Tag: fundraising

Refugee committee update

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An update from our Refugee Committee – December 27, 2019
  • The refugee committee continues its efforts to bring people to safety.
  • Jean B who has been attending our services regularly as a Unitarian is finally settled, sharing a 2 bedroom suite in Surrey with Jean Pierre, a friend .They are both working full time at Amazon in Delta. J B is registered for English classes .He is already at level 4 which means he has already a significant knowledge of English.
  • We were given 10 spaces for the last few months of  2019 to apply for sponsorships. We proceeded immediately to have a Syrian family of 5 plus their friend to apply. We have been accepted as their sponsor.
  • We also put an application for 3 Eritrean single young men and we also have been accepted as their sponsors. This is the first step for the file to go to the required embassies abroad (Aman and Tel Aviv respectively).
  • We had one spot left and we are sending an application for one young Syrian man refugee in the Emirates.
This completes our allocations given for this year to us as a New SAH (Sponsorship Agreement Holder). In 2020, we will be receiving some allocations. We do not know yet how many but we have to start fund raising if we are to continue bringing people to safety. It requires $16,500 for one individual to support them for one year which is what we are required to do minus some deductions if furniture etc.. is donated.
We are going to need everyone support in this endeavour. Julia has a table at church every Sunday. We will organize some events during the year. Everyone is welcome to bring their ideas and join the fund raising spearheaded by Catherine Stewart. We have wonderful dedicated refugee committee members .We welcome anybody who wants to join or know more about what we are doing.
For 2020, we would like to be able to bring our Unitarian Burundians refugees in Rwanda who are in a very precarious situation and precarious safety as the militia cross the border easily to target them .We have been recommended by Fulgence, Burundian refugee Reverend in Saskatoon who is now a permanent resident of Canada.
You can also always make donations to the Sheilah Thompson Refugee Fund in which case you will receive a tax receipt.
Thank you for all your help. A very special  thank you to Karen Brumelle who donated her art and raised funds for the refugee committee.
If we get extra spaces we will be preparing applications for a family of five and a family of four‎ as long as we can raise the necessary funds.
– from Huguette.
See also the group that Paul Prescod is involved with supporting.
Stop by the Refugee Committee‘s fundraising table any Sunday or contact the committee to support, donate or ask questions.

Can we penetrate the darkness?

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The featured image for this posting is the detail of a drawing titled “Many suns cannot penetrate the darkness” created in 1989 by the late long time Vancouver Unitarian member Daphne Naegele. Now, 30 years after Daphne created this image and posed this question, we are still faced with it — can Unitarian Universalism help penetrate the darkness? Part of the answer to this question resides in our capacity to sustain ourselves financially. To examine our options, the UCV board has created a task force to examine the many facets of this question over the summer and fall. Get in touch with Sheila Resels or Keith WIlkinson if you’d like to be part of this discussion.

The UCV Board established a Financial Sustainability Task Force (FSTF) in July 2019. The purpose of the Task Force is to review and strengthen the financial sustainability of the Vancouver Unitarian congregation in the face of reduced levels of pledging, possibly static membership growth, and the general decline of religious community across North America over recent decades.

The Task Force includes the following working groups and teams:

  1. Membership Growth Team
  2. Member Generosity Team (which includes the Canvass Committee)
  3. Legacy Team
  4. Space Use Team
  5. Transition Team
  6. Site Development Team
  7. Investments Committee
  8. Fundraising Events Team
  9. Risk Review Team
  10. Marketing/Fundraiser Initiative Team
  11. UCV Internal Funds Review Initiative
  12. UCV (ad hoc) Budget Committee
  13. Other working groups/teams approved by the Board.

These groups and teams are relatively self-directed and are guided by the recent working document UCV Financial Sustainability Matrix. The working groups and teams are expected to prepare reports in time for the board and the congregation to discuss them well in advance of the 2019 AGM scheduled for late fall 2019 when a vote of the membership regarding possible site redevelopment is anticipated.

For further information, or to provide support to some of these working groups, please contact one of the co-chairs of the Financial Sustainability Task Force (FSTF):