May report from the Social Action Team

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May Faith-to-Action recipient

The Faith-to-Action recipient for May 2025 is Children’s Grove Kindness Libraries. The mission of Children’s Grove is to inspire a culture of kindness and to support the mental and emotional well-being of our youth. Our Kindness Library program works to get storybooks featuring kindness and empathy into the hands of our community’s children.

You will hear more about this worthy organization during Sunday worship service Faith-to-Action collections. Please donate as you are able, either online or in the old-fashioned way….in the collection plate!

Faith-to-Action nominations are open

The Social Action Team is now accepting applications for the Faith-to-Action collections for the period from September 2025 through August 2026. Any member or friend of UUCC may submit a nomination. We ask that you submit your nomination by July 1 so that the Team can evaluate the nominees and be ready for the September collection. Nomination form.

Recent Faith-to-Action collection results

  • July: $862.06 for Mobility Worldwide
  • August: $1,174.25 for No More Deaths
  • September: $1,325.27 for the Honduras Ministry Team.
  • October: $1,382.27 for the Sanctuary and Immigrant Justice Team.
  • November: $1,574.30 for the Pink Haven Coalition
  • December: $1,063.94 for Caring Hearts and Hands of Columbia
  • January: $2,057.88 for the Boone County Community Bail Fund
  • February: $1,258.41 for the Minority Men’s Network Educational Fund
  • March: $1,247.24 for Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty

2025 Honduras Ministry news

Thirteen members of the Honduras Ministry Team traveled to the Cangrejal River Valley, south of La Ceiba, from March 22 to March 29. The UUCC team funded and helped build 10 latrines in two different communities in the River Valley and painted an elementary school. We brought along solar chargers, solar lights, construction tools and mosquito nets as well as other donated items to leave with the communities.

We saw some hopeful signs on our trip. We saw new houses being built along the route from San Pedro Sula to La Ceiba. La Ceiba has become a safer and more functional city since our last stay there in 2020. But there are still so many problems and difficult things, and that is why we continue with our Honduras work.

Be watching out for a full report with pictures about our trip on the UUCC website in May! And mark your calendars – the next UUCC Honduras Service Trip is scheduled for Spring Break 2028!

Whether you ever go on a service trip to Honduras or not, we absolutely could not do it without the incredible support and enthusiasm of the whole congregation! THANK YOU!

Please email Allie Gassmann if you would like to get involved!

SAT next meeting – 1:30 p.m. May 4

The Social Action Team meets at 1:30 p.m. on the first Sunday each month via Zoom. All are welcome to participate. For more information, email the team’s chair, Fred Young.

Thanks for feeding our food barrel

On April 24, we took 148 pounds of food items to the Food Bank’s Market on the Business Loop. Thanks to DRE Jamila Batchelder and the RE Easter food hunt collection, and to everyone who put items in our barrel. Also, thanks for the cash donated; a check for $20 also went there.

Please continue to feed our barrel, which helps feed others in our community.

Loaves and Fishes update

April 20 was Easter Sunday, and a record 177 plates were used (some were seconds). Some may remember the Easter Tornadoes, which were happening during the meal. For 15 minutes or so, all were located in the inside part of interior walls, namely the serving and seated tables area. We continued to serve, but could not access the kitchen/food-preparation area. Once again, clients expressed appreciation for the meal, and for the quality of the food.

Here are the people who either donated food, or their time to serve and clean up, or both:

  • Karen Dwyer
  • Vic Myers
  • Gregg Suhler
  • Sharon Lee
  • Sarah Wolcott
  • Kathy Myers
  • Winifred Colwill
  • Todd Iveson
  • Laura Foley
  • Jeff White
  • Melanie Hickcox
  • Ted Curtis
  • Apuuli Tendai Mwebaze
  • Mark Price
  • Megan Gore
  • Barbara Fotsch
  • Margaret Tyler
  • Sarah Cooper-Nelson
  • Rosann Geiser

Please consider signing up for the May 18 meal, either to serve/clean up or to donate food – or both. Remember that you can get reimbursed for food expenses if you wish.

If serving or donating food doesn’t work for you, and you want to be part of the UUCC support for Loaves & Fishes, you can donate to the food reimbursement fund.