2020 Virtual Giving Tree
In early December, Green Leaf community leaders spent time connecting with 15 Green Leaf families to listen to their needs and wishes to create the Giving Tree list. Then over 30 WUUC members and friends donated Giving Tree gifts to those families, providing for their basic needs as well as some special gifts during this holiday season.
On distribution day, Advocates for Social Justice members Pam Green and Cora Goss-Grubbs were joined by several staff from Arrowhead elementary school — the school that many Green Leaf children attend — to greet the families and begin getting to know them face-to-face. (Come back next month for more about our work with Arrowhead staff and Green Leaf leaders building trusting relationships that foster equity and school success.)
Green Leaf leaders expressed deep gratitude – here is a note from one of them, Tami Siemers: “My family would like to extend our gratitude to all involved with helping our community. This process has been an experience that I don’t have all the words to describe — it was overwhelming with positive results. You have given us hope and light, and made a little girl’s Christmas wish come true.”
The Giving Tree organizers also feel gratitude to our church community for addressing the inequity especially felt during the holiday season, and doing so with generosity, spirit, and a personal touch.
Special Sunday Collections
November’s special collection raised $310 for TRUUsT (Transgender Religious professional UUs Together), an organization of trans Unitarian Universalists who are living out a call to ministry within Unitarian Universalism. Its mission is to advocate for the gifts, safety, liberation, and leadership of trans religious professionals in Unitarian Universalist ministries and institutions.
Our ASJ special collection on Dec. 20 will go to the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. The total amount raised is not yet tallied. The UUSC is a non-profit, non-sectarian organization advancing human rights together with an international community of grassroots partners and advocates. We hope you will consider giving generously to UUSC’s important work.
Our next special collection, during the service on Jan. 21, will go to NAMI. The National Association of Mental Illness is a community-based non-profit organization committed to improving the quality of life for those impacted by mental illness through advocacy, education, and support.
The ASJ Committee thanks WUUC members and friends for their generous support of our monthly special collections, which take place during services on the third Sunday of every month. Instructions for giving are posted during the service, and you can also donate anytime the following week at https://onrealm.org/wuuc/-/give/now, or by sending a check to WUUC at P.O. Box 111, Woodinville, WA 98072. Please make checks out to WUUC and write “ASJ Special Collection” in the notes.