Outreach, Service & Advocacy at FCCB
First Congregational Church of Berkeley is engaged in many different forms of outreach to the wider community, including service projects, contributions, project funding, support for denominational initiatives, political action and advocacy. This page will list projects and events as they occur.
Easter Sunday Offering
March 23, 2008
This year’s Easter offering supported devopment work through El Puente de la Costa Sur in California and KUDO in northern Malawi. These organizatons benefit from our generosity and we benefit from the relationships established. Near Pescadero, the UCC maintains Puente, a community resource center for farm workers, providing health services, leadership development, community engagement and action. Nkhata Bay, a beautiful area with rich traditions though urgently needing economic development, is home to the Kunyanja Development Organization. KUDO has funded literacy and health programs, services for AIDS orphans, girls education, food raising and processing, job training, and water projects. You can still contribute by sending a check made out to “FCCB”. Write “Easter Offering” on the memo line.
Opera Concert Benefits Prisoner Programs
February 23, 2008
FCCB’s Criminal Justice Ministry Team presented The Opera House Meets the Big House, the second annual opera concert to benefit prison programs. All artists contributed their talents to the cause, and chose arias, duets and choruses from operas that include/portray prison, jail, or captivity as part of the story line. Singers from many Bay Area opera companies were featured. Merle Kessler of Duck’s Breath Mystery Theater served as emcee, and Larry Marrietta and John Walko accompanied the singers.
The concerts raised $1155 for two organizations, the Unrepresented Death Row Prison Project and the Life After Exoneration Program. Attendance and contributions doubled from last year’s concert. The word is that a CD of the February 23rd event will be available for a donation and that planning for next year’s event is already underway
The concert was organized by Dorothy Streutker who combines her skills as a lawyer and minister to serve those on Death Row. A talented singer and member of the FCCB Chancel Choir, she also performed in the concert.
Two Organizations to Receive Special Christmas Eve Offering
December 2, 2007
Each year the Ministry of Outreach, Mission and Service chooses a local and an international organization to receive the special offering taken at the two First Church Christmas Eve services. This year the Ministry has chosen The Suitcase Clinic at UC Berkeley, and Fonkoze, an alternative banking organization in Haiti.
The Suitcase Clinic is a student and volunteer run organization founded by students from the UCB-UCSF Joint Medical Program (JMP) and UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health out of a desire to address the unmet needs of the city of Berkeley’s homeless and low-income population. Structured around the principles of public health, social welfare, community activism and empathy, the Suitcase Clinic currently operates three weekly multi-service drop-in centers in the city Berkeley: the General Clinic, the Women’s Clinic and the Youth Clinic. In addition to providing services, the Suitcase Clinic strives to educate students, promote health care access, engage in community organization, and support public policy efforts that address homelessness and the needs of the underserved in the local community.
Fonkoze—Haiti’s Alternative Bank for the Organized Poor—is the largest micro-finance institution offering a full range of financial services to the rural-based poor in Haiti. It’s mission is to build the economic foundations for democracy in Haiti. Fonkoze’s services include: solidarity group and individual loans that are used to start or expand a small business; savings products geared towards meeting the needs of the poor; currency exchange services that allow Haitians to change US dollars into Haitian gourdes at a preferential rate; and literacy, business skills, and good health practices training.
If you will not be at either service and would like to make a contribution, please write a check to “FCCB” and mark it “Christmas Eve”. You can drop it off at the church or send it to 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley CA 94704.
Thanksgiving Bonanza!
November 18, 2007
The Kitchen Community Ministry Team announced that the First Church community had donated enough food and money to make up 35 Thanksgiving meal boxes and 35 turkeys which will be distributed by the Berkeley Food and Housing Project! The team coordinator, Judith Norberg, was impressed with the response that came in in just a couple of weeks time. YES (the junior high youth group) were very helpful in inventorying and organizing the boxes. Diane Brenum also helped with that task as did Stephanie Perez, a UC work-study student who is one of the front desk receptionists at the church, and volunteered some of her own time. The FCCB staff donated 8 boxes.
The Kitchen Community Ministry Team also prepared Thanksgiving dinner for the Youth Emergency Assistance Hostel (YEAH) the day before Thanksgiving. Find out more about the Kitchen Community Ministry Team.
Author Barbara Becnel Shares Stanley Tookie Williams’ Story
November 15, 2007
It has been almost two years since Stanley Tookie Williams was executed after being denied clemency by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the wake of his death, Stanley Tookie Williams’ memoir Blue Rage, Black Redemption, has been rereleased to shed additional light on Tookie’s personal and public fight for redemption. Barbara Becnel who helped Williams write his memoir, shared his story along with a panel that included a personal friend and former Crips gang member.
Part 1 of the book, entitled Blue Rage, chronicles Tookie’s gang life as a co-founder of the Crips. During this time he committed hundreds of crimes and was eventually charged with the murder of four people. In 1981, Tookie was convicted and sent to Death Row for twenty years. Throughout his time in prison, he maintained his innocence for the crimes for which he was convicted. The second part of the book, Black Redemption, looks at the work Tookie completed and legacy he crafted behind bars—his books, awards, anti-gang initiatives, and Nobel Prize nominations.
