From Our Minister Archive
From Our Minister & DRE
We are a few weeks into our new church year now, and it is good to be together again. As you know, our Unitarian Universalist faith is covenantal. We do not subscribe to a common doctrine, and are instead made up of all who have chosen to “walk together” as members and friends of the church. When we gather, we welcome all who choose to join us, and we ask and depend on one another to create a safe and sacred space for all the children, youth, and adults of our community.
We also rely on one another to create, talk about, and implement policies that help keep our congregation healthy and ensure the safety and well-being of our members and visitors.
As we have just launched a new year of classes, we’d like to remind our members about the congregation’s existing safety procedures, policies, and plans, particularly as they protect the children and youth entrusted to our care.
Training: An important part of every year’s RE volunteer training is a review of our safety policies, including classroom procedures as well as a discussion of mandated reporting of suspected abuse. We also review the locations of fire extinguishers and first aid supplies, as well as evacuation procedures.
Screening: RE teachers and advisors fill out a screening form that provides background information and personal references as well as permission to perform a background check. We conduct this screening with new volunteers, as well as continuing volunteers once five years have elapsed since prior screening.
Evacuation Planning: Evacuation procedures for RE classes are reviewed with all volunteers, and the printed plans are included in every teacher notebook as well as in the attendance notebook for each RE class. In the event of an evacuation during class time, teachers will fill out a form with each child’s name, and parents are required to sign their children out when they are picked up.
Classroom Rules: All of our classes require two adults to be in the room – generally a lead teacher and an assistant. We installed windows in the doors of our upstairs classrooms during the renovation to make periodic classroom check-ins possible without disrupting class time. Parents fill out and sign registration forms that include permission to treat in an emergency if a parent is not immediately available, though this is an extra precaution, since our Sunday RE classes happen when parents are also on our campus. A special extra permission form which includes health information is required for any trips, or for events at UU Santa Monica when parents are not present. At least a 1 to 6 adult-youth ratio is required for any of these special programs (in addition to the 2-adult minimum). At no times are a child/youth and an adult in a one-on-one setting during activities offered or sponsored by UU Santa Monica.
First Aid/CPR: All RE Department staff (DRE, nursery supervisor, and preschool teacher) are First Aid/CPR
certified.
Finally, as written in our congregation’s Policy on Disruptive Behavior, while openness to a wide variety of individuals is one of the prime values held by our congregation and expressed in our denomination’s purposes and principles, we affirm the belief that our congregation must maintain a secure atmosphere where such openness can exist. When any person’s physical and/or emotional well-being or freedom to safely express his or her beliefs or opinions is threatened, the source of this threat must be addressed firmly and promptly, even if this ultimately requires the expulsion of the offending person or persons.
(For more information on this policy, please see http://archive.uusm.org/about-our-church/governance/policies/
The time to make plans for how to respond to a breach of trust in our community is before such a breach happens. While the RE program has comprehensive safety plans in place, and much work has been done to develop helpful, clear policies such as those outlined above, there is more to do within the congregation as a whole to support our shared commitment to community well-being. As your Minister and your Director of Religious Education, we are committed to working with you and our leaders to continue to refine and improve safety policies and procedures, which will enable us to meet the needs of all in our community. Like many of you, we know this is hard, necessary, and sacred work.
— Rev. Rebecca Benefiel Bijur, Catherine Farmer Loya
From the Intern Minister - Living on the Edge
“You don’t get to choose howyou are going to die. Or when.You can only decide how youare going to live. Now.”— Joan Baez
Throughout our lives, from the moment we are born until we breathe our final breath, we are living on the edge between life and death. This beautiful life can be over in an instant, gone in a heartbeat, without notice or time to prepare. We don’t know how or when our end will come. Yet most of us live as though we are immortal, as though the song will go on forever.
Working as a hospice chaplain for several years allowed me the privilege of staring death in the face. No longer was dying something that happened just to old or sick people, tucked away in hospitals or homes, or the result of natural disasters, war, or crimes I read about in the paper.
Instead, I was visiting young and old alike who were in their final moments of life. It was an honor to sit with these people, to listen to their stories, their hopes, their disappointments and fears and stare the finitude of life squarely in the face.
It changed the way I live.
