It’s Time To Celebrate!

Save Friday, February 23, 2007, 6:00-8:30 PM @ the Gateway Center, #1 Gateway Drive, Collinsville, Illinois, for a dinner and silent auction when UCM Honors its many partners in our communities and Herb Reisinger for his dedicated work. Kevin Horrigan, St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist, is our featured speaker.

Join in this celebration that brings everyone together to honor UCM and its partners.

(See back for information on honorees.)

	In the beginning, pastors and lay leaders pondered concerns of many metro-east communities such as the deterioration of older neighbor-hoods, funding problems for schools, adequate low income housing, drugs, clean-up of contaminated areas, racial harmony, and unemployment. They felt the need to form some kind of group to address their concerns. A man who had gone through training at the Chicago-based Gamaliel Foundation that specializes in faith-based organizing approached them. A basic principle of Gamaliel is empowerment; people will listen to many - there’s power in numbers. That man was Herb Reisinger. He talked to pastors and churches of varied denominations, with people of color, low or middle income – his theme, social justice. And so United Congregations of Metro-east (UCM) was born. Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws, fall 2000. First President, Rev. J. Michael Smith.		Our first covenant service, January 14, 2001, was held at New Bethel Methodist Church in Glen Carbon. Leaders of sixteen congregations signed the covenant, witnessed by a standing-room only crowd of about 350 blacks and whites, Catholics and Protestants. In July of 2001, UCM Members held an Issues Assembly at Central Christian Church in Granite City. 250 UCM members met to review and vote on the most critical issues facing our communities. In April 2002, UCM hosted a Public Meeting at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Madison. Over 1,000 local citizens attended with public officials at hand to make public commitments to support after-school programs, the local Drug Court, and federal initiatives to improve housing and transportation in the region, Our first years were spent training, recruiting, and raising money.

UCM

Vision

UCM is an inter-faith, power organization that goes beyond charity, seeking justice through empowered leadership. UCM’s vision is to ensure a strong base of diverse, powerful, and committed leaders with the courage to face the many challenges that confront our values.

UCM cannot do these things alone. It takes many active and involved people to accomplish these things. This Honors Dinner has been planned to honor people who have helped, be it, public officials or judges, or ordinary people.

And one who helped the “most” and “inspired” many of us – who took the ball and ran with it, our own Herb Reisinger, a man dedicated to God and Social Justice

UNITED CONGREGATIONS OF METROEAST HONORS DINNER

Friday, February 23, 2007 6:00 – 8:30 pm

Gateway Convention Center

1 Gateway Drive

Collinsville, Illinois

Keynote Speaker, KEVIN HORRIGAN

Columnist and Radio Personality

Tickets: $35.00

UCM has been in existence, for 6 years.

What have we done? Who has helped us?

We have a successful drug court in both Madison County and St. Clair County. Our thanks to Judge Edward Ferguson, Judge Annette Eckert and State’s Attorney Robert Haida. We worked with Superintendent Harry Briggs and Dr. Cullen Cullen to get the Venice Charter School and are still working for school funding reform in both counties. Our representative on the Governor’s Health Care Justice Team with the help of Dennis Barker and Jeff Rains participated in a successful Health Care Hearing in our area. We support the Sheltered Home in Madison County and also a Mental Health Court. We are working with IDOT, specifically Lee Coleman to implement training and employment programs for low-income residents. Also with local governments to write local Work Force Development ordinances. St. Clare Church in O’Fallon is using the Korte Company who incorporated many of UCM’s justice hiring principles in the building of the new church. We helped get clean-up funds for the contaminated Jennison-Wright site. One of our core teams worked on a standing water problem in East St. Louis. We support Sen. James Clayborne and Rep. Jay Hoffman’s efforts for immigration reform.

Good Speaker

Good Food

Silent Auction of theme baskets,

donated by UCM member churches and other allies.

Entertainment

Ritch and Nancy Alexander, Rev. Jeff Jahn

A Gala Event.

Entertainment:

Ritch and Nancy Alexander, Rev. Jeff Jahn.

Silent Auction of theme baskets, donated by UCM member churches and other allies.

We could not have succeeded without the financial help from Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), the Dominican Sisters of Springfield, Sisters of Loretto, Presbyterians USA, Giddings-Lovejoy Presbytery, School Sisters of Notre Dame, and many others. We thank all who have helped us.

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