Beginning in September, each month will be devoted to a new Dedicated Offering (DO) recipient, whose representative will speak on the first Sunday.  We will no longer hold a separate offering for the DO recipient but will split every Sunday’s offering plate 50/50 with the recipient organization.  This move symbolizes the solidarity we feel with the organizations we choose to support, and it also gives us all more opportunities to contribute.  As always, please specify whether the funds you send to the office or by PayPal are for the Plate, your Pledge, or some other purpose.

The site of Abundance Farm, our September DO recipient, was once the site of Northampton’s “Alms House,” which, from 1800 to the 1950s served as a refuge for local residents in need of shelter, food and other services. The Northampton Alms House included a 15 acre farm which the Alms House residents operated.  This rich history adds so much additional meaning as The Abundance Farm reclaimed this land as a farm to, once again, serve our community’s local residents in need. The farm has joined in partnership with Lander-Grinspoon Academy and the Northampton Survival Center. Since 2014, Abundance Farm has been a project which builds upon this land’s rich history of being an important place for community building and contributing to greater food security for local people in need.  

Donations can be made to the UUSA and sent by check to P.O. Box 502, Amherst, MA 01004-0502 or on our website:  https://www.uusocietyamherst.org/connection/donate.  Thank you so much for sharing what you can.