Mission and Community Concerns Committee

Annual report of the

Mission and Community Concerns Committee

Events activities, goals and dreams and lots of breakfasts

Members: Stan Duncan, Chair, Ruth Poole, Dot Sime, Jim Howard, Joseph Wadsworth, Helen Burgess, Lindsay McGrath, Sarah Diane Iverson, and a couple of other people whose names I can’t think of.

It has been a great year. Our committee is energetic, creative, hard working, compatible and not afraid to make the tough decisions of life, such as between pancakes or eggs and tea or coffee.

Here are some of our projects from this past year and plans for the up-coming year.

Second (Annual?) Missions Fair

For the second year in a row we sponsored a very successful luncheon and Mission Fair. Fifteen mission and justice organizations representing local, domestic, and international work, had booths and made presentations. Participants shared their own mission experiences and recruited workers for their projects. Our keynote speaker was Derrick Boynkin, the North East Coordinator for Bread for the World, the Christian hunger and poverty advocacy organization. Attendance had grown so much that next year’s fair may have to be at a larger church.

Bread for the World Offering of Letters

We sent several of our members to a regional Bread for the World “Offering of Letters” training session and then sponsored one in our own region. An Offering of letters is when a church will do a special hunger emphasis in their church and then hold an “Offering” after church for people to sign or write letters to their representatives on behalf of issues of hunger and poverty. It did not go as well as we would have liked but we heard reports that four churches had offerings during our emphasis. Sarah Iverson in particular is to be thanked for working so hard making Bread for the World displays that were taken around to various churches. Watch for those displays because they will show up again at the Pilgrim Association CROP Walk, April 6 (see below).

Trip to Equal Exchange

Equal Exchange is our partner in the UCC Coffee Project. They are the oldest and largest fair trade organization in the US, and their offices are in West Bridgewater. We met at the EE offices and had good conversations about our partnership and had a tour of the processing plant. In the fall of 2008, we will offer an Association-wide trip and will begin publicity on it by the summer.

(First Annual?) South Shore CROP Walk

Coming April 6, and organized by Nora Gunn and a committee from several churches. This will be the first Association-Wide CROP Walk. It will be through only one town (due to city ordinance issues), but will draw people from all over the Association. And one quarter of the funds raised will be shared with a variety of South Shore poverty programs. For more information: write: WalkWithUs02351@gmail.com; or call: Bev Duncan at 781-878-4657.

(First Annual?) Trip to Heifer Project’s Overlook Farm

On Saturday morning, October 13, thirty-five people boarded a bus to go to Heifer Project’s Overlook Farm in Rutland, Mass. They saw a video about the work of Heifer, toured the farm, ate a “Village Meal,” and had a great time.

Heifer Ark: 2008-2009 Project

The Halifax Congregational (UCC) will be celebrating their two-hundredth anniversary next year, and they have offered to host our Pilgrim Association Annual Meeting to coincide with their birthday celebration. Joseph Wadsworth, their pastor and member of our Missions committee, has proposed that beginning with this year’s annual meeting, and continuing throughout all of next year, each church in the Association be challenged to hold fundraising projects to fill an “Ark” for the Heifer Project. An Ark is a complete set of Heifer animals, set at about $5,000. Each church will raise money in its own way and send in their money to Heifer as they see fit. But at the end of the year, when we gather at Halifax for our Annual Meeting and Halifax birthday we will pool our numbers and celebrate the success of our united effort.