Partner Churches Benefit from December Shared Offering

The Mission and Objectives of the Partner Church Committee are to develop long term mutually supportive relationships with our fellow Unitarians in Transylvania, Romania and in the Khasi Hills of India. To this end we promote an exchange of people and ideas, provide funds and other forms of assistance to help our Partner Churches in Szekelykal (Transylvania) and Nongtalang (Khasi Hills, India) and their communities to improve the quality of life for all the inhabitants and to foster economic development through enhanced educational opportunities. Our two Partner Churches are quite different, although they share an economy based on farming. In Szekelykal, its mixed agriculture, while in Nongtalang the primary crop is beetle nut. In Szekelykal, the Church building dates from before the Reformation during which the Church became Unitarian. The Church in the Khasi Hills has been finished and is a small concrete building. Paved roads are the connections between urban areas and villages. The roads in the villages themselves are dirt roads. Szekelykal has heated homes and electricity, but in the Khasi Hills, the level of income is frequently below the global poverty level of a dollar a day, but they do have electricity. Seventy seven percent of young children in the State of Meghalaya (where Nongtalang is located) drop out of school before grade ten due to poverty. The needs of both congregations are sizeable. Education and basic necessities are high on the list of ways the Committee hopes to support the growth and stability of both our Partner Churches. There are current photos from both Churches on the Bulletin Board in the Fellowship Hall. In the south entrance hall (by the parking lot door) are hanging several gifts from our friends in Szekelykal. If you wish to help support this ongoing effort to benefit those churches, please note that collections throughout the month of December are designated to that end. You may either write a check made out to the UU Church, with a note in the memo line that your donation is to go to Partner Churches, or you may use a red marked envelope. These funds will go directly to the Partner Churches. In addition to those funds, 50% of the undesignated cash collection will go to the Partner Churches.