Our UTO leaders have asked for a newsletter article each month that they can cut and paste from our newsletter to their own diocesan or parish newsletter. This article is intended to be used in your publications. Feel free to edit to add information pertinent to your congregation or diocese, or simply cut and paste as is.
Happy October! The United Thank Offering (UTO) wants to remind you that there are so many reasons to give thanks this month. We begin the month with the Feast of St. Francis, when we give thanks for the life and witness of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and the environment. As we consider and give thanks for all the blessings of nature, we want to share the story of a UTO grant awarded to the Diocese of Gitega in Burundi. The 2025 grant was given to help a community have better access to clean water. Many of us don’t think much about access to clean water, except when we pay our water bills, but for many people around the globe, accessing clean water takes up a great deal of their time each day. Prior to this grant, women and children had to walk a long way to collect water from a local source. Children would often miss school to provide their family with water to use. Sometimes, the water would be contaminated, causing people to get sick from drinking it. Thanks to this grant, the diocese was able to secure and protect 46 local sources of water. The diocese also held classes on how to keep water clean and safe to use and how to use less water when growing food.
The project manager shared this update: “This grant reminded us that gratitude is expressed not only through words but also through faithful stewardship and service to others. Receiving this support strengthened our conviction that God works through generous partners to transform communities. Throughout the project, we witnessed gratitude from children who could return to school because they no longer spent hours collecting water, mothers whose families experienced fewer waterborne illnesses, and community members who now enjoy safe drinking water close to their homes. Their testimonies have inspired our diocese to continue serving vulnerable communities with compassion and humility. We remain deeply grateful to UTO and everyone whose generosity made this ministry possible.”
When you give thanks for access to clean water, you help fund projects like this one. Maybe you can only give a dollar or two to UTO, but that’s OK! Your dollar joins with everyone else’s to fund projects like the one shared above. Sometimes it’s hard to see how we can help others, but through UTO, we are able to share our blessings with others. To support the work of UTO, you can make a donation at church using a UTO envelope or give online at https://unitedthankoffering.com/give/.
This fall, if you’re looking for ways to spend time each day practicing gratitude, UTO is offering free five-minute gratitude journals. You can order yours at https://unitedthankoffering.com/shop/, and we’ll have some available in churches as well.
As October comes to a close, we’ll prepare for All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days. These feast days are a reminder to give thanks for all those who have died, from saints like Francis of Assisi to saints who lived and walked among us in this life. We hope you’ll take time to give thanks for those you love who have died and the blessings they shared with you.
Thank you for supporting the work of the United Thank Offering, either by donating to this important ministry or simply by noticing and giving thanks for the blessings you encounter each day. Thank you for blessing us with your gifts.