It made me so acutely aware of the preciousness of every moment, of the sun rising another day, of my child’s laughter, of family cuddles, and of the blessing it is to be alive. It helped me be more grateful for each day and year of life. It reminded me that we are not immortal, that our time will come, and since we never know when that will be, it’s important to live fully NOW. May we spend time this month, as we contemplate the pain and inevitability of loss, to be grateful for those around us and the precious moments we spend on this earth.
— Nica Eaton-Guinn
Let us worship with our eyes and ears and fingertips;
Let us love the world through heart and mind and body.
These opening lines of Ken Patton’s Call to Worship (#437) always bring my spirit to its feet, because Ken is about to tell me that worship and love have a lot in common.
Simply put, in worship, we hold up things of worth. Worship, worthy, worth — they all share Old English origins, so it should be easy to remember that worship is a time when we turn towards what is worthy, valuable, dear, or beloved.
One of the great gifts of my summer study leave and vacation was being able to worship with diverse congregations across the country. I saw what they were holding up as worthy: an idea, a person, a story, a mystery, participation in a communal undertaking, or some combination of these elements. In the “godless congregation” of Sunday Assembly-Los Angeles, in the spirit-filled worship of the emergent UU congregation Sanctuary Boston, in the crowded sanctuary of St. Camillus Catholic Church- in all these communities I found people just like you and me, choosing to turn aside from the normal day to consider things of worth. What they placed at the center of worship differed sharply — and this is why it is so good to be home with you now! — but in each case there was a reorientation, a new direction, an interruption, if not a disruption, of normal life.
By my rough estimate, our community invests about 45% of all our overall staff and financial resources in uplifting worship.*
I believe we allocate our resources this way because worship turns us toward things of worth. At its best, worship lights a fire and raises the dead. It binds up the broken and awakens the sleeping. It breaks our silence, fills our cups, guides our feet, and sends us forth hopeful, refreshed, and renewed.
Worship calls us, as Ken Patton does, to learn to love.
As you know, on September 7 we return to two worship services on Sunday mornings, at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. If you know a few people who could use a reorientation toward what is worthy, I hope you’ll invite them to worship, too.
See you in church,
— Rev. Rebecca
PS: It is a joy to welcome our Intern Minister, Nica Eaton-Guinn, to church. As Nica’s Teaching Congregation, we will offer her opportunities to integrate her academic studies with the practice of ministry. Nica will be will us for an intensive 80%-time internship through the end of June 2015. Please see page XX and XX for more from Nica and our Internship Committee.
*If my estimate is in the ballpark, of the $616,000 our congregation hopes to raise to support the church this year, about $270,000 will directly support worship, which works out to just over $5,000 each Sunday.
From Our Intern Minister
It’s such an honor to begin my service here at UU Santa Monica as Intern Minister. I’ve had a warm welcome from staff and congregants alike. Please introduce yourselves and let me know what you love about UUSM. Meanwhile, here’s a little more about me.
Though I was born in New York City, I lived in Frankfurt, Germany for the first 9 years of my life, growing up bilingually. At age 9, we moved to the UK where I had to adjust my American-German accent to speak the Queen’s English! For college I moved back to the US and attended Princeton University, majoring in Sociology with a minor in Theater and Music History.
My professional life has included working for the National Symphony Orchestra, organizing concerts for children; being an Artist Manager for IMG (International Management Group) in London, managing classical musicians, such as the violinist Joshua Bell and the singing group, The King’s Singers; touring the world as a professional actress and singer; and training and working as a Creative Arts Therapist using all the arts for helping children and adults explore and express their subconscious. I also lived and worked at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, where I studied with leaders in the Mind-Body-Spirit movement.
Having fallen in love with California, I ended up moving to Santa Barbara. There I met my husband, Michael and later gave birth to our son Gabriel, who is now 10 years old. In Santa Barbara, I worked as a life coach with various specialties: mentoring parents with young children; teaching voice and self-expression; and helping women uncover their life purpose and true essence.
After having been a lifetime seeker, it was an invitation by my brother one Christmas to attend his UU congregation in Princeton, New Jersey, that finally introduced me to Unitarian Universalism. I felt like I had found home. The values of pluralism, freedom, justice and love resonated with me deeply. Returning to Santa Barbara, I joined the Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara, and later worked as their Membership Coordinator. Three years in that role gave me a first hand understanding of UU church workings, and how to be a truly welcoming congregation. It also inspired my call to ministry. During my formation as a Minister, I also worked as a Hospice Chaplain. I have completed 3 years at Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley and am now at UUSM for the final, experiential portion of my formation.
