United Thank Offering
Sunday, November 13-- at all four services
The annual fall United Thank Offering Ingathering is Sunday, November 13. Twice a year, the Missions Committee sponsors an ingathering for the UTO, an official organization of the Episcopal Church, which addresses compelling human need through grants to projects that alleviate poverty, both domestically and internationally, within the Anglican provinces, dioceses, and companion dioceses.
The purpose of the UTO is to make grants which support others and to foster a spirit of generosity in the giver. Blue UTO boxes, which are available in Shears Hall, are designed to be placed at home ready to receive coins at moments of gratitude during the day. This act of generosity is meant to be a reminder that small and apparently insignificant moments in life actually form the basis for nurturing the spirit with a conscious expression of appreciation.
In 2011, the Diocese of Virginia submitted two grant applications to the UTO board and both were funded. A grant of $10,000 was made to the Anna Julia Cooper Episocpal School in Richmond (a school for students of families of limited resources) to help with the purchase of a new van; and an overseas grant of $43,791.78 will be used to build a surgical/delivery building for the St. James Anglican Women and Children’s Hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. (See the Tanzania Mission Trip article at the top of this page.)
Blue UTO envelopes are enclosed in this Parish Report and will be available in the pews on Sunday, November 13.
St. John’s Church has been a leader in giving over the years, and parishioner Martha High has been the President of the national UTO in the past.
