Share the Plate

Contribute to Our Mission


The fellowship shares half of undesignated donations received during our Sunday services with a community organization or charity that does work consistent with our UU values and mission, organizations involved in promoting community services and social justice.

For the month of April, we have selected St. Joseph’s Community Outreach Center.

St. Joseph’s serves the community through their soup kitchen, food pantry and the Community Outreach Center. They provide a number of programs and services through their many community partnerships. Services available include Catholic Charities and JCEO, which both provide outreach services; Americorps RSVP (Retired Senior Volunteer Program); Champlain Valley Educational Services, who provides NYS High School Equivalency classes; NYS Office of New Americans; and Plattsburgh Cares.

It is through St. Joseph’s partnership with Plattsburgh Cares that we at the fellowship can volunteer for the emergency food bag assembly team. The food/emergency supply bags are distributed by local motel owners (one bag for each family member/person) to people who are being put up by Emergency-After-Hours (Department of Social Services) and other partners, including Plattsburgh Cares.

Every two weeks or so, an email call goes out for a “food bag assembly crew” to meet on a given Friday morning at St. Joseph’s Community Outreach Center in order to fill about 160 emergency food bags. The food bags are dropped off at area motels where folks are placed in emergency housing by DSS — including local citizens and noncitizens who find them themselves stranded in our county. We have been fortunate to have 15-20 volunteers each time we hold a session for food bag assembly. Usually the prepping, bagging and breaking down of boxes takes less than 90 minutes! Volunteer when you’re available: one time, or a number of times. To volunteer, contact Diana Wardell at https://plattsburghcares.org/ 

To donate to St. Joseph’s, mail a check to the UU fellowship (4 Palmer St., Plattsburgh, NY 12901) and indicate “St. Joe’s” on the memo line. You can also text “GIVE” to 518-594-8008.

We are interested in hearing about ideas you may have for potential beneficiaries of Share the Plate. Please send any suggestions to love@uuplattsburgh.org and include a short description of the charity or organization.

Your gift will help us fulfill our mission, fostering open minds, inspiring spiritual growth, engaging in loving community and igniting a passion for social justice.