The Missions and Outreach Committee, (Jacquline Benton, Holly Burns, Vivi Oldknow and Connie James-Gililland) has distributed the remainder of our mission funds for 2007.

Here is a partial list of the many recipients who received bequests from our church this year. (A complete listing as well as amounts given is available by request and will be included in this year’s Annual Report.)

On the national United Church of Christ level, we contributed to the UCC Coalition for LGBT Concerns. The Coalition provides support and sanctuary to all our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender sisters and brothers, their families and friends as well as advocates for their full inclusion in church and society. We also contributed to the God Is Still Speaking Campaign which serves to get the word out to the world that God is still speaking HERE!

On the local level, we contributed to many worthy agencies and institutions in the San Gabriel Valley as well as in the greater Los Angeles area, including:

• The Union Station Foundation, serving the poor and homeless
• Elizabeth House, a shelter for homeless women and their children
• The L.A. Coalition to End Hunger & Homelessness
• Pilgrim Place, a thriving multifaceted retirement community serving 330 Christian leaders who continue their “pilgrimage” of Christian faith and service to others.
• The Ecumenical Council of Pasadena Area Churches, providing food assistance for single women and families as well as running “Friends in Deed” and organizing other activities and providing resources for those in need throughout the San Gabriel Valley.
• The Foothill Unity Center, whose goal is to “help local people in crisis attain self-sufficiency…”
• The Altadena Food Pantry, which provides groceries to the needy in the surrounding communities.
  Other outreach monies have been sent to:
• Water for Children Africa
• MED Ministries
• Goderich Waldorf School in Sierra Leone
• Refiner’s Fire congregation in Long Beach
• Pilgrim Pines
• San Gabriel Valley Pride

Your pledges and contributions throughout the year made it possible to give over $30,000 this year to so many in need. Thanks to the “Giving Committee” and to each one of you!