Inreach/Outreach Committee News
The congregation will vote on Sunday, October 6, to determine which organizations will receive our offerings in November, December, January, and February. We received 13 applications for the 15 available offerings. Your votes will decide which organizations receive an offering and how many offerings each receives.
You can use your votes to focus the impact our offerings have, if you choose. On average, a Sunday offering brings in $750. Therefore, if you’d like an organization to be able to do something that will require more than $750, you might want to give 2 or more of your votes to that organization.
A summary of each application is below, and the applications as they will be up in Berg Hall on October 6 are attached. If voting in person on October 6 is not convenient for you, you may turn in your votes by emailing me at suebrinkmeyer@earthlink.net or by putting a note or the attached absentee ballot in the Inreach/Outreach mailbox near the copier. Blank copies of this absentee ballot will be available on the table in front of the Inreach/Outreach box beginning this Sunday, September 29.
Thanks, Sue Brinkmeyer
Acting Chair, Inreach/Outreach Committee 818-281-6249
Summary of organizations applying for an offering:
- CAREGIVERS VC is requesting $1,500 to provide trained staff and volunteers who will transport more than 500 homebound frail, low and moderate-income Ventura County seniors to medical appointments, out-patient surgeries, medical therapies, pharmacies, and the market. They will also carry in groceries, take out trash and read mail or help with other chores.
- CAUSE (Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy) is requesting $3,000 to pay for and manage the ALERTA text system, which currently reaches over 6,500 immigrants with information about their legal rights, important workshops on naturalization and other topics, as well as ICE raids in our local neighborhoods.
- CFROG (Climate First: Replacing Oil & Gas) is requesting $2,000 to pay for staff to do the often complex research, legal work, and advocacy needed to successfully fight efforts by the oil industry to avoid oversight and regulation. Funding will allow CFROG to do the proactive work that helps protect the well-being of humans, wildlife and the land.
- Lift Up Your Voice Motel Fund Team is requesting $3,000 to provide a night or two at a motel when individuals or families, especially families with children, face special circumstances that make our one-time assistance likely to have a significant impact on their long-term health or well-being. Many times such families can’t get help until Monday when offices open, and no shelter is available, so our help is critical to keeping young children and those with serious health issues from being homeless in their car or on the streets.
- The Lift Up Your Voice Park Outreach Team is requesting $3,000 to continue outreach in the homeless community and to support homeless individuals and families. Lift Up Your Voice volunteers build relationships with our homeless neighbors and help them get connected to services. They provide such essentials as bus passes, feminine products, toothbrushes, toothpaste, body wipes, razors, socks, mittens, dog food, donated clothing, and blankets and other necessities.
- Lift Up Your Voice Safe Sleep Team is requesting $3,000 to help people who are homeless and living in their cars qualify for and stay in the Safe Sleep Program, which provides them a safe place to sleep in our church lot as well as case management services to help them return to housing. Funds will pay for car registration, smog fees, car insurance, and necessary repairs as well as provide a monthly “Pizza Night,” when our volunteers and our Safe Sleep guests can come together to build relationships and improve the efficacy of the program.
- MICOP (Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project) is requesting $3,000 to train and certify two trilingual (Mixteco/Spanish/English) community members so they can become Department of Justice Board of Immigration Appeals accredited representatives who provide immigration legal assistance to the region’s indigenous immigrant community.
- Planned Parenthood California Central Coast is requesting $3,000 in order to offer financial assistance for services to patients who are low income, uninsured, under-insured, not qualified for state of federal health care programs, or facing a hardship that could require them to sacrifice health care. The goal is for no patient to go without healthcare simply because they cannot afford it.
- Reduce Barriers Fund, a partnership of River Community Church, the City of Ventura, and the Patrol Task Force is requesting $3,000 to reduce barriers that are preventing participants in the Community Intervention Court (aka Homeless Court) from ending their homelessness. Funds would provide access to shelter, sober living, work, addiction treatment or the like. The intent is to be able to react immediately to a need when it is identified and then have the time required to focus on helping individuals get insurance and housing assistance and take other steps that will allow them to end their homelessness.
- Santa Barbara Channelkeeper is requesting $2,500 to train and engage volunteers in the Stream Team citizen science program, which collects valuable, scientifically robust data about water quality and stream health in the Ventura River watershed. The data is used by government agencies to inform pollution prevention programs and water resource management decisions. The program also provides a rewarding community service opportunity for local citizens of all ages to explore and learn about their local creeks and watershed while also fostering environmental stewardship.
- Step Up Ventura, Inc. is requesting $1,500 to help provide one-on-one therapeutic services to resolve trauma and anxiety, build healthy parent-child relationships and promote optimal brain development in children affected by homelessness. Funding would also help train childcare and preschool staff to meet the emotional, social, and educational needs of homeless children so that they will be ready for kindergarten and have the skills to succeed in school.
- Ventura Community Partners Foundation is requesting $3,000 to rebuild Arroyo Verde Park’s playground, which was destroyed by the Thomas Fire. The new playground will serve children of all abilities and will include rubberized surfacing for children and adults with mobility challenges, play equipment to accommodate a wheelchair, sensory components for children, and cozy spaces for children who may need a quiet space to avoid over stimulation.
- Ventura Homeless Prevention Fund is requesting $3,000 to stop families and individuals from falling into homelessness simply because of a one-time but significant event such as an accident or illness that makes them unable to pay their rent this one time. Case managers help with budgeting and help clients qualify for reduced utility charges, free phones, and other services to ensure future housing stability. Over 90% of those helped pay rent on their own after our one-time help and remain housed one year later.