Stories of Hope
Consider including the Stories of Hope inside the boxes as you
distribute them. Or inside the Order of Service during your Guest at
Your Table worship service.
Placing your order
All Guest at Your Table materials are provided free of charge. You
can order your boxes and accompanying resources online, by phone, or
by mail using our order form. Please plan your order carefully, and
place it with plenty of time before your program begins.
Distributing the boxes
An example from one congregation:
RE classes made their own boxes using Chinese take-out boxes decorated with
markers, glitter, feathers, etc. Kids loved making them and
congregations enjoyed the little works of art at their table.
Before the offering at each service, the Local Rep made a few
remarks about UUSC, announced that the offering would be going to
UUSC, and explained the Guest at Your Table program. During the
offering, the Guest at Your Table boxes were passed out at both
services by our 6th/7th grade RE classes. This class is doing a
curriculum on community service and social justice, and they and
their teachers agreed to help with the Guest program. The
congregation liked having the kids pass out the boxes. After passing
out boxes during each offering, the 6th/7th graders went to the
other RE classes (kindergarten and up), said a few words of their
own about UUSC (the UUSC Local Rep had worked with them on this the
previous Sunday, but the words were their own), and gave out boxes.
Some families probably got two boxes this way. But, more
importantly, the 6th/7th graders had a chance to learn about UUSC
and help out, and the RE classes paid more attention to them than
they would have to others.
Increase the
visibility of the boxes.
For example:
-- Have a giant box at the front of the meeting place.
-- Have people put the boxes in a large box.
-- Announce, "If you brought a box, please stand and remain
standing."
Replace cash with
checks. Encourage people to write checks if they didn't
use the boxes.
Place a Guest box at your washing machine, and donate all of
that loose change to your Guest. Or place it at your bedside, and
give the day's pocket change to your Guest.
Adapting materials
Adapt materials to
better suit your congregation's specific needs. For example, the
Stories of Hope are written to serve as a general resource, and so
are not geared towards any specific age group. Feel free to adapt
them to specifically suit small children, youth or adults. For
instance, you might rewrite them as first-person narratives for use
during religious education classes or for your Guest at Your Table
service.
If the newsletter articles are too long or not detailed enough for a
congregation new to UUSC and Guest at Your Table, please edit them
as appropriate. You can find more information about UUSC's mission
and goals, our programs, how to donate and how donations are used in
the Program Update in your Guest packet or
in this Guest at
Your Table section of the website.
You can also visit other sections of the UUSC website for further
information on UUSC's mission and purpose and our programs.
Consider using the resources we provide to create your own Order of
Service insert for each week during the program. Use different
colored paper to catch attention. Include up-to-date information
about the UUSC projects you’ve focused on with your Guest program or
that relate to the Stories of Hope provided by UUSC.
Creating special materials
and activities
Make a larger
version of the Guest box to keep on display in a prominent
part of Fellowship Hall, in view of the pulpit, etc. The
congregation that told UUSC about this idea even had the children
put big coins in as they read stories during their opening Guest
service.
Writing newsletter articles and making announcements
are two activities that are very important for the success of your
program. You can use the samples included in the Guest resources
provided, or use your own creativity. See the next section for some
suggestions.
Create a calendar suggesting daily acts of giving, to
be used by households throughout the time they have their Guest
boxes. You could include the calendar inside your Order of Service
for your Guest opening service, or hand it out with the boxes.
Create a special poster or flyer designed for your
congregation. Do you have a professional designer in your
congregation? S/he might be willing to donate their time to your
Guest program. Is someone in your congregation a calligrapher? They
might be willing to donate their time to create a poster celebrating
your congregation's UUSC members, or those who participate in the
Guest at Your Table program.
You can create your own Guest at Your Table boxes, as
did the UU Church of the Lehigh Valley. Winnie Tyler tells us,
"Adults started early in the summer making them from recycled cereal
boxes. In September, we started having the church school children
decorate them with markers, stickers, and cut-out pictures. Always a
picture of a child or an adult from another culture was pasted on the
front. Our first meeting for working at these was a pizza and game
night in September and we've worked at them at the UUSC table after
church since then. Adults of the congregation have joined in the
decorating with equal enthusiasm. We will finish the job at another
pizza and game night in November, and the children will hand out the
boxes, one to each household, at the service on November 20."
If you're a "green" congregation
UUSC respects the strong
commitment to our planet demonstrated by green congregations. We
encourage you to put your commitment into action in any way you can,
including Guest at Your Table.
Here are some
suggestions:
- Save your Guest boxes to
reuse them next year.
- Access your guest resource materials online, rather than receiving
paper copies by mail. You can inform us of your preference by
e-mailing volunteerservices@uusc.org. We can add you to a special
GAYT e-mail list.
- Encourage the members of your congregation to sign up for
eWire, our
regular electronic newsletter, and to join other UUs in
advocating for public policy issues in the "Take Action Now" section
of our website. These can take the place of receiving paper
publications and taking action through letter-writing.
- Pick and choose which resource you would like to use. For instance,
you don’t have to use all four program fact sheets. Just choose the
one(s) which your congregation would be most interested in.
