Let us remember that the Christmas heart is a giving heart, a wide open heart that thinks of others first. 
~ George Matthew Adams

Last month we shared stories with you featuring generosity in our congregations. This month, in honor of the holiday season, we want to share a few stories of how our OMD congregations are reaching out to their communities and neighborhoods, to others in need. In this season of sharing and love, when we celebrate what is good in our lives, we hope these stories bring you hope and inspiration.

We know that many more of you are reaching out in ways that are not listed below. What follows is just a sampling of the sharing and caring taking place this season in our Ohio-Meadville District.

If there is no joyous way to give a festive gift, give love away. ~ Unknown

Oberlin Youth Providing Helping Hands

Perhaps the best Yuletide decoration is being wreathed in smiles. ~ Unknown

The Oberlin Unitarian Universalist Fellowship has participated in the Holiday Helping Hands program of the Oberlin Community Services for several years, this year our “Youth Group” elected to do the shopping, wrapping and delivering part of the project.  The Fellowship designated the Sunday offerings for November to Holiday Helping Hands.  We were successful in collecting $700.00. 

We were matched with 11 children from 6 different families ranging in age from newborn to 13.  The families do have an opportunity to specifically request items, but we also had the opportunity to creatively shop.  Oberlin is a small community and there are not many choices on where to buy children’s clothing, so it was an effort to shop local our search for a store with children's clothing, and our eventual arrival at Wal-Mart, where we enjoyed deciphering the code of infant, toddler and children's sizing, and once we'd cracked it, the subsequent delight of Ray, Maya and Char picking out matching outfits for their children of various ages.

This project became a real multigenerational adventure.  Adults helped the youth shop, other adults helped with wrapping supplies and refreshments.  Younger siblings joined in and parents are helping with delivery.  Members of the Fellowship made blankets and bags for some of the children.  The Fellowship’s financial support provided a successful project for Oberlin Community Services ~ but of equal importance it brought our small faith community together during this busy time of year.  Stopping to enjoy the company of people we may not interact with on a typical Sunday morning, focused on making a pleasant holiday for six families no of us know, and knowing that this outreach project helped families that we pass on the street or see at the grocery.  Putting our faith into action. 

Southwest UU Members Play Secret Santa

It was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, "God Bless Us, Every One! ~ Charles Dickens

We always take up a month long collection for UUSC Guest at your table in December, and collect the boxes on Christmas Eve. In November we did a "Thanksgiving around the World" potluck, where 70% ate a half a cup of rice only, 20% got a cup of soup and 10% got a full out Thanksgiving dinner. We talked about how to redistribute the food, and make sure that everyone got some. We decided who should get to eat first: pregnant women, children, elderly, diabetics and those who had not eaten that day topped the list.

This month we are doing a "Secret Santa for people in our congregation with needs. (We have so many in our congregation that we have not been able to move beyond their needs, at least not this year.) We are collecting gifts, warm outer clothing and food to be distributed.

In January, We will be serving a dinner to over a hundred people in Berea, and In November we served a dinner at Urban Hope to around fifty.

Southwest children and adults make holiday bags for women at a transitional housing shelter.

Wooster Helping in Many Different Ways

There is no ideal Christmas; only the one Christmas you decide to make as a reflection of your values, desires, affections, traditions. ~ Bill McKibben

The UU Fellowship of Wayne County in Wooster, OH has a number of holiday projects going on this year. Members have pruchased and wrapped Christmas presents for 43 local Head Start students. They also singed up for a day of Salvation Army Bell Ringing and are collecting for the People to People Case Food Drive. In addition, the congregation helped to organize a multi-church Alternative Gift Market and sold Fair Trade Coffee at the event.

First Unitarian Church of Cleveland, Shaker Heights

Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart. ~ Washington Irvin

We continue to give away our Sunday collection every week. This month, the recipients are Shaker Heights Meals on Wheels program (which we host), the Kent State Univ. Foundation to help buy a tractor for a school in Haiti, and (of course) the UUSC Guest at Your Table program. In addition, we have a Mitzvah of the Month which, for December, is RePlay for Kids. We are collecting plush toys, action figures and toy vehicles. Volunteers at RePlay repair and adapt them for children with disabilities in Northeast Ohio.

First UU Indiana Collects Items to Benefit Local Charity

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. ~ Charles Dickens, Ebeneezer Scrooge, A Christmas Song

The congregation of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Indiana, 285 Twolick Drive, finished their social justice project to support the Indiana County residents through the Indiana County Community Action Program (ICCAP). Members and friends of the First Unitarian Universalist Church donated money, non-perishable food, and household items at their recent Sunday services. Along with the items shown, $426 was donated to ICCAP. Pictured are a First UU Family and the Rev. Joan Sabatino showing the collected items.

Canton Collects Presents for Adopt-a-Family

What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal. ~Albert Pike

Many UUs work for social service organizations and look for ways to help their congregations reach out to those in need. For several years the UU Congregation of Greater Canton has been participating in an Adopt-a-Family program called Community Christmas, with the help of long-time members Johannes and Eileen Kicken. The congregation adopts several families, and are given the first names, ages and gender of each family member. Members of the congregation each select a recepient, then purchase and wrap the gifts in time for the holidays.

Presents collected by Canton members

Johannes Kicken

Allegheny's Youth Restock the Local Food Bank

The rooms were very still while the pages were softly turned and the winter sunshine crept in to touch the bright heads and serious faces with a Christmas greeting. ~ Louisa May Alcott

Allegheny Unitarian Universalist Church is a century-old congregation in Pittsburgh's inner city with a vision of embracing the synergy between nourishing the spirit and performing justice work as an urban congregation. The youth recently got front-page coverage for their pre-Thanksgiving collection for the local food pantry (you can read the article and view the photos at the paper's website.) In a bit of street theater, they rolled shopping carts full of bags of groceries to the pantry directly following worship. As their minister, Rev. Dave (McFarland, SI 2010 Worship Minister) says, "after worship, service begins." Then, on a chilly December evening, members of the choir along with other church members and friends visited two senior housing complexes to sing Christmas carols. Lastly, since football is a holy experience of the season in Pittsburgh and the church is located in the tailgate of the "Steeler Nation," they put the 7th Principle into action by partnering with First UU Pittsburgh and a local recycling company in an effort to encourage recycling at pre-game tailgating parties.