I am profoundly grateful to be here with you and be mentored by Reverend Rebecca. I look forward to getting to know each of you, and serving as your Intern Minister this coming year.
— Nica Eaton-Guinn
Our Sunday Worship Leaders: Daniel Gledhill (Church Accompanist), Nica Eaton-Guinn (Intern Minister), DeReau K. Farrar (Director of Music), the Rev. Rebecca Benefiel Bijur (Minister), and Catherine Farmer Loya (Director of Religious Education). Photo by Charles Haskell.Dear friends,
One of the gifts you offer me as your minister is the gift of time.
Not only the time I share with you in worship, at the hospital, on the phone, in the meeting; not only the time when I am waving at the bus as it disappears down 18th Street, headed for West Hollywood and LA Pride, or the time that I am pulled into photos of the youth group (YRUU) and advisors on their way to a week of service in Mexico.
I mean the gift of time you offer me each year, by providing for an annual leave of study time and vacation, traditionally taken in the summer months.
This time is set aside for my continuing education, including professional development time at our UU General Assembly in Providence, RI, and for reading, study, and preparation for the next church year. This is time dedicated to spiritual renewal, a Sabbath time for rest, relaxation, and whatever is needed to “vacate.” Much of the work of the ministry is creative, and your gift of time allows me to seek deeper springs, so that the well will not run dry.
This year, from July 7 to July 30, I will be out of the office and pulpit on study leave, and on-call for pastoral emergencies. From June 30 to July 7, and July 30 to August 5, I will be on vacation. During these weeks, the church office and board president will have contact information for on-call members of the Committee on Ministry (Kris Langabeer, Alan Brunell) and Pastoral Care Team (Bronwen Jones, Ron Crane, Michael Eselun). They will respond swiftly to messages left on the minister’s line at (310) 829-9232 x104.
I wish every vocation and career included the gift of time, which you so generously provide to your minister.
-- Rev. Rebecca
In the past year of ministry, I have joyfully celebrated the commitment ceremony for Carol- Jean Teuffel and Sam Carr Polk, who invited a barbershop quartet to serenade us during the service. And, with you, I have mourned the death of Marc Willet, son of Felicity Nussbaum and John Agnew, gone much too soon.
Since last year’s Report on Ministry went to press, we have opened the sanctuary as a space for reflection and comfort in response to the Boston Marathon bombings, gun violence in our city in which five people were killed, and for remembering Judy Federick on the first anniversary of her death.
During our fall “Care-a-thon,” the Committee on Ministry and CareNet reached out to reconnect with about 50 less active members in our community, to complement the church’s many other outreach efforts. We added a new family-friendly Christmas Eve service and were selected by the Unitarian Universalist Association to receive $7,500 in grant funding to become a Teaching Congregation.
Thanks to this funding, as well as the leadership commitment of our Board of Directors and newly convened Intern Committee, we will welcome an Intern Minister, Nica Eaton-Guinn, in August 2014.
In December, eleven leaders from our congregation joined me to tour OPCC (Ocean Park Community Center), a leading provider of social services for homeless and vulnerable people in Santa Monica.
From July 1 to April 30, we sent over $12,000 —50% of our non-pledge offering for every Sunday this year, and 100% of our Christmas Eve offering for three services — to the following organizations:
Step Up on Second
Camp De Benneville Pines
Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice
(CLUE-LA)
Para Los Ninos
Our House Grief Support Center
Incarcerated Students Textbook Fund
(Coastline Community College)
The Trevor Project
Westside Food Bank
UU Service Committee (UUSC)
UUA-UUSC Philippines Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda
Relief Fund
Simms-Mann/UCLA Oncology Center
OPCC (Ocean Park Community Center)
Turning Point
Homeboy Industries
The Chalice Oak Foundation
LA GOAL: Providing Services to Adults with
Developmental Disabilities
A New Way of Life Reentry Project
I am so proud of these gifts, and of our congregation’s leadership in choosing to give away more and more of our Sunday offering to organizations doing work we could not do on our own.
