UUCS - SOCIAL JUSTICE

The Season of Giving

2011-12-25T13:17:00.000-08:00

UUCS had a busy December! The December Share the Plate collection went to fill a dozen huge Aldi's grocery bags for needy families at Mary H. Wright School in our church neighborhood. Also in December, we collected toys and books and money for clothes for the Children’s Shelter in Spartanburg—a couple skilled shoppers did a great job of finding bargains in pajamas, socks, etc.! We joined many of our fellow UU congregations in this country and around the world for the longstanding “Guest at Your Table” program. This is a six-week collection for people in need both in our country and abroad. This program helps personalize giving for our youth. And, lastly, our Christmas Eve collection went to TOTAL Ministries.

The new Building and Grounds Committee discussed their role in the Green Sanctuary plan at their December meeting, and appreciates their importance in the Green Sanctuary program.

We’re not meeting in December, but at our January meeting, we will begin to choose three issues to present to the congregation for vote at annual meeting. One of these will replace Hunger.
Each one will need 1-2 educational sessions at a Wed. or Sun. morning time. We briefly discussed this—we’ll look at some material online at UUA website and confer via email. We will continue the Green Sanctuary as our second issue.

Foocus on Economic Justice

2011-11-21T05:07:00.000-08:00

Social Justice Meeting will be Wednesday, Nov. 30th, 7 pm, after a WW supper prepared by our youth group as a youth fundraiser—let’s support their efforts!

Our first Fair Trade Mini Fair was a rousing success! Everyone liked the organic, fair trade chocolate, hot chocolate, and teas, UU Service Committee holiday cards, and fair trade scarves. Carolyn Bourassa’s soaps and crafts were also a hit, as were Ella Webster’s origami cranes. This Green Sanctuary project was a lot of fun! We’ll have a second chance to buy holiday cards the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and also have a second chance for tea and chocolate when we sell coffee again. The fair trade, organic coffee sales will move to the second Sunday of every month, beginning Dec. 11th.

Be sure to read the December Unison on the "Common Ground" conference that brought together activists from across the state. From UUCS, Jinx Jenkins, Alice Sutton, Judy Allen, and Marie Griffin attended the conference, and Marie reported on the conference. The inspiring keynote speech was given by Dr. Reverend Neal Jones, minister at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Columbia.

First Fair Trade Mini-Fair!

2011-11-07T12:57:00.000-08:00

Sunday November 20th
UUCS 1st Fair Trade Mini Fair !
12:00- 2:00
Buy
Fair Trade TEA, CHOCOLATE, and, of course, COFFEE

HOLIDAY CARDS FROM Unitarian Universalist Service Committee

Beautiful crafts from our talented church family
FAIR TRADE SCARVES FROM SERRV, and More!!
We’ll also launch the Guest at Your Table program that day.

Check out the SJ bulletin board & Read more about it in the November UNISON

2011-09-09T14:53:00.000-07:00

Social Justice at UUCS 2011-2012

In May 2010 at the Annual Congregational Meeting, we voted YES to affirm a name change from Social Concerns to Social Justice. This change reflected our church’s stronger mission statement, “We embody and promote religious freedom, caring community and social justice…” We also made a transition to our new Social Justice Plan by electing one local & one global issue as focal points of our plan.

Appalachian Tragedy: Mountaintops and Miners was our global issue. Our congregation held educational sessions, showed movies, and wrote letters calling for political action. Several SJ members participated in the D.C. “Appalachia Rising” mobilization and march, and brought material (and enthusiasm!) back to share.

When a Christmas toy fund in a WV community was robbed, we participated in a campaign to replenish it, publicizing the need as well as contributing toys and donations. A Sunday service in February focused on mountaintop mining and one incredible woman, Judy Bonds, who helped forge the local and national movement against it. In June, a dozen youth and adults took a 3-day trip to West Virginia to see mountaintop removal, tour a coal mine, and participate in the March on Blair Mountain. This completed our focus on this issue. However, much of our work here helped inform and motivate us to work on our local issue.

The UUA Green Sanctuary Program was our local issue for 2010-2011. This is a three-to-five year project, so we continue this for the 2011-2012 year. This is a comprehensive program –a journey—towards a more earth-aware and earth-caring lifestyle for our church community, bringing in everyone from the pagan to the tech-savvy. During the first year, many of us worked on reducing our environmental impact and recycling more of our waste products. However, a professional environmental assessment is a requirement for the Green Sanctuary Program. The SC Dept of Energy gave us a grant for this ($1700), which paid 100% of the cost, but was not completed until April 2011. We will work on our application and action plan this year. The Green Sanctuary Program has both local and global aspects.

We want to involve everyone in our action plan. The action plan includes two projects for worship and celebration, two for religious education, and four sustainable living projects, to be carried out in about a two-year time frame. We have several members who have interest and expertise to share with us, and each group or committee has the opportunity to decide how they would like to participate. These projects can involve every church member, regardless of age or abilities. “The formation of a Green Team was the spark that set into motion a wide range of progressive environmental movements within the church” UU Charleston, SC

In August 2011, UUCS joined the UUSC Fair Trade Coffee Project, which promotes fair wages and environmental preservation on coffee plantations. This is both a Green Sanctuary and Hunger project for us (“double-dipping”?), as it helps the tropical environment as well as the workers there. This is NOT a fundraiser—we want maximum member-participation for maximum benefit to the environment & coffee plantation workers! We look forward to learning more about the issues associated with Fair Trade Coffee and finding opportunities to help.

2) For our second issue during 2011-2012, we chose Hunger, an ongoing concern here, also with both local and global efforts. As a church, we have filled our food barrel repeatedly, collected groceries for Park Hills School families, and donated monetary contributions to TOTAL Ministries (the Spartanburg area, church-based NPO which assists local families) through Christmas Eve and Share the Plate collections. During 2010-2011, our youth and adults attended a vigil for Homelessness, collaborated in preparing meals for the SPIHN program (combating homelessness in SPTG) and participated in a Mobile Food Pantry event, packaging & handing out food for 300+ families. In August 2011, we again participated in a Mobile Food Pantry.

Hunger is a heartbreaking problem. Why is there so much hunger in a world that has more than enough food to feed itself? This issue requires education and thought, as well as action, and lends itself to large and small-scale efforts for both youth and adults.

Social Justice and Lifespan Faith Development work to coordinate activities and share ideas. SJ presents several Sunday 9:30 am programs, Wednesday evening programs, and at least one worship service a year. SJ research on homelessness last year (one of the local issues presented for congregational vote) motivated our teens to chose homelessness for study and action last fall. The younger group, children in K5-5th grade, are in the ‘EARTH SCOUTS,’ a program for children to become empowered to make a positive difference in their homes, schools and communities." This coordinates well with the Green Sanctuary focus.

Continuing Activities
Consistent, continuing involvement in our local community has been the cornerstone of our Social Concerns program, and we remain committed to this even while our Social Justice program takes a more activist approach.

“Share the Plate Sundays” are the second and third Sundays of every month. We donate half of the undesignated money as well as designated checks to one special need each month. While most of these are local causes, some are for national and international needs or crises. For 2010-2011, special collections and “Share the Plate”collections were:

October: Association Sunday $180.
November: Park Hills Christmas total: $810 plus “adoptions” of nine children plus LOTS of food for 18 children
Dec. SPIHN total: $312.54, add from Soc. Jus. to make $325.
Christmas collection: $1337.33 to split between Total Ministries and The Mountain,
$668.67 increase from Soc Jus to $675 each.
Holiday dinner, etc: Wyoming Co. West Virginia Toys for Tots: over $400 from our
congregation & friends, but amt. really is unknown.
January (medical supplies for Haiti) $769.89;
February (baby supplies & nurse-midwife expenses for Haiti) $338.77
Total: $1108.66 -- a lot of congregational support for this trip!
March: Check for $165 Given to Upstate Pride to help with Gay Pride Festival
UU Uganda LGBT fund $110.00
April: Youth Trip to WV $328.54 (also WW supper fundraiser for this)
This includes a $100 donation to Keeper of the Mtns Foundation
May: Check for $440 to UUC-Tuscaloosa after the tornado damage
June: National Alliance for Mental Illness, Spartanburg Office $330

Park Hills School (PH), in our church neighborhood, has had the greatest percentage of poor and minority children in the county. For several years, our church partnered with PH, and many church members volunteered there in countless ways. We served as tutors and classroom aides, and helped on field trips and field days. One church member helped students in a school garden. We provided school uniforms and “adopted” needy families for Christmas gifts and bags of groceries. Now, this school has been closed, and we plan to continue volunteering in the elementary school serving the neighborhood, Mary H. Wright School.

