CHHSM Gathering Votes Clay Street Table into Membership

By the Rev. Dr. Paul Davis, director of Clay Street Table

Last week in Louisville, Kentucky, at its 84th Annual Gathering (and first in person since the pandemic), members of The Council of Health & Human Services Ministries of the United Church of Christ (CHHSM) — vaccinated, boosted, and health-screened daily for COVID — heard about our work, saw our pictures, and enthusiastically welcomed Clay Street Table into CHHSM’s national network of institutions related to the United Church of Christ (UCC)!

With other CHHSM organizations, we share a vison that “together, we create a just, caring and compassionate world!”

Back in July, we were granted provisional membership when we became our own separate nonprofit and a recognized ministry of the UCC Central Pacific Conference; and last week’s vote now makes us a fully recognized member!

Already, our work at Clay Street Table was included yesterday in a CHHSM presentation to the UCC’s Council of Conference Ministers gathering in Cleveland from across the country!

After the vote at the Annual Gathering, outgoing Board Chair Abby Drane, president and CEO of Seven Counties Services, officially welcomed CHHSM’s two newest additions: our Table and MOLO Village, a community development corporation led by an amazing founder and CEO, the Rev. Dr. Jamesetta Ferguson!

Clay Street Table owes a lot to CHHSM for helping us create our own nonprofit in 2021, not only encouraging us to make the transition from being fiscally-sponsored but also connecting us to Isaiah 58 Ministries, a meals program & food pantry in St. Louis that provided us with their agency’s Bylaws, Minister’s Job Description and Articles of Incorporation to help us get started!

Staying connected, we’ll join Isaiah 58’s marvelous Executive Director, Rev. Brenda Booth, this May in San Francisco to lead a workshop together for the annual gathering of Ecclesia Ministries, a network of ministries with and for our friends living outside!

We can do so much good together! Thank you!