Our last church year ended with an upbeat tone. Despite the challenges of COVID and lockdown, the year was a transformational one for giving and your Faith Expression and Funding Team Ministry (FEFT). FEFT is the team within the Council for Faith in Action (CFA) responsible for determining how the 50% of the weekly plate contribution is distributed to appropriate organizations.
This past church year, FEFT awarded in excess of $16,000 to groups in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey. FEFT’s goal was to distribute funds and to support groups that better reflect our congregational population. Without you, this wouldn’t have been possible!! THANK YOU.
Contributions for the year ending June 30, 2021 were sent to organizations including:
| Bucks County Opportunity Council |
| Caring for Friends |
| Coalition for Peace Action |
| EL Centro Food Pantry |
| ESL – English as a Second Language |
| First Friends of NJ/NY |
| Fisherman’s Mark |
| GOTV – Get Out the Vote |
| HomeFront |
| I Am Trenton Foundation |
| ISLES |
| Ivins House |
| Loaves and Fishes |
| Morrisville Food Center |
| RJM Speaker Program (8th Principle) |
| Snipes Farm and Education Center |
| Stop Mass Incarceration Network |
| Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK) |
| Trenton Children’s Chorus |
| UU Ministry for the Earth |
| UU the Vote |
| Urban Promise |
| VITA Educational Services |
How does this happen? Determining where donation monies go is based on understanding needs, suggestions from congregants, how a group reflects our eight Principles, meeting with representatives from many of the groups, researching the organizations for financial soundness, and involving other groups within CFA to gain input and coordinate efforts. An example of this last element is FEFT’s close work with Food Ministry to coordinate contributions to food pantries addressing food insecurity.
One of the transformational changes FEFT incorporated this past year was to determine the most pressing needs and then focus on how to best support other groups addressing that need. CFA, as a Council, voted to concentrate on organizations that were actively working with Food Insecurity.
It is FEFT’s intention to work to establish contributions of significant meaning and impact in this new church year that we are beginning. Toward this effort, the CFA Council met in August to discuss what our focus of concentration might be while continuing to support our long-standing organizations/causes—those we’ve worked with for years, and those that have expressed an interest in creating deeper ties and involvement with UUCWC in their efforts to “Change the World.” We will be announcing this SOON so stay tuned.
These focused areas are in addition to reviewing applications for special project funding made by UUCWC individuals and looking at new programs, among other things. It’s an exciting time and we have ALL OF YOU TO THANK!! Without your generosity, we wouldn’t have been so impactful. We are very optimistic that this new church year will be even more dynamic!!
If you’d like to know more about the FEFT Ministry and how to become involved in distributing funds, please contact FaithFunding@uucwc.org and we’ll reach out to you.
Holly Bussey, Facilitator for FEFT Ministry
Members: Bud Johnson, Steve Saddlemire, Jim Sanders, Dan Tuft