Sharing the plate
If you cannot make it to the meeting house, but want to support this week’s cause and our church, you can donate securely with PayPal using this button:
February 2024: Our January Half-Plate recipient is Habitat for Humanity
Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit organization that helps families build and improve places to call home. They believe affordable housing plays a critical role in strong and stable communities.
December 2023: Our December half-plate recipient is the Unitarian Church of Montpelier (VT)
The Unitarian Church of Montpelier Vermont were flooded out of their church this past summer.
November 2023: The November half-plate goes to the Northborough Community Meals Program.
In a 2016 article on the Northborough Community Meals program that appeared in “Wicked Local.com”, the following was in the first paragraph:
“The Northborough Community Meal Program at Trinity Church was created in 1996 as a result of an encounter by a resident with a homeless man on the streets of the town. The resident, who was a parishioner of the Unitarian Church, carried his concerns to his minister who in turn carried them to the Interfaith Clergy Council.”
Out of the Interfaith Clergy Council came a program based in Trinity Church due to its central location on Main Street. The program continued into the pandemic with the appropriate changes. Over the years seven faith communities and four civic organizations have participated in providing meals.
As we emerge from the pandemic into this new, changing world. The Community Meal Program needs support of all kinds. In the month of November First Parish Church UU will donate half of the collection plate to this program. Consider also contributing the gift of your time, even if only for a single month. Contact Alicia Coderre for more information. And thank you Alicia for keeping First Parish Church connected with this program, especially through the pandemic years.
October 2023: The October half-plate will be going to the Nipmuck Indian Development Corp.
January, 2023: our half-plate will be shared with Abby’s House.
Abby’s House (Abby Kelley Foster House, Inc.) was founded in Worcester, MA in 1976. A nonprofit organization, we provide shelter and affordable housing, as well as advocacy and support services, to homeless, battered, and low-income women, with or without children.
Over the years, we have helped more than 15,000 women and their children reclaim and rebuild their lives, empowering them to lead self-directed lives filled with dignity and hope.
December, 2022: our half-plate is shared with CASA of Middlesex County
Casa of Middlesex County is a nonprofit dedicated to standing up for the needs of children living in foster care. They advocate for kids through the hard work of volunteers who are assigned to a child or sibling group.
November, 2022: This month our half-plate is shared with the Minister’s Discretionary Fund
This fund helps our members with emergency financial needs, in a completely confidential manner. Thank you for giving generously!
September, 2022: This month our half-plate is shared with the Minister’s Discretionary Fund
This fund helps our members with emergency financial needs, in a completely confidential manner. Thank you for giving generously!
June, 2022: This month our half-plate is shared with the Minister’s Discretionary Fund
This fund helps our members with emergency financial needs, in a completely confidential manner. Thank you for giving generously!
May, 2022: This month our half-plate is shared with Days for Girls in Shrewsbury
Days for Girls advances menstrual equity, health, dignity and opportunity for all. We transform periods into pathways.
April, 2022: This month our half-plate is shared with Worcester MassMatch
March, 2022: This month our half-plate is shared with UUSC
The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) is a nonprofit, nonsectarian organization advancing human rights together with an international community of grassroots partners and advocates.UUSC
Sunday, June 2, 2019: Today we donated half the plate to The Church of the Larger Fellowship
The Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF), a Unitarian Universalist congregation with no geographical boundary, creates a global spiritual community, rooted in profound love, which cultivates wonder, imagination, and the courage to act. Their thousands of members live all over the world (900 are currently incarcerated) and are seekers, lay leaders and religious professionals, homebound and geographically remote people, quirky folks looking for kindred spirits – all with the desire to connect, seek, share and grow. More at www.questformeaning.org.
Sunday, May 5, 2019 Today we donated half the plate to Friends of the UUA
Your gift is critical to the mission of our Unitarian Universalist Association: equipping congregations for health and vitality; supporting and credentialing religious leaders; and advancing UU values in the world. https://uua.org/about
Sunday, April 28, 2019 Today we donated half the plate to The Steele Center for Earth Literacy and Sustainability, Inc.
