2023 - Recipients
Bruce Montgomery Foundation for the Arts - December
The Bruce Montgomery Foundation for the Arts honors the memory of Bruce Montgomery by providing financial support, through Springboard Grants, to talented individuals and student organizations (high school through college age) who are pursuing excellence in the performing arts.
Souls Shots Portrait Project - November
This project links fine artists with families or friends of victims of gun violence. The artists meet with the victims’ loved ones to learn about the lives they lived. Our goal is to present diverse works that in some way relay graphically, or through narrative, the essence of the person being portrayed.
Our mission is to bring attention to and memorialize the lives lost and tragically altered due to gun violence. Portraits have the unique ability to call out the souls and profoundly affect those who see them.
We hope that this project will continue to bring some joy and peace to the families and friends of victims and, by bringing attention to the scourge of gun violence in this way, be a call to action to all who see them.
We will continue with this project, expand its reach, and hopefully reach the blessed day it will no longer be needed.
Safe Harbor Of Chester County Shelter - October
Move-Out Donation Drive for Safe Harbor of Chester County!
Safe Harbor is a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide emergency housing, food, and access to support services in a structured environment for unhoused single men and women in Chester County.
The children and youth will be accepting donations to help individuals moving out of the Safe Harbor of Chester County shelter and into their own homes between now and Sunday, October 29. On that day, the kids will make cards to congratulate those moving into their own homes and tally the donations received.
Mighty Writers - September
MLUC’s Offering Outreach partner for September is Mighty Writers. Mighty Writers teaches children ages 3 through 17 to think clearly and write with clarity so they can achieve success at school, at work, and in life. Click here to learn more about Mighty Writers.
Offering Outreach: Connecting Our Kids with Family Promise July and August
Our Offering Outreach partner this summer is Family Promise. One of our best, longest lasting social action projects, as members of Family Promise we help provide temporary housing in our church building for families experiencing homelessness on a rotating basis with other interfaith congregations. July month our children in helping set up sleeping and eating spaces for families in our church. In august, we created back to school backpacks for families in the program or who recently graduated into permanent housing from the program.
PAR (people Advancing Reintegration) Recycle Works - June
People Advancing Reintegration (PAR) Recycle Works deconstructs electronics and destroys data to generate revenue and pay their employees. By providing their employees with skills and opportunities, PAR-Recycle Works helps to build safer communities and contribute to stronger families while saving taxpayer money.
Nancy’s House - May
The recipient of MLUC’s May Offering Outreach contribution is Nancy’s House, a nonprofit organization that serves family caregivers. It seeks to create a caring community for caregivers through weekend retreats, online workshops and support groups. It focuses on promoting caregivers’ physical and emotional self-care and fostering connections with other caregivers. Nancy’s House works to break the isolation and exhaustion that can come with taking care of someone who is chronically ill or disabled. The Outreach Offering will go to subsidize a caregiver retreat for a specific group that does not have access to disease-organization funding.
Ardmore Victory Garden - April
The recipient of MLUC’s April Offering Outreach contribution is the Ardmore Victory Gardens program. Ardmore Victory Gardens is a local nonprofit that supports more than 30 local families and organizations in growing their own food by providing building materials, seedlings, and maintenance support for a network of small Victory Gardens in the neighborhood.
UUSC/Ukraine - March
The recipient of MLUC’s February Offering Outreach contribution is the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. Offerings will specifically go to a program that partners with grassroots organizations addressing the layers of intersectional oppressions in Ukraine by assisting communities that are tossed aside by government and international responses. These communities are typically made up of non-ethnic Ukranian, often black/brown and LGBTQIA+ individuals.
The Timothy School - February
The recipient of MLUC’s February Offering Outreach contribution is The Timothy School in Berwyn. Founded in 1966, The Timothy School is a nonprofit organization with the mission to provide students with autism spectrum disorder with the communication, social, cognitive, and life skills necessary to enable them to function as effectively and independently as possible in the least restrictive environment. The school also works to increase community awareness, acceptance, and support of individuals with autism. Donations from Offering Outreach will go toward a new program being offered this year to help young adults with autism and their families stay connected to each other and the larger community once they have graduated from school. The program will help combat social isolation by providing opportunities for graduates to connect with each other and the community through a series of regular events, activities, and outings.
Patrician Society - January
The January recipient of the Offering Outreach is the Patrician Society, located in the basement of Saint Patrick Church in Norristown. The Patrician Society addresses basic needs of the economically disadvantaged adults, children, and families in the community. While the Patrician Society is basically a food pantry, it also provides, when it can, emergency assistance with medical, housing, utilities, and other needs through its Housing, Utilities, and Miscellaneous Aid for Neighbors (HUMAN) program. The need for assistance has doubled in the past year.
Downtown Norristown, where Saint Patrick Church is located, lacks a true supermarket. It has higher-priced bodegas, small grocery stores, and drug stores with limited food aisles. Norristown is also the focus of subsidized housing and slum lord properties in wealthy Montgomery County. The clients reflect the community. Some clients are homeless. A high proportion are Spanish speakers. Many are African American.
The Patrician Society reflects the UU principle of the inherent worth of every person. Every client receives courteous treatment. Pantry clients are entitled to a weekly basic allotment of canned goods. No one is ever turned away.
