Share the Plate: Saltwater gives half of it's weekly collection (excluding pledge payments) to a South King County non-profit. You can nominate a non-profit organization to benefit from our collection plate. Click here for the nomination form. Or for more information, click here for a summary of the project.

Hospitality House: Saltwater Church is one of twelve churches in the Des Moines-Burien area committed to providing nutritious evening meals (one full week every quarter) for the homeless women who shelter there temporarily, bringing supplies the shelter needs to keep running, providing household starter kits for women who move out of the shelter, and supporting fundraising events of Hospitality House. Click here for a list of items needed for household starter kits.

Food Bank Support: Saltwater UU Church maintains an ongoing program of support for local food banks. Continuous sales of fair trade coffee produce proceeds that are given directly to food banks in our area. The congregation also holds food drives every month with successive drives typically benefiting different food banks in our area.

Microbanks!  Saltwater funds microbanks through Foundation for International Community Assistance (click here for the FINCA website). We have now funded 11 banks! The banks are funded through a combination of donations and an annual holiday fair trade sale. The 2009 fair trade sale was a success! Thanks to all who shopped, bought and donated. We will be funding a microbank in Jordan this year. Check back this spring for more information about this new bank.  If you are interested in making a donation to help fund a future microbank, send a check to the church with "microbank donation" in the memo line.  We have photographs and reports on the activities of ten banks we have already funded. Click here to read about our banks in Tajikistan, Haiti, Malawi, Afghanistan, the Congo, and Guatemala.

The Saltwater Recycling Project: Many tools and products of our modern world are not being adequately recycled. Hazardous materials that are recycled are often reclaimed by the poor working in unsafe conditions in developing countries. The SUUC Social Justice Committee and the Green Sanctuary Committee are committed to increasing the quantity and quality of our recycling efforts.

Saltwater Church raises thousands for Adopt-a-Minefield: In dozens of countries around the world, more than a million abandoned landmines lie in wait for unsuspecting civilians to literally stumble across them. Thousands of people, mostly children, are killed or crippled by landmines every year. In the spring of 2008, Saltwater Church completed our sixth successful Night of 1000 Dinners to raise funds for the removal of landmines and treatment of landmine victims. Led by Patrick Clay, members of the Saltwater Church organized an elegant dinner potluck dinner.  Wild Wheat bakery in Kent donated bread for our event. The project raised over $2000 to assist in clearing landmines and treating landmine victims.
For more information on landmines see www.landmines.org.


The Etta Projects: Saltwater UU Church supports the Etta Projects in their continuing work to help impoverished mothers and children in Bolivia. Port Orchard resident Etta Turner died in 2002 in an automobile accident when she was an exchange student in Montero, Bolivia. The Etta Projects carry on in her memory, providing nutrition for local children as well as education and employment for their mothers. For more information, see the Etta Projects website.

Congregation sent $4000 to UUSC for flood and hurricane relief: In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as well as less-publicized floods of Unitarian communities in Romania, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee set out to ease suffering in both regions. The congregation of Saltwater Church immediately donated $4000 to the cause. To date the UUSC has raised over $2.5 million for humanitarian aid to these areas. For more information, see go to www.uusc.org.

Congregation sent $3000 to UUSC for tsunami relief: In January of 2005, Saltwater Church took up a collection to help fund humanitarian efforts in the aftermath of the December 2004 tsunami of the Indian Ocean. On this first day of giving, the congregation donated $3000. The UUSC has raised over a million dollars for humanitarian work in the devastated Indian Ocean area. For more information on UUSC and their tsunami relief work see www.uusc.org.

Cocoa and Chocolate sales fund Education Projects:Funds raised from the sales of fair-trade organic cocoa and chocolate at Saltwater UU Church have gone to support education projects in Dimiao, on the island of Bohol in the Philippines, and in rural Mali (Africa). Click here for more information on this project.

Fair Trade: The social justice committee supports fair trade commerce. Saltwater UU church regularly sells fair trade, organic, shade grown coffee, and periodically sells fair trade crafts as a fund raiser for the micro-bank project. To buy coffee, sign up and leave your check in the kitchen.  Click here for more information on fair trade organizations.