At its April 2021 meeting, the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church approved United Thank Offering (UTO) grants to support 16 Episcopal Church and eight Anglican Communion missions and ministries, in its second round of COVID-19-related mission and ministry funding. Three historical grants were also awarded for projects that fall outside the regular parameters of the granting process but within the historical practices of UTO.

These grants are in addition to 26 awards given during a first round of COVID-19 project funding. The UTO’s 2020 Ingathering, where monies collected in UTO Blue Boxes at Episcopal churches throughout the year are “gathered” as thank offerings, generated $479,369.53 for the second round of grants.   

United Thank Offering grants are awarded each year for projects in The Episcopal Church and throughout the Anglican Communion. For 2021, the grant focus is Recovering with Love and Gratitude: An Episcopal Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Local Contexts.

The UTO Board received 130 applications during two grant cycles this year and was able to fund 53 grants. For the second round of COVID grants, the Board received almost $1.4 million in requests. The Board offered funding levels to guide requests in order to fund as many as possible.

“Choosing which grant applications to fund and not fund is always difficult,” UTO Board President Sherri Dietrich said, “but during this extraordinary time of global pandemic suffering, we had to prioritize basic survival needs. We thank all those contributed to the UTO’s Ingathering in 2020 and encourage everyone to give as a way to show gratitude.”

The COVID-19 grants reflect some historic traditions for UTO – namely, sustaining previous grant winners to ensure that vital ministries continue, as well as funding new innovative responses. Grants that sustain previous awardees are indicated in the titles below.

Every penny given to the United Thank Offering goes to support innovative mission and ministry in The Episcopal Church.

Grant recipients

The grants, which are subject to their sponsoring dioceses having completed their 2020 assessment payments, are listed below, by category.

Episcopal Church Award Recipients

• Episcopal Diocese of Alabama – Hispanic COVID-19 Vaccination Initiative: $2,990
• Episcopal Diocese of Arizona – St. Philip’s in the Hills Kitchen on a Mission: $5,050
• Episcopal Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast – St. Mark’s Food Pantry: $3,232.68
• Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania – Transforming Collective Isolation into Communal Holiness: $8,600
• Episcopal Diocese of Chicago – Sustaining Project WORK: $4,720
• Episcopal Diocese of Cuba – A Light of Love: $8,300
• Episcopal Migration Ministries – Neighbor to Neighbor: $25,000
• Episcopal Diocese of Honduras – COVID-19 Relief through Transportation to Care: $25,000
• Episcopal Diocese of Lexington – Sustaining: Reading Camp: $12,000
• Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles – Healing from Loss: $7,780
• Episcopal Diocese of Maryland – Resurrection Food Distribution: $25,000
• Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts – MANNA Hispanic/Latinx Pastoral Intern: $14,049
• Episcopal Diocese of Missouri – Sustaining Trinity Food Ministry: $11,300
• Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey – St. Paul’s Community Health Clinic: $11,065.18
• Episcopal Diocese of North Dakota – Memorial Feeds – Feeding Recovery from COVID-19: $17,000
• Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania – The Food Pantry at Grace: $10,350

Anglican Communion Award Recipients

• Bi-Lateral Partner: Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil (Brazil), Diocese of Amazonia – Educational Complementation – Education Art: $24,811.81
• Bi-Lateral Partner: Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil (Brazil), Missionary District of Oeste-Brasil – Empowering Women to Overcome Increased Vulnerability due to COVID-19: $8,207
• Covenant Partner: The Episcopal Church in the Philippines, Diocese of North Central Philippines – EDNCP Vegetable Consolidation and Multi-purpose Center: $24,986
• The Church of Ceylon, Diocese of Columbo – Building Resilience through Equal Access to Education: $15,769.32
• The Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf – Ministering to Families and Individuals: $23,569
• The Anglican Church of Kenya, Diocese of Mumias – COVID-19 Children’s Safehouse: $25,000
• The Anglican Church of Tanzania – Reaching Out to Children at Schools and Colleges: $9,825
• The Anglican Church of Tanzania, Diocese of Western Tanganyika – Assisting Mothers’ Union with Planting Plots to Develop Livelihoods to Respond to COVID-19: $25,000

Historical Grant Award Recipients

• Johnson Service Corps House: Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina – Julia Chester Emery Internship: $28,500
• Presiding Bishop – Support for Episcopal Chaplaincy: $36,264.54
• Emery Trust #335 Award – Episcopal Service Corps: Resiliency Education: $66,000

Since its founding in 1889, UTO has awarded 5,384 grants for a total of $141,104,725.30. (For a complete list of all UTO grants, please visit www.episcopalchurch.org/UTO and click on the Resources tab at the bottom of the page.)

Members of the United Thank Offering Board are as follows: Ms. Sherri Dietrich, president; Ms. Joyce Landers, vice-president; Ms. Kathy Mank, financial secretary; Ms. Lorraine Candelario Moctezuma, appointed member; Ms. Rosamond Daniels, Province III; the Rev. Caitlyn Darnell, Province IV; Ms. Gail Donovan, Province V; Ms. Diane Gabbard, Province IV; Ms. Sedona Jacobson, young adult member; Ms. Jane Jellison, Province I; Ms. Hilda Lammar, Province IX; Ms. Kate Mietus, Province VIII; Ms. Maggie Noland, Province IV; the Rev. Christine Plantz, Province VI; Ms. Vernese Smith, Province II.

For more information, contact Heather Melton, staff officer for the United Thank Offering, 212-922-5130.