February’s Collection— Norma Stoltz Chinchilla Scholarship and Support for the CSULB Dream Resource Center.

Two years ago, under the leadership of member Diane Kert, our church took a new approach to supporting undocumented immigrant students who are pursuing their degrees at our local campus just down the street, the California State University Long Beach.

Rather than continuing our own program begun over a decade ago by church member Cynthia Case, a high school teacher, and continued by the UUCLB Dream Scholarship Committee, we agreed to be part of a new scholarship established on the CSULB campus to honor our own Dr. Norma Chinchilla for her many years of activism on behalf of immigrant students. Last year, we decided to share the collection with the CSULB Dream Resource Center which has the capacity to help a large number of undocumented students with emergency financial aid and paid internship that help immigrant students to get valuable work experience prior to receiving their B.A. and M.A. degrees.

As a result of the generosity of our congregants last year, some of them choosing to honor the memory of Diane Kert with their donations, our donation to benefit immigrant students at CSULB was nearly $6,000.

Now that the temporary legal status program known as DACA has been frozen due to court challenges from anti-immigrant forces and Congress has been unable to gather the votes for a path to citizenship for students for whom the U.S. has been their country since they were young, our help is needed more than ever.

We know that financial assistance to individual students does not address the need for structural reforms in our incoherent and unjust immigration policies but our direct assistance to students at CSULB stands is a part of our commitment to the larger campaign to recognize the valuable contributions of immigrant community members through combatting campaigns of hate and working tirelessly for immigrant reform. Our donations to the Dream Resource Center and the Norma Stoltz Chinchilla scholarship fund are our way of saying “We see you; we appreciate you; and we care about you” to undocumented students struggling to realize their dreams of a college education and entry into the workforce to help their families and contribute to our society. You can support the monthly special collection by donating until the last Sunday of the month and marking your check with “Special Collection”.

Mail your check to: UUCLB, 5450 E. Atherton Street, Long Beach, CA 90808.

You can also give to the Special Collection anytime in the month using Text-to-Give:
Text message the words: “21 Special Collection” to 833-931-1845. To give $20.00, for example, text “Special Collection” after your gift amount, like this: 21 Special Collection Gifts sent with no designation just go to the regular Offering.

Pro Tip: to cover any convenience fees for the church, you can say:
21 Special Collection cover, or simply text: “Cover fees on” to cover fees on ALL text gifts.)

For online giving go to:
uuclb.org/give. For questions about the February collection, chinchil@csulb.edu