Share The Plate for January 2025

Defenders of Highline Forest

Half of all undesignated donations received in the month of December will be shared with Defenders of Highline Forest: https://www.defendersofhighlineforest.org/mvv

In January, that organization is Defenders of Highline Forests, who believe that protecting and restoring the Highline forest, especially in neighborhoods where tree canopy is low, is a matter of public health, environmental, and racial justice. The Highline forest includes the green spaces directly to our North, in Des Moines, Kent, Burien, Normandy Park, SeaTac, Tukwila, and unincorporated King County. For many of us at Saltwater, these are our neighborhood trees being defended by this month’s share the plate recipient. 

Due to the generosity of a matching donor, the total amount of undesignated donations in the morning’s offering baskets will be donated to Defenders of Highline Forest AND half of that amount will go to Saltwater church operations. Your gift has an impact both within and beyond our walls. 

You can make a donation to share the plate through the donate button on our website

 https://saltwaterchurch.org/stewardship/donate/ or mail a check to the church office with “basket” in the memo line: Saltwater UU Church, 25701 14 Pl S., Des Moines, WA 98198. If you would like to nominate a recipient for Share The Plate you may do so by completing this form.

The practice of sharing a portion of the Sunday collection with a non-profit organization that reflects our Unitarian Universalist values of Justice and Generosity.

Is there an organization or group that you would like us to consider to be a recipient? Please complete this form . Additionally every summer we ask that all past recipients resubmit a request for funding to be considered for the upcoming church year. All requests will be reviewed by the Operation Leads.

Our congregation has been so generous in past years. In times of crisis, YOU have stepped up and we so appreciate it.  Thank YOU!

Any member may nominate an organization to be considered by the Operation Leads. Our criteria for selection will continue to prioritize local organizations that serve South King County but we will also accept nominations that allow us to respond with support for emergencies, natural disasters, or pressing social issues, that serve a larger area: such as offerings for the UU Service Committee or UUA disaster relief fund. Minimal requirements are:

• Organization must be a 501 (c) 3 non-profit
• The organization’s mission must align with UU values and principles
• We prioritize organizations that serve South King County 

Due to our ongoing relationship to a few local organizations, we will continue to have an annual share the plate for Hospitality House and Federal Way Day Center. We will also have an annual share the plate for Duwamish Tribal Services, an expression of our commitment to live into right relationship with local indigenous communities. You do not need to submit a request for these organizations.

Organizations we have supported through the Share the Plate Program:
(*funded in 2023)

Auburn Food Bank
Birth to Three Developmental Center
Black Lives of UU Affordable Housing Initiative
*Black Future Fund
Catholic Community Services Emergency Assistance
Citizens for a Healthy Bay
Community in Schools, Federal Way
DAWN, Domestic Abuse Women’s Network
Des Moines Food Bank
*Duwamish Tribal Services
*Federal Way Community Caregiving Network
*Federal Way Day Center
Federal Way Food Bank
*Fund for Global Human Rights (earthquake in Turkey)
*Hospitality House
Kent Food Bank
Living Well Kent
Lutheran Immigration Refuge Services for Afghan resettlement in South King County
NAMI of South King County, National Alliance on Mental Illness
*Project Feast
Save the Weyerhaeuser Campus
Sound Alliance
*Sound Generations
*United Indians of All Tribes
UU the Vote
*Westside Babies
Washington Poor People’s Campaign
White Center Food Bank