Youth Organize “Fifth Sunday” Collection for Berkeley Food and Housing Project
September 30, 2007
Every time a “5th Sunday” occurs in a month, a special offering is taken during worship. For September 30, the 6th-8th grade Sunday School class encouraged us to collect items for the Berkeley Food and Housing Project (BFHP). To help ease and end the crisis of homelessness in our community, the BFHP provides emergency food and shelter, transitional housing and assistance, and long-term placement with support services to homeless individuals and families. During the offering that morning, the youth brought forward several baskets brimming with all sorts of items that will be helpful to the people served by BFHP.
Tomasiello Shares South Africa Stories
September 16, 2007
Paul Tomasiello shared his stories and slides from his recent trip to South Africa during Second Hour on Sunday, September 16. On behalf of the South Africa Ministry Team, Paul presented a check for $2700 to Queen Monamudi (shown at the right), a college student and former “ground-BREAKER” at loveLife, a nationwide HIV/AIDS prevention campaign. While there, Paul journeyed to her family’s home an hour outside Johannesburg, visited her college, shared an African meal and attended a local church with her. We are excited about making this meaningful connection in another part of the world.
Beyond Prisons Book Discussion
August 5, 2007
Dorothy Streutker led two Second Hour book discussions on Beyond Prisons: A New Interfaith Paradigm for Our Failed Prison Systems on August 5 and 12 in the Small Assembly after worship.
Beyond Prisons is a strong indictment of the current prison system, undertaken by two respected experts on behalf of the American Friends Service Committee: Laura Magnani, Assistant Regional Director for Justice of the American Friends Service Committee (Pacific Mountain Region), and Harmon L. Wray, Director of the Vanderbilt Program in Faith and Criminal Justice. The book traces the history and features of our penal system, offers strong ethical and moral assessments of it, and lays out a whole new paradigm of criminal justice based on restorative justice and reconciliation.
Beyond Prisons opens a long-needed national dialogue on our responsibilities as citizens and as a nation to provide remediation rather than mere retributive incarceration, answerable to the common good and the justice of God. The book study is sponsored by the Criminal Justice Ministry Team.
5th Sunday Donations Benefit Alameda County Food Bank
July 29, 2007
On Sunday, July 29, FCCB members brought food donations for the Alameda County Community Food Bank. The Ministry of Outreach, Mission and Service organizes these opportunities to contribute on each 5th Sunday during the year. The Food Bank has been serving the community since 1985 and provides food assistance for 40,000 low-income Alameda County residents each week, including 14,000 children and 7,000 seniors. Most adults served are among the working poor.
FCCB Members “Boogey to Church” to Save the Planet
July 15, 2007
Spurred by the Climate Action Ministry Team, many FCCB members left their cars at home and found other ways to get to church on Sunday, July 15. Some took public transportation, some walked or rode bikes and others carpooled to cut down on vehicle use. It was estimated that 30 or 40 cars got a “day of rest” as a result.
Climate Action Ministry Team member Michele McGeoy created tags that were worn by those who took alternative transportation. FCCB members are encouraged to make this a habit as they travel to church and other locations!
Farmers’ Market Donates to Food Pantry
July 1, 2007
The FCCB Farmers’ Market Table recently donated $2,135.52 to the Berkeley Food Pantry. Thanks to the volunteers and supporters of this ministry. Each week, church members bring food and flowers from their gardens that are then sold to other church members during the fellowship time after church. Local bakeries and Starbucks also donate pastries, which volunteers faithfully pick up each week and bring to church. All of the proceeds go to the Berkeley Food Panty. Bring in your extra bounty from your garden to support those who may be hungry!
FCCB Author Investigates War Contractors
June 20, 2007
In Betraying Our Troops, FCCB member Dina Rasor and her colleague Robert Bauman disclose the ways in which private contractors have achieved previously unheard of income levels while threatening the welfare of countless American soldiers. Using the experiences of individual troops and contractor employees, the book details the shameful war profiteering of well-known companies and brings the reader to understand the real dangers this has posed to the effectiveness of our fighting forces. Rasor and Bauman spoke at FCCB on Wednesday, June 20.
TEARS Ministry Team to Show Abu Ghraib Film
June 16, 2007
The TEARS Ministry Team which is working to stop the use of torture, sponsored a showing of the film “Ghosts of Abu Graib”, an HBO documentary dealing with the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. This showing was part of a nationwide effort of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) to share copies of the film with 1000 congregations across the country.
Read more on the TEARS Ministry Team News Page.
Ebelio Continues FCCB Connection with New Orleans
May 30, 2007
Ebelio Mondragon has returned to the Gulf Region as part of a work team organized by The Magnolia Project, a group of students from UC Berkeley who are concerned about the Gulf Region. Ebelio went on the last FCCB work team in March of this year. He is having interesting experiences connecting with some of the agencies and organizations that are emerging to help Katrina victims. You can read his reflections on the FCCB Katrina Blog.
