The following stories are being offered for your use and enjoyment to help interpret the work of One Great Hour of Sharing.  Stories are also available yearly in our Annual Mission Report. Each story tries to answer the question of how dollars help people across a variety of communities, both near and far. 

If you are already a supporter of the offering, thank you on behalf of all the lives that have been and will be changed because of your gift. If you are considering a gift, please know that One Great Hour of Sharing, United Church of Christ uses a very small portion of each gift to administer programs--much, much smaller than other famous companies doing similar work, For more information feel free to contact our office at: oghs@ucc.org.

 Community Centers Provide Help that heals
People living in camps in Darfur depend on humanitarian-aid agencies for all their basic needs: food, water, shelter and essential household items. But with community centers in eleven camps, ACT-Caritas is providing something more: These centers help people overcome trauma. Funds from the One Great Hour of Sharing offering and designated gifts are supporting this important ministry.

 Pigs, Pigs and more Pigs
What does One Great Hour of Sharing® have to do with pigs? Well, in 2005 One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS) provided a grant to the Ikengo Agriculture and Training Center located in Ikengo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, under the direction of Mr. Celestine Engelemba.

 Sierra Leone hosts seminars on trauma awareness and recovery
Two years after the end of its brutal decade-long civil conflict, West Africa's Sierra Leone is balancing its still-fragile reconstruction and reconciliation with a persistent cry for justice—a cry many are concerned will accelerate into future recriminations. But global humanitarian agency Church World Service, supported by One Great Hour of Sharing is teaming up with West African church and civic leaders this month to avert that recurrence, by forging trauma counseling into a conflict prevention tool for the region.

 HIV/AIDS training and organization in Namibia
Global Ministries has a very positive relationship with the main ecumenical body of Namibia, the Council of Churches of Namibia (CCN), which initiated its work during anti-apartheid times when South Africa was illegally running Namibia. During this period the churches of Namibia, including the United Congregational Church, member of the Council, worked together in CCN to gain independence in 1990.

 Kids Sell Art to Help the Children of Japan
7 year old Megan Miller encourages Church members to participate in fund-raising efforts to help the children of Japan. Touched by the news of the March 2011 earthquake, young Megan and others respond.

 Fresh Water for Tibetan People
Running water in the home or in the community leads to better sanitation and ultimately better health. The Er ia Qi Village, high in the Tibetan mountains is enjoying both.

 Educating children in Mindanoa
Mindanao, Philippines was once known as the "land of promise" because of the land's rich bounty. Despite that richness, however, the majority of the people in Mindanao are poor and living conditions are getting worse each day.

 Providing humanitarian assistance to the people of North Korea
ACT International, in which the United Church of Christ holds membership, has been providing humanitarian assistance to the people of the Democratic Republic of North Korea since the 90s, when a flood in mid-1995 devastated the country. The flood marked the beginning of a drawn-out and ongoing "emergency," in that the country simply could not cope with the natural disasters that followed.

 Donated sheep bring hope to shepherds of China's Inner Mongolia
Si Qing spends most of his days herding his goats and sheep. Like many other shepherds of Inner Mongolia (Autonomous Region), he is still recovering from the devastating snowstorms of two years ago that killed many animals and laid waste to vast tracts of grazing land.

 OGHS Helps Maria make Breakfast
Watch this short video to see what goes into making breakfast at Maria's home and in her country. What you see may surprise you, and could inspire you in some way. Feel free to share the video.

 CONASPEH - A Story of Survival
Patrick Villier, President of the Council of National Spiritual Churches in Haiti known as CONASPEH, shares, shares the story of their rebirth following the 2010 Earthquake to the island.

 Improving Health Through Clean Water
Batey Cinco Casas, Monte Plata, Dominican Republic – In partnership with the Rotary Club Mirador in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, the Batey Relief Alliance (BRA Dominicana) launched in December a new water project called “Saving Lives with Purified Water.”

 Food + Education = Hope in Haiti
There are many children in Haiti, but only 20 percent of them have the opportunity to attend school or learn to read and write. Parents who can barely feed their families only dream of providing their children with an education. Girls in Haiti have even less of a chance of getting an education.

 Casa Bette (Betty's House)
Casa Bette (Betty's House) in Venezuela is another example of how One Great Hour of Sharing dollars help make the lives of everyday people better.

 La Tablada Community Center
Argentina has experienced extreme economic hardship and political turmoil through the last few years. Global Ministries missionary, Jodi Bobbitt, explains, "there are a number of people living in poverty. Thousands of people roam the city looking through the garbage collecting cardboard for recycling which is the only income they have. The parks are filled with people who have lost their homes. The streets are filled with children pleading for food."

