Cleveland Convention and Visitors Bureau to feed 75 families via UCC community

From Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>
Date Fri, 17 Dec 2010 21:02:36 -0500

Cleveland Convention and Visitors Bureau to feed 75 families via UCC 
commun ity

Written by Jeff Woodard
December 13, 2010

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 
countr ies.

"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.