Community Service

50th Anniversary Year Community Service

As a Congregation, CHJ is a member of local community and religious groups whose goals and values we share. One of the ways the congregation celebrated our 50th Anniversary Year was to volunteer our services to a few local organizations.

The first such Day of Volunteering was at the Trumbull Nature and Art Center. On a glorious April Sunday before the Sunday School graduation ceremony, a few dozen members of all ages working together accomplished an enormous amount of work cleaning up the grounds for spring and starting a vegetable garden. A great way to honor Earth Day and combine Community Service, Science Education and Sunday School Graduation all in one morning!

The second Day of Service took place on rainy June 17th, when CHJ volunteers descended on Neighborhood Studios in Bridgeport, organizing their supplies and donations, performing minor repairs to damaged dance floors, and painting a few walls at their studios. Neighborhood Studios provides a measurable platform for lifelong success through the delivery of arts education to children at risk and those with special needs throughout Fairfield County.

Making Strides Walk. CHJ supports this annual gathering at Sherwood Island every October to raise funds for the effort to defeat breast cancer. In recent years, our teams honored two members who lost their battle with breast cancer by naming our team after them: the We Love Lucy team in memory of Lucy Katz and the CHJ Jane Horkel Team for Jane.

Darwin Day is an international celebration of science and humanity held around Charles Darwin’s February 12th birthday. Specifically, the event celebrates the discoveries and life of the man, born in 1809, who first described biological evolution via natural selection with scientific rigor.

For more information visit darwindayct.org. More generally, DARWIN DAY expresses gratitude for the enormous benefits that scientific knowledge, acquired through human curiosity and ingenuity, has contributed to the advancement of humanity. A memorable event for all, everyone is guaranteed to go home smarter, or at least more than when they arrived!

The Interfaith Council of Westport and Weston promotes a climate of understanding and respect for the many religious traditions among us. Members work together to foster values we hold in common and meet to discuss contemporary issues affecting our community. The focus is on cultivating relationships, sponsoring educational programs for the community and creating coalitions for action. Among them are the Food Justice Coalition and Action Against Gun Violence. Locations for monthly planning meetings rotate among participating congregations.

The Connecticut Coalition of Reason is comprised of atheist, freethought and humanist groups working together in the state of Connecticut. Our twin goals are to foster a sense of community among the like-minded and raise public awareness that people who don’t believe in a god or gods can be decent citizens who contribute to the larger society.