The United Thank Offering of The Episcopal Church awarded 33 grants for a total of $1,507,640.55 for the mission and ministry of The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. The grant recipients were approved by the Executive Council, meeting June 10 – June 13 in Linthicum Heights, Maryland (Diocese of Maryland).

The United Thank Offering is a ministry of The Episcopal Church to promote thankfulness and mission in the whole Church. Known worldwide as UTO, the United Thank Offering grants are awarded on an annual basis for projects that address human needs and help alleviate poverty, both domestically and internationally in The Episcopal Church.

UTO wishes to thank everyone who, through their personal spiritual discipline of gratitude, contributed to the 2018 Ingathering. Through this gratitude and generosity, UTO was able to grant $1,535,740.55. Of this, $28,100 funded the 2019 Young Adult and Seminarian grants (which can be found here).

The focus of the 2019 granting process was “Go: crossing boundaries created by race, culture, and economics to create communities that listen deeply and learn to live like Jesus.”  This year the UTO Board received over 75 applications and was able to fund grants for 33 projects. Below you will find the listing of the grants awarded as a part of the annual grant process, utilizing the remainder of the 2018 Ingathering funds and a portion of the Emery Trust.

Recipients and projects

Historical grants

Global Partnerships – Emery Trust #335 Award

• Bringing together YASC alumni, this is an opportunity to listen to their stories of mission service and the impact going to another part of the world to serve had on them personally and professionally, and to develop more intentional ways of sharing the YASC story with the wider Church and young adults in particular: $21,500

United Thank Offering in Partnership with Jasmine Road and the Diocese of Upper South Carolina – Julia Chester Emery Internship

• This proposal is for the Julia Chester Emery Intern to serve as the Residential Services Intern at Jasmine Road, providing education, planning, transportation, crisis intervention, and support for residents, assisting the residential services coordinator, and ensuring all activities promote the residents’ recovery and the overall mission of Jasmine Road: $35,000

Presiding Bishop’s Award: Upper South Carolina & Voorhees College – Voorhees College Campus Community Initiative (VCCCI)

• This project will empower VCCCI to renovate a building to serve as an Admissions Center and to upfit a Wellness and Fitness Complex. This two-part project allows Voorhees to meet the needs of students and community by providing access to education and wellness limited in rural South Carolina: $73,700

Episcopal Church awards

• Episcopal Diocese of Alabama – Start Up Funds for Latino Ministry: Todos Santos@All Saints, Montgomery: $14,450
• Episcopal Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast – Pensacola Area Interfaith Justice Ministry: $30,000
• Episcopal Diocese of Central New York – Building United Communities: $69,800
• Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real – San Pablo Tutoring Program: $22,300
• Episcopal Migration Ministries – Refugees as Advocates (RA): $49,722.30
• Episcopal Diocese of Hawaii – Wallyhouse Peace Garden: $9,900
• Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis – Trinity Haven Furnishings Project: $63,575
• Episcopal Diocese of Iowa – Faith and Grace Garden Greenhouse: $10,604.67
• Episcopal Diocese of Iowa in companion with the Diocese of Nzara, South Sudan – Nzara Pre-Natal and Birth Clinic: $28,520
• Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana – DAWN – Developing Adolescents for Workforce Navigation: $19,460
• Episcopal Diocese of Maine – Sophia’s House: Start Up Costs: $39,000
• Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts – Orientation to American Culture: $26,350
• Episcopal Diocese of Michigan – Corner Shower Laundry at St. Peter’s: $70,000
• Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi in companion with Honduras – Teach Them to Fish: Microindustry Mission: $36,000
• Episcopal Diocese of North Dakota – Star Lodge Interpretive Center: $58,418
• Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana – Gethsemane Center for Reconciliation’s Leadership Development Initiative: $35,314.81
• Episcopal Diocese of Northwest Texas – Swahili Worship Materials to Remove Boundaries: $4,884.60
• Episcopal Diocese of Olympia in companion with Jerusalem – Developing the Mother’s Empowerment Program at the Princess Basma Centre: $142,335
• Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh in companion with Uganda – St. Andrew’s Senior Secondary School Physical Plant Development: $85,655
• Episcopal Diocese of Rio Grande – Bilingual Borderlands Youth Ministry with St. Paul’s in Marfa, Texas: $38,000
• Episcopal Diocese of Rochester – Crossroads of Caring: $36,914
• Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin – Latino Missioner and Church Planter: $50,000
• Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio – A Learning Journey: A Path to Crossing Boundaries Together: $25,000
• Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts – St. Mark’s Afterschool Program in Worchester: $39,500

Anglican Communion Awards

• Jerusalem and the Middle East – Improve Education by Introducing a New, Unified, Interactive Teaching Methodology at Educational Institutions: $80,000
• Kenya, Diocese of Mumias – ACK Ebenezer Street Children’s Rehabilitation Center: $89,145
• Pakistan – Community Health and Training Project: $65,383
• South Africa, Diocese of Grahamstown – Breaking Barriers: Opening Opportunity Through Technology: $39,209.17
• Spain – Café Cabrerera at El Buen Samartan: $98,000

The United Thank Offering award funds are obtained from the Ingatherings/funds/contributions received through offerings from the well-known and easily recognizable UTO Blue Box. Every penny given to the United Thank Offering is given away the following year to support innovative mission and ministry in The Episcopal Church. With help from people across the church, and the encouragement that they give to others to join the United Thank Offering, the hope is to raise additional funds to support even more wonderful applicants.

Since 1889, UTO has collected and granted $138,629,911.07 in thank offerings to support innovative mission and ministry in The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion through 5,257 grants. Download the full list of grants awarded by UTO here.

Members of the United Thank Offering Board are: Sherri Dietrich, President; Joyce Landers, Vice-President; Kathy Mank, Financial Secretary; Lorraine Candelario, Appointed Member; Rosamond Daniels, Province III; Caitlyn Darnell, Young Adult Member; Gail Donovan, Province V; Diane Gabbard, Province IV; Sedona Jacobson, Young Adult Member; Jane Jellison, Province I; Hilda Lammar, Province IX; Maggie Noland, Province VII, The Rev. Christine Plantz, Province VI; Vernese Smith, Province II; The Rev. Matthew Cowden, Executive Council Liaison

For more information contact the Rev. Canon Heather Melton, staff officer for the United Thank Offering, hmelton@episcopalchurch.org.