|
The following is a list and brief descriptions of the Outreach programs supported with contributions from the First Parish Church in Weston. The budget which funds these programs is raised each year through contributions to the Church through the Stewardship drive.
Parishioners are invited to volunteer their time with any of the organizations listed. If you would like to volunteer your time, we encourage you to review the list and descriptions below and contact the liaison named under the organization listed.
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee -UUSC (Lee Engler)
Stand High-Stand United (Elise Rockart)
Kasiisi (Elizabeth Ross)
Waltham Community Day Center (Barbara Burgess)
Parish-Wide Project: Roxbury-Weston Programs & PreSchool (Kelly Larocque)
Bristol Lodge (Barbara Burgess)
Newton-Weston Wellesley Committee for Community Living (NWW) (Mary Shaw)
WATCH (Keith Gross)
Shelter Legal Services Foundation, Inc (Chet Cekala)
METCO Scholarship Fund (Elizabeth Ross)
Disaster Relief (Tsunami, Transylvania Floods) (Mary Shaw)
Open Arms of Minnesota (Mary Shaw)
International Medical Corps (Ginnie Hibbard)
AIDG – Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group (Keith Gross)
Weston Town Katrina Relief (Katie Fagan)
Under the leadership of its new Director, Rev. Susan Criscione, Renewal House celebrated its 25th anniversary this year with Rhythms of Renewal, a program of inspirational speakers, talented musicians, and enthusiastic attendees, all of whom support this unique shelter for victims of violence and their children. Proceeds from the concert provide support for families fleeing violent situations. Renewal House provided shelter and services for 34 women and 43 children last year.
Two new groups within Renewal House, the oldest of current UUUM programs, were founded over the summer. One consists of a group for former residents entitled "Beyond Shelter," a self-esteem and wellness group. In addition, the spirituality group has been extended to include children in programs on Sunday afternoons.
Through a grant from the UU Funding Program, Renewal House has hired an Outreach and Education Coordinator, Kathleen Rivera, who has created an interactive educational curriculum for middle school children on healthy relationships and good communication, leading workshops in the immediate area.
For further information and volunteer opportunities, please contact the UU Urban Ministry, 10 Putnam Street, Roxbury, MA – 617-318-6010.
Partakers strives (for) reconciliation between prisoners and society. It breaks down the walls that separate prisoners from others by bringing them together, and fostering accountability and responsibility towards one another.
First Parish has taken the first step in sponsoring a prisoner who is enrolled in the College Behind Bars Program. Two members of First Parish have volunteered to mentor a prisoner as he studies for a BA degree that will lead him to a productive and lawful life after he returns to society. Partakers presently has 88 prisoners enrolled in the program with 43 sponsoring groups. It has 23 prisoners on its waiting list.
The College Behind Bars program has earned tributes from all who participate in it its activities. One person has put it this way:
“. . . Partakers empowers the College Behind Bars scholars to be all they can be. The spirit of compassion with which the Partakers sponsoring groups support their prison scholars breaks down the traditional misconceptions and leads to transformation of all who are involved. That’s what is so brilliant in the program model---it captures the power of relationship as a force for transformation and change. “
For more information, please contact the Outreach Committee or Ken Fish.
This international organization, founded by and for survivors of torture, has as its mission the end of the practice of torture. TASSC advocates to influence domestic and international paolicy, provides support networks for toture survivors and their famiilies, defends the rights of all torture survivors, and monitors human rights violations. For more information please go to www.tassc.org
Through a combination of advocacy, education, and partnerships, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) protects and promotes programs and policies that empower women, defend the rights of children, and support the struggles of oppressed racial, ethnic, and indigenous groups. Their programs are based on Unitarian Universalist principles affirming the worth, dignity, and human rights of every person and the interdependence of all life. UUSC works for long-term solutions through partnerships in the U.S., South and Southeast Asia, Central Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
First Parish Church provides financial support to UUSC. Additional support is provided when parishioners become individual members, by the sale of holiday cards, and by participation in programs such as “guest at your table” and the “Coffee Project.”
For more information go the web site: http://www.uusc.org.
