Home » Giving » Just Peace Offering 2021
  • Just Peace Offering 2021

    Update: October 14, 2021

    Thank you from your Outreach committee! Our 2021 Just Peace offering has raised  $6,630 for Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services and their ‘Neighbors In Need: Afghan Allies’ fund. Your generosity will serve Afghan refugees by providing funds to help with clothing and household supplies for these families. It’s not too late! We will continue accepting donations for the next few weeks. Thank you so very much!

    Dear members and friends of First Congregational Church Winchester:

    School starting.  Back to work. Fall colors popping out. Apples everywhere.  All of us finding ways to connect and adapt.  It is a time of new beginnings and a time to bring hope, light, and justice to the forefront once again.

    One UCC tradition that means a lot to many of us is the focus on ‘Just Peace’.  This is a focus on alleviating injustice of all types using non-violence as well as a call to offer the message, grounded in the hope of reconciliation in Jesus, that “Peace is possible.”  Each Fall, we take one special offering to use our collective financial resources to further peace and to address the challenges of injustice and war.

    This year, we are dedicating the Fall Just Peace offering to support Afghan refugees, in partnership with Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS).  We as a church looked for a way to respond with aid and support directly and practically to those most impacted by the wind down of US involvement in Afghanistan.

    As those in danger relocate to other countries, departures are often swift and at personal risk.  Refugees leave behind community, clothes, and household goods.  They then need to adopt to changes in customs, culture, language, schools, and transportation. When our new Afghan neighbors arrive in the United States, many have little more than the clothes on their backs.

    Our 2021 Just Peace offering will go to the LIRS fund called Neighbors in Need: Afghan Allies.  This fund helps provide essential support for newly arrived families, including emergency medical care, temporary housing, financial support for necessities, and more.

    Thank you for considering this and for your generosity in supporting these families in a tangible way.   If you would like to contribute, please note ‘Just Peace’ in the memo portion of your check, Venmo, or PayPal donation.

    With many thanks from your Outreach Committee

    Laura Bailey, Patricia Brady, Will Burhans, Don Dutton, Julia Daggett, Leonore Eforo, Sarah Girotti, and Betsy Goodell

    Tags: