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Special Christmas Offering 2025
“My soul proclaims your greatness, O God, and my spirit rejoices in you.” – Mary’s Prayer, Luke 1:46
Dear Members and Friends of First Congregational Church in Winchester, MA, UCC,
The Christmas season calls us to see God’s face in our neighbors. Where do we see Mary, the mother who valiantly protected her baby? Where do we see Joseph, the father who supported his family against all odds? Where do we see Jesus, the Christ who came into this world as a vulnerable child, swaddled in simple cloth to keep him warm in the stable?
Every winter, the Outreach Ministry at First Congregational Church carefully considers how we, as a congregation and a community, can put our faith into just action by choosing a charitable organization to receive our special Christmas offering. Last year, with your help, we raised over $14,000–our highest offering to date!–to purchase a new stove for The Dwelling Place, a local church-based soup kitchen that provides hundreds of meals a week for unhoused and food-insecure neighbors and a space for immigrant community members to cook and gather. This year, we invite you to keep this spirit of generosity flowing. We are pleased to announce Re-Member’s Seasonal Fund as our special Christmas offering recipient. Here’s how Re-Member describes their work: “Re-Member is an independent, non-profit organization working with the Oglala Lakota Nation on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Their mission is to improve the quality of life for those who live there” (Re-Member 2025).
Many families and individuals who live on Pine Ridge Reservation do not have reliable access to heat during the cold South Dakota winter. Re-Member’s Seasonal Fund “help[s] them source, cut, split, and deliver firewood and provide emergency electric and propane assistance during the cold winter months and operate and expand their Feather II Garden Program during the growing season” (Re-Member 2025). Can you help us meet our goal of $10,000 to keep our neighbors warm this winter?What’s more: this upcoming June, a multigenerational group of eleven members of our congregation will participate in a week-long service-learning project with Re-Member at Pine Ridge Reservation. We will learn about life on the reservation and work alongside the Oglala Lakota Nation to repair infrastructure, dig and build latrines, harvest food, and more. Your financial contribution to Re-Member’s Seasonal Fund helps us already connect with the people of the Oglala Lakota Nation months before we travel to South Dakota.
Open your hearts this season. See Mary, Joseph, and Jesus in our neighbors. Donate via Venmo, PayPal, check (with “Re-Member Seasonal Fund” in the memo) or cash.
In Christ’s peace,
Rev. Maeve Hammond on behalf of the Outreach Ministry: Karen Bellacosa, Laurie Galica, Betsy Goodell, Marisa Lafferty, Larisa Lindsay (Chair), Jennifer Miller, & Katie Shanahan
