The United Church of Christ’s Mission: 1 initiative set some pretty big goals. On Nov. 1, the church set out to collect one million items of healthy food, write 11,111 letters to Congress concerning hunger, generate $111,111 for hunger-related ministries and another $111,111 towards East Africa famine relief—all in just 11 days.
Big goals—but they did it. All settings of the church came together to work towards—and even exceed—those goals.
For CHHSM ministries, it was an opportunity to work with the UCC in a powerful way. CHHSM members ministries, employees and residents alone donated more than 20,000 items of food, plus more than $39,000 to hunger-related ministries.
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“There was a sense of a compelling need,” says Chris Ragon, director of communications at California-based CHHSM member Retirement Housing Foundation (RHF).
A total of 72 RHF communities across the U.S. donated 13,413 food items. Many gave far beyond their means.
“It was one of those situations where those who have the least gave the most,” Ragon says.
That was definitely the case at Capital Court in Corydon, Ind., RHF’s largest collection site. Though the community is home to only 50 residents, it was able to collect more than 600 items by working with the local newspaper and community.
According to Ragon, Capital Court’s success came from a willingness to open up and join forces with people outside its own walls.
“Many of our communities used this opportunity to reach out to local UCC churches and develop a stronger relationship there,” Ragon says. “We encourage our communities to be resources for their cities, to model social accountability.”
At Crossroad Child and Family Services of Fort Wayne, Ind., Chief Development Officer Kyle Zanker agrees that Mission: 1 helped UCC members find unity.
“It’s really amazing to me that in 11 days, people from all over the place were working together on a solution, and we passed many of our goals,” says Zanker. “It’s neat to be a part of something much bigger than ourselves. A lot of my friends are UCC members from across the world, and there was this common thing happening that we were all excited about and learning from at the same time.”
Crossroad collected close to 200 food items and several letters during its Mission: 1 drive. The organization also connected several children who were eager to help with a local church. Together, they packaged more than 32,000 meals to help those affected by East African drought.
In total, the Mission: 1 church-wide initiative collected more than 1,450,000 items of food, wrote more than 37,000 letters to Congress, gave more than $120,000 to Neighbors in Need’s hunger-related ministries, and donated more than $116,000 to East African famine relief.
The Rev. Geoffrey A. Black, general minister and president of the UCC, says that he is very pleased with the results.
“CHHSM made an impressive effort to join us in combating the massive problem of hunger that we’re facing as a church,” Black says. “I’m thankful for its help in attaining all of our goals and its willingness to join us in facing these problems as a unified body of Christ.”
Watch the Mission: 1 service of blessing and celebration at Old South Church in Boston.