This year, we welcomed DRE Catherine Farmer Loya back from her family leave, and we bade farewell to organist Dr. Irene Gregorio-Stoup, and added Daniel Gledhill to our worship and music team as our Church Accompanist. Thank you to Rima Snyder for her years of assistance in the office; as of this writing we are still interviewing for a new staff member in this position.
A focus of leadership over the past year has been sharing our dreams and hopes for our church home through our visioning process, as well as continuing to develop our campus with much-needed office renovation and facility development projects.
It is with deep admiration that I particularly thank our outgoing President, Cynthia Cottam, for her partnership and faith in these projects and in our shared ministry.
With appreciation,
— Rev. Rebecca
More From Our Minister
Your minister will be on summer leave from June 23 through August 5. During this time I will attend Ministry Days and the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association in Providence, RI, to continue my professional development and strengthen my connections with our larger movement; I will read, reflect, study, and write; and I will spend vacation time traveling with my family. While I am traveling, the Committee on Ministry (Kris Langabeer, Dan Patterson, and Alan Brunell) and Pastoral Care Team (Ron Crane, Michael Eselun, and Bronwen Jones) will be on call for ministry and pastoral care needs, and a variety of skilled summer worship leaders will be in the pulpit.
Dear members and friends,
I’ve just started taking a civic engagement class, called the People’s Academy, where we are learning all about how Santa Monica works. At our first class, we took a look at the city budget and asked the City Manager how to get things done in Santa Monica. He said some people think city government is a vending machine — you put in your money, you get your candy. (And if you don’t get your candy, what do you do? That’s right, you kick the machine!)
But government, he said, isn’t like that. (He also mentioned it’s no fun being treated like a broken vending machine.) Instead, he thinks government is a barn-raising: a group of people with different skills, interests, and abilities coming together and sharing resources to do something too big and too important to do alone.
You know, I’ve heard that before — right here at church, where we practice congregational polity, a way of sharing leadership and participating in the decisions that concern all of us. Congregational polity is a legacy from our spiritual ancestors, the Pilgrims, who so famously promised one another their mutual aid and support. On Sunday, May 18, at our Annual Congregational Meeting, you’ll be asked to remember that promise and to lend your aid and support to 373 of your fellow church members as we elect our leaders, approve our budget, tend to our buildings, and take a stand on the justice issues of our time.
In the City of Santa Monica, we’re known for a high level of civic engagement. At 18th and Arizona, I want each
of us to be known for a high level of congregational engagement — including lending your voice, and your support, to the important decisions we must make together. I’ll see you at the Annual Meeting (and Barn-Raising) on May 18.
In faith,
Rev. Rebecca
P.S. Though we have two services, we are one congregation. Toward that end, we will have one service
celebrating the Coming of Age of our youth at 9 a.m. on Sunday, May 18, and one Annual Meeting at 11:30 a.m.
Additional seating, as well as sound and video of the service, will be provided in Forbes Hall as we experiment
with this schedule this year. Please plan to come to worship at 9 a.m. on May 18, enjoy a light brunch with our
Board of Directors in the courtyard after the service, and stay on for our Annual Meeting at 11:30 a.m.
Our Universalist ancestors made a powerful contribution to Christianity and liberal religion when they began preaching — and living —a doctrine of universal salvation, wherein everyone is saved, heaven is not just for “the elect,” and God’s love is too big to leave anyone out or leave anyone behind. For America’s earliest Universalist preachers, such as John Murray, Hosea Ballou, and later Thomas Starr King, eliminating the category of “the damned” was radical, controversial, and downright heretical. Today it is less controversial in liberal religion, but remains a powerful heresy for many conservative Christians.
Although I don’t hear people in this congregation use religious language like “salvation” very often, I believe we do share a common understanding of what “universal salvation” means today. Rebecca Parker, who will soon retire as President of our UU seminary, Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, CA, puts it this way:
“Because Unitarian Universalists affirm the goodness of this world, we locate the search for salvation as a this-worldly quest. We do not seek a heaven beyond this earth, liberation after death, or release from sin and guilt through brutal means such as the atoning death of a Christ on the cross. Rather, we believe salvation is manifest in the establishment of a common good in which people are free from oppression and want, and enjoy a fair and sustainable sharing of earth’s resources. In our congregations, we encourage one another to seek joy in living simply that others may simply live, grateful for the gift of life. In this way we have a taste of paradise now.”