SPIHN (Spartanburg Interfaith Hospitality Network) works with numerous religious congregations and social service agencies throughout Spartanburg County (SC) to provide temporary shelter, food, and support to homeless families. UUCS partners with Fernwood Baptist Church four to five times a year when they host the homeless families in the SPIHN program, by providing one meal and hosts for that meal. Our youth group and other groups take turns meeting this responsibility.

Love Knit & Crochet, akin to a Prayer Shawl group, began in 2010. We make shawls for very elderly church members who are no longer able to come to church. In the fall, we make scarves for the homeless; last fall, we completed 13 in time for a Christmas donation to The Haven, a Spartanburg refuge for homeless women and families. We made baby blankets and bibs for our nurse midwife’s trip to Haiti (more below). And, of course, we teach crochet and knitting to any who want to learn.

UUCS is involved with other local activities, and the SJ committee is often responsible for coordinating or publicizing them. We participate in the South Converse Neighborhood Assoc., helping plan a revitalized park, and in basics such as trash pick up days. We collect newspapers for Animal Allies, a low-cost animal clinic. We have a goal of one barrel of food a month for TOTAL Ministries’ food pantry. Several members provide clerical support once a month at St. Luke’s Clinic, the free medical clinic.

And More
When an unexpected opportunity for congregational learning and action in Social Justice arises, we may take it! One church member, a nurse-midwife, wanted to go to Haiti for a week to teach in a school for midwives there, and UUCS supported her; she plans a medical mission to Nicaragua this fall, and we will support her again. The SJ committee and LFD are likely to work together, as we did in July 2010, hosting four student activists on their tour publicizing the tragedy in North Korea and what LiNK (www.linkglobal.org) is doing. SJ members also walked with and hosted the Dreamwalkers, four students walking from Miami to DC, publicizing the plight of undocumented immigrants. We believe that actions speak louder than words. We look for ways for all church members and friends to get involved and feel good by doing good.

Social Justice History
UUCS has been active in many social concerns throughout its history. We have lent our church facility to groups who would not have been able to find another home. To mention a few examples, church members were active in founding the Spartanburg chapters of PFLAG and NAMI Connection. We worked to found Upstate Pride SC and bring about the Gay Pride Festival (the first one was held on the church grounds). We had the first openly GLBT minister in Spartanburg. We have a strong focus on our home community and an understanding of our place in Spartanburg as a beacon of liberal religion.

Online
For up to date details, please check out http://uucs-socialconcerns.blogspot.com/ directly or access it and the Social Justice page from http://www.uucs.org/

Work is Love Made Visible
~
Khalil Gibran

2011-2012 PLANS

2011-05-22T12:22:00.000-07:00

Last May, our congregation approved two issues for the year, one global issues and one local issue. Our global issue has been Appalachian Tragedy: Mountaintops and Miners. Our congregation has held educational sessions, shown movies, collected toys for W.V. children at Christmas, and written letters calling for political action. About 20 youth and adults are going on our trip to West Virginia to see mountaintop removal, tour a coal mine, and participate in the March on Blair Mountain in June. This will complete our focus on this issue.

1) Our local issue for this year was the Green Sanctuary Program. During this year, many of us worked on reducing our environmental impact and recycling more of our waste products. However, a professional environmental assessment is a requirement for the Green Sanctuary Program. The SC Dept of Energy gave us a grant for this ($1700), which paid 100% of the cost, but was not completed until April. So, we have not formally begun this program. We want to focus on this for 2011-2012. It has both local and global aspects.

2) For our second issue, we want to choose Hunger, also with both local and global efforts. As a church, we have filled our food barrel, collected groceries for Park Hills families, and donated collections to Total Ministries through Christmas Eve and Share the Plate. Our youth and adults this year have attended a vigil for Homelessness, collaborated in preparing meals for the SPIHN program (combating homelessness in SPTG) and participated in packaging & handing out food for 300+ families. This is a big problem that lends itself to both large and small-scale efforts, for both youth and adults, and we would like to really focus on it.

Today, the congregation approved and committed to both these issues. The Green Sanctuary and Hunger both offer many ways for adults, teens, and children to get involved.

We look forward to a fruitful year for Social Justice— if these issues excite you, watch for opportunities to participate—and you’re always welcome at any of our meetings! ~ Alice Sutton, chair, May, 2011

Green Sanctuary Assessment

2011-04-15T14:45:00.000-07:00

Green Sanctuary: Our first meeting of the Green Sanctuary Team was both challenging & fruitful—we’ve got good ideas for our Action Plan. Our next meeting will be May 11th. If this is up your alley, please look at the professional energy assessment online at http://mrainey.freeservers.com/Family/UUCEnergyAssessment2011.pdf
The Green Sanctuary manual is online at www.uua.org/leaders/environment/greensanctuary/118741.shtml ~see page 90 for a sample action plan.

April Share The Plate: Our youth are fundraising for the June 6-8 trip to West Virginia to see mountaintop mining firsthand and participate in a march alongside the leaders in the fight for the abolition of mountaintop mining. Our April collections will contribute to their expenses and also include a donation to the cause. Read more about the trip (adults are invited, too) in the April Unison, and let us know by April 21st if you are interested in going with us! Email socialjustice@uucs.org

The Mobile Food Pantry will be at Fernwood Baptist Church April 29th distributing over 6,000 lbs of food to pre-screened Total Ministries clients. Fernwood invited us to help out since we’re their SPIHN partners, and several youth & adults have already volunteered. If you would like to help, too, email Alice at socialjustice@uucs.org

Green Sanctuary News

2011-03-29T05:02:00.000-07:00

Green Sanctuary: At long last, our professional energy assessment is done! That means we can get a Green Team together and develop our plans to become a certified green sanctuary. I'll shortly post a link to the report here so you can download it!

Share the Plare, Jan and Feb: Ruth is on her trip to Haiti to teach at the School for Midwives in Hinche, up in the mountains. Our church contributed over $1,000 to buy medicine and medical supplies for safer births, healthier babies, along with a minor portion of Ruth’s expenses. And Ruth’s stock of medical supplies is packed with knitted baby blankets, hats, and bibs from our Love Knit & Crochet group. Ruth will report on her trip in April at a 10:00 Sunday meeting. We're looking ofrward to many pictures & stories! The UUSC (UU Service Committee) has a Haiti trip program, now just for medical teams, although in the future they plan to make work projects available for nonmedical teams, too.

Share the Plare, Mar: We contributed $165 for Upstate Pride and $100 for the UUA Uganda- LGBT fund. You’ll see our Standing On The Side of Love banners at the 3rd Annual Upstate Pride SC Festival, June 4th, along with UU advertising and our beverage booth.

Political Action Opportunity: Sunday, Apr 3rd, Sloane Wheelan of Planned Parenthood, SC., will be at church with sample letters for us to sign & send to state and national legistors.

We’re Excited!

