Thanks to the bequest of CUCC member Art Eckels, the children’s program at CUCC has had a consistent component of teaching justice. The Community Outreach Ministry was given the privilege of discerning how to use Art’s gift to further CUCC’s “working for social justice” mission. In the fall of 2002, they decided to split his gift: half for a Habitat for Humanity house and half as seed money for a staff person to “encourage the growth of CUCC’s children and youth as the next generation of justice people.” (Read a story about the seed money and a thunderstorm.) The congregation acknowledged this generous gift in passing the 2003 budget.
Anne Bailey Zschau arrived at CUCC in March 2003 and has been serving as the Children’s Sunday School Coordinator ever since, building into the children’s program experiences working for justice with their talents and their money.* Through the Rotation Church School program, CUCC’s children had been involved in service projects connected thematically to each rotation, but Anne Bailey’s innovation was to invite them to vote from a short list of options to select their service projects. At first the children voted for a new project every few months. Over time, they settled into a spring, summer, and fall project rhythm. Some years the children voted to continue their support of the same service project for another semester. We aren’t sure what year the voting began, but we know it was in place by 2007.
Full document: Children's Sunday School Justice Projects
(compiled by Jane Smith, August 2016, updated October 2017)