I don’t know how helpful it is to debate the existence of heaven or hell beyond the heaven we build on earth – and the hell we create for one another on earth. But I do know that many of us have turned away from a focus on whatever follows death in order to seek salvation on earth: wholeness, health, and the fullness of living for ourselves and our planet, here and now.
See you in church,
Rev. Rebecca
Rev. Rebecca
Dear congregation,
When I saw one of you on the street last month, during our month exploring prayer, you said you thought I was brave. I asked why, and you said, “Well, because our congregation doesn’t like talking about things like that.”
As Batman said to Robin, Holy Tomato! And… Why did it take us 30 months to reach a theme that has evoked (or provoked) as much as this one? I began the count more than three years ago, when Catherine and I started this experiment in theme-based ministry. Pioneered by All Souls in Tulsa, Oklahoma, theme-based ministry is now a part of congregations all over the country, including Santa Clarita , First Church Los Angeles, and Pacific Unitarian Church in Palos Verdes.
As in the Tulsa model, we chose a three-year cycle of themes, thirty-six in all. Themes were chosen for their
richness in shared human experience (Love, Hope, Letting Go), as well as their religious depth (Forgiveness,
Evil, Covenant). Then we placed each theme within our church year, moving us from Ingathering to Day of the
Dead to Christmas Eve, and from MLK Sunday to Coming of Age to our annual meeting. When I could, I linked the themes to secular, seasonal, Jewish, and Christian calendars, so that our exploration might be deepened by an alignment with holidays such as Yom Kippur, Thanksgiving, spring equinox, and Easter. From time to time, I even managed to link the monthly Generous Congregation community offering to the themes, as when we explored Loss and sent our gifts to Our House Grief Support Center.
All this I share as grounding for where we are headed next: this month’s theme is Sacrifice, and in April, we are
tackling Salvation. I told one of you a few weeks ago about this particular lineup, and you said, point blank: “Well, can you change it?”
Can I change it? Well yes, I can change it. After all, there are many worthy themes, many more than 30, many more than 36.
But before I could change it, I would want to understand why we don’t like talking about things like that. I would wonder what is coming up for you (and for me) that is telling us to put caution tape all over these particular themes, or try to avoid them entirely.
Is it the things we carry from our religious past (or present)? Does it find its origin in the sources of our living tradition, particularly Jewish and Christian teachings or Humanist teachings? Do these themes seem irrelevant to our lives, or not worthy of religious exploration?
Is it semantics, word choice, or a language barrier? Or maybe these themes, just as they are, call forth a big YES, FINALLY in you, and you can’t wait to dive in. I don’t know yet. Maybe you don’t either. That’s okay. Because I am betting that we can figure it out together, without a change in plans. I take heart from the words of the Spanish poet Antonio Machado:
Caminante, no hay camino. Se hace el camino al andar.
Searcher, there is no road. We make the road by walking.
With you,
Rev. Rebecca
Dear ones,
I was nearly as surprised as the people sitting around me in Forbes Hall to hear myself say, “I want to pray more.”
We were talking about how Small Group Ministry has deepened or changed our spiritual life, and that was my answer. Since coming to lead the Small Group Ministry Facilitators’ Group each month, I have found myself more open, more receptive, more curious, and more in need of the spiritual practice of prayer. I believe this has emerged for me out of all the listening this ministry requires. I am coming to see that even when I can’t do anything — when I can’t fix it, I can’t restore what was lost, and I can’t change the past, for you or for myself — even then, I can offer my care and love. And I can pray.
As Christine Robinson and Alicia Hawkins of our UU congregation in Albuquerque, NM, point out, there are many ways to pray. This is adapted from their chapter “Prayer” in “Soul to Soul”:
Asking for help — one of the most powerful prayer practices I know — is only one kind of prayer. Prayers of gratitude, prayers of lament and grief and anger, and prayers of listening and silence are all present in global religious traditions, a nearly universal approach to coping with what it means to be human.
To pray, you can follow your breath, be still, make prayer beads. You can kneel, lie flat on the ground, or clasp your hands in petition. You can walk, trace a labyrinth with your fingers or feet, or visualize light gently encircling those you love. You can light a candle of joy or sorrow. You can listen to music, or read a sacred or personally meaningful text (lectio divina or sacred reading).
