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 November! This is the time of year when many of us are thinking about gratitude and thankfulness, and UTO is here to help. UTO has free resources to help you cultivate gratitude during the month or as part of your Thanksgiving celebration. Many of us have the Thanksgiving tradition of asking everyone to share what they are most thankful for from the past year. This can be a big and daunting question, so UTO has created three different sets of conversation dice to use when discussing gratitude. Print out the dice on cardstock, cut and tape, then roll the dice to see what question to ask and who should answer. These dice have become a beloved tradition in many homes as a fun way to get to know one another better and share all that we are grateful for. Download yours here: https://unitedthankoffering.com/november. UTO also has prayers of gratitude to use on Thanksgiving Day, as well as resources for talking about Thanksgiving with younger people, including books, online activities, and a Three Sisters craft.
As we consider and give thanks for all the ways we are blessed this November, we want to share with you the story of a UTO grant to the Episcopal Diocese of New York for the Seamen’s Church Institute (SCI). The 2025 grant went toward materials to help maritime chaplains support seafarers, mariners, and all those who spend a great deal of their life at sea. After much research, listening, and writing, SCI created “At the Water’s Edge: Case Studies in Maritime Chaplaincy,” a groundbreaking online competency-based curriculum and case book.
The grant recipient shared: “This project deepened our appreciation for the often-unseen ministry of maritime chaplains and the equally unseen work of the mariners they serve. Throughout the research process, chaplains shared stories of remarkable dedication, compassion, and presence in challenging environments. Seafarers and mariners often work long periods away from their families in physically demanding and emotionally isolating conditions, yet they remain essential to the movement of goods and commerce throughout the world. The timing of this project also brought a renewed sense of gratitude for the maritime workforce. During the grant period, international attention turned to rising tensions involving Iran and concerns about shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. For a brief moment, many people became aware of how dependent the global economy is on those who work at sea and how quickly geopolitical conflict can place mariners at risk. For maritime chaplains, these realities are not occasional headlines but part of the daily context in which they minister. The project reminded us that behind every cargo shipment are real people facing uncertainty, separation from loved ones, and sometimes significant danger.”
When you give to UTO, 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 UTO enables us to share our blessings. 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/.
Thank you for supporting the work of the United Thank Offering 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.