2011-02-24T11:34:00.000-08:00

&bull Did you miss Anatomy of Hate, the fascinating movie presented on Valentine’s Day at Converse College? This film provoked anti-gay demonstrators and TWO big demonstrations for love & tolerance, one on campus, one across from campus. A good sized group of UU’s were among the demonstrators and the large audience! You’ve got another chance to see the movie, 7:00 Wednesday, March 2nd, at UUCS – this is free and open to both adults and youth.
&bull We agreed to make the first Sunday of each month an opportunity for the congregation to sign letters for various causes. Sunday, March 6th, we’ll have letters to state legislators protesting budget cuts to important programs such as education—Jinx is preparing these.
&bull Unitarian Universalists are fighting for gay rights in Uganda: UUA President Peter Morales announced the fund on January 25 to help human rights activists in that country. This was just before David Kato, a Ugandan gay rights activist, was fatally beaten.
What can we do to help? We agreed to designate our March Share the Plate to split between the UUA LGBT Uganda fund and our own Spartanburg Upstate Pride as they work to put on the 3rd Annual Upstate Pride SC Festival on June 4th. And we applaud the appointment of Cynthia Lanier to the Upstate Pride Board.
&bull Ruth’s Haiti Trip: Ruth leaves Mar. 26th to teach at Haiti's School for Midwives for a week. She’s taking medical supplies with her --she has over $1100 from UUCS plus other donations from friends and family to spend for medicines, baby supplies, etc. She’ll bring back lots of photos & share her experience in Hinche, Haiti, at a presentation in April.
&bull We’ll have a short meeting March 16th to present Ruth with the total of knitted, crocheted, and other baby gifts for her trip and discuss possible global issues for next year: candidates so far are the Gulf Coast, Haiti, Midle East/freedom, Women’s Issues/fair trade/microfinance.
&bull We set Mar. 23rd for the Green Sanctuary meeting--yes, the Environmental Assessment should be completed by next Monday! Alice will mail SJ committee members a copy when we receive it. Anyone else who wants to look at it may request it—happy to share!!

Water, Cool, Clean Water (with apologies to Marty Robbins)

2011-01-23T12:40:00.000-08:00

UUCS has focused on Social Justice all month, so while Don took the day off, I gave today's sermon. I have a new respect for ministers who write sermons regularly. Many thanks to all who complimented me afterwards! And many, many thanks to Keith Plumley, Ron Fowler, Joyce Harrison, and Jim Brown for creating the musical part of the service-- it was just perfect!

I'm really looking forward to next week's super-musical service, "Justice in Song
The Rev. Don Rollins: We can’t change the world with music alone, but neither can we change the world without it. Come find out why."
And here is my sermon:

I grew up mostly in Southern California, which is a natural desert. Between May and September, it almost never rains, and total annual rainfall is only 15 inches. That scarcity made water important to me. Our favorite family vacations were camping in the Sierras, and beautiful images of water fill my childhood memories: dark blue water in a mountain lake, Clear, sparkling, ice cold water, snowmelt, tumbling down the rocks in a streambed...

Cool, clean water-- so simple, yet for many people, unattainable.
Only last July, the UN declared clean water a 'fundamental human right.' According to the World Health Organization, 1.2 billion people worldwide don’t have access to clean drinking water, and about 1.5 million children under five die each year from water and sanitation-related diseases.
In developing countries, people dip water out of ponds shared with livestock, or rivers fed by run-off from untreated human sewage. They walk miles to carry home water, this muddy water from dirty rivers and ponds.

Often water is not just contaminated by animals and human sewage. Waste from mines and industries is a problem all over the world. In Honduras, in South Africa, in Nigeria—anywhere there is mining, companies dump lead and other toxins in their waste piles, poisoning water, poisoning animals, and poisoning people.

I could talk to you about how poverty and corporate greed deprive poor people in far away countries of that basic human right, clean water.

But today, I want to tell you a story about water much closer to home, a story about the Appalachians, just up the road from us, and another woman who loved cool, clean, water. Julia, or Judy, Bonds was born the same year I was, the daughter of a coalminer, in Marfork Hollow. She loved living in Marfork Hollow, a narrow green valley in southern WV, where her family had lived for 7 generations.
As a child, Judy fished and swam in the nearby stream. later, as a young divorced mother, she raised her daughter there. She worked in minimum wage jobs, convenience store clerk, waitress, Pizza Hut manager… She was happy to be a grandmother at 45.

"There is nothing like being in the hollows," she once said. "You feel snuggled. You feel safe. It seems like God has his arms around you."

But in the 1990’s, Massey Energy Co., moved in, and began blasting—Explosions of AnFo, a combination of diesel fuel and ammonium nitrate, shook the earth, disturbed house foundatons, and made sleep impossible. Clear streams turned orange or stopped flowing. The air became filled with dust. Children, including Judy’s grandson, developed asthma. Families began moving out. Judy refused to go. Marfork was home, even as green mountains became ugly, flat scars.

Then her 6-year-old grandson asked her a question: "What's wrong with these fish?"
He was standing in the local creek, holding fistfuls of dead fish, with more floating belly-up around his ankles.

Judy said, "So I began to open my eyes and pay attention." And the more she learned, the angrier she got.

She discovered that Marfork was one of many West Virginia hollows dealing with the effects of mountaintop removal mining, or MTR. This was developed in the 1970s, and big coal compainies began using it more and more by the late 1980’s. It’s cheap because it takes very few workers. They completely blast off the tops of mountains so that huge machines can mine thin seams of coal. This annihilates streams and forests, and causes extensive flooding and blasting damage to homes. The pollution from mining and the toxic chemicals used in the preparation of coal for market have been linked to rising asthma rates and other serious respiratory ailments, particularly among children, like Judy’s grandson. Slurry dams thick with heavy metals such as arsenic, mercury and lead routinely overflow into watersheds, contaminate drinking water and drive toxic sludge into residents' backyards. And thousands of local people are driven out of their homes.

Almost 2,000 miles of Appalachian headwater streams have been completely buried and over 500 Appalachian mountaintops leveled, looking like moonscapes, sometimes covered over with thin grass. Over 800 square miles of one of the most bio-diverse regions of our planet have been destroyed.

All this is to produce low quality coal that is burned to make electricity—producing severe air pollution & coal ash. Air pollution spreads over the region and neighboring states.

The more Judy learned, the angrier she got. And the Pizza Hut manager became an activist, a volunteer with Coal River Mountain Watch, a local grass-roots group.

She learned that Massey planned a dam farther up Marfork hollow - an impoundment that would hold millions of gallons of coal sludge. Her family would be in danger if the dam failed, and such dams had failed before - including in 1972 at Buffalo Creek, W.Va., where 125 people were killed in the toxic flood.

Sitting on her front porch, dusty with ash from nearby blasting, Judy was outraged to hear her grandson describe an escape route should a coal waste dam break and flood their valley. “I knew in my heart there was really no escape,” Judy said. “How do you tell a child that his life is a sacrifice for corporate greed?” She knew that it was time to move. They were the last residents to evacuate from Marfork Hollow.

She hadn’t saved her hollow, but she worked harder to save her mountains. She became executive director of Coal River Mountain Watch. She became a passionate and inspirational public speaker and a community leader. She learned how to challenge the mining companies' federal and state permit applications. She worked with college-educated environmentalists and college professors, and educated them because she brought something to the cause that they couldn’t—the deep understanding of a hillbilly woman!

Embracing her hillbilly identity, she shrugged off the argument that rural people needed the coal industry's jobs. "If coal is so good for us hillbillies, then why are we so poor?"

She worked 90 hour weeks for $12,000 a year as director of Coal River Mountain Watch. Then, in 2003, she was awarded the prestigious $125,000 Goldman Environmental Prize. She didn’t know what that was, but she quickly found out.
“The Goldman Prize honors grassroots environmental heroes from the six inhabited continental regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, and South and Central America. The Prize recognizes individuals for sustained and significant efforts to protect and enhance the natural environment, often at great personal risk. These “Grassroots” leaders are involved in local efforts, where change is created through citizens’ participation in the issues that affect them. By recognizing these leaders, the Prize seeks to inspire other ordinary people, ordinary people like us, to take extraordinary actions to protect the natural world.”

