A "Little Birdy" to tell you about the CUCC Mission Work

Here at Congregational UCC, we are actively engaged in making our communities a better place. Our members and friends are vigilant about identifying the needs of the community and responding with love, compassion, and grace - and often some good old fashioned elbow grease.

Canton Sunday Picnic-

The Canton Sunday Picnic is the organization that we have worked with to serve a warm and nourishing meal every fourth Sunday of each month to the food insecure in downtown Canton. Unfortunately, the concerns of the ongoing pandemic have made it impossible for our small church to recommend members should serve, and so now, with the help of the coordinator from New Vision, we have arranged for a soup that we prepare every fourth Sunday to be served for us. We are so thankful to have this opportunity to serve the community and we hope that you let us know if you have any questions about how you can be involved. You can find our contact information at this link: https://www.cucccanton.org/contact

One opportunity to contribute is through donating to our effort. Funds donated will buy food and needed supplies used to serve the downtown community every Sunday, when there is no other soup kitchen open. We will collect monetary donations through our online giving website at https://www.cucccanton.org/online-giving-offering Select there to offer donations to the Canton Sunday Picnic or any other category.

Calvary Mission -

The Canton Cavalry Mission is an organization that is equipped and licensed to provide food for pennies on the dollar from the Akron Food Bank for the Calvary Food Bank. For more information on Calvary Mission, please click https://www.cantoncalvarymission.net/ Our Awesome Terry volunteers at Calvary Food Bank and will assist with dispersing our donations to assist in the efforts of this Food Bank, which are needed now, more than ever, to keep our neighbors from hunger.

For now, we will collect monetary donations through our online giving website at https://www.cucccanton.org/online-giving-offering Select there to offer donations to the Canton Sunday Picnic.

Thank you all so much for your past and future support for the food insecure in our area.

Middlebranch Elementary School Missions:

Middlebranch Elementary School serves 517 students in grades Kindergarten-4 and we have had a strong and healthy relationship with this school for approximately since 2014.

Eagle Backpacks - Through the school year, we collect for nutritious afterschool and weekend foods and snacks for Middlebranch students who wouldn’t otherwise have something to keep them going. Plain Local will be eager to offer your donations that we collect to the children in need to bring home after school during the week, or when they have nothing for the weekend.

We’ve always done such a great job and this year with people out of work because of the Covid-19 virus, we are sure that healthy, nourishing foods are truly needed!! If you are shopping for groceries, you could grab a few of the items on the list below or, if you are not visiting stores at this time, please consider the idea to either send a donation to the church and we will get the supplies bought for you, (Please merely designate on/with your donation its intention.) or visit our online giving page.

Donation List

SpaghettiOs
Macaroni and Cheese
Beefaroni
Cans of soup (pull-tabs)
Individual Fruit/Applesauce
Fruit Snacks
Puddings
Individual oatmeal packets
Pop-tarts
Any Lunchtime snacks
Individual cracker packets
Granola bars – All kinds!
Fruit bars
Jars of peanut butter and jelly
Also accepting:
bars soap
toothpaste
toothbrushes

Wall of Warmth

Each year many children do not have appropriate clothing to keep them warm during the winter. At the CUCC we have developed a warm relationship with Middlebrach Elementary and hope to keep that healthy by keeping the kids healthy. We are collecting hats, scarves, gloves/mittens, underwear, or socks for children aged 5-10. The brown bin outside our church front doors will be checked for your dropped off items which we will then hang on the garland in the hallway leading to the Sanctuary. All items placed on the garland will be taken to Middlebranch school for kids who may come to school without something warm or without socks on; unfortunately, it happens a lot. Thanking you for whatever you can help with! A frequently offered picture of our results on our hall garland will be offered in our ENews and on Facebook to allow us all to celebrate the generosity of our small but mighty church!

Free Store in the Canton area

Crossroads in Canton is planning to create, in conjunction with several other churches, a Free Store. We have the opportunity to support this mission! The store will be located in downtown Canton, or a surrounding neighborhood, where individuals most in need can come and shop for free. For more information on what a free store is, please contact the church office.

This will be an ongoing process so there will be many opportunities to help in different ways:

Donate items - The CUCC is gathering clothing for this cause. They ask for clothing for all ages with only these caveats.

No used swimsuits or underwear. Only new swimsuits and underwear are acceptable if they have tags or are in packages.

Used bras and socks are acceptable as long as they are like new and not stained.

Assist with setting up store – painting, putting shelves together and creating attractive displays of items
Assist with sorting, tagging, and getting items ready for display
Donating café items or serving customers in café
Volunteering to help in the store

For more information about volunteering, please contact Renee at 330-705-2722 (call/text); ts@neo.rr.com

Or, Irene at 330-495-4559 (call/text); irenemotts@aol.com

All below missions are continuing! Drop off donations at the CUCC drop off box.

Toilet Paper Collection - We as a congregation have committed to providing toilet paper to the "Just in Time" Food Pantry, a part of Grace UCC, whose mission is: To feed the hungry in body and in spirit with God’s love and grace through Christ Jesus.

Circle Tail, Inc. - Circle Tail's mission is to provide service and hearing dogs for people with disabilities at no cost to the individual. For the Circle Tail cause, the CUCC collects old towels, rags, paper towels, cleaning supplies that are needed at the center.

Cross-eyed Missions - We collect old eyeglasses and cases for the Cross-Eyed Mission, who use their “expertise in eye-care to bring better vision to individuals of the world who do not have the right eye-care.” They serve communities in Honduras, Bolivia and Guatemala.

Ronald McDonald House - We collect tabs from pop, soup, fruit and vegetable cans for the Ronald McDonald House, an American independent nonprofit organization whose stated mission is to create, find, and support programs that directly improve the health and well-being of children.

As a congregation we also support the United Church of Christ National Ministries:

Our Church's Wider Missions

One Great Hour of Sharing

Strengthen the Church

Neighbors In Need

The Christmas Fund