Fight Hunger. Nourish the Future. For nearly a million children and adults in Houston and southeast Texas,
hunger is a never-ending battle. Now, it’s time for Emerson to join the fight.
As you probably know, Emerson has been a long-time supporter of Interfaith Ministries and its hunger relief programs, most notably Food for Seniors. Food for Seniors provides a box of food once a month to low-income individuals who are unable to travel to food pantries for assistance.
Recently, the Social Action Council decided to make a meaningful contribution to Interfaith Ministries’ Meals on Wheels program. To that end, we are sponsoring a senior who had been on the Meals on Wheels waiting list. For the next year, for just $1200 (that’s $100/month), we are ensuring that this person will receive a hot, nutritious lunch every day!
About 250 seniors remain on the waiting list. You can sponsor a senior by contacting Interfaith Ministries at www.imgh.org.
Church members make Food Deliveries to Seniors in areas all over Houston every third Sunday of the month, among others Mary Jo and Jim Vague and Edna and Larry Kelly. Your generosity to this program is much appreciated. Contributions may be made any time! For more information contact Jan King Mills.
Make a sandwich Teams are still needed to make lunches for the homeless. We’re asking for a once-a-month commitment, which makes this perfect for RE classes, COA students, families, covenant groups and other organizations within the church. Donations to purchase lunch ingredients are also welcome. For more information, contact Barbara Hopkins.
Food Sunday A reminder from the Community Service Committee that the second Sunday of each month is Food Contribution Sunday. Please bring non-perishable items to donate to the Houston Food Bank (place them in the drawers in Westwood Hall or look for a box in the Gathering Place) and/or give to the Special Collection for Interfaith Ministries, the organization that dispenses the funds donated by Emerson Church to purchase the food for Food for Seniors and Food Pantries throughout the Houston area.
Last year(2007) we donated more than $9300 to Interfaith Ministries’ Food Programs and 575 pounds of food to the Houston Food Bank. Let’s beat those totals this year.
Where Does Hope Come From? The UUA-UUSC Gulf Coast Volunteer Program Adult Forum:
The Need Remains -- How You Can Help
Gay Ann Gustafson
Regional Coordinator, Southwest District - Texas, of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee National Volunteer Network
Gay Ann Gustafson was invited to New Orleans on September 13–22 this year(2007) to learn about the communities affected by Hurricane Katrina. She worked directly with program partners, community organizations, and First UU Church, NOLA, to understand the inequalities that continue to affect the rebuilding of the city.
The UUA–UUSC Gulf Coast Volunteer Program grew out of the Hurricane Relief and Social Justice project of the Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge, La. This project, which was created to respond to the great need of the surrounding region in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, transitioned into the UUA–UUSC Gulf Coast Volunteer Program in April 2007.
More details are available from the Gulf Coast Volunteer Program at http://www.uusc.org/gulfcoastvolunteerprogram. You can also call Peggy Powell at the UUSC in Cambridge, Massachusetts at (617) 301-4322.
Hospitality Apartments Emersonians are long-time supporters of the Hospitality Apartments (phone:(713) 790-9120) , which provide free housing for Texas Medical Center patients and their families. In 2006, road construction in the area nearly forced the Hospitality Apartments to abandon their long-time location conveniently situated near the Texas Medical Center in Houston. However, a new and improved complex has been built on adjacent property and re-opened in February 2008. The Houston Chronicle published an excellent article in the Mar 1, 2008 Business section that describes how the Hospitality Apartments operate with a staff of volunteers and relates the stories of some of the many patients that have benefited from this service.
Click to read the main article as well as the accompanying sidebar story.
Welcoming Crew Would you like to join a new-member welcoming crew? Fifty new members in 2007? Sure! Says the membership committee. So we’re starting an organized effort to help those who join get to know people in the church and activities of the church in a low-key, one-on-one context. The plan is to pair up each new member with someone who has volunteered for the just-starting-up new member welcome crew. Ann Wood, Ann May, Karen Tidholm, Jack Howard, and Betsy Gelb have already volunteered. How about you? If our crew numbers 10, you”ll be paired up with roughly five new members over the course of a year. You’ll get information about them for the Emersonian so the congregation meets them, and based on their interests, you can help each of those five participate however he or she would like. Interested? For a no-obligation discussion or a two-page e-mail write up of how we see all of this working out, Contact: Betsy Gelb.