After paying for her grandson's braces, helping her daughter buy a car and paying off the family's mortgage, Judy donated nearly $50,000 to Coal River Mountain Watch - an amount equal to the organization's annual budget.

In the 2008 book, Coal River, the writer Michael Shnayerson quotes her as saying "We’re a colony here, and the coal companies rule. We can complain all we want, but those complaints are just swept aside in the name of progress and jobs. It's like we're selling our children's feet to buy shoes." As more people became involved in fighting MTR, Coal Companies fought back – and many people in the small Appalachian communities were afraid to speak out, or believed their lies. The closer to success the fight got, the more of a price Judy paid.

Coal River Mountain Watch co-director Vernon Haltom said,

“Judy endured much personal suffering for her leadership. She endured physical assault, verbal abuse, and death threats because she stood up for justice for her community. I never met a more courageous person, one who faced her own death and spoke about it with the same voice as if it were a scheduled trip.”

Yes, Judy was diagnosed with lung cancer last summer. Cancer rates are high in coalmining country, and Judy’s years in Marfork Hollow, breathing toxic dust, may have caused that cancer.

But the fight against MTR continued. Years ago she envisioned a “thousand hillbilly march” in Washington, DC. In September 2010, that dream became a reality as thousands marched on the White House for Appalachia Rising. Senators, Representatives, and the EPA became more responsive to the outcry against the devastation of MTR! Amber Pennington, Jinx Jenkins,, and I were lucky to be there. Sadly, Judy Bonds was not—she was too ill.

“But Judy had done all any one person could conceivably do to stop mountaintop removal.”

Judy fought for her community’s rights, and for all Americans’ rights to clean water & clean air. She fought to save some of the oldest mountains on earth. She was stricken with cancer… but kept fighting. She could see victory ahead, with the national attention that MTR was getting, with a huge rally in DC… with the EPA suspending and reviewing some mining permits, including the biggest, Spruce Mine.
She passed away early this month. A week after her death, the EPA vetoed that Spruce Mine permit, one of the big goals in her fight. That one big win sets a precedent for reviewing and vetoing other permits. And it saves many miles of pure creeks and streams.

Bo Webb, another 6th generation West Virginian & leading activist, was a close friend of Judy. He said, “I can feel Judy nudging each of us, “Hey guys, We are the ones We have been waiting for.” I believe she knows that the battle for our mountains can be won, as long as the rest of us keep fighting.

Judy Bonds was an unlikely hero, but she is an example to us all. She fought for her country, that the mountaintops would stay green, rich in plants, birds, squirrels, and deer, that the streams would stay clear and full of fish, that children could grow up safe and healthy in those hollows. That the beautiful Appalachians would be here for generations to come.

Another unlikely hero, Helen Keller, said that none of the things we cherish in life will be ours unless we act courageously—Judy Bonds did.

What can we learn from Judy Bonds? She opened her eyes when her grandson asked her "What's wrong with these fish?" standing in the creek, holding fistfuls of dead fish. And she took action.

There are too many injustices to count them, too many people, animals, and places in need of help. Our world is being destroyed in so many ways, in pursuit of easy money. Sometimes we just want to keep our eyes shut and concentrate on living our personal life as well as we can –

But we all need to keep our eyes open and take action for the things that are most important to us—those may be Environmental causes like Appalachian Mountaintop Removal, Reducing energy use, Clean water all around the world, or more Wildlife Habitat as our cities grow. Or they may be People Causes, like Homelessness and Hunger in Spartanburg, or Mothers and Babies in Haiti.

I love how churchmembers and friends here reach into their pockets and help with these problems—that is wonderful. And it’s very important. You can’t solve problems without money.

Actions are harder than donating money, but also more personally satisfying. And group actions can be the most satisfying of all. If you haven’t taken some actions lately, I invite more of you to join us in actions – perhaps not going to Haiti with Ruth Stanton in March, but making a baby blanket to send with her… Or go with our church youth group to Beckley, WV and see Mountaintop mining sites. Work with our grade school students, the Earth Scouts, in creating wildlife gardens this spring. Help develop the Green Sanctuary Action Plan. And today, Stop at our table in the Fellowship Hall and sign our new round of letters to Congress and the EPA to stop Mountaintop Removal!

STARTING THE NEW YEAR RIGHT!

2011-01-17T17:58:00.000-08:00

“Check out” the checks at the entry to the sanctuary – I’m really proud of how our church community has made a difference in our community of Spartanburg, our religious community, our national community, and the international community. Well, in case you forget to check them out, here is a list:
Early December 2010:
$810 plus many toys and groceries to needy children at Park Hills School
$325 to SPIHN (Spartanburg Interfaith and Hospitality Network)
Christmas Eve Collection, 2010:
$675 Total Ministries
$700 The Mountain UU Camp & Conference Center
Also in December
over $400 to Wyoming Co., West Virginia Toys for Tots: and helped get the word out to friends and family with Facebook
AND, beginning the new year right,
$420.00 School For Midwives, Hinche, Haiti. Ruth Stanton will use this money for medical supplies on her medical mission– see the article in the upcoming UNISON!
We are so fortunate that we are able to share our plenty with others!

Our Global Issue: Appalachia and More. New meeting time, Sunday Jan. 23rd 12:45 (after congregational vote). We’ll celebrate the EPA victory, plan our next Appalachian efforts (esp. the youth trip to Beckley), and brainstorm about next year’s global issue—if you have an issue you’d like us to consider, please come! All are welcome. Bring a sandwich—beverage & dessert provided.

Green Sanctuary: Meeting postponed pending completion of our free $1600 energy assessment.
After that, we will need the Green Sanctuary Team (from interest survey) to meet and work on the Official Green Sanctuary Plan to submit to UUA. All interested members and friends should go ahead and download and read a copy of the Green Sanctuary Manual at www.uua.org/leaders/environment/greensanctuary/index.shtml.

ATTENTION Duke Power Customers: Order your FREE compact fluorescent light bulbs today!
Call 1-800-943-7585 and choose option 1, or visit www.duke-energy.com/freecfls1 to see if you are eligible. This is really easy—we just got 12!

The Earth Scouts (grade school youth) will be focusing on the National Wildlife Federation program to create a certified wildlife habitat. We approved SocJus $ to buy a NWF book for each Scout and discussed Intergenerational activities for the spring

SC Planned Parenthood rep. Sloane Whelan will have a table for letter signing in the Fellowship Hall the first Sunday in February, so look for her!

Christmas at Park Hills School

2010-12-16T06:20:00.000-08:00

School staff warmly welcomed P.K. and Co. as we delivered gifts and groceries for 17 children in families in need at Park Hills School. They send a heartfelt thank-you to the many, many people who contributed, with money to Share the Plate in November, individual donations, food for the foodbarrel, and with shopping, wrapping, and delivering!

The Food Barrel once again will be for Total Ministries. Please watch for those two-for-one specials, and bring one in for the hungry!

Our Global Issue: Appalachian Mountains and Miners: A Grinch in Appalachia STOLE THE TOYS

2010-12-12T12:36:00.000-08:00

In West Virginia, Wyoming Co. has a long tradition of making Christmas happen for their children. It’s in the middle of coal country, and one of the poorest counties in the nation—this is where our church member, Amber Pennington, grew up.

This year, they raised thousands of dollars for their Christmas Toy fund, and bought toys on sale all year. Then thieves broke into the Toy Fund storage and stole or vandalized most of the toys! So, in spite of all their foresight, they need last minute help. Let’s not let a Grinch steal Christmas!

