SPECIAL updates from Community UCC
March 15, 2020
Community Life in the COVID-19 Era

We had a beautiful, challenging and inspiring service today, Sunday, March 15. We behaved with appropriate caution. Then the Executive Committee of your Council met to discuss how to proceed in the uncertain weeks to come. The following is the way we will live out our life together in covenant, in love, in action:

WORSHIP: Worship will be live-streamed every Sunday morning at 10:30 via Facebook Live, as always, but we encourage you to consider worshipping via this option rather than in person for now. We especially discourage people in at-risk populations from coming to worship at this time.

We are not encouraging anyone to gather at church for worship, but the doors will be open. Some of us need to gather, WHILE MAINTAINING APPROPRIATE PHYSICAL DISTANCE .

If you are unfamiliar with watching on Facebook Live, contact Lisa Boyles for assistance (before Sunday morning) -- lisamboyles12@gmail.com or 559.244.9502 -- and she will try to walk you through it. Robin, E. J. and I will lead worship. Someone will video the service (usually Lisa) and someone will run the sound and projection system. 

The doors to the Sanctuary will be open at 10 a.m. on Sundays, as will the doors to Hayden Hall for restroom access only. The church will be closed by noon. For the near future, there will be no fellowship hour following the service. 

The offering plates will not be passed, but remain available at the entrance to the Sanctuary (or some other secure location). Bulletins will be on the sanitized pews at least 6 feet apart. We will not greet one another with physical touch. 

THIS ALL MAY BE DISCONTINUED BY COUNTY, STATE OR FEDERAL ORDER. In that case, another special bulletin would be forthcoming.

UPCOMING EVENTS: M ost of our church events and activities, including book club, Living the Questions and the Saturday breakfast group, will be paused for the next few weeks. Even Holy Week is likely to look much different this year. Rescheduled dates, including for the memorial service for Georgeanne Mason and our spring fundraising dinner, will be announced in coming editions of eNews

NURTURE: No Sunday School until further notice. We are going try study via FaceTime.

FELLOWSHIP outside of Sundays: If you are able to offer services like grocery shopping, errand running, prescription pickup and delivery, please call the church office at 559.435.2690. Email the office at office@communityucc.com . Text Pastor Ara at 559.862.3874. If you need anything, use the same contact information.

Also, if you are missing someone, call them! The Executive committee is going to call each one of us, regularly.

We will get through this difficult time together, just in different ways than we usually do.

Thank you and may the peace of God be with you now and always.

Love from,
Pastor Ara and the Executive Committee -- Moderator Ann Scott, Felicia Rocha, Minister Robin Carlson, Sally Hougland, and Carol Kilburn

MISSION and STEWARDSHIP: During Today’s Mission Moment, we heard of the need of Naomi’s House . Items may be dropped off at the church or picked up from your home, if necessary. P lease donate items such as bath soap, toothbrushes, tooth paste, deodorant, shoes, socks, and clothing for the women. 
Many ways to give financially

Your support – through gifts of time, talent and treasure – enables us to sustain the mission, vision, and outreach of this church. This is a tight financial period in our church’s fiscal year, even in the best of times. With a move to mostly remote services for the next few weeks (at least) and having to delay our spring fundraiser, we will need to find extraordinary ways to maintain our level of giving.

Weekly collection
Each Sunday, attendees can give a gift to the church during the Invitation to Giving. For now, t he offering plates will not be passed, but will remain available at the entrance to the Sanctuary.  

Givelify
Givelify is a three-tap, easy way for donors to give from their smartphones, using the  Givelify app . Just download the free app, and select Community United Church of Christ as your place of worship. Then select the green “Give” button, select an amount. You can do a one-time gift or select recurring to set up a weekly, monthly or quarterly donation. 

Online
You can set up an online donation through  Vanco  or through your own bank’s automatic Bill Payer system (which generally involves no fees to you or the church). Using Bill-Pay will probably require our church’s address and phone number:  5550 N. Fresno St. Fresno, CA 93710 , 559.435.2690.

Mail a check
You can always mail or drop off a check at the office at  5550 N. Fresno St. Fresno, CA 93710 .

Facebook fundraisers
If you are on Facebook, consider sharing a fundraiser, inviting your friends to help raise funds for a cause important to you, on your birthday, some other significant date or just because. This enables you to have a bigger impact than you might on your own and also raises awareness of what our church does. 

Facebook charges no fees and takes no cut of the money raised. All donations go directly to the selected nonprofit within a few weeks. 

Here are the steps to create a Facebook fundraiser:
  • Go to Facebook fundraisers. Click on “Select Nonprofit” and type in Community United Church of Christ (You should see our logo).
  • Set a goal for the amount you want to raise and then set a date for your fundraiser to end.
  • Facebook will auto-generate a sample message that your friends will see, but you can customize it. 
  • Click the create button. It’s that easy!

Shop on  Smile.Amazon.com  
Community UCC is now part of the AmazonSmile Foundation charitable organizations that can be supported while you shop at  Smile.Amazon.com . Register Community UCC as your charity and Amazon will donate 0.5% of the eligible purchase price to our church. How does it work?
  1. Log onto Smile.Amazon.com. Use your regular Amazon login information. The online page will look exactly like your regular Amazon.com page and all your lists and history will be there. Prices will be the same. There is no difference between the Amazon.com and Smile.amazon.com sites except that the AmazonSmile Foundation will make charitable donations to your selected organization if you use smile.amazon.com for eligible purchases.
  2. Select Community Ucc as your charitable foundation and be sure you pick the one in Fresno CA. The last two “c”s are lower case letters. If you can’t find it by name, use our EIN: 94-6050078.
  3. Whenever you want to shop on Amazon, log on to Smile.Amazon.com.

Phone: 559.435.2690 
Email: office@communityucc.com