Here are the latest updates from PBUCC during the COVID-19 global emergency.
Published July 2020
Please be advised that if you are not working for a United Church of Christ (UCC) employer, Conference, Association, National Setting, or any UCC-affiliated organization, and contributions are no longer being made to your Annuity Plan account, your account is considered inactive.
“I got shoes, you got shoes, all God’s children got shoes.”
African American Spiritual
Basic necessities such as shoes and decent clothing were rare among slaves, but expressions of protest and hope were not. The meaning of the spiritual I Got Shoes was hidden from the oppressors but clear to those who sang it as they worked the fields: outrage at the cruel treatment of those who had no right to declare ownership of human beings, and confidence that justice would ultimately prevail. The day would come when they would attain freedom and dignity; all of God’s children would get shoes.
Last year marked the first time the Pension Boards offered a Summer Internship Program. Our experiences – and those of the five interns – in 2019 were a resounding success. Two of the interns in the initial cohort began their careers with the PBUCC staff team following graduation. Learnings from the first year of the program helped us to further develop and strengthen the plans for the 2020 program.
These were the final words of George Floyd, who was murdered at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis. The same words were uttered by other persons of color who died of asphyxiation at the hands of police. The words have been adopted by the Black Lives Matter movement and are chanted by protestors in the U.S. and beyond in their demand for racial justice. The Pension Boards of the United Church of Christ joins in that demand; we condemn racism in all of its forms and commit ourselves to action.