UCU's History

The United Covenant Union was founded in 2019 by Matthew Munk, Elijah McGuire-Berk, Rev. Harold Vines, Carol Bullard-Bates, Bill Black, Rev. Bobby Brown, Rev. Emanuel Johnson, and Rev. Jack Day, after conducting a “food bank listening campaign” at various food pantries based in congregations in Baltimore MD, Washington DC, and the eastern shore of Maryland. 

At that time, organizers discovered that most food bank clients were either fixed income seniors or were people working “under the table” regularly as domestic workers, day laborers, or street workers. While the full scope of informal sector (cash economy) in the United States is often undercounted in most research, reputable sources estimate that as many as 35% of working-age citizens are engaged in some measure of recurring informal (cash-based) employment. These workers experience wage theft and chronic social isolation regularly. 

For years prior to this, Mr. Munk and Mr. McGuire-Berk had formed a prayer group of domestic workers who were also employed as custodial staff at Washington College. This group became UCU’s first chapel: Beloved Community Union Chapel, founded by Janet Grimes, Veronica Issacs and Mark Sims. 

In the spring of 2019, fixed income seniors who relied on the Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry (based at the former St. Matthias Episcopal Church) gathered for discussions about the pressures facing their families. Those assembled where Gary Munk, the late Shawon Reed, Mary Catherine Day, and the late Tom Treadway. They formed what would come to be known as the Holy Family Union Chapel

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Mr. Tormerria Lawrence, Mr. Karrel “Ace” Anderson, Ms. Ty Trafton, the late Mr. James McCray, and Mr. Ernest “Bear” Lindsay convened clients of the St. John’s UMC Food Bank, many of whom were homeless or precariously employed, to form United Flock Union Chapel. Mr. Bill Bolling, Mr. John “Mann” Horton, Mr. Kareem Boyd, the late Zahra Hamm, and the late Doug Bailey soon became involved following the COVID-19 pandemic. United Flock Chapel has always been UCU’s most portable chapel, having met in west Baltimore, and recently relocated to the Waverly neighborhood.

Dr. Carol Bullard-Bates was assigned in early 2020 to work with the food bank clientele of St. Stephen and the Incarnation Episcopal Church in NW Washington. Despite all the flyers being in English, those who attended the listening sessions were mostly undocumented domestic workers. These listening sessions, which concluded the week before COVID-19 lockdowns, resulted in the formation of what is now called Chapel fof the Workers and Faith. 

In 2021, Ms. Karen Taylor and other LGBTQ cash economy workers came together to form the Our Keepers Chapel, after noticing how many LGBTQ families were relying on food assistance, and were working in the informal sector, specifically around domestic services and the restaurant industry in Baltimore. Under the leadership of the former chaplain organizer, the late Corrine Smothers, Our Keepers Chapel was endeavoring to organize precariously employed drag performers, who were often being exploited by venues. 

In 2020, UCU had been invited by local labor historians to curate the history of the 1938 Crab Pickers Strike in Crisfield, Maryland. At that time, Rev. Emanuel Johnson had been an active leader in UCU’s work in Chestertown and provided critical support to Beloved Community Chapel, was appointed to serve Shiloh UMC, which had housed the first crab pickers union. In 2021 and 2022, UCU worked with Ms. Joyce Fitchett, Ms. Milkey Brown and Ms. Sandra Douglass to organize the Holy Pickers Union Chapel, which has a unique task of organizing not only cash economy workers, but also seafood workers, for which there is much overlap. Holy Pickers Union Chapel is in many ways, the reincarnation of the former crab pickers union which dissolved in the late 1990’s. 

The United Covenant Union is thankful for the labor of current and former organizers: Jared Schablein, Rev. David Flaherty, Elijah McGuire-Berk, Rev. Terry Thompson, Rev. Cassy Nunez, Rev. Emily Ewing, Bill Black, Maureen Daly, Dr. Carol Bullard-Bates, Morgan Sills, Len Shindel, Nivek Johnson, and Jenna Reitenbach. Together, we have built an organization that has been described by one denominational leader as “the interfaith union for the breadlines.” 

There are many ways to get involved with The United Covenant Union, from volunteering and donating to attending our events and spreading the word. Join our community today to make a difference.

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