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Sample Announcements
“For four consecutive weeks, I shared one story of hope; reminding the congregation of the UUSC’s mission and efforts. Highlighting one story worked well to remind everyone about the GAYT boxes that were taken home.”
—Alicia White
UU Fellowship of Jefferson City. Jefferson City, Mo.
Guest at Your Table 2011-2012
Promote Guest at Your Table in your congregation
Publicizing Guest at Your Table and sharing information about your congregation's participation throughout the program helps create a successful program. Use these samples for spoken announcements, print and electronic newsletters, websites, and e-mails as a way to promote and celebrate your congregation's Guest at Your Table participation.
» Download these samples in PDF format
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» Samples to use before your program begins
» Samples to use during
your program
» Samples to use after the close of your program
Samples to use before your program begins
Sample A
It's time to welcome a Guest at Your Table!
On [date], we'll open our Guest at Your Table program with an intergenerational worship. When we bring home our Guest at Your Table boxes and place them prominently where we regularly gather, our families and friends have the chance to learn about real people who are succeeding in their struggles for justice with UUSC.
Stories of Hope will help children, youth, and adults learn more about how UUSC partners with human-rights leaders in the United States and around the world to advance our common goals for justice. The stories introduce youth and young-adult leaders such as Dalia Ziada, who started speaking out by winning an essay contest and now helps others in Egypt find their voice and advocate for their rights. One story highlights Patrick Lafontant, who survived on his own in Haiti but then thrived when he found a purpose helping others through art therapy. His leadership grew with a new purpose after the earthquake and by working with UUSC partner the Association for the Promotion of Integral Family Healthcare.
Consider making it part of a weekly practice, perhaps while gathered at the dinner table, to read through one of the stories and discuss its meaning and how we each can help. When we share our blessings with our "guests," we ensure that UUSC and people like Dalia and Patrick can continue their important work.
And, thanks to the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock in Manhasset, N.Y., gifts of $100 or more are eligible to be matched, dollar for dollar, doubling the impact of your support!
If you miss picking up your Guest at Your Table donation box or envelope, and Stories of Hope book, you can do so at [place] or by talking with [name], our UUSC local representative.
Sample B
Welcoming a Guest at Your Table
Each year at this time, friends and families in our congregation participate in Guest at Your Table — a UU tradition for decades. By bringing home a beautiful Guest at Your Table box and a Stories of Hope booklet, families and individuals learn about how the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee puts our shared values into action in the United States and around the world. Through a potent combination of advocacy, education, and partnerships with grassroots human-rights leaders, UUSC promotes economic rights, advances environmental justice, defends civil liberties, and preserves the rights of people in times of humanitarian crisis.
Through the Stories of Hope booklet, we connect with people throughout the world who have shared their personal struggles and are working hard for human rights in partnership with UUSC. In each household, the Guest at Your Table box is placed in a prominent spot, often at the family dinner table. When family and friends gather to enjoy their blessings, they can reflect on the contributions of their "guests" to the movement for universal human rights — and share generously. Each week, we can choose a different story to read, bringing our guests to life and helping celebrate our own rights.
Sharing our blessings through Guest at Your Table ensures that UUSC's human-rights work continues. Please consider making a contribution that meets membership levels. Since UUSC is an independent organization that receives no funding from government or the UUA, your support and membership are vitally important.
If you would prefer not to bring home a box, you can take a donation envelope or support UUSC directly online at uusc.org/givetoguest. We will open our Guest at Your Table program with an intergenerational worship celebration on [date].
Samples to use during your program
Sample A
Celebrate the Guest at Your Table!
Our Guest at Your Table program is going strong! So many families and friends have brought human rights home and welcomed our "guests" into their lives. Thanks to your support, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee is working throughout the United States and around the world to advance human rights.
Your beautiful Guest at Your Table box and Stories of Hope booklet introduce you to people whose efforts in partnership with UUSC have helped change people's lives. Each week, with family and friends, we can focus on a different story of hope as we sit down to meals together and consider our many blessings.
This week*, meet Dalia Ziada, who is shattering barriers to empower a generation of Egyptians who are experiencing democracy for the first time. Dalia started as a youth organizer by winning an essay contest and now helps other youth find their voice and advocate for their rights. Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr., Dalia worked with UUSC to translate a comic book about the Montgomery bus boycott into Arabic. She handed out the comic and also trained youth activists about nonviolent protest leading up to the democratic revolution, and today helps educate about voter rights and encouraging civic participation. You can learn more about UUSC's work to defend civil liberties at home and abroad online at uusc.org/civilliberties.