$6.00 per child – as of Friday, that’s how much has been collected to make up for the loss.   They have a list of 3,000 children referred by the Dept. of Social Services.     Here’s the easiest way to help-   You can write a check and put it in the mail today! Please write your check directly to Wyoming County Toy Fund and mail to L. Dale Stewart, Treasurer; P.O. Box 268, Matheny, WV 24860.
_______________________________________________
Wednesday evening, while we wrapped presents for children at Park Hills, we brainstormed on what we could do to help.   We came up with three ideas: spread the word on Facebook; take up a collection at our holiday dinner; and purchase gifts from Amazon to send directly.   We’re getting the word out on FB; some members and friends are sending money in directly; and our holiday dinner collection generated over $300.

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love"   / Hamilton Wright Mabie

A Busy Month!

2010-12-02T10:31:00.000-08:00

November & Early December are important times for our Park Hills Partnership!
Our two November Share the Plate collections went to Christmas for Park Hills. We have a list of 17 children in need.   Five have been “adopted” by church members.   Over $700 has been donated and will be used for Christmas gifts (clothes and toys) for the remaining 12. Cynthia Lanier is heading the Christmas Team, all from the choir.

Food Barrel for Park Hills children: We have combined this with the gifts above, and people have been donating heavily to the Food Barrel collections. This is for Park Hills School families, (above) and focuses on holiday meal items. We will have a big Aldi’s cloth shopping bag full of food for each family. Gifts and food will be delivered to the school office Dec. 13th—P.K. is going to need some help with this!

Youth and Social Justice: This month, our youth prepared dinner for guests of the Spartanburg Interfaith Hospitality Network (SPIHN) at Fernwood Baptist Church, and then played with the kids while the adults (UU and SPIHN guests) got acquainted. A good time was had by all—in fact, the youth group has committed to accept this responsibility for this year (once every 10 weeks). Thursday, Nov. 18th, Megan, Shannon and Mary Bracy participated in the 4th annual Homelessness Vigil with Social Justice with Alice Sutton & Amber Pennington.

Our Local Issue: Green Sanctuary: Our application for the free energy assessment has been submitted and may be approved this week. We hope to get this assessment done and report back by Christmas! Then all the church members who indicated an interest in the green sanctuary team on the survey will be invited to meet.    You can check out the Green Sanctuary Program info on the UUA website:
http://www.uua.org/leaders/environment/greensanctuary/118741.shtml

Our Global Issue: Appalachia: Why & How YOU can fight mountaintop mining:   We gave two presentations in October and had an article in the November UNISON. This article gave us ways to support Appalachian people as they fight the destruction of their mountains and valleys.   We have encouraged everyone to send emails and letters to Congress during the lame duck session as well as to the EPA.

Animal Allies: Newspaper donations have increased and the Animal Allies Team is doing a great job of taking newspapers regularly!

APPALACHIA RISING/ Supplement to Oct. 31st 9:30 am program

2010-10-27T19:07:00.000-07:00

Sample letters you can cut, paste, and personalize to send by snail mail to VIPS…

For lots more info, go to www.ilovemountains.org

Where to Send Your letters for the EPA
Ask Sec. Salazar and Ms. Jackson to stop mountaintop mining.    Ask President Obama to stop mountaintop mining.

Administrator Lisa P. Jackson
Environmental Protection Agency
Ariel Rios Building
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20460

Secretary Ken Salazar
Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
Washington DC 20240
Phone: (202) 208-3100

Sample Letter for Secretary Salazar (and adaptable for EPA Admin. Jackson, modified Dec. 6th:

Dear Secretary Salazar,

I am writing today to ask you to stop mountaintop removal—500 mountaintops destroyed forever, many communities destroyed forever—this is enough and beyond enough!

Although I don’t live in the Appalachians, they are an important part of my world.   They’re some of the oldest mountains in the world, about 500 million years old, and they are awe-inspiring and revitalizing for all of us who visit them.   But coal companies are destroying them and their unique ecosystems for a few years of cheap profits!

Thank you for doing the right thing so far by preliminarily holding all 79 mountaintop removal valley fill permit applications for further review with the Army Corps. By doing so, the EPA has demonstrated their intention to fulfill a promise to provide science-based oversight which will limit the devastating environmental impacts of mountaintop removal mining

We encourage the EPA to use its veto authority to stop all permitting of valley fills associated with strip mining in Appalachia.

According to the EPA's own scientific studies, there are many problems associated with valley fills, which have already buried and polluted nearly 2,000 miles of streams across Appalachia. Randy Pomponio, Director of the EPA's Environmental Assessment and Innovation Division in the Mid-Atlantic Region 3, recently testified to the United States Senate Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife about the negative impacts that mountaintop removal and valley fills have on water quality.

The communities, mountains and waterways of Appalachia are depending on you to do your job and protect the environment from the damaging impacts of mountaintop removal coal mining.

The EPA should also consider the threat of contamination from the “beneficial reuse” of coal ash. Current forms of reuse are not environmentally sustainable methods of recycling. Several scientific studies have confirmed the environmental threats posed by mine filling with coal ash waste. To protect our precious natural resources we must regulate all forms of coal ash disposal, including methods of reuse.

We are willing to pay higher utility bills to stop that and to encourage the development of renewable energy sources.                                          Sincerely, your name

Our Senators

Sen. Lindsey Graham
District Address
101 East Washington Street, Suite 220
Greenville, SC 29601
Phone: 864-250-1417
Fax: 864-250-4322

Sen. Jim DeMint
District Address
105 North Spring Street, Suite 109
Greenville, SC 29601
Phone: 864-233-5366
Fax: 864-271-8901

SAMPLE LETTER FOR SENATORS:

I am writing to ask you to become a co-sponsor of the Cardin-Alexander "Appalachia Restoration Act" (S 696). This bill is critical for protecting Appalachia's waters from mountaintop removal coal mining. Mountaintop removal involves clear-cutting hardwood forests, blowing up mountaintops, and dumping millions of tons of debris into nearby streams in order to reach coal that lie beneath the surface. Over 500 mountains and over 2,000 miles of Appalachian streams have been destroyed by in the manner.

But in 2002, the Army Corps of Engineers, without congressional approval, altered its longstanding definition of "fill material" to include mining waste. This change accelerated the devastating practice of mountaintop removal coal mining.

To correct this, Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) have introduced the Appalachia Restoration Act (S 696) which would help end the destruction of the Appalachian Mountains, home to our nation's most diverse forests, the headwaters of the drinking water supply of many eastern cities, and a unique and valuable American culture that has endured for generations.

Please sponsor the Appalachia Restoration Act (S 696).
Please support the development of offshore wind power, especially for South Carolina!
Thank you for your attention to this important issue and I look forward to your response.

TO DO MORE: Contact our representatives and thank them!

Rep. Bob Inglis
105 N. Spring St.
Suite 111
Greenville, SC 29601
Phone: (864) 232-1141

Rep. John M. Spratt
201 E. Main Street, Suite 305
Rock Hill, SC 29730
Phone: (803)327-1114

I am writing to thank you for becoming a co-sponsor of the Clean Water Protection Act, H.R. 1310.
As you know, this bill is critical for protecting the nation’s waters from being polluted and buried by waste created during mountaintop removal coal mining.

Passing this legislation would protect all the nation’s rivers, streams, and lakes from being used as garbage dumps for mining waste. It would also help end the destruction of the Appalachian Mountains, home to our nation’s most diverse forests and streams, the headwaters of the drinking water supply of many eastern cities, and a unique and valuable American culture that has endured for generations.

Protecting our mountains and rivers is extremely important to me and millions of other Americans. As your constituent, I wanted to thank you for standing up for the values I believe in, and for doing all you can to ensure that the Clean Water Protection Act is passed by the 111th Congress.

