Category: Fundraising

Our monthly Give Away the Plate contributions go to a local organization that best exemplifies our Unitarian Universalist principles and values through their work in our community.

Our January 2022 Give Away the Plate recipient is Volunteers for Youth Justice and will go toward our sponsorship of their annual Gumbo Gladiators fundraiser.

Volunteers for Youth Justice annually recruits, trains and supports hundreds of volunteers to provide services for at-risk children.

This includes Court-Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) volunteers as well as mentors for their Gems and Gents program.

Other programs include Truancy Assessment Service Center and the Trust-Based Relational Intervention for children who have experienced trauma. These are just a few of the programs offered by Volunteers for Youth Justice to serve community youth in crisis.

Two ways to donate:

Online — Go to our donation site using this link.  If you are paying your pledge, select “2022 Pledges” and enter that amount for your pledge contribution.  Then select “Collection Plate” to give the amount you would like to give to the Volunteers for Youth Justice.  All online collection plate contributions for the month of January 2022 will go to Volunteers for Youth Justice.

Offline — Please send your give away the plate contribution checks to All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 9449 Ellerbe Road, Shreveport LA  71106.  Please put “Volunteers for Youth Justice” on the memo line of the check if  you want to have 100% of this check go to the Volunteers for Youth Justice.  If you want less than 100% of the check to go to the Volunteers for Youth Justice, please put the amount you want going to the Volunteers for  Youth Justice on the memo line.

All Souls is proud to be a member congregation of Highland Center Ministries which has continually served the Highland Blessing Dinner every Thursday night for over 8 years now.

Even through the COVID-19 pandemic, the dinner continued with takeout meals and is now back in person with a free sit down dinner for all vaccinated adults and their children who come to the door.

Additionally, Highland Center Ministries has clothing closets for all ages, a free tax preparation services for people who make $50,000 a year or less, and banking services and low cost loans through Pelican State Credit Union for the unbanked and underbanked in our community.

Through Pelican State Credit Union, they also maintain a low-cost ATM at the Highland Center.

Additionally, Highland Center Ministries has provided sleeping quarters and a central location for coordinating services to Louisiana Aid to Immigrants in Detention.  Several All Souls members are frequent participants in helping these recently released detainees get to their families around the country.

Two ways to donate:

Online — Go to our donation site using this link.  If you are paying your pledge, select “2021 Pledges” and enter that amount for your pledge contribution.  Then select “Collection Plate” to give the amount you would like to give to the Highland Center Ministries.  All online collection plate contributions for the month of Decem ber 2021 will go to Highland Center Ministries.

Offline — Please send your give away the plate contribution checks to All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 9449 Ellerbe Road, Shreveport LA  71106.  Please put “Highland Center Ministries” on the memo line of the check if  you want to have 100% of this check go to the Highland Center Ministries.  If you want less than 100% of the check to go to the Highland Center Ministries, please put the amount you want going to the Highland Center Ministries on the memo line.

During the pandemic, we have chosen the Northwest Louisiana Food Bank as our give-away-the-plate recipient a couple of times already.

With unemployment and other COVID-related relief benefits running out and the holidays fast approaching, we don’t want to see anyone go hungry in our area.

And the Northwest Louisiana Food Bank supplies our two other favorite sources of food for hungry people — the Noel UMC Food Pantry and the Highland Blessing Dinner.

Two ways to donate:

Online — Go to our donation site using this link.  If you are paying your pledge, select “2021 Pledges” and enter that amount for your pledge contribution.  Then select “Collection Plate” to give the amount you would like to give to the Northwest Louisiana Food Bank.  All online collection plate contributions for the month of November 2021 will go to Northwest Louisiana Food Bank.

Offline — Please send your give away the plate contribution checks to All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 9449 Ellerbe Road, Shreveport LA  71106.  Please put “Northwest Louisiana Food Bank” on the memo line of the check if  you want to have 100% of this check go to the Northwest Louisiana Food Bank.  If you want less than 100% of the check to go to the Northwest Louisiana Food Bank, please put the amount you want going to the Northwest Louisiana Food Bank on the memo line.

Our October 2021 Give-Away-the-Plate recipient is Together Louisiana Ida Relief.

Together Louisiana is the statewide affiliate organization which includes North Louisiana Interfaith.

It is a non-partisan political organization made up of regional organizations throughout the state including North Louisiana Interfaith and many others groups.

Together Louisiana leaders work together on issues that most concern the people in our institutions throughout the state.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, Together Louisiana has worked on getting direct assistance to individuals and families who may have fallen through the cracks while at the same time working on systemic change to improve relief efforts and future systemic resilience and response.

Two ways to donate:

Online — Go to our donation site using this link.  If you are paying your pledge, select “2021 Pledges” and enter that amount for your pledge contribution.  Then select “Collection Plate” to give the amount you would like to give to Together Louisiana.  All online collection plate contributions for the month of October 2021 will go to Together Louisiana.

Offline — Please send your give away the plate contribution checks to All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 9449 Ellerbe Road, Shreveport LA  71106.  Please put “Together Louisiana” on the memo line of the check if  you want to have 100% of this check go to Together Louisiana.  If you want less than 100% of the check to go to Together Louisiana, please put the amount you want going to North Louisiana Interfaith on the memo line.

Our September 2021 Give-Away-the-Plate recipient is North Louisiana Interfaith.

North Louisiana Interfaith is a non-partisan political organization made up of religious congregations, non-profits, and other institutions throughout Northwest Louisiana.

