Rev. Molly sent the following open letter to Churchers this past week:
As the federal government shutdown drags on, I am thinking of you and our wider community in all of the ways you may be affected – both directly and indirectly. I am available to you pastorally, and our small groups and care team are additional sources of connection and care.
If you are facing financial struggle due to furlough, benefit loss from SNAP or other sources, or any other reason, I especially hope you will be in touch so that we may connect you with the solidarity of your community – including (but not limited to) financial support for your various basic needs from our Discretionary Funds that exist for just such a time as this.
In addition, Love Columbia has put together a fairly comprehensive list of community resources, which you might use or pass along to others: https://lovecolumbia.org/landing-basic-needs. Most of our local Mid-Missouri social service organizations are doing their very best to scale up to meet this moment and alleviate some of the suffering created or intensified by the failure of our government to work for its people.
For those who find themselves adequately or abundantly resourced in this moment, we invite your solidarity in redistributing some resources to where they are most needed. The resource list above is also a good guide for organizations to support financially, and our church discretionary fund is always in the business of directing abundance toward the scarcities that unjust systems create.
In fact, I am raising money to the Discretionary Fund now to pool with 6 other Columbia congregations who are coming together to fund grocery gift cards for Columbia families who need them this month. This is the project of a new organizing group of local clergy, called CoMO Faith In Solidarity.
I am grateful to those who gave to this effort during our Sunday service on November 2, when we raised more than $800 for these grocery cards during the Offering. If you weren’t there on Sunday and would like to give to the Discretionary Fund for this purpose, you can do so at uucomo.org/give by selecting “Minister’s Discretionary Fund” in the giving drop down menu, or by mailing a check to the church with “Discretionary Fund” in the memo line. [Note: Rev. Molly announced during worship on Nov. 9 that our church raised $2,000 toward this effort in the past week.]
If you could use one of these grocery gift cards, let me know, and I’ll get one to you right away.
On Sunday we welcomed new members with a promise to “give and receive in the spirit of gratitude and hope.” As you receive what you need and give what you can, I pray this beloved community of ours gives you some measure of the hope it gives me. We got us.
In faith,
Rev. Molly