I want to ask your support, also, for the development of real clean energy, like offshore wind power, especially for South Carolina! Thank you.

To Email President Obama: go to www.whitehouse.gov and click "contact"

We’re Moving Ahead on our Global Issue!

2010-09-30T15:52:00.000-07:00

Global Issue- Appalachia: Jinx, Amber, and Alice spent Sept 25-27th in Washington, D.C., for a mobilization to fight mountaintop removal. Go to http://crooksandliars.com/matt-osborne/appalachia-risesby-sitting-down
for an article & great video of the march, really showing the crowd, the arrests, & interviews with the leaders of this movement. About a thousand people were there, perhaps a third from coal-mining states, the rest from all over, just people who care intensely about the Appalachian people and mountains! Way over half were college-age, and even some high school students-- it's great to see this fire and determination in our American youth. We are inspired and challenged by them, as well as by the older mountain people who have been fighting against mountaintop removal for twenty years!   We're looking forward to sharing this experience with everyone at UUCS at a 10:00 Sunday program in October. This also inspires us to look for ways to fight mountaintop mining in our community. Please put the event below on your calender & let us know if you would like to join us for the free workshop at Greer City Hall to connect with like-minded (but more traditionally religious) folks.

Creation Care Workshop Sunday October 24, 2010, 2-6 pm
“There is a movement in the upstate to meld together several national initiatives relating to the care of God’s creation. Info at www.creationcare.org and www.interfaithpowerandlight.org.” We can carpool (after Sunday lunch) to Greer City Hall, 301 E. Poinsett St. Greer, SC 29651.   To register on your own, email Shelley Robbins at srobbins@upstateforever.org (they want a headcount so they have enough material & snacks for all.)

Local Issue: Green Sanctuary:   We have a one-page survey available from committee members and on the Social Justice table in the Fellowship Hall.   Please grab one & fill it out-- we really need your input! You can return it to a committee member or to the big box on the Social Justice table.

We filled the Food Barrel again, helping the hungry in our community.   A warm THANK YOU to all who contributed! Let’s do it again, and help out those struggling during these very tough times.   Here’s an idea from Total Ministries’ Ann Jones: “whenever there is a sale where you buy a product and get a second item for 1 cent, buy it and put the second one in a bag for TOTAL. The bag fills up quickly and you don’t feel a pinch on your grocery bill.” What a great idea!   Try it & let’s see how fast we can fill that barrel again!

Park Hills School: The congregation collected $137 to help students in need with school uniforms for the new year. Looking ahead, our November 14th Share The Plate collection will be for Christmas gifts for children in need at PHS. Cynthia Lanier will head the PHS Christmas Team: Susan Brown, Jeraldine Mack, Bonnie Lee Mizelle & Ruth Stanton. They will purchase gifts, wrap, and deliver them to the school before the Christmas break. If you’d like to join the team, catch Cynthia at church or let us know by email. It should be fun, so don’t miss out!

For more info on any or all of the above (and to take action!), email socialjustice@uucs.org

Learn More About Mountaintop Strip Mining

2010-08-31T06:14:00.000-07:00

Call it mountaintop removal, or mountain murder-- these pictures will make your blood boil! For more info on the movement to stop mountaintop strip mining, look at

www.ilovemountains.org/take_action/campaigns/mountains/browse/67049f4cd070e32135bfbd0bf12bf95f

Our August meeting was packed with plans!

2010-08-27T10:14:00.000-07:00

Park Hills School Partnership: After several years of dedicated work, Launa Blackburn has stepped down as Park Hills (PH) Coordinator.   Volunteers are needed to take on some of those responsibilities.   Launa did a tremendous amount, and we are not looking for someone to take on “the whole thing.” To volunteer in the classroom, lunchroom, etc., ask P.K. for further information or contact PH parent-volunteer liaison Jackie Miller: jmmiller@spart7.org   Our September 12th Share the Plate collection will go to Park Hills to purchase needed uniforms (these are not expensive school uniforms, but still beyond the means of some families).

Cynthia Lanier will head the Park Hills Christmas Team which will purchase gifts, wrap, and deliver them to the school before the Christmas break.    She needs some dedicated shoppers to assist her—if this is up your alley, catch her at church or let us know by email: suttonak@charter.net She would like to have her team in place by the end of September. It should be fun, so don’t miss out!

Where is the Park Hills Box?   Waiting for a good man or woman to take it on—email Alice at suttonak@charter.net if you would like to do this.

Our Global Issue: Appalachia
We discussed the upcoming "Appalachia Rising," a mass mobilization in Washington, DC, September 25-27, 2010. This is a weekend of meetings culminating in a Monday march calling for an end to the devastating practice of mountaintop removal mining. For more info, see http://appalachiarising.org/ This is a great opportunity to participate in this movement and learn all about it.    Cost is minimal; registration is $50 per person. This fee will cover housing, food, workshops, and trainings (low cost housing is being arranged).
    “Over 500 mountains have been destroyed thus far, and the practice leads to air and water pollution, causing cancer, gallbladder disease and asthma in communities downwind and downstream. Blasting cracks foundations and huge ponds of toxic coal slurry loom over communities. One, the Brushy Fork Impoundment in Pettus, WV, would kill 998 people by Massey Energy’s own estimates if it failed, spilling seven billion gallons of coal slurry over twenty-six miles downstream.”    There are good resources on this from NPR or PBS podcasts and Utube. Also, our ppt is still online at http://mrainey.freeservers.com/Family/SocialJustice.html
Three of us are committed to going to the DC event—we have room for one or two more people, and would love to have a young adult or two come along! Possible “scholarship” available.

Membership: Although we would love a few new committee members, we want to remind the congregation that committee membership and meeting attendance is NOT necessary for participation in activities—email suttonak@charter.net if you want to participate in something without attending meetings!

Peace: “Have you heard of the ‘Million Minutes for Peace Campaign.’ Together we're working to collect one million pledges to pray for peace for one minute at noon on the United Nations International Day of Peace (Tuesday, September21). Please forward this message to your email list. Thank you and may peace prevail on earth.”

Coordination of RE with Social Justice: Our teens are concentrating on Homelessness this fall. We shared the info we gathered last winter with RE. Our homelessness ppt is online at
http://mrainey.freeservers.com/Family/SocialJustice.html
The k5-5th grade Wednesday program is “EARTH SCOUTS,” which will coordinate well with both the Green Sanctuary and Appalachian Tragedy issues.

We look for ways for all church members and friends to get involved and feel good by doing good!

Online: For more on our 2010 Issues, check out http://mrainey.freeservers.com/Family/SocialJustice.html

       Work is Love Made Visible ~Khalil Gibran (1883-1931)

What's Up with Social Justice in July?

2010-07-28T08:52:00.000-07:00

What's up with Social Justice at UUCS?   We hosted a quartet of college students on a unique summer mission.   LiNK is a west-coast based grassroots NPO that helps rescue and resettle North Korean refugees, those desperate people who have managed to escape from North Korea and are hiding in China.   Several teams of volunteers, mostly college students, tour the country for a semester or a summer, speaking to university audiences, church groups, or other community groups.    Our quartet was Rene, Chelsea, Elyssa, and Bridget; only one of them had a Korean background, Rene, whose mother is South Korean. This work is truly a humanitarian effort, from their hearts. The only money the group receives from LiNK is for gas-- they all raised money from family, friends, etc., before they began their summer tour. Our church helped with their expenses while they were here and gave them dinner at Wonderful Wednesday, featuring not one, but TWO vegetarian lasagnas!

They spoke at the church July 21st to a good group of members and friends.    This was a joint LFD-SJ hosting, and very exciting.   The students presented a stirring documentary about North Korea and led the group discussion.   You may see us sporting our fundraiser LiNK T-shirts, etc.   Several people signed up to sponsor the LiNK rescue and resettlement work, at an affordable $9/month-- this will be about $500 /year coming from our church members.    For more info on LiNK, go to www.linkglobal.org     If you, too, sign up for a monthly sponsorship, please let me know at socialconcerns@uucs.org   so we can have a church total.

