Mission of the Month

As God is generous with us, we, too, are a generous people. Each month we focus on a particular mission which has been chosen by the congregation. Collenbrook United Church has been and continues to be incredibly generous and passionate about mission and outreach. The Mission of the Month (MOM) are local, national, and international charities offering new opportunities to serve God’s people and earth in new ways.

During 2017, Collenbrook collected and donated $34,202.86 to our numerous Missions of the Month!

Check out this PowerPoint with more information about our numerous missions and the donations we raised for each one!

Benevolence Presentation

2021 – Missions

March: Helping Paws of Upper Darby Mini-MOM- The Eliza Shirley House (Philadelphia)

April: One Great Hour of Sharing

One Great Hour of Sharing is an offering that makes the love of Christ real for individuals and communities around the world who suffer the effects of disaster, conflict, or severe economic hardship, and for those who serve them through gifts of money and time. Today, projects are underway in more than 100 countries, including the United States and Canada. In the 1990s, receipts have exceeded $20 million annually. While specific allocations differ in each denomination, all use their One Great Hour of Sharing funds to make possible disaster relief, refugee assistance, development aid and more.

May: Domestic Abuse Project of Delaware County

June: LGBT Asylum Task Force

July: Bethany Children’s Home

August: KIND: Kids in Need of Desks through UNICEF

September: Philabundance

October: CROP Hunger Walk

For nearly half a century, CROP Hunger Walks have ensured that more people worldwide have access to nutritious, sustainable food sources. From combating droughts in Nicaragua to providing agricultural training in Indonesia to stocking shelves in hundreds of food pantries across the United States, CROP Hunger Walks help end hunger by raising funds to support local food programs and the international anti-hunger work of Church World Service.

November: Neighbors in Need and The Giving Tree at Fair Acres

December: Christmas Joy Offering

January (2022): Kiva

More than 1.7 billion people around the world are unbanked and can’t access the financial services they need. Kiva is an international nonprofit, founded in 2005 in San Francisco, with a mission to expand financial access to help underserved communities thrive.

We do this by crowdfunding loans and unlocking capital for the underserved, improving the quality and cost of financial services, and addressing the underlying barriers to financial access around the world. Through Kiva’s work, students can pay for tuition, women can start businesses, farmers are able to invest in equipment and families can afford needed emergency care.

By lending as little as $25 on Kiva, you can be part of the solution and make a real difference in someone’s life.
100% of every dollar you lend on Kiva goes to funding loans.

2020 – Missions

May: Local Food Banks

April: One Great Hour of Sharing

March: 4-H Media

Hard-hit Delaware County is still cleaning up the mess and assessing the damage after a powerful tornado ripped through the area on Halloween. The 4-H Club at Garrett-Williamson in Newtown Square was in the path of the tornado’s destruction. A dairy pen has been blown to pieces, the barn is missing siding and part of the roof was ripped off. None of the 20 horses, sheep and other animals on the farm were hurt but they are now without shelter. Plus, several hundred school-aged children who visit the farm to volunteer are not allowed on the property until the mess is cleaned up. We are raising funds to help the farm rebuild.

February: CWS Blankets +

In 2017, CWS distributed thousands of blankets around the world. Your congregation can be part of an even greater response in 2018. You will reach families fleeing their homes, recovering from disaster and more.

January: Kiva

By lending as little as $25 on Kiva, you can be part of the solution and make a real difference in someone’s life.
100% of every dollar you lend on Kiva goes to funding loans.

2019 – Missions

December: Retired Clergy Support

November: Neighbors in Need

Neighbors in Need (NIN) is a special mission offering of the United Church of Christ that supports ministries of justice and compassion throughout the United States. One-third of NIN funds support the Council for American Indian Ministry (CAIM). Two-thirds of this offering is used by the UCC’s Justice and Witness Ministries (JWM) to support a variety of justice initiatives, advocacy efforts, and direct service projects through grants. Neighbors in Need grants are awarded to UCC churches and organizations doing justice work in their communities. These grants fund projects whose work ranges from direct service to community organizing and advocacy to address systemic injustice. This year, special consideration will be given to projects focusing on serving our immigrant neighbors and communities.

