2008 Allocations: A Look at the Pie

LOL! OK, at Sue's request, here's my attempt to post the pie chart on the blog.

How 'bout them slices, eh? And the little square raindrops where a legend to the chart used to be.... It looks better as a powerpoint slide, promise.

This pie shows how the Church + Community's funding pot was allocated this year.

The light blue slice shows the portion of our budget that went to local cooperative ministries (EECM, Wilkinsburg).

The royal blue slice is the portion that went to local hunger relief (Just Harvest, EECM Food Pantry, Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank).

The teal slice is the portion that went to Presbyterian mission efforts: Church World Services, Presbyterian Disaster Relief, Camp Crestfield, Malawi Partnership, and the Lazarus Fund.

The pea green slice is for local social justice efforts at the Mars Home for Youth and the Neighborhood Academy.

The gray slice shows support for the people of developing countries through gifts to Global Links, support for the CROP walkers, Goats for Gifts (Rwanda), and the March for Darfur.

There's a very slender black slice to represent the amount remaining in our budget.

Those Boots Were Made for.....

Walking! And caring! And giving!

The CROP Walk envelopes have now all been turned in, and Sue Koehler proudly reports that Sixth Presbyterian Church walkers collected donations totaling $4,064, the largest East End church contribution by a mile!

Congratulations and a big round of applause for all the walkers and donors.

Lunch at the Neighborhood Academy

Diana reports that Friday's lunch at the Neighborhood Academy was "enthusiastically devoured."

Many thanks to all those who helped: Sue Koehler, Louise Craft, Carol and Bill Beggs, Michael Schrecengost, Dave Wood, Jan Fisher, Jim McDowell, Larry VanDyke and Louise Ford. And very special thanks (and a round of applause) for the woman who pulled it all together: Diana Wood.

Diana will be proctoring the NA study hours tomorrow (Tuesday, 5:30 to 7:30 PM). That's a volunteer opportunity open to all, so please let Diana know if you're interested.

The next Sixth-in-the-Neighborhood-Academy is scheduled for WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 11. Cooks and servers are needed -- just let Diana know if you can help out. We have funds to help reiumburse the cost of the food!

EECM Food Pantry

The EECM Food Pantry has put out an "all points bulletin" to alert congregations in the East End of their urgent need for food to restock the pantry shelves.

Please consider bringing some canned goods or other pantry staples to church with you on Sunday. There are baskets at the front of the sanctuary for your contributions.

Good News!

Good news!

1) This morning's Post-Gazette reports that UPMC will not close House of Hope: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08341/933262-114.stm

Excerpts from the story (including quotes from Mary Louise applauding the wisdom of keeping the program alive):

"The House of Hope -- the program in Braddock that helps pregnant women who are working to overcome addictions -- will continue operating, but eventually it will be moved....."

"Word was spreading and hopefully the outpouring of support caused this change," said the Rev. Mary Louise McCullough, pastor of Sixth Presbyterian Church in Squirrel Hill. "It's wise on the part of these folks at UPMC to realize that this is a facility that should not go."

After learning of UPMC's initial plan to close House of Hope, the Rev. McCullough sought to persuade churches to donate money to keep the program open for a few months until alternative funding could be found.
She also spoke of the planned closing from her pulpit, which prompted leaders of her church to write letters on behalf of the program to board members of UPMC and Heritage Health Foundation, the charitable arm of UPMC Braddock.

"We so often are angry and upset and think there's nothing we can do about things," she said. "Sometimes you lose the sense that people will actually respond. But I'm very happy and I'm sure the people in my church who were involved will be very happy.""

2) Pittsburgh Presbytery rejected a proposal from Bellefield Presbyterian to eliminate a perceived "loophole" in presbytery's ordination standards. See http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08341/933252-53.stm

Excerpt follows (guess we'd be included in the "foes" category!):

Pittsburgh Presbytery refuses to change policy on gay pastors
Court would have stricken rule, foes say

Pittsburgh Presbytery, which has a history of opposing gay ordination, has rejected a proposal intended to close a loophole that supporters believed could open the presbytery to openly gay pastors....

