Giving Gifts

Our church takes a very active role in social justice issues; one way we have chosen to do so is by sending the offertory collection of the third Sunday of some months to a worthy organization. Many congregants and interested friends of the church have asked how we choose these recipients.

In the fall of 2013, the Social Justice Action Committee (SJAC) used a survey designed by the Rev. Connolly to learn issues of high priority to our church community. The results of that survey are used to focus our Third-Sunday Beneficiary selection to those organizations devoted to the issues members wanted to address. The top issues identified by our congregants/friends are, in decreasing order:
Collecting Food for Food Bank
Collecting Food for Food Bank
  • Progress in LGBTQ rights
  • Local environmental action
  • Education/action to address global warming
  • Ethical eating issues, including GMO use in food
  • Immigration reform & outreach to minorities
  • Reproductive justice
  • Job training for the marginally employed
  • Mountaintop removal education/action
  • Prison ministry
  • Landlord-tenant justice
  • Restoration of voting rights for felons
UUSC Creating Justice
UUSC Creating Justice

As a committee, we also diversify our selections among local, national, and international beneficiaries. The following organizations address the issues that congregants have shown support for, and SJAC continues to use the survey results when weighing the selections for each recipient. Our regular support of social justice organizations highlights the generosity and open-heartedness of our spiritual community and complements UU seven principles.

MONTH  **** CAUSE **** AMOUNT Yearly Total
2015 Oct Kentuckians for the Commonwealth
2015 Aug Foundation for Community Development in Nicaragua
2015 Jun Nepal Earthquake Relief $334.00
2015 May  Human Rights Campaign
2015 Apr  Minister’s Discretionary Fund $553.00
2015 Mar  Double Dollars
2015 Feb African American History Museum
2015 Jan Barren River Area Safe Space, Inc $886.00
2014 Dec Guest at Your Table $2721.73
2014 Nov Kentucky Waterways Alliance
2014 Oct Room in the Inn
2014 Sep Doctors Without Borders
2014 Aug Kentuckians for the Commonwealth $ 250.72
2014 Jul Earth Care Workshop $ 300.00
2014 Jun Earthjustice $ 348.00 $8,485.51
2014 May VSA KY $ 420.56
2014 Apr Minister’s Discretionary Fund $ 1,261.00
2014 Mar PFLAG International $ 411.00
2014 Feb Boys’ and Girls’ Club $ 340.55
2014 Jan Double Dollars $ 576.80
2013 Dec Guest at Your Table $ 2,409.60
2013 Nov UUSC Typhoon Relief $ 936.00
2013 Oct H.O.T.E.L. Inc. $ 785.00
2013 Sep CropWalk $ 280.00
2013 Aug 350.org $ 317.00
2013 Jul Eliminate Project (Kiwanis) $ 400.00