Heritage UU Church is part of a team that works together to support Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN) five weeks out of every year. The mission of IHN of Greater Cincinnati is to provide homeless families with emergency shelter and hospitality through interfaith communities, and to work with families so that they can find and retain stable housing.

Our next commitment as Heritage Church is December 22nd. Due to the pandemic, each family currently participating in IHN is being housed in a hotel suite in order to ensure they have their own restroom and food preparation area. This was done to minimize exposure to the virus.

Instead of our physical presence on the 22nd, IHN has requested that we assist with the cost of the hotel or provide gift cards.

If you are blessed with a surplus and are able to contribute, monetary donations can be made by mail to IHN, 990 Nassau Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45206. You can also make a donation online at www.ihncincinnati.org.

For any questions about Heritage Church involvement, please contact Rae Jane Araujo at:

December 2020.

Tuesday, January 19, 2021, 7:00 p.m. Via Zoom.

Whether nor not you have attended a Social Justice Collaborative meeting before, we invite all Heritage members and friends to our next meeting. When the collaborative meets, we are supporting each other in the realization of the Sixth Unitarian Universalist Principle, “The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all.”

Meeting topics include:

• Structural, Governmental Change,
• Racial Justice,
• Housing Security and Homelessness,
• Food Security,
• Economic Justice,
• Indigenous Peoples,
• LGBT Concerns,
• Environmental Justice,
• Gun Reform, and
• Other areas brought up during the meeting.

This Zoom-based meeting will give us a chance to share, learn and grow. The Zoom meeting link will appear on the Heritage Church homepage by the time of the meeting on Tuesday, January 19, 2021, at 7:00 p.m.

If you have questions, please send email to:

Posted 11/17/2020.

In the United States, over one-third of all available food goes uneaten through loss or waste. Worldwide loss is about 40%. When food is tossed aside, so too are opportunities for improved food security, economic growth, and environmental prosperity. Our partnership with La Soupe helps to address this systemic problem. New estimates from Penn State University suggest that an average household wastes about $1,900 per year—translating to $240 billion in wasted food nationally.

We are deeply grateful to partner with La Soupe, which is now located in Walnut Hills. In the past, items from La Soupe have included: lettuce, bananas, apples, broccoli, cabbage, leeks, limes, “lunchables,” cottage cheese, lunch meat, semi-prepared meal kits, potato salad, fruit trays, vegetable trays, sandwiches, chocolate milk, yogurt, onions, potatoes, squash, eggplant, avocado toast kits, breads, donuts, cakes, whole cooked turkeys, shredded carrots, rainbow carrots, celery, eggs, cheese, cookies, pears, brussel sprouts, zucchini, kale, beans and more. The day and time vary according to La Soupe’s schedule. The items depend on what foods La Soupe has rescued from places like Kroger’s, Gordon Food Service, Trader Joe’s, Pop’s Donut Shop, Bread Smith, Servati’s, LaRosa’s, Jungle Jim’s etc.

This year Heritage Healthy Cooking Classes has had 22 food distributions that have served over 600 people! We have done this with very little cost and over 400 volunteer hours. Huge thanks to the drivers, gardeners, packers, delivery and clean up teams! This was an experimental year for the raised beds behind the church. They actually produced a fair amount of produce. We plan to improve the beds next year.

We delivered an oversized, heartfelt thank you card to La Soupe during our last pick-up. They are deeply touched by our gratitude. The next food distribution will be the week of November 30th. Watch for specific details.

Click here to support the mission and work of La Soupe: https://lasoupe.org/donate

If you have questions or want to help with the Heritage Healthy Cooking Classes food distribution, please contact Tracy Jo at:

 

 

 

 

11/17/2020.

Did you know that Heritage Church has an account with Kiva.org? Kiva is an organization that uses crowdfunding to make loans to remove barriers to financial access around the world. They currently work in 77 countries and provide loans that support a variety of needs including small businesses, education, home improvement, healthcare, the arts, and agriculture.

Utilizing an outreach offering in May of 2017, Heritage opened a Kiva account with $604 and made four loans. Loan recipients were chosen with the help of Heritage youth. As those loans were paid back, new ones were made. Since 2017 Heritage Church has made 23 loans to 16 countries totaling $1575.

Loans must be at least $25 and we will soon have enough money in our account to make a new loan. If you have a young person in your home who would like to help choose the next recipient, send a message to

Heritage Church members support the Inter Parish Ministry food pantries with outreach offerings, food donations, and volunteer help. The following comes from an article in Inter Parish Ministry’s May newsletter:

During the COVID-19 pandemic, as businesses have closed in response to the Stay-At- Home order in Ohio, IPM has seen a dramatic increase in the needs of our local community.

In fact, the number of families IPM Food Pantry is serving each week for food is nearly double the number this time last year.

To support public health and safety, IPM set up a drive -through pantry where families receive a box of food prepared by the Army National Guard, as well as other pantry staples, meat, milk and produce when available

In addition, IPM is serving as a food resource hub for many local schools and nonprofit agencies, providing over 200 emergency meal kits to families in need.