October: CROP Hunger Walk

September: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia – Neurological Surgery

The Division of Neurosurgery at Children’s Hospital specializes in the surgical treatment of infants, children and adolescents with brain tumors, epilepsy, cervical spinal trauma, and other conditions affecting the brain and spine such as cerebral palsy. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s pediatric neurosurgeons perform a high volume of neurosurgery procedures each year using the most modern surgical approaches available. Our experts work closely with other pediatric specialists to provide the individualized care your child needs before, during and after surgery. This multidisciplinary team may include pediatric anesthesiologists, neurologists, cardiologists, advanced practice nurses, physician assistants, nurses, social workers, and many other specialists.

August: Chester Eastside Ministry – School Pack

Building the Community – what we do: After school education and tutoring, Parents First (parenting education), G.E.D. education, Food and nutrition education, Food outreach, Summer Camp for youth, and Emergency aid & referral.

July: RIP Medical Debt

RIP Medical Debt empowers donors to forgive billions in oppressive medical debt. We are dedicated to removing the burden of medical debt for individuals and families and veterans across America. RIP Medical Debt was founded in 2014 by two former debt collections executives, Craig Antico and Jerry Ashton. Over the course of decades in the debt-buying industry, Craig and Jerry met with thousands of Americans saddled with unpaid and un-payable medical debt and realized they were uniquely qualified to help these people in need.

June: Therapy Center of Philadelphia

The Therapy Center of Philadelphia is a community-based, mental health nonprofit founded on the belief that psychotherapy and trauma work do not have to be pathologizing, stigmatizing, or unaffordable. TCP offers an alternative mental health model of healing that attends to people’s identities and experiences of oppression within the therapy relationship and the client’s life. To honor this mission, TCP strives to be financially accessible, racially equitable, and trans-affirming in all of its services and operations. It offers this framework to over 350 adult women, transgender, and gender nonconforming clients a year.

TCP was founded as the Feminist Therapy Collective (FTC) in 1972. A group of visionary feminist therapists sought to challenge social inequities that existed in the mental health field at the time. Since then, TCP has existed as a nonprofit organization providing therapy to adult women. In 2011, TCP expanded our mission to also serve transgender and gender nonconforming communities. We have augmented our historical understanding of women’s issues, patriarchy, and sexism, incorporating an analysis that recognizes the intersections of feminist and transgender experiences of gender-based oppression and struggle.

TCP is committed to maintaining diversity of experience and identities in our staff across clinical orientations, as well as race, age, class, gender identity, culture, immigration status, and sexual orientation. As part of our mission to making quality therapy accessible, TCP offers a sliding fee scale for services that allows clients to seek out the support they need.

May: One Great Hour of Sharing

April: Make a Difference Now

MAD was founded in 2008 by Theresa Grant when she learned of the poor conditions of government schools in Tanzania. Most of these schools aren’t able to offer access to computers, books, English classes or even full-time teachers. What started in Tanzania has now expanded to Zambia, Burundi, Peru, Nepal and Syria. The organization’s mission is to help end poverty by providing orphaned and impoverished children with quality education and care; creating responsible leaders who later transform that knowledge into impactful changes in their respective communities.

March: Purrfect Paws Pet Rescue

Our March 2019 Mission of the Month is Purrfect Paws Rescue! PurrFect Paws Rescue is a registered, non-profit corporation in the State of Pennsylvania and operates as a 501(c) 3 federally tax-exempt Public Charity. It is comprised of a small group of experienced, compassionate animal rescue volunteers who address the friendly stray (non-feral) cat population living on the streets. These unfortunate animals, are among the neediest that other shelters are not willing to take. The organization provides them with complete veterinary care often running into thousands of dollars and places them in caring and devoted foster homes until they can find their furever family.

February: CWS Blankets +

January: Diaper Mountain

We, as a congregation, are going to build a Mountain of Diapers (new, unused, in a box diapers only). Once we build it, we will move the mountain donating the diapers to Community Action Agency of Delaware County, Inc. (CAADC). We have worked with CAADC before. They oversee two transitional housing sites, the Wesley House (The shelter in Chester, PA, has 17 rooms for families or single women. It is typically at full capacity of 70 people on any given day.) and Family Management Center Shelter (also in Chester, contains 10 rooms for homeless families and serves an average of 45 households numbering 100+ individuals each year). Both centers offer supportive services such as computer training, after-school programs, health assessment etc., to help families transition to permanent housing solutions. Families means diapers. Our goal is to fill their closets with boxes of diapers that will be used throughout the year to meet an important need.