Grace and peace to those who may be interested in the work of the UCC Disability Ministries Board–Friends, UCC Members, UCC Clergy, UCC persons with disability and our ecumenical partners,

This is to provide you with an update of the work of the UCC Disability Ministry (UCCDM) Board of Directors since our last update published in November 2014.

At last Fall’s Annual Meeting, the UCCDM Board organized itself into four subcommittees: 1) Stewardship and Philanthropy, 2) Publications, Identity, and Communication, 3) Education, and 4) Special Events. Below are some highlights of the things we have been working on.

Stewardship and Philanthropy
The UCCDM Committee to establish the Virginia Kreyer Scholarship received a $10,000.00 matching grant to encourage donations to the fund. Thus, any individual or congregational donations to the Kreyer Fund up to $10,000 between now and the end of 2015 will be eligible for matching funds! Make your donation today!
The UCCDM Board was notified that the Virginia Kreyer Scholarship will be the recipient of an offering at Synod 2015.
The UCCDM Board was notified that the UCCDM had received a gift from the estate of Rev. Virginia Kreyer to further the work of UCCDM.

Special Events
UCC Disabilities Ministries will be sponsoring a Luncheon at Synod where we will celebrate the ADA Anniversary and present the UCCDM Awards. Look for the UCCDM booth at Synod.
Widening the Welcome 2015 is scheduled to be held September 24-26th in Hartford, Connecticut. Widening the Welcome 2015 Flyer

Publications, Identity, and Communications
This committee is working to update the UCCDM website with necessary and important details.
Infrastructure such as email address @uccdm.org are being established to support the work of UCCDM into the future.
Members of the UCC were invited to contribute to a Lenten devotional series reading the lectionary text from the lens of disability.
Discussions about a UCCDM logo have begun.

Education
A group is working on revisions of “Anybody, Everybody, Christ’s Body” to serve as an A2A Curriculum.
Plans are being made for a training about disabilities and UCCDM for UCC staff.
UCCDM continues to be involved in the development of ecumenical disability theology.
A toolkit for churches to become A2A is being developed.

The Board looks forward to a productive year spreading the word about accessibility and inclusion of people with disabilities in the all aspects of the life of the church. We would love to hear what your congregation is doing to increase inclusion!

May the Peace of Christ Remain with You,
Rev. Kelli Parrish Lucas
UCCDM Secretary