UUs Issue Community Grants
Back in January, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Fork (UUCSF) started down a new path in search of partnerships with East End nonprofits, aiming to assist in funding community outreach projects with the congregation’s bequest from departed member Paul Berman. After reviewing many highly qualified proposals, seven grant recipients were selected.
“The UUCSF is proud and elated to announce our very first High Impact Community Outreach (HICO) grant recipients for 2020,” said Michael F. Daly, Board President. “The seven beneficiaries are: Butterfly Effect Project, East End Birth Network, East End Food Institute, East Hampton Meals on Wheels, OLA of Eastern LI, Padoquohan Medicine Lodge and Shinnecock Indian Nation.”
The multi-dimensional East End community-based projects span from providing Senior Citizens of the Shinnecock Indian Nation with laptops and connection to the internet to the Butterfly Effect Project’s intergenerational gardening initiative and the East End Birth Network mobile Parent & Baby Pantry.
Sara Topping, Executive Director of the East End Birth Network, highlights the need for a mobile pantry.
“The issues we are trying to address with our mobile Parent & Baby Pantry are layered and intersectional,” she said, “The U.S. has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the developed world; Black and Indigenous woman are dying at a rate 3 to 4 times higher than White women and here in Southampton, Bridgehampton and Sag Harbor we have some of the highest infant mortality rates in the state of New York.”
The range of projects that will be funded are expansive and are designed to greatly impact the residents of the East End.
“We look forward to partnering with each of these dedicated institutions to provide the community with the much needed services that are outlined in each of their projects,” said Mr. Daly, “We welcome the opportuni.y to continue our partnerships next year with other East End nonprofits.”
To read a fuller description of each of the grant awarded organizations detailed projects, visit: uucsf.org/hico-2020-awards
