Mitten Tree

UCE Mitten Tree

2011 Mitten Tree List – sign up!

The Mitten Tree is a fun tradition of gift giving to others who need help during the holiday season. The Mitten Tree tradition has collected gifts for over 25 years. Mittens (with the wished for items) will be available from Nov.20 to Dec. 4. Please stop by the back of the church. We encourage every UCE member to contribute with generosity. Please bring your new & unwrapped gifts to UCE as soon as you have purchased them. The final deadline is Dec.4. We will be sorting gifts on the 4th and wrapping them at Ornament Sunday, Sunday the 11th. Some organizations don’t want their gifts wrapped so we will bag and label them.

Give as a group. Give as an individual. Give as a family!

We are providing gifts to five groups this year. We hope you will be generous.

The Cradle The young women who place their babies for adoption need a little Christmas cheer. We will buy gift cards for those persons. (10 gift cards at $30 each)

Connections for the Homeless is home to Hilda’s Place shelter and food pantry, which UCE helps through monthly donations—Our Giving House. For the holidays, they are requesting CTA cards so that their clients can go to job interviews or to see an apartment. (100)

Good News Builders
Renovating and upgrading Good News Partners multiple housing units and communal living areas is a full-time task. We are fortunate to have an apprentice program that allows community members to become trained in a wide range of building skills. Supervised by a Rehab Manager, they remodel and renovate units to house and serve our families. As they remodel and rebuild, the builders acquire skills that move them toward independence and prosperity; they become role models for aspiring workers.

Good News Partners
We are providing gifts for 26 children and adults who are fortunate to have moved from the Jonquil Hotel and the New Life Shelter to independent apartments maintained by Good News Partners.
We are providing gifts for this wonderful group in a variety of ways

Children’s Home and Aid Society of Evanston
We are providing gifts for about 20 children who are residents at the Rice Child and Family Center just down the street from UCE on Ridge and Washington. Children with a history of violence and abuse often exhibit extremely volatile and severe behavior. Inevitably, well-meaning foster parents are unable to deal with these behaviors, often resulting in the child becoming a ward of the state. The Rice Child + Family Center is focused on treating these vulnerable children with a goal of returning them to a loving family. All of the services provided by the Rice Child + Family Center are administered in-house. The facility includes a medical clinic, group therapy classrooms, special education facilities and an art therapy area.

Helpers: If you want to help with this project, let us know. There is plenty to do. Contact Persons: Laura Nelson (847- 475-7006); LFraser30@aol.com; or Carol Nielsen — 847-869-1177; carolsnielsen@sbcglobal.net