Dear Friends,

We are pleased to announce that based on the responses received from you, we have decided to  divide this year’s Christmas Eve collection between two very worthy causes:

Groundwork Lawrence, an organization helping Lawrence residents displaced by the gas explosions, and

LGBT Asylum Task Force of Worcester, an organization that has built a home and support network for asylum-seekers persecuted in their home countries.

Please bring your cash and checkbooks to our Christmas Eve service on December 24.  Checks may be made out to UUCM with the designation “Christmas Plate 2018.” The church will send a check to each charity.

These donations do make a difference. We just received a heartfelt thank you note from the recipients of last year’s generous Christmas donation, which went to the Tam Tran and Cinthya Felix Scholarship for DACA  students at U Mass. It reads in part, “My parents are both undocumented and they work every day to help me. However, at the same time, they sacrifice their health and well being to pay for my school expenses…This scholarship really helped my family get through the first few months of the spring semester…it also allowed me to cut back hours at work so that I could become an active leader on campus fighting for and supporting my undocumented community. Thank you so much for your donation!”

          (signed) Renata Teodoro, Jeniffer Vivar-Wong

The complete note will be posted on the bulletin board in Benker Hall.

We look forward to seeing many of you at our Christmas Eve Service at 5:00 pm on Monday, December 24.  Wherever you celebrate, may your holidays be full of love, joy and peace.

Sincerely,

UUCM Board of Trustees