All Souls has been a member congregation since 2005.

Interfaith leaders work together on issues that most concern the people in our institutions which arise out of house meetings where we listen to each other’s stories.

We work on issues at the local level and statewide level through our affiliate organization Together Louisiana.

Two ways to donate:

Online — Go to our donation site using this link.  If you are paying your pledge, select “2021 Pledges” and enter that amount for your pledge contribution.  Then select “Collection Plate” to give the amount you would like to give to North Louisiana Interfaith.  All online collection plate contributions for the month of September 2021 will go to North Louisiana Interfaith.

Offline — Please send your give away the plate contribution checks to All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 9449 Ellerbe Road, Shreveport LA  71106.  Please put “North Louisiana Interfaith” on the memo line of the check if  you want to have 100% of this check go to North Louisiana Interfaith.  If you want less than 100% of the check to go to North Louisiana Interfaith, please put the amount you want going to North Louisiana Interfaith on the memo line.

Our August 2021 Give-Away-the-Plate recipient Shreveport YWCA’s  Dialogue on Race program in memory of Thomas Ratcliff.

Dialogue on Race is a program of structured weekly conversations in small groups of 10-15 people under the guidance of two trained facilitators who endeavor to create a safe environment for open and honest dialogue on specific questions around the issue of race.

Many of our members have been through the program and several are facilitators.

We dedicate our gift to the memory of Thomas Ratcliff who grew up in our church and was tragically killed in an apartment fire on 25 June 2021.

John Ratcliff (father of Thomas Ratcliff) is a Dialogue on Race facilitator.

John and his wife Joy have designated Dialogue on Race as one of the causes that would best honor Thomas’s memory.

Two ways to donate:

Online — Go to our donation site using this link.  If you are paying your pledge, select “2021 Pledges” and enter that amount for your pledge contribution.  Then select “Collection Plate” to give the amount you would like to give to Dialogue on Race.  All online collection plate contributions for the month of August 2021 will go to Dialogue on Race.

Offline — Please send your give away the plate contribution checks to All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 9449 Ellerbe Road, Shreveport LA  71106.  Please put “Dialogue on Race” on the memo line of the check if  you want to have 100% of this check go to Dialogue on Race.  If you want less than 100% of the check to go to Dialogue on Race, please put the amount you want going to Dialogue on Race on the memo line.

Shreveport Green is a local non-profit working toward a vision of Shreveport as a

“clean, green, physically enhanced community whose citizens exhibit a strong sense of pride and concern about the environment. We maintain that an attractive city promotes respect and economic development.”

Visit their website to learn more about their various projects and initiatives to improve our city.  We have selected them as our July 2021 give-away-the-plate recipient.

Two ways to donate:

Online — Go to our donation site using this link.  If you are paying your pledge, select “2021 Pledges” and enter that amount for your pledge contribution.  Then select “Collection Plate” to give the amount you would like to give to Shreveport Green.  All online collection plate contributions for the month of July 2021 will go to Shreveport Green.

Offline — Please send your give away the plate contribution checks to All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 9449 Ellerbe Road, Shreveport LA  71106.  Please put “Shreveport Green” on the memo line of the check if  you want to have 100% of this check go to Shreveport Green.  If you want less than 100% of the check go to Shreveport Green, please put the amount you want going to Shreveport Green on the memo line.

Our June 2021 give-away-the-plate recipient is Louisiana Trans Advocates (LTA).

June is Pride Month and we have chosen LTA as our give-away-the-plate recipient for June 2021.

LTA is a statewide organization advancing trans rights as core human rights.  They provide support, resources, and empowering intersectional advocacy for all transgender, non-binary, and gender nonconforming people of all ages in Louisiana.

Two ways to donate:

Online — Go to our donation site using this link.  If you are paying your pledge, select “2021 Pledges” and enter that amount for your pledge contribution.  Then select “Collection Plate” to give the amount you would like to give to LTA.  All online collection plate contributions for the month of June 2021 will go to LTA.

Offline — Please send your give away the plate contribution checks to All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 9449 Ellerbe Road, Shreveport LA  71106.  Please put “LTA” on the memo line of the check if  you want to have 100% of this check go to LTA.  If you want less than 100% of the check go to LTA, please put the amount you want going to LTA on the memo line.

Our May 2021 give away the plate recipient is Louisiana Advocates for Immigrants in Detention (LA-AID).

Under the Biden administration, immigrants are being released from detention centers around the state just about every day so they can join family members around the nation as they await adjudication of their asylum claims.

LA-AID has been helping to house and feed them temporarily along with transporting them to their destinations.  Funds are used to buy plane and bus tickets, food, hotel rooms, clothing and other necessities along with reimbursing those who have stepped up to provide those things.

LA-AID is a volunteer organization dedicated to the abolition of immigrant detention.

Two ways to donate:

Online — Go to our donation site using this link.  If you are paying your pledge, select “2021 Pledges” and enter that amount for your pledge contribution.  Then select “Collection Plate” to give the amount you would like to give to LA-AID.  All online collection plate contributions for the month of May 2021 will go to LA-AID.

Offline — Please send your give away the plate contribution checks to All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 9449 Ellerbe Road, Shreveport LA  71106.  Please put “LA-AID” on the memo line of the check if  you want to have 100% of this check go to LA-AID.  If you want less than 100% of the check go to LA-AID, please put the amount you want going to LA-AID on the memo line.