Financial

 

We allocate dollars to local, national and worldwide organizations through our denomination's OCWM mission and benevolences brought to our Board by members often active on boards of these organizations and who bring volunteer and service opportunities to our attention.  Some organizations presently on our list are - A Home, Katonah Community Center, Northern Westchester Shelter, My Sister's Place, Open Door Medical Center, Sing Sing Rehabilitation through the Arts and others.

 

Hand's On Opportunities

 

During various times of the year, we sponsor projects such as Annual Blood Drives, local Americares or Habitat for Humanity projects, collecting food/gifts during holidays for area nursing homes and food pantries, joint efforts with Christian Education on children's kits for Worldwide Church Service and most recently housing and feeding the local Homeless population for a 2 week period through the Emergency Shelter Coalition in conjunction with other religious institutions.

 

Disaster Relief

 

We maintain a separate Disaster Relief Fund for humanitarian purposes and we maintain a healthy balance through fundraising events such as an annual Christmas Holiday Bazaar.

 

Advocacy Initiative

 

We strive to become aware of the social conditions behind the benevolences we support through education and discourse because we believe advocacy is the impetus for social change in a democracy.  We formulate a position and with consensus, advocate in letter writing campaigns, phone calls seeking answers, protest policies when appropriate and engage speakers.  Some recent examples were the organization of The Million Mom March in Chappaqua advocating for sensible gun laws, a letter writing campaign between our Board and the Office of the Mayor of New York protesting their policies on the Homeless, raising awareness on the need for rehabilitation and study of our current prison system through speakers and documented research.