Jesus, The Bible, and Homosexuality

Starting January 4th, Sixth's adult Sunday School class will discuss Jack Roger's Jesus, The Bible, and Homosexuality: Explode the Myths, Heal the Church.

Ever found yourself tongue-tied trying to explain why we're a More Light Congregation, even though you know in your heart and soul it's what you believe is right and just? This class will give us all a chance to explore together the way the Bible does (and does not) talk about homosexuality and a faith-filled life.

Class begins at 9:50 AM in the Parlor and runs for four weeks: January 4, 11, 18, and 25.

Rally for House of Hope: December 11, 2008

On Thursday, December 11th, a rally will be held in front of UPMC Braddock to protest UPMC's decision to close the House of Hope. The rally is expected to run from 11:15 AM till 12:45 PM.

House of Hope was designed to help addicted, homeless women who are pregnant or new mothers. It offers a small-group (only five clients at a time) residence setting for 90-day stays, during which the women get treatment and counseling for their addiction. Their babies get to stay with them during their treatment stay.

UPMC has announced its intention to close House of Hope on January 2nd as a cost-cutting move.

Below please find C+C Committee Member Margaret Miller's letter to the Post-Gazette about this (11.23.2008):

Care betrayal

To those at UPMC who are closing House of Hope, I know these are difficult economic times. However, as I read about all the new projects that UPMC has money for, I cannot for the life of me see why keeping House of Hope would put such a strain on UPMC's budget.

If indeed it is true that UPMC or its foundation did not have sufficient funds available to continue to support House of Hope, this surely is no excuse for keeping the annual budget a secret. Perhaps some other group could try to undertake supporting it.

I know that the hospitals that make up UPMC's facilities here in Pittsburgh were, for the most part, started by members of various religious communities. This seems like a betrayal of this caring impulse.

MARGARET R. MILLER
Point Breeze

From A Child's Heart to Haiti

Because many of our mission efforts have centered on the needs in Haiti, I thought you might find this article about Isabel's work interesting! Isabel is my cousin's daughter.....

Amid the mixing bowls and measuring cups in this East Knoxville home, Isabel Deeter measures flour, cracks eggs and melts chocolate. Then the 10-year-old adds the most important ingredient of all - compassion. It's found in abundance in Isabel's kitchen, and it looks a lot like cookies.

Continued at:

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/nov/26/haitians-eating-dirt-cookies-inspire-help/

Opportunities at Neighborhood Academy

LUNCHTIME MEALS: Diana met with Neighborhood Academy's Development Director and Director of Administration. The school now has an enrollment of approximately 89; parents are now divided into teams, with each team responsible for a certain number of dinners throughout the year. The Academy's greatest need this year for non-parental supporters is to prepare and serve lunches.

Diana is proposing that volunteers from Sixth serve lunch three times over the coming year: FRIDAY DECEMBER 12, WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 11 AND MONDAY APRIL 6. We will need food preparers and food servers who would meet at the school and serve the students and staff: 11:00 am to 1:00 pm, which encompasses two lunch periods. Sample menus are available.

Please contact Diana and let her know if you are available to help with any of these dates.

STUDY PROCTORS. The NA is instituting a proctoring program during the students' study hours in the late afternoon. Since they have so many more students and the school values serious study, they would appreciate proctors who would supervise small classrooms where the students should be absolutely focused on their studies. Diana is interested in doing this, but needs another person who might be able to trade off with her so that each would go once every two weeks. Is there anyone out there who might be interested in this type of work? The time would be something like 4-6 or 4:30-6:30.

Jack Rogers on 'Jesus, the Bible, and Homosexuality'

Pittsburgh Presbytery's Task Force on Ministry with Sexual Minorities and More Light Presbyterians are sponsoring a mini-conference on October 12-13, 2008, with Dr. Jack Rogers, theologian and author of the book Jesus, the Bible, and Homosexuality: Explode the Myths, Heal the Church. Rogers is professor emeritus at San Francisco Theological Seminary, a former faculty member at Westminster College, and served as moderator of the 213th General Assembly.