 CEDECOL
According to the U.S. Office on Colombia, one in three IDP (Internally Displaced Person) families is headed by a woman. The Wowe's Network of CEDECOL has already begun offering training workshops in many regions in Colombia. The goal is to equip women through education, economic development, human rights, development and training of skills for self-sustenance and physical safety.

 A Place to Play
Children growing up in crowded Refugee Camps in the the Middle East rarely have a safe place to play. But thanks to gifts from One Great Hour of Sharing, The Joint Christian Committee for Social Services in Lebanon (JCC), and others, now kindergarteners can now run, play, and enjoy their new green play yard.

 Mona's Story
Being an wife, mother, and woman of limited education did not stop Mona from contributing to her families' financial stability.

 Neighbors around the World
Two of our UCC partners in Egypt – CEOSS and Bless are utilizing One Great Hour of Sharing gifts to employ a model of integrated community development whereby all members of the community are empowered to help themselves create a better life.

 All our children' launches theater project in Baghdad
BAGHDAD—An 'All Our Children' coordinator reported today on the first performance of the children's theater project in Iraq's only institute for the autistic.

 Potatoes, payback, and peace dividends in the Balkans
As the embers from the Balkans wars continue to cool down, and the region settles into a still somewhat tenuous peace, UCC/Church World Service is moving away from emergency-related work and into longer-term development projects. "We know what the risks are in creating dependence on paternalistic relief aid," said Vitali Vorona, CWS Balkans Director. "That is why we focus on assistance that empowers people and helps them generate their own resources."

 Ahli Arab Hospital mobile outreach clinic program
GAZA—Sitting cross-legged on her bed in her white shawl and black dress, a faint smile showing across her weathered face, Hadba looked quite at home while recovering from uncontrolled hypertension at the Ahli Arab Hospital earlier this week.

 Letter of thanks from Iran
Asal Habib, an Iranian girl expresses her appreciation for a health kit following the earthquake in Bam. She lost many of her relatives in the disaster and has remaining her mom, dad, an aunt and uncle.

 Mungeli Christian Hospital
Mungeli Christian Hospital and the Mungeli Ramboo School are projects under the care of Global Ministries Mission Personnel Drs. Anil and Theresa Henry.

 Growing Mushrooms for a Better Life
In India, a group of women are working together in a mushroom cultivation project that requires little space and can be done inside the house. A single woman can cultivate mushrooms and can earn an income without much strain.

 Another day to remember
About 230 people attended the celebration of the Opening of the second Nahay Children's Development Center on February 10, 2004. Students from Nahay Primary School along with children, principals, and teachers from other nearby schools came to the opening.

 Church of Bangladesh - Community Development Project
First as part of British India and then of Pakistan, the area now constituting Bangladesh suffered from chronic economic neglect. Health and welfare services in Bangladesh are limited. In 1999 the country had one physician for every 6,028 residents and one hospital bed for every 3,279 inhabitants. Much of the welfare work in the country is administered by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

 Enshallah!
Nazia and her children lived for the past several years in a refugee camp in Pakistan, where they sought refuge after her husband was killed during the Taliban "era" in Afghanistan. With the many recent changes in Afghanistan, she and her children chose to return to their home community, hoping to begin again.

 Protect Life - Prevent Death


 CWS-sponsored Training helps Disaster Survivors
One Great Hour of Sharing supported Church World Service offers training to disaster survivors helping them to to take ownership of the recovery process in their community.

 Kids Sell Art to Help the Children of Japan
7 year old Megan Miller encourages Church members to participate in fund-raising efforts to help the children of Japan. Touched by the news of the March 2011 earthquake, young Megan and others respond.

 New Neighbors from Somalia
One day Sadiyo told Allie that 13 members of her family, all refugees, would be arriving in two days. They were being resettled by Community Refugee & Immigration Services (CRIS) in Columbus. Sadiyo asked if Allie could help.

 A family vacation in Florida, again!
Four hurricanes hit the state of Florida in the year 2004. Recovery continues as homes are repaired and rebuilt. Volunteer work groups faithful to the needs of people impacted by these storms continue to travel to Florida.

 Relocation to Chicago for some Hurricane Survivors
Just a few weeks ago, the Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Ministries (IRIM) office had the pleasure of handing over a set of keys to an evacuee family from Louisiana, survivors of the Gulf Coast Hurricane. The family has decided to make Chicago their new home.

 Neighbors helping neighbors
The city government of New Orleans said that "neighborhoods and neighborhood associations will be the key to revitalizing the city since it was devasted by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.

 The house that faith built
By the Rev. Bryan Crousore Disaster Coordinator, Missouri Mid-South Conference United Church of Christ, National Disaster Ministry