Which of these practices holds an interest for you? What has worked for you – or not – about prayer? What did you learn when you were growing up about prayer, or silence, and how is it part of your life now?
If you would like to share your reflections or responses via email, please send them to me at minister@uusm.org by February 17. Then I may be able to integrate your thoughts into the February 23 service on prayer.
This month is an invitation to consider how prayer may be calling to you in your life. Yes, even you.
See you in church,
Rev. Rebecca
Dear friends,
As the spiral of the year draws us toward longer, darker nights, I hope you will experience the sanctuary of our church as a place of refuge from the anxiety, disappointment, and loneliness that can so often accompany the holidays. And, as we tell and retell ancient stories of joy, connection, and possibility that accompany the holy days of the season, may our church be a place of hope and promise for all of us.
Many of you know this is a time of transition for our church staff, as Associate Director of Music, Dr. Irene Gregorio-Stoup, has decided to leave her position. Her last Sunday with us was October 27. We will miss her fine musicianship, and we wish her and her family well. Our Director of Music will be working with me, our Personnel Committee, and our Board of Directors to fill this position early in the new year. Until then, we will benefit from the musical leadership of a variety of interim keyboardists at choir practice, on Sunday mornings, and for our Christmas Eve services.
Rima Snyder, our Office Assistant for the past five years, has also announced her plans to move on from this role at the close of the year. Rima has brought a generous spirit and devotion to the job and has helped to keep things running smoothly, sending out the weekly announcements and assembling the order of service every Sunday. She plans to remain a member of the church and will continue to be active in the choir and the music program. She hopes to find meaningful work using her skills as a sound editor to promote programs she believes in, such as child literacy or environmental action. Thank you to Rima for her years of service. Your leaders will also do our best to have a new or temporary hire in place in the office in January.
— Much heart, Rev. Rebecca
P.S. Your minister will be on vacation and traveling to the East Coast from December 26 to January 8. During this time our Committee on Ministry (Kris Langabeer, Gerrie Lambson, Dan Patterson, and Alan Brunell) and Pastoral Care Team (Ron Crane, Michael Eselun, and Bronwen Jones) will be on call for ministry and pastoral needs.
Three years ago, my family and I made a decision to give away a percentage of our income each year to our church and to the global poor. We were inspired (and gently reprimanded) into sending more of our money to the global poor by the philosopher and ethicist Peter Singer, whose book, “The Life You Can Save,” has changed many lives — the lives of those of us who have more than we need, and the lives of the very poor, whose needs go unmet every day. You can learn about this level of giving, which 95% of Americans can meet
by giving away no more than 5% of their income, at http://www.thelifeyoucansave.org. (Our current choice of recipient is the United Nations Population Fund for maternal and fetal health, at http:// www.unfpa.org.) This year, our goal is to give 4.5% of our income to the global poor.
We have also been inspired (and not at all reprimanded) to give to our church. This year, our goal is to give 6.5% of our income to this congregation. I don’t give just to keep the lights on, or to pay professional salaries to our staff, though I appreciate working lights and professional salaries. I don’t give only to support 400 folks in recovery who visit our church each week for their 12-Step and support groups, or to serve 1,000 Unitarian Universalist congregations of all sizes across the country, though I admire our recovery community and I am proud of our support for Unitarian Universalism beyond our walls. I don’t give only for our 120 children and
youth, who are growing up here as compassionate and curious, or for our 400 members and friends who make this their spiritual home, although you make this journey worthwhile in more ways than you can know.
At this point in my life, I give to the church because I want to give. I give because I don’t want to talk about generosity, I want to be generous. This is a place where I can practice what I preach, and invite you to do the same.
As our church volunteers lead us through our annual fundraising drive this fall, please be generous.
Thank you for all you do for this congregation, and for supporting good work in the world. Thank you for your money, your leadership, your investment, your commitment, your presence, your teaching, your voice, and your heart.
Yours,
— Rev. Rebecca
PS from Rev. Rebecca…
If you are a percentage giver, or would like to talk about becoming a percentage giver for the global poor or this congregation, please contact me at (310) 829-5436 x104 or at minister@uusm.org Thank you again.