The conference will be held at Camp Crestfield, with opening sessions at 4 PM on Sunday and closing on Monday at 4.

Call 412.828.0910 for more information.

Also note: Dr. Rogers will be preaching at East Liberty Presbyterian on Sunday morning, October 12th.

Church & Community Support

The Church and Community Committee serves as the mission outreach arm of Sixth Church in two primary ways:

(1) Identifying organizations whose missions are aligned with the community goals of Sixth Church and providing funds to them through prioritized distribution of our 2008 budget of more than $17,000; and

(2) Providing volunteer services and support to community organizations needing our help.

Organizations receiving support in 2008 include:

Wilkinsburg Community Ministry

East End Cooperative Ministries

Pittsburgh Community Food Bank

Neighborhood Academy

Mars Home for Youth

Camp Crestfield Scholarship Fund

Malawi Partnership of the Pittsburgh Presbytery

Lazarus Fund of the Pittsburgh Presbytery

Just Harvest

Church World Services

CROP

March for Darfur

Goats for Gifts: For Rwandan Women Affected by the Genocide

Global Links

Distribution of Funds

The committee voted this morning to provide funding to Presbytery's Lazarus Fund, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, and Goats for Gifts.

In allocating our funds this way, the committee noted the deep need for Presbytery-wide support for the Lazarus Fund, whose budget well has run dry at a point in the year and the economy when many families are having an increasingly difficult time in covering costs of living. Sixth Church also dedicates the loose-plate offering collected on "fifth Sundays" to the Lazarus Fund.

Recent hurricanes have had a devastating effect on many. Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) is helping those recently hurt by Hurricane Ike, as well as people hurt through storm damages caused by Hurricanes Fay, Gustav, and Hanna.

Goats for Gifts helps women and children in Rwanda by providing goats as a means toward self-support (the goats provide both food and a source of income). Goats for Gifts is a remarkable organization for its lack of overhead costs, made possible through dedicated volunteer efforts.

Other entities that have received funding this year include Wilkinsburg Community Ministry, East End Cooperative Ministries, Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, Neighborhood Academy, Mars Home for Youth, Camp Crestfield (scholarships), Presbytery's Malawi Partnership, Just Harvest, Church World Services, and the March for Darfur.

Global Links: Hurricane Relief

I know many of you saw the article in the paper this week about Global Links' important role in providing relief to the people of Cuba, who have been hit hard by late-summer hurricanes this year.

Sixth Presbyterian provides committed volunteers to Global Links. If you have not yet had a chance to offer some time to them and would like to do so, please contact Doris Bell, Jan Maxwell, or Sheila Kier for more information!

If you didn't have a chance to see Anya Sostek's story in the Post-Gazette, here's a bit of it (with a link to the full article!)....


A little Pittsburgh nonprofit is about to play a big role in Cuban disaster relief.

Global Links, a Garfield-based medical relief organization, holds one of only a handful of federal licenses allowing legal humanitarian aid to Cuba.

To deal with the aftermath of two major hurricanes walloping the island nation in just more than a week, the World Health Organization asked Global Links to serve as a conduit in delivering medical supplies to the country.

The article is online at http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08253/910557-53.stm .

Talking About Torture

See www.PittsburghAgainstTorture.org. Pittsburgh Against Torture is sponsoring an event at the Friends Meeting House (Oakland) on Saturday, September 20th, on "Talking About Torture: How Can We Learn to Speak About the Unspeakable."

We will learn more about this at our next committee meeting.

Back to....'School'?

Or at least back to non-summer routines. The end of August still seems like a time of transition for many of us, even if we aren't sharpening pencils and shopping for new back-to-school shoes.

The next meeting of the Church and Community Committee is tentatively planned for September 14th. You'll receive an email notice (and a bulletin reminder) once that date and location are confirmed.