Located in Uxbridge, MA this non-profit, educational organization focuses on environmental studies, earth science education, and sustainable living skills and offers a variety of educational activities for all age groups in order to promote earth literacy and foster an appreciation for the intricate web of life that exists on our planet. They support the earth science curriculum at local school systems by providing field trip opportunities and classroom enrichment activities as well as other assistance to teachers. Educational topics include permaculture, sustainable organic agriculture, agro-ecology, water conservation, wetlands ecology, herbal studies, food preservation, and traditional home crafts such as knitting, crocheting, quilting, rug-making, and soap-making. Funded solely by grants, public and private donations, membership dues, and their fundraising campaigns, the Steele Center is also an advocate for environmental protection, conservation, preservation, recycling and community building. https://steelecenterforearthliteracy.org/
Sunday, April 7, 2019 Today we donated half the plate to Family Farm Disaster Fund
Farm Aid created the Family Farm Disaster Fund to help farm families recover from the devastating impacts from weather-related disasters, supporting local and regional organizations working on the ground to distribute emergency grants to farm families affected by the flooding in the Midwest and offering resources that help farmers navigate their farm recovery options from mental health resources to federal funding opportunities. More at https://give.farmaid.org.
Sunday, March 31, 2019 Today, we donated half the plate to Ansaar of Worcester
Ansaar (which means supporters) is the honorific title given to those who opened up their hearts and homes to migrating Muslims almost 1,400 years ago. Today, as many dispossessed refugees, escaping poverty and persecution in their own homelands, arrive in our community, Ansaar strives to live up to the same exemplary tradition, also helping local residents who are otherwise underserved. As a 501c3 non-profit Anssar does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, gender, lifestyle, or any other basis, and extends services to anyone struggling with basic necessities. ansaarofworcester.org Sunday, March 24, 2019 Today, we donated half the plate to Community Meals This free meal is provided by and served by volunteers from various Northboro churches, including First Parish, which started it in 1996 and continues to participate fully. The meal is every Wednesday at 6:00 pm at Trinity Church, 23 Main Street. If you can help, please contact AliciaCoderre@gmail.com. Sunday, March 3, 2019 Today, we donated half the plate to Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance Providing a collaborative response to homelessness in Worcester County that fosters long-term housing stability through prevention, quality services, education and advocacy, working with those who have directly experienced homelessness or been impacted by the lack of affordable housing and related issues of poverty. More at www.cmhaonline.org. Sunday, February 24, 2019 Today, we donated the entire plate to Black Lives of Unitarian Universalists (BLUU) The BLUU Organizing Collective works to provide support, information and resources for Black Unitarian Universalists. They also work to expand the role and visibility of Black UUs within our faith. Visit http://www.blacklivesuu.com/connect/
Sunday, February 10, 2019 Today, we donated half the plate to Ferry Beach Park Association
Ferry Beach is a respite away from the everyday world, a place where challenges you thought you would never shed just seem to melt away, a place that offers rest and relaxation, the joy of community, the challenge of personal growth, and the comfort of spirit. https://www.ferrybeach.org/about.html
Sunday, January 20, 2019 Today, we donated half the plate to ONWARD TOGETHER
Providing over $2.5 million so far to groups as diverse as Voto Latino and the Alliance for Youth Action, Onward Together lifts up, funds and advises organizations that are fighting to preserve our democracy, training the next generation of leaders and expanding opportunity and fairness for more people. https://www.onwardtogether.org/
Sunday, January 13, 2019 Today, we donated half the plate to The Friends of the Northborough Senior Center
The Friends promote and financially support innovative and responsive programs, events and experiences to benefit seniors such as classes on preventing diabetes and understanding the Shingles vaccine, sessions promoting cultural understanding of China and India, a social day care program, and other important programs. All programs are open to seniors from Northborough and from other towns. www.friendsofnorthboroughseniors.org
Sunday, January 6, 2019 Today, we donated half the plate to UU Rowe Camp and Conference Center
UU Rowe Camp and Conference Center in Rowe, MA is a spiritual and educational organization offering opportunities for the presentation and exchange of a wide variety of ideas and beliefs consistent with Unitarian Universalist principles and values, to help people make better sense of their lives and help them make their world a better place in which to live. Rowe provides opportunities in a safe and supportive environment for people to explore diverse, far-reaching subjects in order to learn about themselves, each other, our cultures and the earth, and go forth with new knowledge, insight, and courage. www.rowecenter.org Sunday, December 23, 2018 Today, we donated half the plate to Pets for Vets Many military veterans return home with scars – both seen and unseen – that make it difficult to transition back to civilian life. At the same time, wonderful companion animals wait in shelters. Pets for Vets is the bridge that brings them together so that both lives change for the better. The Veteran welcomes the animal into a loving home while the pet provides unconditional love and support, easing stress, depression, loneliness and anxiety. More at https://petsforvets.com/boston Sunday,