Our January 7, 2024, First Sunday Share the Plate (STP) will be collected to benefit The Retreat. Headquartered in East Hampton, this nonprofit domestic violence agency serves all eastern Long Island. The Retreat has grown from providing direct services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault to a 24/7 multilingual crisis hotline, counseling, legal advocacy, prevention education, and emergency shelter for victims and their families. Anyone can reach support through the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. For more information, visit their website theretreatinc.org; find The Retreat on Facebook and Twitter @RetreatDV.
A check in the amount of $175 has already been put in the mail for our December STP recipient Rural & Migrant Ministry’s Amandla Education Center in Riverhead. Thanks to all who supported R&MM this month through the STP offering and our “come on in – drop-off” Toy Drive for farmworker children during holiday season Sundays.
The assortment of books, games and toys we collected were delivered to the Riverhead Center on Friday, December 15th. We were met by Noemi Sanchez (LI Area Coordinator) and Maria Del Mar Piedrabuena (Associate Coordinator & Liaison w/The LI Farmworker Cooperative) who have spoken at our church and asked that we extend their sincere gratitude for the congregation’s willingness “to share their time and energy with [R&MM] during this very stressful year.” They explained why R&MM is now asking for NEW (not slightly used) toys. In order to support and strengthen the entire family, they’ve taken the process of “donating” toys a step further. Members of Voices of Long Island Youth (VOLIY), a R&MM leadership development program for teens, curate and set up a holiday store where their farmworker families bring their younger siblings who select their preferred toys and, rather than having the toys simply donated, parents pay a small fee to purchase the toys the little ones select and at the same time enhance the development of their teenagers. Adult counselors in VOLIY use the toy store to improve teen skills AND the proceeds allow those teens to attend different workshops and other activities throughout their high school career. It’s a win-win-win for the entire family!
This newer form of philanthropy is called “impact investing,” which ”can help make people self-sufficient” where “traditional charity often fails.” To find out more, check out NEW YORK TIMES bestseller, The Blue Sweater, by Jacqueline Novogratz. “More than just an autobiography or a how-to guide to addressing poverty,” this book is a visionary “call to action that challenges us to grant dignity to the poor and to rethink” our ways of giving.
We have a special treat scheduled for the first Sunday of January. Rabbi Gadi Capela will be speaking to us during Sunday worship and staying to watch the last of the Prophetic Voices films: Part 5 “Spiritual Audacity – the Abraham Joshua Heschel Story.” He will also remain for discussion about his “favorite 20th century philosopher.”
Date & time: Sunday, January 7, 2024, 1:00-3:00 pm (notice time change)
Place: Holy Trinity Episcopal Church
As we continue to “journey toward spiritual wholeness” in 2024, we will utilize the input and support of the UU Ministers Association (UUMA); Diverse Revolutionary UU Multicultural Ministries (DRUUMM); Allies for Racial Equity (ARE); and, UU justice organizations such as Side With Love and UU the Vote. We are currently putting together a schedule of face-to-face / Zoom activities and events for the congregation and the larger community.
We’ve got a busy winter ahead. Please join in planning our 2024 year, beginning with “Resources on the Israel and Palestine Conflict” available through UUA, a program we will open to the larger community. More info available at our next meeting of SAC / 8th Principle Task Force:
Date & time – 2nd Wednesday of each month. January 10, 2024, from 4:00-5:00pm
Place: attend either IN PERSON at Southold Free Library in the 2nd floor meeting room OR via Zoom link
As I write this, the countdown to 2024 has not yet started in NY’s Times Square. But as you read this…
”Now the Work of Christmas Begins” ~ Howard Thurman
“When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and the princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flocks, the work of Christmas begins: to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among the people, to make music in the heart.”
Let us continue building Beloved Community,
Patte McManus, Chair (631)997-9405 [email protected]