Casas Adobes Congregational Church, UCC

The MISSIONS COMMITTEE is looking for dedicated individuals who enjoy working with a friendly group of members to promote all missions of Casas Adobes Congregational UCC.  We meet the second Sunday of the month after second service.  We not only allocate funds to various charities locally, nationally and internationally but also promote a Habitat for Humanity build day, collect school supplies for a local elementary school and facilitate our biggest yearly project – Angel Tree gifts for prisoners’ children.  We break for two months in the summer and host coffee fellowship in August.

BorderLinks is a bi-national, non-profit leader in experiential education that strives to raise awareness and inspire action around global political economics through various programs.  These programs focus on cross-border relationship building opportunities, issues of immigration, community formation and development and social justice in the borderlands between Mexico, the U.S., and beyond.  Casas Adobes supports the pre-school daycare program where over 200 pre-school children need childcare and education.  We also support the lunch program which has a twenty year history of serving a free, hot lunch to school-age children.  Schools in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico operate on half day schedules with two shifts of children being served along with their pre-school siblings.  Casas sponsors a field trip to Nogales, Sonora, every other year.  This mission is local, regional, national and international in scope.

Good Samaritan Fund is used at the discretion of the minister to help members of the congregation.  Non-members are referred to Northwest Interfaith for help.

Habitat for Humanity At Habitat for Humanity Tucson, they know that a safe and decent home can change everything for a family.  Children feel free to bring friends home to play.  Instead of worrying about housing, families begin to consider college education for their children, employment training for themselves, and have time to volunteer in their neighborhood organizations.  Habitat families become taxpaying neighbors who value their homes and their neighborhoods..  Through the hard work of volunteer construction crews and zero-interest mortgage loans, low-income families can acquire a safe, decent home.  The families’ mortgage payments are returned to a revolving fund, allowing more homes to be built.  Casas Adobes is sponsoring our Second Annual Build Day in March.

Interfaith Community Services has been in existence for over 20 years providing a model of diverse faith communities working together to serve seniors, the disabled and families in financial need.  Their services include: transportation, emergency financial assistance, mobile meals, a food bank, gifts of love, health advocacy, business help, caregiver relief, friendly phoning, friendly visiting, grocery shopping, handy helpers, intergenerational pen pals, and reassurance calls.  ICS’s services cover metropolitan Tucson and Pima County.  Not only does Casas Adobes give generously to ICS but also many members are very active in their fund raising activities including our illustrious Casas Adobes golf team!

New Beginnings for Women and Children is a non-profit , nonsectarian organization, founded in Tucson in 1987 to help homeless women and their children become economically self-sufficient.  To help clients become permanently independent the Shelter offers emergency housing for up to 90 days.  They assist mothers in finding employment within their first two weeks, and help the family with its other needs.  The families can stay in Transitional Housing for up to two years, as they learn the skills and find the resources that lead to self-sufficiency.  Aftercare is offered to families for a year after they leave their housing.  The Children’s Program, with activities for all ages, from babies to teens, helps kids learn how to make healthy, positive choices that can open doors to success in their own lives.

Primavera Foundation is a nonprofit social service agency that makes its services available to people regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, political beliefs, veteran status, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, or age.  The Emergency Men’s Shelter is a 105 bed facility for men providing three meals a day, laundry, clothing, and referrals.  Participants can enter the Primavera Works Program and may qualify for an extended stay at the shelter up to 90 days.  A Relief and Referral outreach center for homeless individuals provides a mailing address, mail and message pick-up, telephone, bathroom and distribution of donated toiletries, blankets and emergency food boxes.  Casa Paloma is focused on unaccompanied homeless women providing showers, food, clothing, hygiene supplies and referrals to other services.  The Blue Door Voucher Store provides clean clothing and shoes donated by community members to homeless and very low-income persons at no cost.  Transitional and Affordable Housing is offered at various locations throughout Tucson to disabled veterans, to homeless women, to sober men and women who are working at least 25 hours per week, and to qualified families with children.  Primavera also assists first-time, low-income homebuyers with establishing sound credit and the complex processes of purchasing a home.  Primavera Works connects motivated homeless workers with employers in the community. Additional support includes free lunches, bus passes, and job readiness classes.  PREP, Prisoner Re-Entry Partnership, reintegrates nonviolent ex-prisoners into the community by providing employment, training, housing, and advocacy.  The New Chance Program helps homeless people released from correctional facilities to attain self-sufficiency by offering counseling, case management, like skills, employability training, and housing.