ONA Network Hosts LGBT National Leader
May 21, 2007
The Rev. Ruth Garwood, national coordinator of the UCC Coalition for LGBT Concerns, was hosted at FCCB by the ONA Network. Ruth and the Coalition are leading the effort to expand the number of open-and-affirming congregations within the UCC denomination and filled us in on other aspects of her ministry of inclusion. She also met with the FCCB staff and attended the Northern California Nevada Conference (UCC) Annual Meeting at Asilomar. The Coalition is one of the program agencies that have been supported by grants from the Outreach, Mission and Service Ministry at First Church.
5th Sunday Offering for Network Ministries in the SF Tenderloin
April 29, 2007
Network Ministries serves the San Francisco Tenderloin neighborhood with a variety of projects. For April’s Fifth Sunday offering, FCCB members brought a variety of supplies requested by the Ministry’s Executive Director Rev. Glenda Hope. Hope had visited FCCB during Lent when our theme was “Filled With Compassion” to share stories about the people who live in that area. She has been working in the Tenderloin for many years and has been a consistant advocate for the people in that area.
Find out more about Network Ministries and the Rev. Glenda Hope
When there are five Sundays in a month, the Ministry of Outreach, Mission and Service organizes donations for various agencies in the Bay Area that are brought to worship on that morning. The gifts are brought to the communion table as part of our morning offering.
New South Africa Ministry Team to Support Young Student
April 29, 2007
David Harris’ visit to FCCB in March has sparked the beginning of a ministry team dedicated to finding ways to help South Africans further their own effort for positive social change. A group has begun that effort by agreeing to support a young woman named Queen Manamudi. Despite a daily struggle for food and other basic needs, Queen is becoming a leader in her community. Queen has been accepted to a 4-year program that includes community service. She needs $2000 for her first year. The new members of South Africa Voices for Empowerment (SAVE) will meet May 7 from 6 to7 pm in the Balcony Room. If you would like to contribute to Queen as well as support South Africa in other ways, please join us. Checks may be made out to “FCCB/Queen” and sent to the church office.
First Church Staff and Members Join CROP Walk
April 22, 2007
On April 22, members and staff of FCCB walked around Lake Merritt to raise money to fight hunger as part of the Church World Service CROP Walk. Marijke Fakasiieiki, the Assistant Regional Director for Church World Service/CROP–Northern California, has her office at FCCB and is a member of our congregation.
Rebuilding Together
April 21 & 28, 2007
A group of FCCB members gathered over two weekends to do repairs on a home in Berkeley as part of the Rebuilding Together program. This national agency pair up work teams with homeowners who may not be able to afford necessary home repairs. FCCB has been involved in this program, which used to be called “Christmas in April”, for several years.
80 Gather at Climate Action Rally!
April 14, 2007
(Click on the photo to see a larger version). 80 people from age 8 to 80 braved the rain to attend FCCB’s Step It Up 2007 rally at the busiest intersection in Emeryville—a spot that will be under 5 feet of water without dramatic action to reduce carbon emissions. The large number of people who attended enabled us to cover 3 corners of the intersection. It was an amazing, completely grassroots effort—complete with spontaneous cheers (“carbon, carbon everywhere; come on, Congress, don’t you care?”) and constant honks of support. Read more about this inspiring event.
See photos of other Step It Up events all over the country!
South African AIDS Activist Speaks at FCCB
April 14, 2007
David Harrison, CEO of loveLife, a South African AIDS organization targeting youth and young adults, preached at FCCB on Sunday, March 18. David, who attended FCCB several years ago while he was getting a degree in Public Policy, used the story of the Prodigal Son as a jumping off place to talk about how we practice compassion, especially in the face of serious social problems. He was inspiring and informative, and his “Second Hour” presentation was a compelling demonstration of how an organization can deal with both the personal and systemic issues surrounding difficult issues like the spread of AIDS.
The loveLife approach involves a compelling publicity campaign and outreach in many forms all over South Africa. It approaches the problem not only by providing prevention information but also by giving young people a new sense of confidence and self-esteem and hope for their futures that will empower them to make good decisions.
Listen to David Harrison’s sermon on compassion here.
Find out more about loveLife at their website www.lovelife.org.za.
Members of the First Church community are also actively involved in many sorts of witness and social action. A group gathered after church on March 18, 2007, to go to a rally in San Francisco protesting the war in Iraq. Although we never presume as individuals or groups to speak for the entire congregation, we do strongly support the expression of opinions, ideas, and values, and the necessity to take action.
First Church Dedicates Peace Pole
December 3, 2006
On Sunday morning, Dec. 3, about 60 people gathered before worship to dedicate First Church’s new Peace Pole, which has the phrase “May Peace Prevail on Earth” in eight different languages. The pole was installed on the front lawn of the church. Songs were sung and rose petals were strewn around the pole.