pantry                     $1,100

·         Bread for the World                       $100

·         Bread for the World Institute             $100

·         Chernobyl Children’s Project              $500

·         Christmas Fund                            $500

·         Church World Service                      $1,260

·         Equal Exchange                            $413.40

·         Grameen Institute                         $300

·         Pastor’s Grocery Card Fund                $700

·         High School Mission Trip                  $1,000

·         House of Hope                             $200

·         Lowell Transitional Living Center         $1,003

·         The Navigators                            $400

·         Neighbors in Need                         $500

·         One Great Hour of Sharing                 $500

·         Outdoor Church of Cambridge               $350

·         OXFAM America                             $200

·         Refugee Immigration Ministry              $500

·         SEVA Foundation                           $200

·         Society of St. Andrews                    $350

·         U.C.C. Conference Basic Support           $5,525

·         World Vision                              $500

Given the above figures, we estimated that over 60% of our aid stayed in the U.S. with 43% remaining in Massachusetts, of which 50 % assisted our own congregation.