TIHAN, Tucson Interfaith HIV/AIDS Network, provides HIV education and awareness to more than 2,700 people.  They offer support to 270 people living with HIV/AIDS.  They involve 484 volunteers and donors in our community who invest in TIHAN as a means of building a healthier and more compassionate community.  They provide a voice for people living with HIV/AIDS working to end the stigma of HIV within religious communities.  TIHAN builds bridges of hope and support.

TMM Family Services Inc. provides case management and transitional housing for single Moms with developmentally disabled children.  TMM offers both daily childcare and after school programs at its state licensed center.  TMM’s Family Journey is for single Moms with children who truly desire to live independently in a reasonably short period of time.  The focus in directed on developing and securing independent living skills in the community, including obtaining a GED, employment skills, career counseling, etc.  TMM helps first time homebuyers obtain the goal of home ownership.  TMM’s Children’s Village provides a safe, secure and nurturing home for up to 36 children, ages 3-13, who need a place to live and participate in normal childhood activities, school, sports, church, etc.  These children have been away from their family of origin for years and have been in shelters and several foster homes.  TMM provides donated clothing, bedding and household items to needy persons and families through a referral voucher system run through the Community Closet.  ReStore is a 10,000 square foot warehouse that receives donations of new and used building materials, appliances and furniture.  These items are available to agencies doing repairs for low-income homeowners and also to home owners and renters who can do their own repairs but who cannot afford the materials.

Angel Tree is Mission’s biggest project of the year!  Angel Tree is a part of Prison Fellowship reaching out to prisoners and their families.  Each October Casas Adobes receives a list of children living in our community whose mother, father or stepparent is in jail.  Members of the Missions Committee call the caregivers of the children seeking advice on an appropriate gift of clothing and a toy for each child.   These families tend to move frequently and are often difficult to contact due to change of address and/or phone numbers. The information is written on the angel gift tags and hung on the Christmas trees during coffee fellowship for two weeks in early December.  Members of the church select children to buy gifts for.  The gifts are given to the children in their parents’ name, thereby keeping a bond between the parent and the child.  Gifts are collected, sorted and distributed to the families just before Christmas.  Each year we have between 40-60 children who each receive a new article of clothing and a new toy.  Casas Adobes is a generous congregation both in their giving of the gifts and the volunteering of their time to deliver the gifts. This is always a big success.

Keeling School is an elementary school Casas Adobes has adopted to help out low-income children get a good start on the new school year.  We collect school supplies and monetary donations in July for the start of school in early August.

OCWM, Our Churches Wider Mission, is by far the largest budgeted item on the Missions Budget.  Casas Adobes has chosen to be a 5 for 5 church contributing to Our Church’s wider Mission – both Basic Support and Special Support, including the four special mission offerings which are non-budgeted, individual plate offerings:

1. One Great Hour of Sharing – Supports partners in more than 70 countries with ministries that fund development projects, feed the victims of famine, provide services for displaced people, and respond to natural disasters.  These ministries are the responsibility of Wider Church Ministries, Global Sharing of Resources.  Received annually on the fourth Sunday in Lent.
2. Strengthen the Church – Supports church growth and leadership development in the conferences and through the national offices of local church ministries.  Received annually on Pentecost Sunday.
3. Neighbors in Need – Supports ministries of justice and compassion throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, including ministry carried out by the Council for American Indian Ministries (CAIM) and by the national offices of justice and witness ministries.  Received annually on World Communion Sunday, the first Sunday of October.
4. The Christmas Fund – Provides financial aid to retired and active ministers and their surviving spouses and children who face overwhelming financial demands, a ministry carried out by the Pension Boards.  Received annually on the Sunday before Christmas.