Stand High/Stand United (SHSU) is the weekend youth enrichment program of the Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry, located at The First Church in Roxbury. Volunteers are continuously recruited to work as chaperones or mentors for elementary school-aged youth in the Explorer's Club program. The Explorer's Club provides fun educational workshops on the second or third Saturday morning of the month and this is linked to periodic monthly field trips as well. Volunteers can assist occasionally or more regularly and those who make a commitment to mentoring are trained and supported in a team mentoring program. Volunteers can also assist through donations of in-kind food or supplies or tickets for field trips or through fundraising activities/events.
SHSU also runs a Coming of Age program for urban middle schoolers on other Saturdays of the month and a full-time summer program of field trips and summer camps.
SHSU is integrated with a middle and high school after school programs during the week, as well as a college support program, at the First Church in Roxbury. Tutors and other volunteer or financial support are needed in those programs as well. For information on activities or how to join the SHSU yahoo listing, please email walsh_michelle@msn.com.
First Parish Church began supporting the Kasiisi School in western Uganda in 1999. Through the efforts of Elizabeth Ross and her husband, Richard Wrangham, parishioners of First Parish, and with the help of generous support from the Outreach Committee and the First Parish congregation, the project funds classroom construction, scholarships for students and teachers and academic support at two rural primary schools in Western Uganda. Recent projects include supplying sanitary pads and special latrines for girls, clean water, and a lunch program. For more information, visit their website (www.kasiisiproject.org) or contact Elizabeth Ross (wrangham@comcast.net).
The mission of Bristol Lodge is to provide shelter, food, advice and counseling to homeless people in the Waltham area.
Specific facilities include a family shelter accommodating 6 families, a women’s shelter with 15 beds, a men’s shelter with 45 beds, and a Soup Kitchen. The Bristol Lodge Soup Kitchen provides a hot, nutritious dinner, prepared and served by volunteers to 60 to 110 people daily. In addition, the kitchen prepares sandwiches and take-out lunches.
Besides the living accommodations and the Soup Kitchen, Bristol Lodge provides case management, counseling groups for women, housing advocacy, AA meetings, employment counseling, crisis intervention, therapeutic group meetings, family life advice, and referrals to other social agencies.
Bristol Lodge is part of the Middlesex Human Services Agency, Inc, a nonprofit organization. It is funded by donations from individuals, groups, and churches such as First Parish Church in Weston. Funding also comes from the State Department of Human Services.
Many parishioners have contributed many hours cooking as well as serving our monthly dinner at The Bristol Lodge Soup Kitchen. In addition, food prepared and served by our parishioners is paid for by parishioners. Money is also contributed to Kitchen shortfalls.
Food providers and soup kitchen volunteers are needed monthly. Contact Mary Menino
NWW, Newton, Weston, Wellesley Committee for Community Living (www.nwwcommittee.org) was incorporated in 1972 as a private, nonprofit agency serving citizens with developmental disabilities and their families.
NWW was founded to create alternatives to institutional settings. Today it offers a full spectrum of housing options, supportive services, educational resources, and recreational services to over 300 persons of all ages with developmental disabilities.
Homes selected by NWW are located in neighborhoods with easy access to stores, libraries, and transportation. Clients are also assisted in establishing themselves in other appropriate living situations and support services are provided as needed. In addition, NWW provides many opportunities for mentoring, companionship, counseling and life skill training.
NWW sponsors many activities both weekly and throughout the year. On a weekly basis, it sponsors a Drop-In Center where volunteers participate in activities with residents such as crafts, bingo and games. It also sponsors a Literacy program where volunteers help disabled adults with basic reading.
First Parish Church in Weston assists NWW with two major events during the year: the Annual Auction, held in October at First Parish in Weston and the Harvest Dinner, held at the Grace Church in Newton just before Thanksgiving.
First Parish Church in Weston supports a robust weekly drop-in program at NWW and the "Faith in Action" program, which provides developmentally appropriate worship services for residents and their families. There are both monthly Shabbat services and ecumenical services held within NWW residences.
Persons interested in learning more about NWW, or volunteering their time, may contact Mary Shaw or NWW's Director of Community Relations and Family Support, Mary Margaret Pappas (mpappas@nwwcommittee.org).