The LiNK group hopes to return to Spartanburg when colleges are in session. Would you enjoy hosting them for a night or two? This was a great experience for us, but we want to share the fun, so email or let me (Alice) know if you'd like to have them.   We look forward to seeing them or another LiNK team!   This project may be presented to the church next spring as a choice for global social justice issue for 2011-2012.

More News: Did you know that the UU is listed as a "Meal-Sponsoring Church" on the SPIHN website?   We have assisted Fernwood Baptist Church with their quarterly week-long hosting of SPIHN for years.   SPIHN works to help homeless families re-group, resolve problems, and get back on their feet and into a permanent home.   You'll see information on their fall benefit concert listed in the Happenings.   We will offer our church covenant groups the opportunity to help SPIHN this year.   For more info, go to www.spihn.org/

Green Sanctuary Program: We are preparing an application for a free environmental assessment this summer. It is great to see everyone being more conscientious about using the recycling containers in the church-- hope you are all doing this at home, too!

Trail of Dreams July Update

2010-07-28T08:35:00.000-07:00

What’s going on with the four Dreamwalkers who came through Spartanburg? Since they completed their 1,500 mile walk from Miami to DC and participated in the immigration rights rally May 1st, they’ve been busy! Felipe Matos and Carlos Roa are in Arizona, advocating against the new state anti-immigrant law there. They will begin a new walk through Arizona, talking at community events. You can keep up with them at http://trail2010.org/

June 28th, Juan Rodriguez met with President Obama to relay the stories of the undocumented people they met on the trail. CNN recognized him as “one of the most intriguing people today.” The week before, Gaby Pacheco met with senators. Here is her post: "I was given the opportunity to participate at a meeting last week with key Senators. The purpose of this meeting was to talk about how to move immigration reform forward. Invitations to this meeting went out to every sector of the movement. Some of the people present at the meeting were Farm Workers Alliances, NCLR, SEIU, RI4A, and about 20 other national organizations."

The DREAM act (written, but not passed, or even voted on) would stop detentions and deportations of students brought to this nation as minors and would give them a pathway to citizenship through education or military service, as well as include some other moves toward comprehensive immigration reform.

Name Change to Social Justice AND LOTS MORE!

2010-05-18T18:34:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a lot has happened in social justice this year! And it made this UUCS annual meeting very exciting for me. We asked everyone who had participated in two or more meetings of the social concerns committee to stand up, then asked all who had attended at least one of our education sessions on the social justice issues to stand, then asked those who had viewed the online powerpoints about the issues to stand-- and most people were standing! The first vote at our annual meeting was to change our name to the Social Justice Committee, as a sign of our church's new, more activist mission statement.    This was approved overwhelmingly.
Next, we voted for the local issue to focus on this year.   Although the vote was close, we approved the Green Sanctuary Program.   This can involve every church member and friend in many ways. Our knowledgeable minister and Chuck and Jack won't do the work for us-- but they will help us do it, and do it right!
Last, we voted, again, by a fairly slim margin, for the global issue, Appalachian Tragedy, Mountaintops & Miners.   This choice was geographically the closest of our three options, so it will be the easiest for church members to actually visit (right, Amber?).    We are going to have an exciting year, with opportunities for every church member to learn and to participate in Social Justice Work!    If you count the exclamation marks, you can tell I'm excited-- hope you are, too! (one more)
Need more info right now?    See
http://mrainey.freeservers.com/Family/SocialJustice.html

~Alice Sutton, chair, Social Justice committee
Oh, one last point-- next year, we'll be choosing new issues, so those that didn't win this year, may be options for next year.

Learn All About Our Social Justice Issues!

2010-05-05T09:38:00.000-07:00

At open meetings on Sunday April 24th and Sunday May 1st, we talked about the six social justice issues that the congregation will vote on May 16th. If you missed our presentations, you can learn about them at this link:

http://mrainey.freeservers.com/Family/SocialJustice.html

Lots of great pictures --so check it out!

Our New Social Justice Program

2010-04-11T18:57:00.000-07:00

At the May Congregational Meeting, ALL CHURCH MEMBERS will vote on the 2010 ISSUES for our church. We have six issues to present to you, and you need to choose the TWO best.

Our new Social Justice model gives our church two issues/programs to focus on for the coming fiscal year, one local and one global.   We have narrowed down the many possibilities to three local and three global.   Now YOU have to choose the best one in each group:

Our Three Local Issues:
1) Homelessness
2) Green Sanctuary (a UUA program)
3) Adult Education

Our Three Global Issues:
1) Gulf Coast Recovery (a UU Service Committee campaign)
2) Appalachian Poverty, Ecological destruction, and Opportunities for Recovery
3) Haiti (a UU Service Committee focus).

Sunday, April 25th, 10:00 we will talk about the local issues
Sunday, May 2nd, 10:00, we’ll talk about the global issues.
As you learn about our six options, ask yourself these questions:
1. How does this issue/program relate to the church mission?
2. How can this program provide for multiple interfaces between the church and agency, ways for the children and youth, as well as adults of differing interests and abilities, to be involved?
3. Do we have the resources to carry out the program?
4. How can this program help our church grow stronger and stand taller in Spartanburg and in the TJ District?

Park Hills & St. Luke’s Clinic: We have a continuing project at Park Hills School, with a small but important group of volunteers working there. We have a commitment to make collections for Park Hills. We have a continuing small commitment to St. Luke’s Clinic, with a dedicated group of volunteers. We have no plans to change either of these, but we need new issues & avenues for our whole congregation.

SAMPLES OF OUR ISSUES & PROGRAMS

Local Issue Number 2: Green Sanctuary (a UUA program)
What is it?   A comprehensive program –a journey—towards a more earth-aware and earth-caring lifestyle for our church community, bringing in everyone from the pagan to the tech-savvy.   Not just changing light bulbs (which is one small but worthwhile effort) but a UUA-developed program which encompasses both worship and action.    98 accredited churches and 118 in candidacy! (summer 2009)

Honors our Seventh Principle (respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part), practice environmental stewardship, and become better stewards of the Earth.

1. How does this issue/program relate to the church mission?
Justice for people, animals, and the earth: environmental problems like climate change affect poor people in the developing world and in developed countries more than they affect the middle class right now.   They affect animals, plants, and eco-systems; they destroy our earth.
Religious leaders from most of the world’s faith traditions have claimed that these envronmental crises may be the greatest moral challenge facing humankind in the twenty-first century.
2. How can this program provide for multiple interfaces between the church and agency, ways for the children and youth, as well as adults of differing interests and abilities, to be involved?
The first step is to form a Green Sanctuary Team. The second is to conduct an environmental assessment. This includes assessment of four focus areas:
      *Worship and Celebration, *Religious Education—adult and children's
    * Environmental Justice,     * Sustainable Living—grounds, parking lot, location,transportation, facilities, kitchen, food, recycling/reuseables, office and cleaning supplies, energy use, investment policies, congregation policies, congregation committees, etc.
Quotes: “the children in our RE program not only took initiative in helping with the church grounds, but also reached out to help an elderly couple with their yard work”   First Unitarian Soc. Schenectady, NY
“the formation of a Green Team was the spark that set into motion a wide range of progressive environmental movements within the church” UU Charleston, SC
“There is much more energy around making a difference.” UU Church, Fairfax, Oakton, VA

3. Do we have the resources to carry out the program?   We have many talented, able, and hard-working people.   Also, this program can be done one step at a time!
4. How can this program help our church grow stronger and stand taller in Spartanburg and in the TJ District?   “Our recognition as a Green Sanctuary enhances our ability to make positive contributions to our community.” A UU church in Mass.
“We are forming partnerships with other churches and faiths.” UU Church in Eugene, OR

Global Issue 3) Haiti (a UU Service Committee focus).

