Faith-to-Action – October

The UUCC Sanctuary and Immigrant Justice Team is the October Faith-to-Action recipient. The team was formed in 2017 in response to fears that vulnerable folks who were in the immigration process might get deported during the Trump administration. Our church didn’t end up hosting anyone, and so the team pivoted to supporting families seeking asylum in the US. The team is currently sponsoring a Guatemalan family and still occasionally supporting a Honduran family. Donations will go towards supporting the work of the team as we all together at UUCC seek to make our country a safe haven for those who are fleeing violence and persecution.

Recent Faith-to-Action collections

• September: $537 for The Center Project
• October: $736 for Heart of Missouri CASA (Court-Appointed Special Advocates)
• November: $1,454 for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. Combined with the Chili Fund-Raiser, that makes a total of $5,174 for PCRF.
• December: $888 for First Chance for Children
• January: $721.58 for MADP (Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty. Ms. Elyse Max thanks us and is grateful for our continuing support.
• February: $1,080.12 for Minority Men’s Network
• March: $1,101.77 for our Sanctuary and Immigrant Justice Team.
• April: $997.99 for River Relief
• May: $487.36 for our Honduras ministry
• June: $1,096.91 for Loaves and Fishes
• July: $862.06 for Mobility Worldwide
• August: $1,174.25 for No More Deaths

2025 Honduras service trip news

September was Honduras month at UUCC – thank you for all the generous donations through Faith-to-Action and the crêpe fundraiser! Without all of you, this ministry would not be possible!

Monthly meetings are well under way to plan the sixth UUCC Service Trip to Honduras. It is not too late to join us! We will be traveling to Honduras during Spring Break 2025 to build latrines and do other projects that the community desires and that we can offer. Scholarships are available.

Cito, our foreman on the ground in Honduras who leads our projects, has recovered from Hepatitis C and is feeling so much better. The cost to treat Cito was enormous, but thanks to very generous donors, he could get his full treatment, leading to full healing.

Cito says that going through first Dengue and then Hepatitis C was very difficult but also very important in order to learn to be a better person every day and to learn that he can do much more to serve others. Cito is a very remarkable person who even before his illnesses was doing SO much for his community. We really couldn’t do our Honduras ministry without him.

Mark your calendars for our next Trivia Night on Nov. 16.

Please email Allie Gassmann if you would like to get involved, join us on the trip and/or have questions and ideas.

Social Action Team next meeting

The Social Action Team‘s regular meeting is at 1:30 p.m. on the first Sunday each month via Zoom. The next meeting will be on Oct. 6. All are welcome to participate. For more information, email the team’s chair, Fred Young.

Thanks for feeding our food barrel

Joan and I recently took 112 pounds from our barrel to the Food Bank Market, as it is now called. Thanks to those of you who feed the barrel, so it can help feed the Market… Hunger continues around us. Thanks to all who help. – Steve and Joan Mudrick

Loaves and Fishes update

Recent experience shows that it is especially important to fill all of the meat, vegetables and starch (e.g., potatoes, rice, etc.) slots in our signup list.

Diane Suhler will be on a mission in Jamaica for a year. She has been a Loaves and Fishes stalwart, often filling multiple slots of meat or starch, as well as serving. So, the rest of us will have to step up!

Note that you may be reimbursed for your cost if you donate food at our third Sunday L&F meals. Submit your grocery receipt along with a standard UUCC Expense Voucher. Email Church Administrator April Rodeghero to obtain the church’s sales tax exemption certificate to use when purchasing food for Loaves and Fishes.

Cooking not your thing? You can still be part of the effort by donating to the Loaves and Fishes Reserve Fund, which we use to reimburse food expenses. We hope to get this on the UUCC website donations drop-down list soon… but you can always write a good-old-fashioned check to UUCC with Loaves & Fishes Reserve Fund in the memo line. April knows what to do with it!