The Dedicated Offering Committee (DOC) selects non-profit organizations that our Society will support with donations from our Sunday collections September – June. We split our collections 50/50 with them. In turn, our UU Society is enriched by learning about organizations we did not know about that are helping enrich our world. The DOC solicits members for names of specific organizations and asks that they complete a specific DO form, which is available in the UUSA office or on-line at https://forms.gle/hypyMGzMJHgeAVf26. A representative from a chosen organization is asked to speak about it on the first Sunday of its month.

The Dedicated Offering for the month of December will be given to Etta International, Empowerment Through the Arts. This is an Amherst organization that serves the community of people labeled as disabled,

a label the members of the group don’t like. In fact, they refer to themselves as the unlabeled. It is a joyous group of people who came together to create the Rainbow Players, a theater troop, led by Ezzell Floranina. Several of the members lived at the Belchertown State School before it was closed, and several of the members are regular attendees/helpers at the UUSA Wednesday morning breakfasts. 

Their website is etta-international.org. I encourage you to go to this website and look at the photos and the short video. It states: “We treat all human beings as whole, using self-expression as a method of mending the past to shape a better future.”

They are in fact international, having taken their troop to European countries two different times.

In June of this year, the organization used the UUSA social hall to have one of their joyous celebrations, and Lea Douville, our Congregational Administrator, saw how good it was, and recommended that the Dedicated Offering Committee consider donating to them. We have in turn chosen them to receive the offerings for the month of December.

Anne Perkins

Dedicated Offering Committee member