Emerson Receives Diamond Ranking For Emerson Church’s contribution to the our denomination’s Unitarian Universalist Association, www.uua.org, we have received a “diamond” ranking, which means that we have paid our full and fair share for the size of our congregation, for ten consecutive years.
Free Rooms For Charities Emerson contributes donations, volunteer hours and space to worthy non-profit organizations throughout the community. To date this year, we have donated about $1500 worth of free rentals to member-sponsored groups, such as Mothers for Clean Air and the League of Women Voters. Please mention our community-friendly spaces to the charitable organizations in which you are involved. Organizers can call Karen Van Horn during business hours or click here to visit our facility rental page for more information about member-sponsored free space for nonprofits.
Track Your Texas Legislature Click below to go to a site that tells all about what's going on in the Texas State Legislature. You also can find a link from there to a list of State Representatives and their e-mail addresses: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/
Report on ICUU Conference in Africa The ICUU Conference for emerging Unitarian
and Universalist congregations in Africa was
held as scheduled, with no untoward
incidents. You can find out more about what
went on, and the reactions of one of the
American ministers who was on the faculty
for the conference, by going to her blog. If you go there, you will find entries that
will inspire you, humble you, and enlighten
you. Look for entries from February 10
through February 15, 2008. All in all, you will get a
greater appreciation of just how precious and
powerful our UU religion is, and what it has to
offer to a troubled world.
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee Newswww.uusc.org
In response to the crisis in Kenya, a three-person Unitarian Universalist
emergency assessment delegation travelled to Nairobi in January 2008 to collect information and personal accounts of the ongoing violence in
that country. The members of the delegation were Dr. Charlie Clements,
President/CEO of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC),
Atema Eclai, Program Director for the UUSC and a native of Kenya, and
Rev. Rosemary Bray McNatt, minister of Fourth Universalist Society in
New York City and a founder of the Unitarian Universalist Trauma
Response Ministry.
War and Peace In Iraq In response to the war in Iraq, the UUSC created an Iraq Relief Fund to help ease the sufferings in that country. Although UUSC does not have any programs in Iraq, we have a history of responding to emergencies where human rights are jeopardized. We have identified two nonprofit, non-governmental agencies we believe are best equipped to address the humanitarian needs of the vulnerable and neglected populations in Iraq during this period of recovery and reconstruction. Visit http://www.uusc.org/news/article 072803.html.
Afghanistan Women offer hope for future of Afghanistan With all eyes focused on Iraq, the UUSC is concerned that the women and children of Afghanistan will be forgotten. With the generous help of our members and friends, UUSC has been able to provide help to women survivors of the war in Afghanistan as they strive to move from crisis to having a voice in the creation of a civil society that promotes peace, stability and self-sufficiency.
The need for humanitarian aid is still overwhelming, and we are convinced that investing in the women of Afghanistan will reap rewards as the country begins the long process of rebuilding. Visit the website at http://www.uusc.org/news/article072503.html. Thanks to the generosity of our members and supporters, UUSC has been able to distribute more than $100,000 in humanitarian relief aid to non-governmental organizations working in Afghanistan and neighboring countries, especially Pakistan. Visit http://www.uusc.org/news/article 072503_3.html.
In 2006, road construction in the area nearly forced the Hospitality Apartments to abandon their long-time location conveniently situated near the Texas Medical Center in Houston. However, a new and improved complex has been built on adjacent property and re-opened in February 2008. The Houston Chronicle published an excellent article in the Mar 1, 2008 Business section that describes how the Hospitality Apartments operate with a staff of volunteers and relates the stories of some of the many patients that have benefited from this service.
Click to read