Outreach Opportunities Fund
The Outreach Opportunities Fund Committee selects outside organizations to receive a portion of the Sunday offering.
Outreach Opportunities Fund (OOF)
Chair: Melody Mason
Statement of Purpose:
To distribute 25% of funds collected during the Sunday service to community charities, both those that are independent of the church and those that have some connection to the work of church committees. Priority is given to organizations undertaking social justice, refugee support and settlement and environmental sustainability work with a focus on vulnerable or other marginalized communities. Preference for funding is given to groups working primarily in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland.
Members:
Carolyn Grant, Cecilia Gruber , Jennifer Malcolm, and Yvonne Marcus
Currently Collecting for:
Our current OOF recipient is the Wild Bird Trust of British Columbia (WBT) (March 2022-June 2022). WBT manages the Conservation Area at Maplewood Flats in North Vancouver. The Trust’s mission is to provide wild birds with sanctuary through ecological protection and restoration, and support communities with education, culture, and reconciliation programs. With 80,000 annual visitors, it features 5km of trails, a spectacular Nature House with year-round public artistic exhibitions, a social enterprise nursery, and wildlife education.
The Trust’s land is situated within the traditional and unceded territory of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation (TWN). Since 2017, WBT has embarked on a redress program to decolonize operations, giving up site governance to TWN and repairing the harm done by increasing cooperation and developing programs for the benefit of the TWN community.
Future Plans
Three organisations will be selected to receive funds from OOF during the next year. In the past, the committee has chosen the recipients but we now ask members of the congregation to nominate local charities for consideration by the committee.
To nominate an organisation please click on this link: OOF Nomination form or take a paper form from the bulletin board at the main entrance to Hewett Hall and leave it in the OOF mailbox in the UCV office or email it to Melody Mason.
Current Year
2022
Wild Bird Trust of British Columbia (currently collecting)
Previous Recipients
Here are some of the organizations we have supported in the past.
2011
Elizabeth Fry Society $2500
2012
ACORN $2500
BC Coalition of People with Disabilities now the Disability Alliance $2500
Elizabeth Fry Society $1000
Rhizome Movement Building Centre $1500
VAST $1500
2013
Covenant House (no record)
ACORN $2500
Kinbrace $3000
Aunt Leah’s Place $2500
2014
Pedal Foundation $400
ARA Mental Health (Action, Research and Advocacy) $1600
West Coast Mental Health Network $2000
2015
Mom2Mom – Child Poverty Initiative $2,000
Kinbrace $2000
2016
Kinbrace – $1500.00
Vancity Community Foundation for activities related to Raise the Rates & Single Mother’s Alliance $3,000.00
2017
RAVEN Trust $2810
Qmunity $2800
Portland Hotel Society for activities related to Overdose Prevention Society $1681
Community Legal Assistance Society $2025
2018
Kiwassa Neighbourhood House (to be allocated to Warriors Against Violence) $2693
OWL Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society $1635
Rainbow Refugee Coalition $2000
2019
West Coast Environmental Law $4010
Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre $2367
Sole Food Street Farms $2000
2020
Aboriginal Mother Centre $2000
PHS Community Services Society $2000
Burns Bog Conservation Society $2000
2021
The Treehouse $3000
Mood Disorders Association of BC $2500
Indian Residential School Survivors Society $5000
Quest Outreach Society $2500
2022
Wild Bird Trust of British Columbia (currently collecting)