CHHSM Annual Report Emphasizes Ministry in Action Through UCC’s 3 Great Loves Initiative

The UCC’s Council for Health and Human Service Ministries has released its 2017 Annual Report. While summarizing its member ministries’ events of the past year, the report also looks eagerly to the future as it describes the many ways CHHSM members embody the UCC’s 3 Great Loves initiative through action and service. For example, almost 230,000 hours of volunteer service was provided by CHHSM ministries in 2017.

“CHHSM’s connection to the Three Great Loves initiative of the UCC is evident in the work of membership,” say Michael J. Readinger, CHHSM president and CEO, and the Rev. Kenneth Daniel, chair of the CHHSM Board of Directors, in the report’s opening letter. “The innovative and meaningful ways in which care is provided, the resourceful and sustainable nature of business operations, and the global nature of mission and vision are at the core of the values that guide our work.”

The report contains many photos illustrating the faith-based servant leadership of CHHSM members. It also contains important statistics from CHHSM’s outreach. Among them are these statistics. In 2017, CHHSM member ministries:

• Served 5,165,111 individuals including: 3,683 children; 5,804 youth; 6,077 families; 19,639 older adults; 2,620 veterans; and provided community-based ambulatory health care to over 5 million people
• Operated 36,980 residential units including: 19,682 affordable housing units; 9,284 independent living units; and 3,005 assisted living units
• Operated facilities with 12,515 beds providing acute, skilled nursing, and memory care
• Cared for 60,568 children in residential and non-residential programs
• Provided residential and non-residential services to over 1,200 people with developmental disabilities.
• Provided 229,546 hours of volunteer service
• Provided $882 million for uncompensated and charity care

“The statistic I am proudest of is the $882 million in uncompensated charitable care provided by our members,” says Readinger. “That is truly love of neighbor, children and creation.”

The report also gives a synopsis of such successful CHHSM programs as the Nollau Institute and Nollau To You, which provide training in servant leadership; and the important UCC General Synod resolution it authored calling for gun violence to be named a public health emergency. CHHSM’s ongoing work with partners, advocacy work, social accountability, and financials also are shared.

Read CHHSM’s 2017 Annual Report.

Read Michael J. Readinger’s column on the 2017 Annual Report.