The Bruce Montgomery Foundation for the Arts honors the memory of Bruce Montgomery by providing financial support, through Springboard Grants, to talented individuals and student organizations (high school through college age) who are pursuing excellence in the performing arts.
Souls Shots Portrait Project - November
This project links fine artists with families or friends of victims of gun violence. The artists meet with the victims’ loved ones to learn about the lives they lived. Our goal is to present diverse works that in some way relay graphically, or through narrative, the essence of the person being portrayed.
Our mission is to bring attention to and memorialize the lives lost and tragically altered due to gun violence. Portraits have the unique ability to call out the souls and profoundly affect those who see them.
We hope that this project will continue to bring some joy and peace to the families and friends of victims and, by bringing attention to the scourge of gun violence in this way, be a call to action to all who see them.
We will continue with this project, expand its reach, and hopefully reach the blessed day it will no longer be needed.
Safe Harbor Of Chester County Shelter - October
Move-Out Donation Drive for Safe Harbor of Chester County!
Safe Harbor is a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide emergency housing, food, and access to support services in a structured environment for unhoused single men and women in Chester County.
The children and youth will be accepting donations to help individuals moving out of the Safe Harbor of Chester County shelter and into their own homes between now and Sunday, October 29. On that day, the kids will make cards to congratulate those moving into their own homes and tally the donations received.
Mighty Writers - September
MLUC’s Offering Outreach partner for September is Mighty Writers. Mighty Writers teaches children ages 3 through 17 to think clearly and write with clarity so they can achieve success at school, at work, and in life. Click here to learn more about Mighty Writers.
Offering Outreach: Connecting Our Kids with Family Promise July and August
Our Offering Outreach partner this summer is Family Promise. One of our best, longest lasting social action projects, as members of Family Promise we help provide temporary housing in our church building for families experiencing homelessness on a rotating basis with other interfaith congregations. July month our children in helping set up sleeping and eating spaces for families in our church. In august, we created back to school backpacks for families in the program or who recently graduated into permanent housing from the program.
PAR (people Advancing Reintegration) Recycle Works - June
People Advancing Reintegration (PAR) Recycle Works deconstructs electronics and destroys data to generate revenue and pay their employees. By providing their employees with skills and opportunities, PAR-Recycle Works helps to build safer communities and contribute to stronger families while saving taxpayer money.
Nancy’s House - May
The recipient of MLUC’s May Offering Outreach contribution is Nancy’s House, a nonprofit organization that serves family caregivers. It seeks to create a caring community for caregivers through weekend retreats, online workshops and support groups. It focuses on promoting caregivers’ physical and emotional self-care and fostering connections with other caregivers. Nancy’s House works to break the isolation and exhaustion that can come with taking care of someone who is chronically ill or disabled. The Outreach Offering will go to subsidize a caregiver retreat for a specific group that does not have access to disease-organization funding.
Ardmore Victory Garden - April
The recipient of MLUC’s April Offering Outreach contribution is the Ardmore Victory Gardens program. Ardmore Victory Gardens is a local nonprofit that supports more than 30 local families and organizations in growing their own food by providing building materials, seedlings, and maintenance support for a network of small Victory Gardens in the neighborhood.
UUSC/Ukraine - March
The recipient of MLUC’s February Offering Outreach contribution is the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. Offerings will specifically go to a program that partners with grassroots organizations addressing the layers of intersectional oppressions in Ukraine by assisting communities that are tossed aside by government and international responses. These communities are typically made up of non-ethnic Ukranian, often black/brown and LGBTQIA+ individuals.
The Timothy School - February
The recipient of MLUC’s February Offering Outreach contribution is The Timothy School in Berwyn. Founded in 1966, The Timothy School is a nonprofit organization with the mission to provide students with autism spectrum disorder with the communication, social, cognitive, and life skills necessary to enable them to function as effectively and independently as possible in the least restrictive environment. The school also works to increase community awareness, acceptance, and support of individuals with autism. Donations from Offering Outreach will go toward a new program being offered this year to help young adults with autism and their families stay connected to each other and the larger community once they have graduated from school. The program will help combat social isolation by providing opportunities for graduates to connect with each other and the community through a series of regular events, activities, and outings.
Patrician Society - January
The January recipient of the Offering Outreach is the Patrician Society, located in the basement of Saint Patrick Church in Norristown. The Patrician Society addresses basic needs of the economically disadvantaged adults, children, and families in the community. While the Patrician Society is basically a food pantry, it also provides, when it can, emergency assistance with medical, housing, utilities, and other needs through its Housing, Utilities, and Miscellaneous Aid for Neighbors (HUMAN) program. The need for assistance has doubled in the past year.
Downtown Norristown, where Saint Patrick Church is located, lacks a true supermarket. It has higher-priced bodegas, small grocery stores, and drug stores with limited food aisles. Norristown is also the focus of subsidized housing and slum lord properties in wealthy Montgomery County. The clients reflect the community. Some clients are homeless. A high proportion are Spanish speakers. Many are African American.
The Patrician Society reflects the UU principle of the inherent worth of every person. Every client receives courteous treatment. Pantry clients are entitled to a weekly basic allotment of canned goods. No one is ever turned away.