Are you on Facebook? If so, become a fan/member of the 'Friends of Sixth Presbyterian Church' group! From there, you'll also see a link to Smallworks.org: check it out!

Pittsburgh CROP Walk

Buff up those walking shoes..... The 2008 CROP Walk in the East End of Pittsburgh will be held Sunday, October 12th.

Mark Those Calendars!

Our next meeting will be held after worship on Sunday, June 15th. The agenda will include updates on initiatives such as support of the Neighborhood Academy!

Our committee is responsible for hosting the post-worship fellowship time in September. Fred has signed up for September 28th, but we need volunteers for September 7, 14, and 21.

March for Darfur

The Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition’s Destroyed Villages Project will hold a march and rally in downtown Pittsburgh on Sunday, May 18th. Each person marching will represent one of the 2,751 villages damaged or destroyed villages of Darfur and will carry a sign representing the people of that village. Fred O’Leary will be our point person, and all friends and members of Sixth Church are invited to participate.

We will gather at Freedom Corner (Centre & Crawford, just above the Mellon Arena) a little before 2 PM. Donations of $10 per participant are requested by the march organizers, and the Church and Community Committee will cover that cost for Sixth members/friends who are going to participate. Please let Fred know if you will be marching and let him know if you need a ride; he will submit your name and the payment to the march organizers so that your sign will be ready.

Initial Round of Commitments

We had a productive meeting last Sunday (yay, us!) and agreed to support the following organizations with funding and/or volunteers this year:

Wilkinsburg Community Ministry (funding)

EECM (funding, volunteers for men's shelter meals)

Pgh Community Food Bank (funding)

Neighborhood Academy (funding, volunteers for tutoring and meal prep)

Mars Home for Youth (funding, possible 'muscles and mops' volunteers as needed)

Camp Crestfield (funding toward operating budget, volunteer support for capital campaign and of 'muscles and mops' nature as needed)

Malawi Partnership (funding)

Just Harvest (funding)

Church World Services (funding)

CROP (volunteers for walk, funding for related expenses)

Global Links (volunteers, funding for mailings to Covenant Hospital)

Action for Darfur (pending announcements re march this year -- volunteers to march, funding to sponsor march)

Hosanna Industries and Open Hand Ministries are likely to be targeted volunteer opportunities for the Muscles and Mops subcommittee.

The committee voted unanimously to recommend that Session support the single-payer healthcare overture to Presbytery.

Items for the next meeting (date to be determined):


(1) Determine funding available from Peacemaking offering for our distribution (Maggie); identify local need for funding (committee)

(2) Brief updates on status/requests (some of this may fall under Reports from Subcommittee Leaders): Goats for Rwanda, Pgh Pastoral Institute, Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition (possible move out of this committee's budget line), Habitat for Humanity info (Tom), Sojourner House info (Tom), Breachmenders (Joe/Cliff), Hazelwood Presby Church.

(3) Reports from each of the subcommittee leaders

(4) Treasurer report on amount collected from regular 'special offerings': Peacemaking, Joy, One Great Hour of Sharing, Lazarus

Looking Ahead!

Our next full committee meeting will be held Sunday, March 9th, after worship. We will meet in the parlor again.

January 13th Meeting Agenda

1.Updates and Announcements

• Annual Report for 2007/2007 Spending
  
  
• Fellowship/Post-Worship Reception: March sign-ups
  
  
• Meeting of Pittsburgh Presbytery’s Hazelwood Partnership: Tuesday (1/15/08) at 7 PM at Hazelwood Presby Church. Louise C. attending. Others welcome.
  
  
• Organizations’ Mission Statements
  
  
• PIIN: Update (Diana, Tom, Louise F.)
  
  

2. For Discussion and Action

A. Endorsement and consideration of contribution re writing group to meet at Sixth on explorations of faith. (Nora)

B. Prioritization of efforts and contributions through sub-committees.


3. Next Meeting