Community Outreach Ministry
Living at the Intersection of Faith and Justice
If you've been looking for a way to stay connected to others in the congregation and to be involved in the larger community in these challenging times, Unity's Community Outreach Ministry Teams can be a good place to start. Whether you're interested in volunteering, organizing and advocacy, or learning, these teams offer many different opportunities.
Each team has a focus (sustainability, racial justice, affordable housing, etc.) and partners with one or more organization in the community to engage education, service, and advocacy within the context of our spiritual development and lives. For more information or to volunteer with any team or project, please contact the people listed at the end of each description or Rev. Karen Hering at 651-228-1456 x109 or [email protected].
Act for the Earth
The Sustainable Living Team promotes Unity Church’s environmental efforts. They oversee Unity’s transformation into a green institution and lead the congregation in advocacy on climate change issues facing our world. They partner with Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light
Contact: Anna Newton at [email protected] or Nicole Lynskey at [email protected].
Affordable Housing Ministry Team
This team is committed to public policy advocacy that will lead to systemic affordable housing change by partnering with other congregations through the Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative. The team sponsors direct service opportunities through Habitat for Humanity and Project Home and offers congregational forums on issues of homelessness and affordable housing. Contact: Rev. Karen Hering at 651-228-1456 x109 or [email protected]
Project Home: “I was hungry and you fed me…” During the month of May, Unity Church becomes ‘home’ each night for homeless families in Ramsey County. Project Home is coordinated by Interfaith Action of Greater St. Paul to provide overflow shelter for homeless families when the beds at the Ramsey County Family Service Center in Maplewood are filled to capacity. Over 100 Unity volunteers are needed to participate in this ministry of hospitality, helping to provide a safe place and comfort to homeless families with children during their stay at Unity Church. Contact: [email protected].
Evergreen Projects Ministry Team
The Evergreen Projects at Unity Church hold monthly food drives for the Hallie Q Brown Foodshelf and support the Jeremiah Program that has a St. Paul community residential campus for low-income single mothers and their children. The Evergreen Quilters Group provides “joyful fundraising” for the team projects through the making and selling of handmade quilts. Evergreen Quilters invite all quilting skill levels to their ministry and are will to help teach new quilters.
Contact: Karen Buggs at 651-297-0111 or [email protected]
Generosity Ministry Team
This team facilitates the giving of the weekly Sunday Offering to non-profit organizations working for the greater wellbeing of our communities. Congregational input forms the core of this giving process (the online nomination form can be found at: http://www.unityunitarian.org/generosity-ministry.html.) Church members are encouraged to recommend potential recipients – a typical offering about is between $1500-$2500 for the organization receiving it. The Generosity Ministry Team meets monthly to review and recommend recipients to the Unity Church Executive Team for approval.
Contact: Richard Buggs at 651-222-7222
Gun Sense Ministry Team
The purpose of this ministry is to empower Unity Church and its membership to be active citizens in this process of dialogue and creation of policy. Unity's Gun Sense Ministry Team partners with Protect Minnesota, the only independent state-focused organization working for reasonable gun safety policy solutions in Minnesota. The team urges members to look at their website and to join the organization.
Contact Sandy Lucas at [email protected] or Jo Lucas at [email protected].
Emerging Indigenous Justice Team
This fall, in worship, programming, and Sacred Sites Tours, Unity Church has sought to better understand the history experienced by indigenous people in Minnesota and how it lives on in the present day. We have been called into a “season of lament” over the deep suffering in those stories. If you are interested in joining the continuing conversation about how we stay present to this lament while deepening our congregational commitment to Indigenous justice and reparations, contact Karen Hering at [email protected].
Mano a Mano Team (Spanish for “Hand to Hand”) Ministry Team
This ministry team supports the work of Mano a Mano International Partners, a non-profit organization founded in 1994 by Segundo and Joan Velasquez, long-time members of Unity Church. It is dedicated to building infrastructure for health care, education, transportation and economic development in rural Bolivia. Mano a Mano works in bilateral partnership with three Bolivian counterpart organizations: Mano a Mano-Bolivia with its focus on health and education; Mano a Mano Nuevo Mundo which builds roads and water projects; and Apoyo Aereo, providing air transport and air rescue to remote areas. The program also obtains donations of surplus medical equipment and supplies, destined to be discarded here, and transports them to 100 facilities in Bolivia where local communities manage the clinics and health care needs.
Contact: Ann Mabbott at [email protected].
Obama School Ministry Team
Unity Church partners with the Barack & Michelle Obama Elementary School in a variety of ways. The team recruits and provides tutors, library volunteers, teacher appreciation events, art support, and more. The team also organizes the Friends of Obama School Cub Foods gift card program.
Contact Marty Rossman at [email protected]
Partner Church Ministry Team
The intent of the Partner Church Team is to develop a mutually rewarding relationship between the Unity Church community and that of our sister church in Homorodszentpeter, Transylvania, in Romania. The area of Romania, which contains our sister church, is the birthplace of Unitarianism in Europe. This partnership was begun in 1990 after the fall of the Communist regime made such associations possible. Since then over 100 individuals from Unity Church have visited the village and many have hosted visitors from the village. Pilgrimage trips from Unity Church have included visits to historical sites relevant to Unitarianism.
Contact: Hal Freshley at 651-778-8765 or [email protected]
Racial and Restorative Justice Ministry Team
Unity's Racial and Restorative Justice Team advocates for justice and so help heal the world. The team acknowledges the importance of every voice to restorative and racial justice, in interracial healing, and in building Beloved Community. Community Partners include Amicus (now part of Volunteers of America), the Rondo Circle of Peace Movement, the Second Chance Coalition and the Children’s Defense Fund Summer Freedom School.
