Outreach Collection Program: 2020-21
The Social Justice Committee is pleased to announce the twelve non-profit organizations that Accotink UU Church will support in the 2020-21 church year through our Outreach Collection Program. Special thanks to the coordinators who nominated these organizations and will lead each monthly collection. Checks should be made payable to AUUC with the organization named in the memo line.
AUUC Outreach Collection Recipients 2020 – 2021
| Recipients | Month | Function & Beneficiaries | AUUC Coordinators / Sponsors |
| Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice (UUSJ) | July | Coalition of area (& beyond) UU churches organized to advocate in support of UU values & social justice issues at federal level, including Write Here, Write Now, visits to Congress | John Peterson |
| Federation of Virginia Food Banks | August | Works with seven regional food banks statewide, uniquely positioned to provide help to the most hungry people in Virginia, including school-age children, older adults, vulnerable populations | Sarah Pevner |
| Congregation Action Network Covid 19 Fund | September | Provides emergency support for housing, health care, work authorizations, legal aid for immigrant families, specifically those who do not qualify for local, state, or federal support | Liz Reed |
| Doorways for Women and Children | October | Provides immediate, safe response to victims of sexual & domestic assault with a hotline, safe housing options, trauma support services, including people of color & LBGTQ+ communities; volunteer opportunities | Lindsay Muirhead |
| Casa Ruby | November | As the only LGBTQ bilingual and multicultural organization in the area, Casa Ruby provides services and housing to 6,000 annually, particularly youth | True Accotink Colors: Kate Heilig |
| Just Neighbors | December | Provides legal assistance in NOVA to low-income immigrants including DACA recipients, those with TPS, asylum seekers, helping to obtain documentation | Jan Forsyth |
| Homestretch | January | Empowers homeless parents (many single moms) with children to attain permanent housing, self-sufficiency; provides skills, knowledge, and hope | John Peterson |
| VOICE | February | Interfaith group organized to listen to concerns of 50+ members; then promote actions on key issues: get out the vote, housing, education | Pam Cox, Suzy Porth, Dotty Smith, Chris Stunkard |
| Beacon House | March | Provides afterschool education, organized sports, nurturing & mentoring to 400 youth, helping close the achievement gap for low-income children/teens in NE D.C. | Nancy Davis |
| paws4people | April | Educates prisoners in 5 WV prisons to train service dogs that are given to veterans, children with special needs; WREN is AUUC’s p4p puppy-in-training | Children’s RE classes & Nancy Davis |
| Opportunities, Alternatives, and Resources (OAR) No. VA | May | Supports incarcerated individuals & their families through release preparation & post-release services to ease transitions, prevent recidivism | Dotty Smith & Kathryn Adams |
| No Child Goes Hungry/Accotink | June | Provides weekend meal packs weekly to 35 low-income Halley ES children and involves AUUC children, teens, adults in meeting these food insecurity needs | Social Justice Committee: Nancy Davis, Shelley Brosnan |
If you have any questions, please contact Outreach Collection Program Coordinator Nancy D or [email protected].
Collections Archive
In 2019-20, AUUC members and friends contributed $21,152 to the twelve nonprofit organizations selected by the congregation. You can now see a list of organizations AUUC has supported in the past on the Outreach Collections Archive page.
October Outreach:
Doorways For Women and Families provides immediate, safe response to victims of sexual and domestic assault with a hotline, safe housing options, trauma support services, including people of color and LGBTQ+ communities; volunteer opportunities. Visit their website at doorwaysva.org.
New option! Donate on AUUC’s website accotinkuu.org by clicking “donate” in the upper right corner, and in the Donations of Generosity section click on the “Monthly Outreach Offerings” box.
Or, mail your check payable to AUUC with “Outreach Offering” on the memo line to Accotink UU Church, 10125 Lakehaven Court, Burke, VA 22015. Thank you!
Outreach collections are sponsored by Accotink’s Social Justice Committee.
Outreach Collections Program
The AUUC Outreach Collection Program provides us a way to provide financial support as a congregation to organizations that put into practice our UU principles. It allows us to deepen relationships/partnerships with organizations with which AUUC individuals or groups are connected and develop new connections. As part of its overall mission, the Social Justice Committee annually requests nominations of organizations from the congregation and oversees the selection of 12 recipients of special monthly collections to benefit a wide range of worthwhile nonprofit organizations, at the same time educating the congregation about their contributions to the local and regional community.