Social Concerns Committee’s Report

Summary of Activities

As in recent years, the Social Concerns Committee determined committee-wide priority “categories” of giving and had members take responsibility for making specific recommendations of organization(s) for each category.

In addition to distributing contributions from the annual budget, the Committee chose the recipient of both the Thanksgiving offering (Women’s Lunch Place), and the Christmas offering (Horizons for Homeless Children and Heifer International).  Amounts contributed to each organization are summarized below.

Giving Priorities

To begin the process of selecting specific organizations to fund, the committee selected categories for the focus of our giving and support.  These were selected through a process in which committee members reviewed the categories addressed last year, and reevaluated them based on personal knowledge and experience, as well as the Committee’s perception of what the larger First Parish community would want to support.  We did our best to select areas of concern that have widespread support within the Church.  In the end, our selected categories were very similar to those in recent years.  These categories were combined into 4 groups, allowing a couple of committee members to work together on each of the groups.  Each of the 4 groups was budgeted one fourth of our overall giving budget, and the specific amount assigned to each category and organization within each group proposed by those responsible for each group.  The final recommendations were then reviewed and approved by the entire committee.

Once the categories and groupings were selected, each committee member selected an area for focus, or the individuals worked together on their categories.  The groups and categories were:

Hunger & International

(Joan Mansfield & Peggy Elliot),

Shelter/Housing/Homelessness & Emergency Relief

(Jon Kelman & Jennifer Morris),

Violence/Health/Racial Justice

(Martha Frost & Anne Eaton),

Education & Economic Development/Employment

(Nancy Henderson & Woodie Arthur).

Members had the option of giving the entire amount allocated to one group to a single charity, or they could split the amount up into contributions to several organizations (which all did).  A list of the organizations and the amounts given appears at the end of this article.  Many of the organizations reviewed and selected address a range of issues, thus the categories identified were general in nature.  For example, some organizations help people with shelter as well as sustenance, so could fit in the housing and hunger categories.

What continued to be impressive, was the level of professionalism that each member demonstrated in the process of researching and selecting organizations to receive funds.  Some did personal visits, others uncovered organizations through a search on the Internet, some did extensive phone interviews, and all did a review of materials and documents that describe the organizations structure and activities.

Special Project

This year, our committee planned and implemented a “greening” project at the playground that is part of the Community Children’s Center, a child care center located in Dorchester.  This center is the first full-time center (opened 10 years ago) run by Horizons for Homeless Children, an organization dedicated to serving homeless families.  We have consistently supported this organization over many years through Christmas offerings and other financial contributions, along with a series of work projects.  Our congregation repainted the interior of this and another center a few times, and constructed a playground for their Jamaica Plain children’s center.  It was rewarding to have such a positive contribution to the playground, which is evolving in some ways into an “outdoor classroom”.  Over 40 adults, teens, and children spent a beautiful spring day in the playground constructing and installing planters, planting flowers, shrubbery, and vegetables, and assembling ingenious irrigation systems to keep the greenery alive.

Thanks to the Committee Members and the entire Church Community

The committee worked hard, had fun and hopefully “did the First Parish proud” by the choices they made.  Special thanks go to each member of the committee and to the entire First Parish community.  Without your generosity, we would not be able to support the many nonprofit organizations that depend on contributions, like ours, to carry out their mission of building and strengthening the social fabric and to respond to emergencies in Boston, the surrounding communities and the world.  Many of these organizations are particularly in need in the recent economic climate, and First Parish’s continued commitment to a uniquely generous level of support is especially appreciated.

Giving Summary:  Specific organizations and contributions

Respectfully submitted,

D. W. (Woodie) Arthur, Co-Chair