At Plymouth Church, we don’t just encourage individuals to be generous and caring – we practice generosity collectively with our donations and actions.
Goals and Service
As an expression of our faith and Christianity, we tithe at least 10% of our pledges and offerings to those in need. Our goal is to help care for our neighbors here and afar. Examples of local partners are the Belmont Food Pantry, the Greater Boston Food Bank, Household Goods, New England Center and Home for Veterans, Outdoor Church, Waltham House, and On the Rise. National and International Organizations we support include Little Children of the World, the Mercy Corp, Refugee Protection International, Water.org, and the National Ministries of the United Church of Christ (UCC). We regularly conduct time sensitive drives to fund relief for disasters such as hurricanes and wild fires. See additional information about some of our partners below.
Beyond contributing financial support, Plymouth Church provides regular opportunities for service. For example, our congregation supports and operates the Belmont Food Pantry on the fourth Sunday afternoon of each month and unloads and stocks food supplies at least monthly, typically on the third Friday of each month. Other service opportunities include sponsoring volunteer build days at Habitat for Humanity, assisting with furnishing Waltham House, conducting kitchen utensil and furniture drives for Household Goods, and running spring community rummage sales at our church. We also coordinate service projects for kids and youth such as a collection of backpacks and school supplies for The Wish Project. In December we conduct a “giving tree” drive to provide holiday gifts and coats to individuals in need served by several local organizations. See the church calendar [make this a link] for current and upcoming mission events. [This assumes that Plymouth’s web-available calendar will be expanded to record and update all church sponsored events in one place. The Mission Committee and the Fellowship Committee recommend this and can help with regular and timely updates as events are planned and scheduled.]
Partners
Check out some of our mission partners below: (each with a link)
- Belmont Food Pantry. https://belmontfoodpantry.org/
- Belmont Religious Council. https://sites.google.com/view/belmontrc/
- National Ministries of the United Church of Christ providing disaster relief. https://www.ucc.org/
- On the Rise. https://www.ontherise.org/
- Waltham House. https://www.thehome.org/programs/waltham-house/
- Refugee Protection International. https://refugeeprotection.org/
- Little Children of the World. https://littlechildren.org/
- Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition. https://miracoalition.org/
- Household Goods of Acton. https://www.householdgoods.org/about/
- International Institution of New England (IINE) supporting immigrants and refugees. https://iine.org/
- Mercy Corp (NOW Refugee Hope Welcome Circles). https://www.mercycorps.org/
- TIST Program Institute for Environmental Innovation. https://program.tist.org/
- The Wish Project. https://www.thewishproject.org/
- Belmont Farmers’ Market. https://www.belmontfarmersmarket.org/
Giving in 2024 and 2025
Last year we supported people affected by natural disasters, immigrants, and those in need locally, nationally, and internationally. A church committee of lay people consider congregational recommendations and annually select receiving organizations. We intentionally attempt to distribute our contributions among local, regional, national, and international needs and among organizations providing food, housing, refugee and immigrant support, LBGTQ and inclusion support, environmental sustainability, prisoner support, support for youth and children, and disaster relief. Below is a partial list of organizational we supported in 2024 and the beginning of 2025.
Local and Regional
- Belmont Food Pantry
- Belmont Religious Council
- Belmont Serves
- Belmont Farmers’ Market
- Camp Wilmot Scholarships
- Chelsea Collaborative
- Children’s Room
- Greater Boston Food Bank
- Household Goods of Acton
- International Institution of New England (IINE)
- Metropolitan Boston Association
- Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition
- More than Words
- New England Center and Home for Veterans
- Outdoor Church
- On the Rise
- Prison Book Program
- Waltham House
- Women’s Lunch Place
National and International:
- Aida Refugee Camp
- Bikes Not Bombs
- Habitat for Humanity
- Little Children of the World
- Mercy Corp (NOW Refugee Hope Welcome Circles
- Refugee Protection International
- TIST Program Institute for Environmental Innovation
- United Church of Christ emergency fund supporting those in North Carolina after its devastating hurricane and floods and in California affected by wild fires
- United Church of Christ Southern New England Conference.
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Getting involved
If you are interested in getting involved or helping out, come to Plymouth Church [link to church hours on web] or contact Plymouth Church [link to church contact on web]
Check out some of our mission partners below:
Plymouth’s Mission Partners
The Belmont Food Pantry
In addition to financial support, Plymouth helps operate the Belmont Food Pantry. On the fourth Sunday afternoon of each month, our volunteers are responsible for operating distribution. We would love to have you help! The time commitment is 90 minutes, from 12-1:30 p.m., and you can even sign up online here.
Belmont Religious Council
The BRC is our local interfaith council. Rev. Joe served as president from 2015-2019, and the entire church participates in its many activities, from the town-wide volunteer day “Belmont Serves,” to the Interfaith Thanksgiving Service, to the Interfaith Youth Mission Trips. Learn more about the BRC at their website.
United Church of Christ
We are proud members of the United Church of Christ, a national Christian denomination committed to the love of God, social justice and ecumenical cooperation. One of the key ways we support our denomination is by being a “teaching congregation” that often helps train ministers through year-long internships. Dozens of serving ministers in the UCC all around the country have been seminarians at Plymouth! We also support the denomination by giving to its global ministries, participating at the association and conference level, and the “One Great Hour of Sharing” offering. Learn more about our denomination at UCC.org.
