Media Roundup: Tennessee congregation raises money to erase $4.2 million in medical debt

Media Roundup: Tennessee congregation raises money to erase $4.2 million in medical debt

A weekly guide to stories about Unitarian Universalists from other media sources

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Oak Ridge UU Church in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, raised enough money to erase $4.2 million in medical debt for residents of their surrounding counties. The congregation partnered with an organization that purchases medical debt—buying $100 worth of debt for a dollar—and raised $21,000. A matching grant contributed another $21,000, allowing the congregation to purchase $4.2 million worth of debt. (WBIR, January 12)

Owen Davis, an eighth grader who attends Tennessee Valley UU Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, won a “Rising Heart” award from a local television station. Davis, who volunteers with several community organizations, said, “You can always fit in a bit of service into your life. It's not that hard, really, and it makes such a big difference." (WBIR, January 8)

Participating in a local interfaith Martin Luther King Jr. remembrance service, the Rev. Natalie Fenimore prayed for united action. Fenimore, a minister at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock in Manhasset, New York, said, “We know that deep within us, if we stand together in love, we can eradicate these evil things which cause us pain and suffering.” (The Island Now, January 13)

The Rev. Thom Belote and ten members of Community Church of Chapel Hill Unitarian Universalist in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, joined an antiwar protest condemning the killing of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Belote said, “I’m of the belief that war needs to be a last resort. . . . It needs to be done in a way that is as just as possible and clearly this conflict, and what this conflict might lead to, in no way meets any sort of the criteria for just and necessary.” (Daily Tar Heel, January 8)

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