First Parish Bedford UU

We make a living by what we do, but we make a life by what we give.

–Winston Churchill

 First Parish offers many opportunities to deepen our commitment to each other and the wider world by sharing our individual gifts and talents.  Volunteering can create a spiritual, a social, and often a fun connection. Consider what your interests and available time may allow when you volunteer, but please jump in. All are welcome! 

Possibilities include:

• Organizing or helping with individual events; Sunday services, pot lucks 
  • Ushering  at Sunday services
  • Making and serving coffee on Sunday mornings
  • Helping out at the Annual Plant & Craft Fair
• Committing to help out on a regular schedule
  • Serving on a committee
  • Assisting in the Sunday School
• Reaching beyond First Parish, by connecting with the larger community 
  •  Taking part in one of many Social Action Projects
  •     Discovering more about UU's through Mass Bay District events or the UUA  

  • Visiting our Partner Church in Transylvania

There are so many benefits all around when you participate more fully in the life of First Parish.

For more ways to make the connection...

                                   contact Sandy Boczenowski, FP Volunteer Coordinator

And check out our Gifts and Interests Survey: First Parish Survey  (easy to fill out and submit online)

Have you made your financial pledge for next year?
If you have, we thank you!
If you haven’t, the Board needs your response  in order to complete

the plan and budget for next year.
Joan Bowen and Rich Daugherty,  Stewardship Co-Chairs

Planning for next year involves a significant increase in our collective financial investment. At a minimum next year’s budget needs to provide for two services on Sunday mornings, and a full-time second minister. If we are to be welcoming and to provide programs and care to our members, friends, and community, we need to walk our talk and live our values.

Our ability to realize all we want to be requires each of us to re-assess our financial commitment. Our pledges will determine what we will be able to accomplish in the coming year. Our treasure is as critical a factor in determining the spiritual life of the First Parish as our time and talents.

You are asked to consider a pledge that reflects your full participation in the financial needs of First Parish to the best of your ability. Funding responsibility belongs to all of us.

Attachments:

PledgeCard2009 website.doc	[2010 budget drive]	39 Kb
Suggested Giving Guide.doc	[2010 budget drive]	50 Kb

{emailcloak=off}Please contact the church office for more information:  office@uubedford.org

Did you know that you can support First Parish through your purchases of everyday necessities and gift items?

Books

Through a partnership with Amazon and Powell's online booksellers, First Parish earns a commission on sales that originate from the links below.

Groceries

Stop & Shop gift cards are sold every Sunday at coffee hour.  First Parish earns 5% on each gift card purchased.  Many parishioners use these on their weekly shopping trips instead of a credit card.

Fair-trade coffee, tea, chocolate, and olive oil

Get your caffeine and chocolate fix from a socially responsible source, Equal Exchange, sold at coffee hour most Sundays by the Peace and Justice Action group.  Also available for sale are 750mL bottles of Olive Branch extra virgin olive oil, imported from the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees, a non-profit, non-governmental organization supporting sustainable agriculture in rural Palestine since 1983.  First Parish receives 20% of the proceeds from all sales of these items.

Quabbin Clear – Think Outside the Bottle!

Now available for purchase: stainless steel water bottles bearing the "Quabbin Clear MWRA Tap Water" logo designed by Sing Hanson.

Intended to support the human right to water, excoriating the "corporate boondoggle" of bottled water, and supporting the water rights advocacy of our UU Service Committee, the fair-trade bottles are available in the church office and on Sundays at $10 apiece, turquoise blue or brushed steel. Fill from your own tap - for pennies a gallon!  Don't buy bottled water! Think outside the bottle!

First Parish T-shirts, Cookbooks, and Postcards

Available for sale at the church office and on occasional Sundays, with all proceeds benefiting First Parish.  For more information, please contact office@uubedford.org or call (781) 275-7994.{emailcloak=off}

These colorful T-shirts are available in adult and children's sizes.  Logo on front, plain on back.

Copies of the First Parish cookbook, "Recipes from the Common Cupboard" are still available!  Economic stimulus price $10 (originally $20).

Postcards of First Parish from original paintings by Bedford artist Anne MacRae MacLeod 4 for $1.00

"Edict of Torda" posters

Sepia print 16"x20" of Aladar Korosfoi-Kriesch's famous painting of Francis David and the 1568 Proclamation of Religious Freedom at Torda, Transylvania. Key and history included.  $20 includes shipping & handling.

Sales of this poster will benefit The Dormitory Project in Kolozsvár (The Unitarian Center for Students and Pilgrims), The Partner Church Council, and The Bedford-Abásfalva partnership.

Please use our online order form or download the printable form below to purchase.

Attachments:

EdictOfTordaOrderForm.doc

[Printable form to order by mail or fax]

98 Kb