From September to June, our Society donates each month to a dedicated offering recipient and splits 50/50  every Sunday’s offering plate with the recipient organization.  We will report in a future newsletter what we raised in December for Etta International, Empowerment through the Arts, and in January for Reproductive Equity Now. In September we raised $1,000 for UUA Disaster Relief Fund to support the Montpelier VT UU congregation, which suffered a great loss when the Connecticut river flooded its building; in October $1,175for Maui Strong to support victims of the wildfires which devastated Lahaina in western Maui, Hawa; and in November $850 for the Connecticut River Conservancy (CRC),

The Dedicated Offerings for the month of February are for Healing Across the Divides, an organization committed to improving the health of marginalized Israelis and all Palestinians via community-based interventions. Its mission is accomplished by funding local community groups, helping to increase their effectiveness. In its 16 years, the organization has measurably impacted the lives of more than 200,000 marginalized Israelis and Palestinians.

Healing Across the Divides brings together local community groups to exchange ideas and generate interest in working together. And this approach to community collaboration, as well as emphasis on community-based interventions, represents a path to peace building. Locally based, it is the only nonprofit organization that provides health-related funding and technical assistance to both Palestinian and Israeli communities, as well as the only one to foster this type of health collaboration. Through community-based interventions

addressing health, our local partners are serving as peace builders, and ultimately, as healers.

The Dedicated Offering Committee selects non-profit organizations that our Society will support with donations from our Sunday collections. We solicit UUSA’s members for names of organizations through a form which is available in the office and on-line at https://forms.gle.hypMGzMJHgeAVf26. A representative of the chosen organization is asked to speak about it on the first Sunday of the month. We welcome new members. If you are interested in learning more or joining DOC, please contact Anne Perkins, Mary Beth Seminario, Linda Callahan, Carolyn Holstein, Linda Honan or Brenda Bushouse.