Outreach Opportunities Fund

The Outreach Opportunities Fund Committee selects outside organizations to receive a portion of the Sunday offering.

Outreach Opportunities Fund (OOF)

Chair: Yvonne Marcus

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:

Cecilia Gruber, Jennifer Malcolm, and Melody Mason

Current Recipient

The current OOF recipient is Pivot Legal Society (July 2022-October 2022).

The work of Pivot Legal Society is rooted in the believe that poverty and social exclusion are not inevitable.

In 2001, Pivot opened its doors in response to a health and human rights crisis in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Since then, it has worked in partnership with marginalized people and grassroots organizations to challenge legislation, policies, and practices that undermine human rights, intensify poverty, and perpetuate stigma. Pivot strategically focuses its efforts on the most tangible human rights in order to improve the immediate situation of the people it works with, while creating lasting change that resonates across the country.

Here are some of Pivot’s accomplishments:

Protected the constitutional rights of sex workers by successfully challenging federal legislation that puts their lives in danger.
Worked with vulnerable people who use drugs to breakdown legal barriers to life-saving harm reduction and drug substitution treatments.
Supported victims of police misconduct and excessive force to stand up for their rights and spark changes in policing practice.
Helped homeless people secure important legal decisions confirming their right to shelter themselves from the elements and make equal use of public space.

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 Yvonne Marcus.

OOF Nomination Form

Current Year

2022

Pivot Legal Society (currently collecting)
Wild Bird Trust of British Columbia $2000

Previous Recipients

Here are some of the organizations we have supported in the past.

2018

Kiwassa Neighbourhood House (to be allocated to Warriors Against Violence) $2693

OWL Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society $1635

Rainbow Refugee Coalition $2000

2017

RAVEN Trust $2810

Qmunity $2800

Portland Hotel Society for activities related to Overdose Prevention Society $1681

Community Legal Assistance Society $2025

2016

Kinbrace – $1500.00

Vancity Community Foundation for activities related to Raise the Rates & Single Mother’s Alliance $3,000.00

2015

Mom2Mom – Child Poverty Initiative $2,000

Kinbrace $2000

2014

Pedal Foundation $400
ARA Mental Health (Action, Research and Advocacy) $1600
West Coast Mental Health Network $2000

2013

Covenant House (no record)

ACORN $2500

Kinbrace $3000

Aunt Leah’s Place $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

2011

Kinbrace

Elizabeth Fry Society $2500

Vancouver Unitarians