Contact: Rev. Karen Hering at 651-228-1456 x109 or [email protected]
If you've been looking for a way to stay connected to others in the congregation and to be involved in the larger community in these challenging times, Unity's Community Outreach Ministry Teams can be a good place to start. Whether you're interested in volunteering, organizing and advocacy, or learning, these teams offer many different opportunities.
Each team has a focus (sustainability, racial justice, affordable housing, etc.) and partners with one or more organization in the community to engage education, service, and advocacy within the context of our spiritual development and lives. For more information or to volunteer with any team or project, please contact the people listed at the end of each description or Rev. Karen Hering at 651-228-1456 x109 or [email protected].
Act for the Earth
The Sustainable Living Team promotes Unity Church’s environmental efforts. They oversee Unity’s transformation into a green institution and lead the congregation in advocacy on climate change issues facing our world. They partner with Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light
Contact: Anna Newton at [email protected] or Nicole Lynskey at [email protected].
Affordable Housing Ministry Team
This team is committed to public policy advocacy that will lead to systemic affordable housing change by partnering with other congregations through the Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative. The team sponsors direct service opportunities through Habitat for Humanity and Project Home and offers congregational forums on issues of homelessness and affordable housing. Contact: Rev. Karen Hering at 651-228-1456 x109 or [email protected]
Project Home: “I was hungry and you fed me…” During the month of May, Unity Church becomes ‘home’ each night for homeless families in Ramsey County. Project Home is coordinated by Interfaith Action of Greater St. Paul to provide overflow shelter for homeless families when the beds at the Ramsey County Family Service Center in Maplewood are filled to capacity. Over 100 Unity volunteers are needed to participate in this ministry of hospitality, helping to provide a safe place and comfort to homeless families with children during their stay at Unity Church. Contact: [email protected].
Evergreen Projects Ministry Team
The Evergreen Projects at Unity Church hold monthly food drives for the Hallie Q Brown Foodshelf and support the Jeremiah Program that has a St. Paul community residential campus for low-income single mothers and their children. The Evergreen Quilters Group provides “joyful fundraising” for the team projects through the making and selling of handmade quilts. Evergreen Quilters invite all quilting skill levels to their ministry and are will to help teach new quilters.
Contact: Karen Buggs at 651-297-0111 or [email protected]
Generosity Ministry Team
This team facilitates the giving of the weekly Sunday Offering to non-profit organizations working for the greater wellbeing of our communities. Congregational input forms the core of this giving process (the online nomination form can be found at: http://www.unityunitarian.org/generosity-ministry.html.) Church members are encouraged to recommend potential recipients – a typical offering about is between $1500-$2500 for the organization receiving it. The Generosity Ministry Team meets monthly to review and recommend recipients to the Unity Church Executive Team for approval.
Contact: Richard Buggs at 651-222-7222
Gun Sense Ministry Team
The purpose of this ministry is to empower Unity Church and its membership to be active citizens in this process of dialogue and creation of policy. Unity's Gun Sense Ministry Team partners with Protect Minnesota, the only independent state-focused organization working for reasonable gun safety policy solutions in Minnesota. The team urges members to look at their website and to join the organization.
Contact Sandy Lucas at [email protected] or Jo Lucas at [email protected].
Emerging Indigenous Justice Team
This fall, in worship, programming, and Sacred Sites Tours, Unity Church has sought to better understand the history experienced by indigenous people in Minnesota and how it lives on in the present day. We have been called into a “season of lament” over the deep suffering in those stories. If you are interested in joining the continuing conversation about how we stay present to this lament while deepening our congregational commitment to Indigenous justice and reparations, contact Karen Hering at [email protected].
Mano a Mano Team (Spanish for “Hand to Hand”) Ministry Team
This ministry team supports the work of Mano a Mano International Partners, a non-profit organization founded in 1994 by Segundo and Joan Velasquez, long-time members of Unity Church. It is dedicated to building infrastructure for health care, education, transportation and economic development in rural Bolivia. Mano a Mano works in bilateral partnership with three Bolivian counterpart organizations: Mano a Mano-Bolivia with its focus on health and education; Mano a Mano Nuevo Mundo which builds roads and water projects; and Apoyo Aereo, providing air transport and air rescue to remote areas. The program also obtains donations of surplus medical equipment and supplies, destined to be discarded here, and transports them to 100 facilities in Bolivia where local communities manage the clinics and health care needs.
Contact: Ann Mabbott at [email protected].
Obama School Ministry Team
Unity Church partners with the Barack & Michelle Obama Elementary School in a variety of ways. The team recruits and provides tutors, library volunteers, teacher appreciation events, art support, and more. The team also organizes the Friends of Obama School Cub Foods gift card program.
Contact Marty Rossman at [email protected]
Partner Church Ministry Team
The intent of the Partner Church Team is to develop a mutually rewarding relationship between the Unity Church community and that of our sister church in Homorodszentpeter, Transylvania, in Romania. The area of Romania, which contains our sister church, is the birthplace of Unitarianism in Europe. This partnership was begun in 1990 after the fall of the Communist regime made such associations possible. Since then over 100 individuals from Unity Church have visited the village and many have hosted visitors from the village. Pilgrimage trips from Unity Church have included visits to historical sites relevant to Unitarianism.
Contact: Hal Freshley at 651-778-8765 or [email protected]
Racial and Restorative Justice Ministry Team
Unity's Racial and Restorative Justice Team advocates for justice and so help heal the world. The team acknowledges the importance of every voice to restorative and racial justice, in interracial healing, and in building Beloved Community. Community Partners include Amicus (now part of Volunteers of America), the Rondo Circle of Peace Movement, the Second Chance Coalition and the Children’s Defense Fund Summer Freedom School.
Contact: Rev. Karen Hering at 651-228-1456 x109 or [email protected]