"Let the giving spirit spread like a virus, infinitely touching the lives of people you may never meet, across boundaries you may never cross, in ways you may never imagine."
— Artist Matt Hogan

This sentiment expresses the power of the Unitarian Universalist House Outreach Program’s annual holiday food drive, which is part of our broader mission to help Northwest Philadelphia residents aged 60 and over to remain independent in their own homes and community. 

The UUH Outreach Program was created in 1999 by a private endowment as a free service to the Northwest community. Eligibility criteria are deliberately inclusive: 60-plus, living independently in our service area. That’s it. We are about including people, not ruling them out.

The Unitarian Universalist principles of recognizing the inherent worth and dignity of every person, and of justice, equality and compassion in human relations  are foundational to our work. Our neighborhood nurse, Sue Wortman, and our social workers, Laurie Laskey and myself, provide information and assistance to our clients on a variety of issues such as decision-making support, access to entitlement programs, health promotion, free blood-pressure screenings, our small client-assistance fund and our annual holiday food drive — which is where YOU come in. 

We started our food drive in 2005; that year, we were able to distribute a few bags of groceries to our neediest clients. We were encouraged by how the small act of delivering groceries during the holiday season had such a large impact on the people we served. We took photographs of the delighted recipients as we unpacked bags of groceries and brought some special goodies into homes where sometimes even basics were unaffordable.

Every year, our food drive has expanded. Last year, Weavers Way agreed to be a collection site. With the Co-op’s help and the help of our other community partners, we were able to deliver 250 bags of groceries to people “aging in place” within our wonderful Northwest community. 

The efforts of the UUH Outreach Program are touching older adults in the Northwest community in profound ways. This is well expressed in the words of a past recipient, who said, “How beautiful is an unexpected kindness.” 

Please help us continue to reach people in need by making a generous donation to our food drive as you shop, or a cash gift directly to our organization. Every penny donated to us goes directly to our clients, the older adults in your community. And if you would like to take your “giving spirit” a step further, consider volunteering to help get the food donations sorted, packed and delivered. 

For more information about UUH services or to volunteer, contact Erika at 215-843-5881 or ewallace@uuhouse.org. You may also visit our website at www.uuhoutreach.org.