Maternal alloimmunization and hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN) is one of the most overlooked and marginalized diseases in the world. Thousands of babies die preventable deaths due to lack of awareness, resources, and treatment. The Allo Hope Foundation is on the frontlines, offering support and hope not only to families in the US but also to women and babies in Sub-Saharan Africa where this disease is particularly prevalent.

Please consider joining this special offering to directly support these families.  Simply write ‘Just Peace’ in the memo line of your check or Venmo offering, and thank you for putting faith and hope into action. Donate through Pledge.com here: https://www.pledge.to/just-peace-collection-for-allohope-foundation-2767    Text ALLOHOPE to 707070

We are excited to have selected World Central Kitchen as the recipient of our 2022 Just Peace offering. This amazing group focuses on being first to the frontlines, providing meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises and building resilient food systems with locally led solutions. They focus on areas hit by war or disaster and source and hire locally to bring meals and love and hope. We first became aware of them because of their quick and pragmatic response to needs in Ukraine and how quickly they set up eight kitchens on the Ukraine-Poland border. And just this year, they have been all around the world, including Pakistan with the flooding, Jackson MS with the water crisis, and Afghanistan with severe hunger challenges. And surely they will be in Florida after Hurricane Ian as well if they are not already there!

We all know the power of food and a shared meal to nourish body, soul, and spirit. Please join us with a generous Just Peace donation to World Central Kitchen. You can use the enclosed envelope in the mailing to your home, or simply note: JUST PEACE in the memo line of a check or Venmo payment to the church.

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

Dear Friends and Members of First Congregational Church:

October is a time in our church family life when we collect a special offering specifically focused on areas of justice and peace. Our denomination calls this our ‘Just Peace’ Offering. This always resonates deeply with the lived values of our faith, and 2020 has certainly brought justice and peace to the forefront.

The Outreach Ministry gets to do many fun things to impact our town, broader community, country, and world (hint hint – we would love to have you join us!! Send an email to betsygoodelll@gmail.com to check us out!).

One of our tasks is choosing the organization to receive our Just Peace offering.

This year it was easy. Amid all of us wrestling with racism, justice, and access to a better future for every family, a few of your hale and hearty Outreach ministry members have had a chance to visit and be part of Haley House. We encourage you to venture out and visit them and we are happy to be designating Haley House as our Just Peace 2020 offering.

Haley House is steps from Dudley Square in Roxbury. At Haley House, there is direct work to empower community members to participate in and make the way to a better and stronger future for themselves and their neighborhood. Through an amazing coffee shop and cafe they provide a community gathering place powered by Roxbury residents who learn to cook, serve, and mange a small business. They also provide a soup kitchen, elder meal program, and urban farming outreach. Since food and shelter and the most basic of needs, Haley House also manages over 100 affordable housing units in the South End, many of which are reserved for those transitioning from shelters.
Haley House is dedicated to helping those made vulnerable by the harshest effects of inequality move toward wholeness and economic independence. They offer collaborative living and working environments to:

• Build communities and connections across boundaries
• Model creative alternatives that confirm the intrinsic dignity and worth of each person
• Challenge the attitudes and structures that perpetuate suffering

Let’s use our resources to make justice flow like a river with our Haley House friends who are directly engaged in support, social justice, and access programs. Thank you for being generous with our Just Peace offering to Haley House! Donations can be made through check, PayPal, or Venmo. Just write “Just Peace” or “Haley House” in the memo field.

With faith, joy, and gratitude

Your Outreach teammates – Janet Vaughn, Patricia Brady, Julia Daggett, Lenore. Eforo, Laura Bailey, Lauren Seibold, Sarah Girotti, Betsy Goodell

Once again FCCW has shown extreme generosity in your response to the October Just Peace offering to Puppies Behind Bars. Because of your care and compassion, an offering in the amount of $2,693.50 is being donated for the purpose of training conducted by inmates of puppies to become service dogs for veterans, first responders, and for the detection of explosives. This offering occurred in conjunction with the Blessing of the Animals service. What a great way to honor our respect for animals, along with those who will receive their services!