On May 13 our Dedicated Offering is designated for Motivate Our Minds (MOM), a local agency with long and deep support in our congregation. Monique Armstrong, MOM Director, provided the following.

At Motivate Our Minds:

• We create in a child a vision of what is possible in their life. (develop their enthusiasm and curiosity)
• We grow in the child the confidence that they can create change in their life. (develop their optimism and their will)
• We give the child the specific understanding of the steps towards achievement.
• Lastly, we have the professionals, the volunteers, the facilities, and the tools to support accountablility and progress in each child.

Come to church on Mother’s Day prepared to give generously to a Muncie organization that does for many children what, if we were so fortunate, our mothers did for us. If you are going to be away, you can send a check to the church office with “MOM” on the memo line.

Note: Dedicated Offerings are now managed by the Social Justice Committee.

On Sunday, March 13, we will take a dedicated offering to benefit the Muncie Family YMCA's Invest In Youth. The purpose of Invest In Youth campaign is to raise money to make the YMCA accessible to ALL. With a focus on youth development, healthy living and social responsibility, strengthening local communities is our cause. At the Y, we believe that lasting personal and social change happens when we ALL work together. Through these funds the Y makes sure that everyone, regardless of age income or background, has the opportunity to be healthy, confident, connected and secure. The Y is changing people's live through opportunities, support, education and resources.

The Roy C. Buley Community Center is alive and thriving, thanks to the efforts of community volunteers, Ball State students, BSU Immersive classes, civic groups that have given grants, Community Development, Ball Hospital, the Community and Ball Brothers Foundations, and churches. Our church has been well represented (Marnee Cooley and Linda Gregory are on the Buley board of directors), several UUs attended the Buley fund-raiser last September, and we gave a generous offering last year.

Please consider being a Buley volunteer for the after-school program and giving what you can in the dedicated offering Feb. 13. Help us Sustain the Change at Buley – a community center for the whole community.

(February 2011)

It is 9 am on Friday morning. Chef Kirk Robey checks the hotel pans of vegetables roasting in the oven. Dave and Norman dress and dish up the Italian bread salad. Chef Lois Altman tastes the afredo sauce for the fresh salmon donated by Ron Lahody’s shop.

Norm and I cut up the chocolate cakes several of us baked the day before, while Kristina clears the front table for serving. Loretta sits over by the huge refrigerator, making sack lunches for our clients. At 9:30 the doors open and we are ready to serve over 100 hot meals to anyone who needs food. And the Friday food is always fabulous.

Some of our clients are regulars who greet us with a hearty welcome; others enter tentatively--as any of us would in a new situation.  They take a sack lunch^* for later in the day; some put their food on a tray and eat it in the adjacent room, while others carry out. Everyone says “thank you” and some ask God to bless us for our labor. Even though it means rousing myself at 6 am, Friday morning is one of my favorite times of the week.

The Harvest Soup Kitchen opened its doors in 1994. A different group of volunteers works each weekday and on some Sundays and Saturdays. A wide range of food donations support our work---from Ball State, Ivy Tech, Marsh, Lahody’s, Little Caesar’s Pizza, and the Wednesday vendors at the Farmer’s Market, to name a few. We receive free produce and staples at a reasonable cost from Second Harvest Food Bank.

But we need to raise $20,000 a year for utilities, food, serving containers, as well as the small salary of the daily supervisors.

On November 14, our monthly designated offering will support the work of the Harvest Soup Kitchen. Please give generously to help those whose path through life has not been easy. If you can’t be at church on Nov 14, you can send a check to the church office with “Harvest Soup” on the memo line.

Bea Sousa
For Worship Associates
and Social Justice Committee

^*The sack lunches prepared by members of our congregation on the last Sunday of each month go to Harvest Soup Kitchen.

Each year in October Unitarian Universalist Congregations affirm our association with one another during Association Sunday. In Muncie we will celebrate this day on October 17, and will take a dedicated collection to support growth projects within our association.

This past spring the administrative center of our Association began an in-depth strategic review of how we nurture leadership and growth. Their objective is to develop an action plan that will ensure that we grow into more powerful and effective servants of future generations.

Proceeds from our service will go with collections taken across the country to supporting growth pilot projects from the UUA's 2010 strategic review and to support the development of materials to help us all celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of our Association.

The Rev. Peter Morales, President of the UUA, writes: "We want congregations that are spiritually deep places where strong and enduring relationships can flourish, and that are engaged in their communities as sources of moral vision and effective action. We want our religious homes to be truly multi-generational and reflect the racial and cultural diversity of the wider world. And, we want professional religious leaders who are visionary, spiritual, innovative, and diverse."

On the weekend of July 4, the Muncie Mission was devastated by a fire. It had taken years and years of fundraising to build their new building, and now this important agency is unexpectedly rebuilding. According to the Mission’s website: "The mission's facility is insured, however, as in any fire situation, there are always the unknowns. A few being: our residents personal belongings, food loses, hundreds of miscellaneous items" and expenses not in their budget.

Muncie Mission Ministries is a not-for-profit agency that has brought hope to the poor, needy and homeless in East Central Indiana for over 80 years. Please give generously to help those less fortunate than we. If you are not in church August 8, you can send your check to the church office with "Designated Offering" on the memo line.