The Social Justice Council voted the Minister's Discretionary Fund as the recipient of the December 23rd Share the Plate. This fund is used to assist UUC members when they experience major difficulties, provide scholarships to UUC events for those who would otherwise not be able to attend and assist individuals who experience extraordinary circumstances. Due to the economic times this fund needs to be replenished. Please open you hearts and checkbooks. 

This year we will be sharing our Christmas Eve collection plate with two groups.  Feeding America Tampa Bay and the UU Church of the Philippines.

"Ending Hunger, Nourishing Hope," the mission of Feeding America Tampa Bay, expresses a vision the food bank's Board of Directors offers to the Tampa Bay community the core belief that we need to end hunger at the community level.

Typhoon Pablo negatively impacted the UU Church of the Philippines headquarters in Dumaguette City.  There was considerable damage to agricultural projects, homes and businesses. The International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (ICUU) is currently collecting donations.  Please support our UU brothers and sisters by giving generously.

Read the full report

A much anticipated holiday cookie reception will follow our Christmas Eve service on Monday, December 24th, after the 6 p.m. service.  Soledad Loba has graciously offered to coordinate the event and is asking everyone who attends the 6 p.m. Christmas Eve service to please bring cookies to share with everyone.  Please drop off any cookies to the Social Hall immediately before the 6 p.m. service.

Join the Janamanchis and your fellow UUs for a sumptuous holiday dinner at 1 pm in the Social Hall. Please sign-up to bring a dish to share. For more information or to volunteer to help, call Lalitha Janamanchi at 727-723-7252 or email  her.

As the year comes to an end, please consider making a tax deductible contribution to UUC in the form of a pledge payment, holiday offering, or to the Capital Improvement Fund earmarked for future improvements to the UUC buildings and grounds.  Visit our web site at UUClearwater.org and click on the Pay Online at the bottom of the Quicklinks list or call the UUC office at 727-531-7704 for more information.

The Khasi Hills Sponsor-A-Student Project began in 2001 to provide humanitarian support to a Unitarian school in the Khasi Hills by linking sponsors in the US with individual elementary school students in India. UUC joined the program in 2004 and began a connection with and support for the Margaret Barr Memorial School.  Rev. Abhi and eight UUC members visited the school last year.  See Mark's account below.

We are once again asking for your support. Your $50 sponsorship will help educate a student for an entire school year, providing much needed help with teacher salaries, school and classroom supplies as well as lunches. Please sponsor a child today.

Make an Online Contribution to Kashi

Children from the age of 3 to 13 or 14 were all politely lined up to welcome us to their school.  All had uniforms, although the young ones were not quite so well dressed with shirttails and hair askew.  Their classrooms were barren of the usual stimulating maps and pictures on the walls.  But all of them seemed respectful and a bit shy.  An addition was being built but apparently money had run out as the construction was partially completed with no ongoing work evident.  The teachers were paid next to nothing but didn't seem resentful or bitter.  It was an experience that brought home the material largesse with which we are inundated.  From a psychological standpoint, I think the kids at the Margaret Barr School were more appreciative of what they have than are kids in the US.

After the blanket distribution last Saturday, we want to give a heartfelt thanks to the entire congregation for their generous donation of cash and blankets.  Thanks to all of you, my wonderful team and I were able to experience the joy of helping to ease the meager lives of our hard-working neighbors.  We all agreed that it was a very meaningful and emotional day tinged with sadness because of their desperation. Most of all, thank you to my team who were willing to be at UUC at 6:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning in order to transport and distribute hundreds of donated blankets.  Our goal was to have one blanket for each family and,once again, we fell short but we did make a difference.  We will definitely be doing it again next year, so as you are shopping or packing up your things up north, let me know and I'll find a way to store them if you can't. Contact Harriet Ha-Sidi at hhasidi@aol.com.

And the effort to help feed the hungry here in Clearwater still continues. Please remember to bring food for our RCS box, which is located in the lobby. We have been doing really well, over 160 pounds of food in about a month last time we delivered to RCS. Please think of RCS when you see a bargain at the market.

Finally, the recent district meeting about CIW's work that some of us attended in Port Charlotte has resulted in a need to keep in touch. All of us would like to set up a list-serve. If you would be willing to co-chair a list serve here is the information:

If we can get someone to manage the UU list-serve that we wanted to establish on the CIW, we could share all our plans there. Please contact Suzanne Fast if you will co-manage the list with her so we can get it up and running, Thank you!

PUBLICATION DEADLINES

OCTAGRAM - WEEKLY EVERY THURSDAY

The Octagram is intended to focus on activities taking place at UUC or those of interest to UUC members and friends. Send items in brief with a link to more information to Octagram.

PLEASE DO NOT SEND INFORMATION FORMATTED, OR IN A FLIER.

Provide text in an email, or as an attached Word file with any pictures/graphics attached to the email.

Deadline is 10 a.m. every Wednesday.

Prepared by Barbara Bird.

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Prepared by Pat St. Clair.

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