The Sun Lakes United Church of Christ has been focused this year on living our motto. Two of the tenets of the motto are protect the environment and care for the poor. With this in mind, we started off the year partnering with Phoenix Ktizo UCC church, donating money for clean burning stoves for the people of LaFlor, Nicaragua. These low fuel cooking stoves are clean burning and decrease deforestation while increasing the health of those cooking in the home.

In the spring and fall we support the Chandler Christian Community Center with food drives to replenish their food pantry. In July, we donated $500 to their Back to School drive which supplies needy children in Chandler with necessary items to start the school year.

Over the summer, we have collected items for the Justa Center in downtown Phoenix. The Justa Center (justacenter.org) is a facility specifically serving the homeless over 55 population, many of whom are veterans. They are open every day from 7:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. to provide a safe environment for their members and work with them to locate earned benefits and establish them in a home. The members of our retirement community have been very generous in looking through their homes and donating unused items which will allow a formerly homeless senior to furnish their own apartment.

It has been an enriching experience to look beyond the doors of our small church and find ways to care and give. Needs of others become very personal when awareness is brought to our minds. We can all do something to help and will feel a blessing in our hearts and satisfaction in our souls when we put forth the effort. We welcome all to join us for our Sunday service at 11:15 a.m. in the Chapel at Sun Lakes and to participate in our other activities (chandler-sunlakesucc.org).