United Thank Offering announces 2007 mission grants
Episcopal News Service. June 25, 2007 [062507-02]
Mary Frances Schjonberg
The United Thank Offering (UTO) Grant Committee has approved nearly $2.44 million in grants for this year.
The committee approved 104 grants totaling $2,439,342.46. The average grant amount was $23,455.22. The two largest grants were $79,722 to the Diocese of Sialkot in Pakistan to finish a hospital and $68,000 to the Diocese of Alaska to build a new church for St. Augustine's congregation in Homer. The smallest grant was for $750 to the Diocese of Mississippi to start a Sunday school program at St. Mark's in Jackson.
Each UTO grant is made in response to needs identified by dioceses and provinces throughout the Anglican Communion. UTO Coordinator JoAnne Chapman said grants help Anglicans meet "compelling human needs." Sometimes the way UTO can help, she said, is by aiding organizations with their infrastructure needs in ways that will allow them to increase their ministry.
"We're looking for places where people need that extra help to do these things," she said. "We look for the churches or organizations that have some kind of service in their communities."
The committee received 202 requests totaling nearly $8 million, Chapman said.
Many of the 2007 grants were given with the Episcopal Church's commitment to the Millennium Development Goals in mind. For instance, the hospital-completion grant in the Diocese of Sialkot in Pakistan focuses on the goals of reducing child mortality and improving maternal health, Chapman said. A $50,000 grant to the Diocese of Banks and Torres in Melanesia will help build the Mothers Union Training and Resource Centre in Vanuatu, thus addressing the MDG of empowering women. A nearly $62,000 grant to St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Jerusalem will support a health clinic and nursery hall in Ramallah to assist working mothers who need a secure place for their children to stay during the workday.
The MDG concern of reducing HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases was addressed by the $30,000 grant to the Cathedral Outreach Ministries in Bridgetown, Barbados in the Church in the Province of the West Indies. The money is meant to help renovate the old cathedral clerk's house to be used as a center for HIV/AIDS education and counseling.
The needs of immigrants and refugees were also a focus this year with grants going to efforts to care for and integrate migrants and refugees into the life of their communities. Such grants include $40,000 to Iglesia Espanola Reformada Episcopal to renovate its immigrant center in Oviedo, Spain; $8,400 to Exodus Refugee/Immigration, Inc. in Indianapolis, Indiana to provide professional English training, and $14,000 to the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection in Omaha, Nebraska in part to offer space to Sudanese refugees.
The geographical breakdown of the grants was:
- Africa, seven grants totaling $322,003.42;
- Asia/Pacific, seven grants totaling $304,722;
- Latin America/Caribbean, eleven grants totaling $473,715.67;
- Jerusalem/Middle East, two grants totaling $81,724.78;
- Europe, one grant of $40,000;
- United States, 71 grants totaling $1,152,676.59; and
- regional, three grants totaling $ 64,500.
Just more than $2.1 million of the grant money comes from diocesan offerings made up of the contributions of individual Episcopalians and gathered by the dioceses. UTO also has a memorial and gift trust fund.
A booklet listing the 2007 grants will be mailed to all Episcopal Church congregations in August. The application for the 2008 round of grants will be available in October and the deadline is January 31, 2008.
What was then known as the United Offering was established at the General Convention of 1889. The United Offering became the United Thank Offering in 1919. In l970, the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church gave its permission for the offering to be allocated on an annual basis and the UTO grant committee was formed.