1. Poverty and Homelessness: What can we do about it?

UCM Great Hall, Thurs. March 6, 2025 7:30 – 9:15 pm Tickets on Eventbrite and at the door
Speakers – John Nybolt, Board Chair, The Compass, and Stephen Dasko, Ward 1 Councillor

2. a) Dying with Dignity, and b) The Politics and Legality of M.A.I.D.

UCM Great Hall, Sunday April 6, a) 10:30 am and b) 12:00 Noon
Speakers a) Rev. Jeffrey Brown sermon, and b) Sandra Kingston, former Crown Prosecutor

UCM is an active supporter of the Mississauga Foodbank, with food and money donation drives at Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Members and friends of UCM have volunteered with food sorting at Foodbank Mississauga, now located at 4544 Eastgate Parkway east of Dixie Rd.

The Compass Food Bank and Outreach Centre at 427 Lakeshore Rd. E. provides not only food hampers and fresh meals, but also counselling services, and free tax preparations in March and April. Our UCM congregation has volunteers at The Compass in all three areas, and welcomes all new volunteers.

Some of you may be familiar with Child Haven International, a registered charity founded in 1985 by Unitarian Universalists Reverend Fred Cappuccino, his wife Bonnie, and others.  In addition to their two biological children, Fred and Bonnie adopted 19 children from all around the world.  As their large family grew up, they turned their thoughts to helping destitute children in India.

Child Haven International currently has 8 homes, five in India, one in Tibet, one in Bangladesh and one in Nepal. These homes follow the ideals and philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi. They accept children from socially disadvantaged situations without regard to race, caste, religion or culture. The children are raised according to the highest ideals of their own cultures, whether they are Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jain, Sikh, Buddhist or secular. They are provided full care through high school, followed by vocational training, granting them self sufficiency when they reach adulthood.

Child Haven also runs programs for women, providing employment, education, training, medical and legal aid. One of the cottage industries supported by Child Haven is the production of soya milk.

Child Haven International is a registered charity that is supported entirely by generous contributions from people like me and you. We are all connected, even to children and women struggling on the other side of the planet. Please consider a donation to Child Haven. More information can be found at their website: https://www.childhaven.ca/donate.html.

Judy Benger

Amnesty International Letter-Writing Campaigns at UCM

Our Unitarian Congregation in Mississauga has been sponsoring letter-writing campaigns every two months since 2015 based on Amnesty International Canada advocacy cases. We try to write our letters in a respectful tone, and choose cases where there is some hope the letter might have an impact.

Pathways Community Housing was founded by Solel Synagogue, Streetsville United Church, and the Unitarian Congregation of South Peel to address the need for affordable housing in Peel Region. Our mission is rooted in the conviction that of faith that all human beings deserve to have their fundamental needs met.

The mission of Pathway is: To provide decent and affordable housing that nurtures community and well being of people of no, low, or modest income.

Members of the Unitarian Congregation in Mississauga remain involved as volunteers on the Board and in the Community programs at Pathways.

The address to send membership forms ($10 ) and donations to Pathway CommunityPrograms is: Pathway Non Profit Community Development Inc.,  3023 Parkerhill Rd, Mississauga, ON L5B 4B3. Or you could do an e-transfer to Pathway Non-Profit (add payee), and give their email contact: info@pathwayhousing.ca The phone number is 905.272.2285. If you have questions about Pathway and/or PCP, you may Charmaine Ferworn or John Rowell.

Pathway Community Programs – Pathway Community Programs is a non-profit organization, which operates and oversees the Audrey Pritchard Breakfast Clubs at two locations in Mississauga, at Forest Ridge and Arbour Mill, and at the Norton Lake building in Brampton through the Knights Table organization. A part-time coordinator for each breakfast club is assisted by volunteers from the Unitarian Congregation in Mississauga.

You may contact Wendy Shusterman by emailing info@uucm.ca

UCM has sponsored several refugee families and individuals for over 45 years, especially since the Syrian refugee crisis in the mid-2010s. We have had fundraising for a few families, and we have coordinated with other sponsors to provide sponsorship spaces through the Canadian Unitarian Council. We have helped to settle families from Laos, Burundi, Syria, Afghanistan, and Eritrea.

We are currently waiting for CUC spaces to help new refugees from Syria and Afghanistan.

If you would like to help with applications, settlement services, furniture and housing, please contact Kathy Geczi at kgeczi@rogers.com and/or John Rowell at johnrowell99@gmail.com

UCM encourages and supports other Social Justice organizations and events at our Great Hall and at other South Mississauga locations.

On Thursday, Feb. 13th, the Eagle Spirits of the Great Waters organization hosted a major indigenous film artist and other artists, also at The Great Hall:

The Eagle Spirits organizes a Drumming Circle at UCM every 4th Thursday evening at the Great Hall.

The Unitarian Universalist Association’s (UUA’s) involvement in the United Nations can be traced to the early part of the 20th century. Both the Unitarians and the Universalists were active in the League of Nations Association and later closely monitored the creation of the United Nations.  The founding of the Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office (UU-UNO) can be traced to April of 1962.

UCM has an annual UU-UNO Sunday in the fall and proceeds go to the organization. We have sent youth groups on field trips to the United Nations Headquarters building and they have visited the UU-UNO office.