WATCH is a non-profit community development corporation in Waltham, MA. Their mission is to build, preserve, and promote affordable housing and to enhance economic opportunities, civic participation and leadership of low- and moderate-income families in the Waltham area. They also help low-income families change society, find a better place to live, learn English, and find better employment.
WATCH is a unique developer in its consistent efforts to involve community residents in every phase of their program. They expect to keep the jobs local, to involve tenants and neighbors in planning and policy, and to involve community residents in improving their neighborhood through sweat equity. For more information, visit http://www.watchcdc.org/
Shelter Legal Services Foundation (SLSF) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing access to pro bono legal services by the poor of the Greater Boston Area. SLSF combines the strength of the private bar with the eagerness of future attorneys in a volunteer effort to address the legal needs of our community's homeless and poor people. In 2004, over 60 local attorneys and 80 law student advocates participated in the program through SLSF's weekly clinics at Rosie's Pace, The Multi-Service Center for the Homeless and 3 other Boston/Cambridge locations. SLSF provides civil services in a wide array of fields, e.g., family law, housing, Social Security, unemployment, welfare, etc. The First Parish Church provides financial support for Shelter Legal Services, and has done so for several years.
For more information contact outreach@firstparishweston.org or go to SLSF's web site at http://www.shelterlegalservices.org
The Metco Scholarship Fund, Inc. was formed in 1976 for the purpose of raising funds to provide financial aid to students who attend the Weston public schools through the METCO program. Over the years, it has provided financial aid to more than 200 students. For the academic year of 1999-2000, the Fund awarded scholarships totaling $25,400 to 12 students. It is expected that the number of students applying for financial aid will increase in the coming years as Weston’s public school enrollment increases. Fund raising efforts are made each year in Weston and Boston. Students seeking aid must demonstrate acceptance at an institution of higher learning and evidence of financial need. Over 40 colleges and universities throughout the United States have accepted Weston Metco students. Several members of First Parish were instrumental in organizing the Fund and several are serving as Trustees of the organization today. First Parish in Weston has been a proud contributor to the Fund for many years.
Currently, there are between 8,000-16,000 adults learners on waiting lists in Massachusetts; the majority are immigrants and refugees waiting for ESOL classes.
In response to last year's 7.6 quake that devastated much of the northern regions of Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province, IMC, a non-profit humanitarian relief organization, has provided substantial emergency care as well as continuing healthcare training and development programs to the area. Initial efforts included medical care, food, clothing, shelter, children's immunizations, and water sanitation projects, among many other endeavors. As efforts focus on long-term rehabilitation in Pakistan, IMC has taken over operational responsibilities for ten government basic health units, directly impacting 71,000 people in some of the most remote areas affected by last year's quake. Its on-going commitment is to provide medical care and train residents of displaced communities to become healthcare workers.
Roughly two billion people do not have access to basic services such as electricity, clean drinking water and sanitation. Development of this infrastructure is essential to breaking the cycle of poverty in developing countries. Founded by Weston residents Peter Haas and Benny and Grey Lee (of First Parish in Weston), the AIDG works to provide rural villages in developing countries with affordable and environmentally sound technologies that meet these needs. Trhough a combination of business incubation, education, training and outreach, the AIDG helps individuals and communities gain access to technology that will improve their lives. Their model provides a novel approach to sustainable development by empowering people with the physical tools and practical knowledge to solve infrastructure problems in their own communities.
Appropriate, or intermediate, technology is a broad-based term referring to tecnologies that can be produced and maintained by small communities. Most often it refers to technologies that attempt to keep in balance local natural resources while serving basic infrastructure needs such as water, electricity, cook fuel, heat, sanitation, and housing.
AIDG's Business Incubation Program locates engineering talent in developing countries and helps them to form businesses that provide village- and home-scale renewable energy and sanitation technologies to underserved communities, development agencies (B2B), and private individuals. The staff from previously incubated businesses train employees at the new workshops to ensure that learning is propagated throughout the network. For more information, visit www.aidg.org
Site Map | Search | Inquiry | About This Site | Archives