IPM has also supplied more than 3500 Power Packs to students throughout IPM’s service area with the help of community partnerships.

---

For more on IPM, visit the IPM website.

If you have questions on Heritage Church’s involvement in IPM, talk with Bob Drake, Kay Inskeep, or Mike Roberts, or send an email to them at:

May 5, 2020.

Covid-19 has changed lots of things, including how Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN) feeds, shelters, and shows love to homeless families. Here are the important things to know.

IHN programming falls under essential services as outlined in section 8 of Governor Mike DeWine’s Stay-at-Home Order. Staff and volunteers can travel for these purposes, but such travel should be reduced and limited as much as possible, especially for volunteers.

Under current emergency Board of Health orders, it is not permitted to have the homeless receive shelter for a week in church buildings. Families in emergency shelter are now in a hotel so that they have access to their own kitchen and bathroom spaces. This also allows for social distancing from volunteers, staff, and other families. Families are still served by their case managers, often by phone and email.

IHN will still rely on persons and congregations to provide food, but this will be handled differently. More information will be provided later. What is known now is that, to limit food handling and number of drop offs, IHN will be asking for donations of pre-packaged breakfast, lunch, and snack supplies only. Possibilities include Lunchables, or packages of luncheon meats and loaves of bread that a whole family can use to make sandwiches, rather than the volunteers making the sandwiches themselves. Items that can microwaved are also especially helpful (mac and cheese cups, soup cups, etc.).

Here are some things you can do now to help:

(1) Donate Kroger gift cards to help provide for families. Luckily, there is a Kroger within walking distance of the hotel.  The large ask, what we need each of you to do, is to donate some amount on a Kroger gift card for IHN.  This can be ordered online to be shipped directly to IHN ( 990 Nassau Ave – 45206), to minimize contact.  Increments of $10 are preferred, not to exceed $50. 

(2) Make a contribution to IHN by visiting: www.ihncincinnati.org/take-action/give

(3) Donate items to make kid/adult activity packs for families. Anything that can entertain a family that is isolated would be helpful. These can include puzzles and board games. Please provide new, unopened items only.

Donations can also be mailed to:

Interfaith Hospitality Network
990 Nassau Street
Cincinnati, OH 45206.

Thanks so much for continuing to work together, even as we remain apart.

If you have questions, please email Rae Jane Araujo at:

March 25, 2020.

You can help address the critical shortage of medical masks by making them at home! Several members of Heritage UU Church are working with TRIHEALTH to create medical masks.

Patterns and tutorials are provided on the Facebook page Sew Masks 4 Cincy. Cloth is available for people who do not have stocks of cloth, and some people are lending sewing machines. You can even sew masks by hand if you like. At least weekly, the administrators of the page arrange for a delivery drop that has no social contact. People with all skill levels can help. If you want to help out, go to Sew Masks 4 Cincy.

If you have questions, please contact Jen James at:

A recent cleaning and organization of our kitchen revealed an abundance of disposable plates, cups, cutlery, napkins, and over 2000 (yes, 2,000) plastic gloves! The greenest thing we can do is to use up the disposables that we already have in the kitchen.

As a Certified Green Congregation, we committed to using reusable plates, cups, etc. PLEASE DO NOT BRING ANY DISPOSABLE KITCHEN ITEMS INTO HERITAGE UU CHURCH.

That includes not bringing any plastic water bottles or, especially, Styrofoam cups.

Plastic is killing more than 1.1 million seabirds and animals every year.

The average person eats 70,000 microplastics each year.

Plastic chemicals are absorbed by the body—93 percent of Americans age six or older test positive for BPA (a plastic chemical), which is linked to fertility problems, male impotence, heart disease, and may cause cancer.

Please read the sign in the kitchen regarding recycling. The chart clearly shows what you can recycle in our area.

Also, another housekeeping item: Do NOT use sand for holding candles, etc., in carpeted areas. The sand spills and is then ground into the carpeting, causing premature wear.

Sincerely,
The Tuesday Morning Green Cleaning Team

Questions? Talk with anyone on the cleaning team, or send email to:

---

Editor’s Note: The chalice water bottle pictured is available at InSpirit, the UUA Book and Gift Shop.

Our 7th UU Principle reminds us to Respect the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. And our 6th Source invites us to celebrate the sacred circle of life and instructs us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature. One way to do that is to continue to be mindful of what and how to recycle at Heritage and at home. Heritage uses Rumpke Recycling Service. Here are the items that they accept:

WHAT YOU CAN RECYCLE

Accept: Paper

 

Accept: Plastic Bottles and Jugs

Accept: Cartons

Accept: Metals

Accept: Glass Bottles and Jars

UNACCEPTABLE MATERIALS

Would you like a handy flyer of this information that you can print out and put up on your refrigerator or elsewhere? Click here to get What You Can Recycle.

If you have any questions, please speak with Tracy Jo Small.

March 2019.