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Your donations make a difference around the world! At The Unity Center we believe in giving back to our global community. Here are just a few examples of how our Center and members have given back:
Fair Trade: Launched 2007. The Unity Center partners with Exotic World Gifts to sell only Fair Trade items in the Bookstore and Café. This partnership and the congregation’s commitment to Fair Trade are growing The Unity Center into one of the largest Fair Trade “shops” in San Diego, CA. The profits from the sale of Fair Trade items helped launch The Unity Center’s first microfinance project in Guatemala.
Microfinance/microcredit: As stated on the Microcredit Summit Campaign’s website: “Microcredit programs extend small loans…to very poor people for self-employment projects that generate income, allowing them to care for themselves and their families.”
Rev. Wendy Craig-Purcell has held the vision of establishing a microfinance program at The Unity Center to directly alleviate poverty, especially among very poor women, in third-world countries. Through the FIRST Travel With A Purpose - Adventure. Culture. Sacred Service™ trip, May 2010, The Unity Center provided microcredit to 10 Mayan women in Guatemala.
Travel With A Purpose - Adventure. Culture. Sacred Service™. Guatemala.
Launched May 2010. 24 congregants of The Unity Center brought 24 used laptop computers to a children’s center, provided 10 microfinance loans to 10 Mayan women and built 8 stoves for members in one community living in mud huts. This trip also allowed the travelers to acquire a deeper understanding of Mayan culture while having lots of fun participating in a variety of outdoor adventures.
Circulation Tree: The Unity Center’s Youth and Family has created an ongoing system for sharing gently used items within the Unity community with a circulation tree. Designed as a fun way to keep things out of our landfills a bit longer, help fellow families save money, and a way to get to know each other better.
Prayer Squares: Hand-crafted by the Uniteens from The Unity Center’s Youth and Family, Prayer Squares are attractive fleece cloths adorned with beads and lovingly imbued with prayer. Each bead represents a prayer and the square itself represents Spirit’s protection. Prayer Squares are given to anyone in need of prayer or healing to help people reconnect with their inner Spirit.
Friendship Project: From the children at The Unity Center to the children in Guatemala. Youth and Family provided a special “Friendship Package” that included colored markers, pencils, pencil sharpeners, stickers and a composition book that were given to the Mayan Families Organization in Guatemala during the Travel With A Purpose - Adventure . Culture. Sacred Service™ . Guatemala trip. The Mayan Families Organization program empowers people through education and community services.
2008 Malawi Africa Trip
Thank you for your help and support in making our Malawi Fundraising project a huge success. Our goal was to raise $23,000 to build a school with the Adult Literacy Program in Malawi. The Fund-raising Concert and Auction alone generated $12,812.07. When we combine our other fundraising efforts from the coffee sales, bake sales, See’s Candies sales, restaurant fundraiser nights and cash donations, we gathered over $21,340. This fundraising project is a joint effort with Seaside and other New Thought churches in the area and their contributions will add to our funds. On June 15th, 28 individuals, 7 from The Unity Center, went to Malawi, Africa to help with the building of a school. We thank all those who donated gifts, financial contributions, their time and talents to make the project a success and those who generously helped us make a difference.
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