December 13, 2010
Written by Jeff Woodard

Turkey will be on the table and faith will feed the spirit of Christmas for 75 Cleveland families who had apparently been shut out of a holiday meal.

Partnering with Positively Cleveland and its "Huddle for Hunger" project, the UCC announced Dec. 7 that turkeys will be distributed to residents in the neighborhood of St. Paul's Community UCCon Cleveland's near west side. The church had planned to donate hams to the families – but residents in need far outnumbered available food.

"St. Paul's has been serving those in need for over 50 years," says the Rev. Lori Tisher, outreach program manager at St. Paul's. "As the holidays are approaching, more and more people needing services are coming through our doors.

"We are truly grateful for donations like these turkeys from Positively Cleveland, which will help make the holiday season a little brighter for those struggling to make ends meet."

Positively Cleveland – Greater Cleveland's Convention and Visitors Bureau – is a nonprofit organization focused on bringing business and leisure travelers to Cleveland. Its efforts result in nearly 14 million visitors funneling $4.53 billion into the local economy annually. The group's ties to the local faith community are solid as well.

"The UCC has always been a strong supporter of the Positively Cleveland Convention and Visitors Bureau," says Kariuki Epps, senior sales manager for Positively Cleveland. "So we naturally thought of them when we got involved with ‘Cleveland Society Magazine' in assisting with this awesome program."

"We are very pleased to help the people of our great city during the holidays. We are especially happy to help St. Paul's and the UCC community."

Echoing that happiness is Chuck Davenport, a turkey recipient who volunteers and works part time at community-service-oriented organizations such as Project Save and Urban Hope, as well as for outreach at St. Paul's.

"I think it's a pretty fine gesture on the part of St. Paul's," says Davenport, who has a family of six to feed. "A lot of times people want to help, but there's just not enough to go around.

"And this time, they looked for ME. It's not often that someone will make that effort, at least not in my life. Usually, I've got to chase something like this down." Kimberly Whitney, UCC minister for community life and assistant to the Collegium, cites the connection as a natural link in the chain of goodwill between the community and the UCC that was established when the church relocated its national offices from New York City to Cleveland 20 years ago.

"The messaging is embodied in folks like St. Paul's UCC," says Whitney, noting that Tisher once served an internship in UCC's Wider Church Ministries. "And now they've got families needing food baskets they'd have had to turn away. None of us would have known about this. It was only the call from Positively Cleveland that prompted this flurry of connecting the dots."

When the UCC relocated to Cleveland in 1990, it hit the ground running in lending a hand with downtown redevelopment. To mark the UCC's 20th anniversary in Cleveland last fall, national staff participated in community-wide service, planting trees, loading lunch bags, cleaning littered riverbanks and helping sort medical supplies for developing countries.

"Seeing the UCC as a part of the chain of well-being in our eco-system here, Positively Cleveland wanted to make sure UCC received some for hunger work in the city," says Whitney.

United Church of Christ News Service