The March mission is One Great Hour of Sharing, in which we join with Christians in seven other denominations to support relief services wherever and whenever disaster strikes in the U.S.A. and abroad, and also to provide long-term, sustainable development assistance, refugee resettlement, and social services. Tornadoes, wildfires, earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes ravaged communities worldwide, leaving behind devastation and extreme stress. Drought, violence and COVID wreaked havoc in communities, often leaving people without food and resources for themselves and their family.

 

The UCC responds to disasters such as these through our One Great Hour of Sharing offering. Programs and grants help communities launch long-term recovery following disasters such as Hurricane Harvey back in 2017 (a grant helped 14 families repair their homes and remain intact), recent flooding near Yellowstone in Montana, and 2020 flooding in Pennsylvania, and provide relief for South Sudan families suffering from increasing violence, flooding and desert locusts.

A portion of our OGHS offering also goes to refugee relief and resettlement across the world. 55 UCC churches are actively hosting one or more Afghan families, often in coordination with churches of other denominations. Countless other churches have collected supplies and funds toward this effort. Grants, tool kits and online training sessions are available through the UCC for churches supporting Afghan refugee families, all because of offerings to One Great Hour of Sharing.
OGHS will continue to help other poor communities find and develop new sources of food and clean water, and improve health standards. In CIEETS, a holistic food security program in Nicaragua, farmers are trained in diversity farming—growing many different crops so that one failed harvest doesn’t have a devastating impact on their livelihoods. Nutrition is improved as a result. CIEETS also assists with water safety, proper irrigation, sanitation and hygiene for an overall improved quality of life for participants.

See the United Church of Christ website (search One Great Hour of Sharing) for more information on this and other ways OGHS helps those in need.
https://www.ucc.org/giving/ways-to-give/our-churchs-wider-mission/one-great-hour-of-sharing/