If you have not yet picked up your Guest at Your Table box and Stories of Hope, you can do so at [location] or by talking with [name], our UUSC local representative (or Guest at Your Table coordinator). Your gift to Guest at Your Table is tax deductible — be sure to complete the form on your box. And remember, gifts of $100 are eligible to be matched by the UU Congregation at Shelter Rock, to double the impact of your support!
*For each subsequent week, revise the featured guest paragraph with one of the following items:
This week, meet Patrick Lafontant, an artist and youth mentor who grew up on his own in a particularly disadvantaged neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Fortunately, he found hope — and a new life providing art therapy for at-risk youth — with the Association for the Promotion of Integral Family Healthcare, a UUSC partner. Patrick's leadership grew with a new purpose after the earthquake, teaching art workshops for youth in his community. UUSC funding has not only allowed Patrick to continue pursuing his dream of being an artist, it has also contributed to his development as a leader and made it possible for him to mentor other youth. You can learn more about UUSC's work to preserve rights and dignity in humanitarian crisis online at uusc.org/humanitariancrises.
***
This week, meet Chrisantus Mwandihi, the director of the SoilFarm Multi-Culture Group (SFMG), a UUSC partner in Kenya. He has helped save water resources through Hope in Crops, a groundbreaking youth education and training program that teaches children in 30 local schools about protecting the environment, planting trees, growing crops, and raising bees. The students learn about traditional food crops like beans and cassava, which grow well naturally and so help minimize overuse of fertilizers. They are also planting trees to help protect the rainforest from deforestation as well as stabilize and purify water in the rivers that flow through the forest. You can learn more about UUSC's work on environmental justice online at uusc.org/environmentaljustice.
***
This week, meet Maria Aguilera, a leader for workers' rights with the Northwest Arkansas Worker Justice Center. When she was 16, Maria moved with her family from Mexico to California. She didn't have an opportunity to go to school, so she helped her family by working in the lettuce and strawberry fields. Many companies were underpaying, abusing, and threatening undocumented workers. Maria saw and experienced that — and decided to take action. She began volunteering and then became a leader at the Northwest Arkansas Workers' Justice Center (NWAWJC), a UUSC partner that improves conditions for low-wage workers through educating, organizing, and raising public awareness. People come to NWAWJC looking for help with discrimination, wage theft, and other violations of workers' rights. You can learn more about UUSC's work to protect workers' rights online at uusc.org/economicjustice.
Sample B
Time to return your Guest at Your Table gifts!
On [date], we'll close our Guest at Your Table program with an intergenerational worship celebration.
In recent weeks, our Guest at Your Table boxes and Stories of Hope have taught us about real people engaged in struggles for justice in the United States and around the world. It has also taught us about our power to change the world when we share our blessings to support the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee and the many amazing people they partner with. Before bringing back your Guest at Your Table donation, be sure to convert your cash and coins to a check made out to "UUSC" and complete the form on the box (or envelope). We'll announce the results of our Guest at Your Table program as soon as possible. On behalf of UUSC, we thank and commend every person who has chosen to share their blessings through Guest at Your Table. If you miss bringing back your Guest at Your Table box during the closing celebration, please return it to [name], our UUSC local representative [or Guest at Your Table coordinator], at your earliest opportunity.
Samples to use after the close of your program
A few suggestions for how to celebrate the amount your congregation raises:
- Report how many memberships the program raised and urge your congregation to strive toward a goal this year — for instance, 50 percent of congregants being UUSC members by the end of the church year.
- Consider sharing the good you have done in the giving levels outlined at the web page "How UUSC Invests Your Guest at Your Table Donation." You may also wish to use these numbers during your program to show people the tangible impact their gift can make.
A celebration of another successful Guest at Your Table program!
Friends, Congratulations! This year we were able to raise [$ amount] through our Guest at Your Table program. Plus, our gifts of $100 or more are eligible to be matched dollar for dollar, thanks to the generosity of the UU Congregation at Shelter Rock in Manhasset, N.Y.
How your gift to UUSC translates into human rights
Your generous Guest at Your Table gift is unrestricted, which means that UUSC will use it where the need is greatest. The following list illustrates the many ways in which UUSC translates our donors' support into tangible projects to advance human rights and social justice around the world: [Find examples on UUSC's website of the impact of various levels of giving and add them to your announcement.]
