Salem Mission

Mission is, and always will be, an important part of the life of Salem UCC.  We understand that first there was mission and then the church.  We endeavor to honor God’s call to the church to feed the hungry and the poor.

The Mission Committee supports Salem UCC’s local missions, such as Bread of Life Food Pantry, Highland Food Pantry, and Salem Food Baskets.  We also support DuBois Center, Emmaus Homes, Hitz Memorial Home, Hoyleton Ministries, Illinois South Ecuador Partnership, Uni-Pres Kindercottage, and many more.

Just a few of the dolls headed to Poland for children in Ukraine. These dolls were made by Salem UCC’s Giving Doll Mission Group.

Giving Dolls Mission

The Giving Dolls mission began at Salem United Church of Christ in September of 2020. Since our beginning, more than 200 dolls have been donated to Children’s Hospital in St. Louis, BJC Hospitals in O’Fallon, IL and Belleville, Rankin Jordan Pediatric Hospital, Ronald McDonald Houses in St. Louis, HIS Kids, an organization dedicated to supporting children with cancer and their families based in Highland, Relevant Pregnancy Care in Highland, KinderCottage in East St. Louis, a homeless shelter in Springfield, IL, and several individuals.
The mission of The Giving Doll, a national organization based in Ohio, is to give faith, love, hope, joy, and comfort to a child during a special time. We do this by making cloth dolls and giving them to children in need. The dolls are made in several skin tones with yarn hair, both boys and girls. The girls are dressed in dresses with bloomers and an apron. The boys are dressed in pants and a shirt. Both also have a blanket and a bag.
We have a dedicated group of 15+ volunteers who meet in the downstairs Fellowship Hall once a month, on the second Monday. Anyone interested in joining our group is welcome to join us. You do not have to have any sewing skills to participate.
Donations of fabric, lace, ribbon, and yarn are always welcome. We do purchase fabric for the doll’s bodies and the stuffing needed. Cash donations for those supplies are also much appreciated.

Sprucing up Hitz

Salem does its part to keep Hitz Memorial Home in Alhambra looking nice for the residents and their families. We have frequent work days to “spruce up” Hitz that all are welcome to participate in. The dates for the Spruce up Hitz work days are announced in the Messenger, the bulletin, and through Salem Wire.

Ecuador Partnership Mission Trips

We sponsor Salem UCC members to travel to Ecuador to participate in a home-building project through the Illinois South Conference.