Creation care and environmental justice will once again be the focus of Giving Tuesday, November 29 – a commitment that builds on the United Church of Christ’s historic prophetic leadership and continues to address a priority that will be underscored for several years to come. UCC’s Environmental Justice Ministries is deeply engaged in answering our first calling as people of faith: caring for God’s creation. Our movements include addressing the climate crisis, environmental racism, and a host of issues affecting our planet. Your generous donation to Giving Tuesday will move us further to success.
“This Giving Tuesday designation in consecutive years signals that the UCC national setting is deepening its commitment to environmental justice, to fund the work into the future,” said the Rev. Kent Siladi, director of philanthropy.
In 2021, the church raised $80,000 on Giving Tuesday to support climate care and creation justice. The majority of the gifts, $56,000, were sent to Honor the Earth, an indigenous organization working to save our planet. The remaining 30 percent of the funds were earmarked for five grants awarded by the UCC Council for Climate Justice to support advocacy and education efforts this year.
Last summer, the UCC launched a successful environmental justice fellowship program for youth and young adult leaders. The participants engaged in projects with UCC churches or UCC-affiliated organizations that deepened their knowledge about environmental justice. They also received mentoring and served their communities in new and creative ways. These youth leaders are now better equipped to advance environmental justice work!
With your gift, in summer 2023 we will expand this project’s success and invite 12 youth and young adults from various communities to participate in Climate Hope Summer, a program that will create a coordinated network for environmental justice advocacy and action all over the country. Through the voices of the next generation, we can more effectively advocate for climate legislation that will meet the scale of the present crisis.
Click here to read more about Giving Tuesday.
Scratchboard ink and watercolor art by Ricardo Levins Morales