1. How does this issue/program relate to the church mission?
Justice of any type is in short supply in Haiti.
2. How can this program provide for multiple interfaces between the church and agency, ways for the children and youth, as well as adults of differing interests and abilities, to be involved?   Global issues require different approaches than local, generally less “hands-on.” There are two avenues of approach for us.
First, UUSC has partnerships with three grassroots organizations there. UUSC “provides assistance to our partners, and their experience and expertise, in turn, enrich UUSC, enhancing our ability to advocate for goals we share in common.” We can get involved with UUSC efforts, including political lobbying.
Second, we have a church member who, already, has been wanting to volunteer in Haiti, at a school for nurse-midwives. Ruth Stanton would be a welcome volunteer teacher at a school for nurse-midwives. Typically, volunteers bring with them a variety of needed supplies for the school, from medical supplies to simple infant layettes.   Church members could help gather these supplies (and even make some) for Ruth to take with her, and support her trip $$.
3. Do we have the resources to carry out the program?   Again, global issues are a little harder to figure out, but a “Haiti Team” would evaluate resources as they considered different activities.
4. How can this program help our church grow stronger and stand taller in Spartanburg and in the TJ
District?    Over the past several years, UUCS has concentrated our social concerns efforts on local issues.   We need to look beyond our city & our state. The earthquake in Haiti was such a tragedy that it demands a response from the world. Church members demonstrated that they wanted to respond with their contributions to our special Haiti collection. Our efforts here, esp. with Ruth’s personal contribution, can add excitement to our church.

February Social Concerns Decisions

2010-03-02T17:18:00.000-08:00

Local Issues Chosen: :
1) Homelessness; 2) Environment/Energy/Climate change; and 3) Adult Education.

February 24th Social Concerns Meeting

Present: Don Rollins, interim minister; Alice Sutton, chair; committee members Abby Fowler, Sally Hicks, Teretha Fowler, Jinx Jenkins; drop-ins David Stack, Rosemary Kramer, & Bobbie Schoss (great to have you); and speakers Jack Seitz, Katie Justice, and Danny Redden.

Don talked about the next steps for our new Social Justice model to help us as we select the issues to present to the church. He gave us seven questions to ask during the process of selection, including whether the issue/program has the potential for multiple interfaces between church and agency (ability to involve church members of different ages, interests and abilities, etc).   He explained how the minister helps the church build a relationship with a partnered organization.

Don’s entire Issue Selection Checklist will be posted on the Social Concerns blog.

What constitutes a church-sponsored program? We discussed Don’s answer:
Access to internal publicity; permission to solicit on its behalf; transparent accounting of funds; clear benchmarks or goals for monitoring; and periodic reporting.   This kind of planning, ongoing evaluation and reporting to the minister, the Board, and the congregation both during the year and at the end of the year will be a challenge! But it will also keep the congregation on track through the year.

We then heard from guest speakers about two local issues:
1. Katie Justice, an Americorps Volunteer with The Faces of Homelessness Speakers' Bureau, and Danny Redden, asst. director at Divinity Care, the Spartanburg men’s shelter.

2. Jack Seitz spoke on Climate change and Energy Conservation. He explained the Cool Cities Initiative sponsored by the Sierra Club, and gave us great background information on this in Spartanburg. Don told us a little about the Green Sanctuary program sponsored by the UUA. He has been minister at two churches that undertook this program. “Participation in the Green Sanctuary Program provides a framework for congregations and congregants to proclaim and live out their commitment to the Earth.” For more info, go to http://www.uua.org/leaders/environment/greensanctuary/index.shtml

We also discussed the place of Park Hills School in the church Social Justice program. We plan to continue partnering with Park Hills School, being active with families in the neighborhood, and taking up collections for Park Hills students, etc. We need to know what the scope of our volunteer activity is there at present, beyond the significant money and materials donations.

Further group discussion centered on other local issues on our list, esp. dental health, teen pregnancy, and hunger. It is hard to decide on only three issues when there are so many needs. However, other issues will be selected in coming years.   A yearly change in focus will help us all be much more aware and active citizens of our community and of our world.

Finally, we selected our two remaining local issues: Homelessness and Environment/Energy/Climate change, to go with our choice last month, Adult Education.

We Chose Social Justice Issues!

2010-02-06T09:21:00.000-08:00

January 27th Social Concerns Committee meeting notes:
Present: Sally Hicks, Abby Fowler, Teretha Fowler, Ruth Stanton, Nancy Mandlove, Alice Sutton and William Worley

ShareThePlate Winners! Ballots were available Jan. 17th to Jan. 27th, at two services and announced in The Happenings as available on the Social Concerns Table in the Fellowship Hall. Fifty-seven members voted for the recipients. Top choices were Healthy Smiles of Spartanburg (20), Safe Homes and Rape Crisis Coalition (15), St. Luke’s Clinic (15), and Animal Allies (14). All others received ten or fewer votes.   So these four will be our recipients for Feb.-May. We will Share The Plate on the second Sunday of each month.    I will try to get a rep. from Healthy Smiles to speak briefly Feb. 14th (DONE).

Sally said she first thought Social Concerns was about planning the social life of the church, and so was not interested. Someone else had thought this, too. We discussed this as one good reason to change name of committee, to help new members know what it is.   Also changing mission statement-- draft mission statement includes justice and uses stronger, activist language

Choosing Three Global Issues:
Discussed UU service Committee and handed out info.   One of their campaigns is on Gulf Coast Advocacy.   We discussed why go global when there is so much need at home, why go international when there is so much need within this country.   Good points made on both perspectives.   Nancy, Ruth and Alice talked about the emotional impact of seeing, living in, and helping in a developing country. The lasting difference in perspective energizes participants often for the rest of their lives. Sally brought up the expense of traveling abroad.   We also talked about networking and planning, etc., to have a successful trip for church members.   In this discussion, we changed our focus from choosing three global issues to three national/international issues.   We had a consensus that we were not ready to present a plan involving international travel. The topics we will present to the congregation are 1) Gulf Coast Recovery (a UU Service Committee campaign), 2) Appalachian Poverty, Ecological destruction (such as mountaintop mining), and Opportunities for Recovery, and 3) Haiti (a UU Service Committee focus).    In these areas, we will look at the whole picture, including rights for women, economic justice, and environmental recovery.

Important Concern: Several members have expressed concern that changes in Social Concerns will take away from our activities in Park Hills School/Neighborhood.   We discussed the need to address this. We plan to continue partnering with Park Hills School and being active with families in the neighborhood, and with regular collections for Park Hills students, etc. We also have a small but regular commitment to St. Luke’s Clinic and to the SPIHN (help for homeless) program, and to Total Ministries Food Barrel —we plan to continue these. But we need ways for congregational members with other interests to get involved in different activities. In particular, we need some offerings that appeal to a variety of youth—when my daughter was in high school and college, she didn’t want to babysit or be around little kids, but she jumped at the chance to get involved in an animal rescue NPO.

Choosing Three Local Issues: We discussed these, chose education and literacy for adults as one issue, and agreed to choose the additional two issues at the Feb. meeting.
Present to the Congregation: need time for three 10:00 sessions in March, April, and May.
Next SPIHN dinner: Thursday, Feb. 25th.

A New Year, New Opportunities

2010-01-17T11:46:00.000-08:00

Two happenings for Social Concerns!    First, we're asking all UUCS members to vote on the next four ShareThePlate recipients.   Ballots are available on the table under the Social Concerns bulletin board and also will be handed out at two church services, today and next Sunday, Jan. 24th.   Proposed recipients include Hatcher Gardens, Healthy Smiles of Spartanburg, Madison's House, Animal Allies, Critter Connections, Bethlehem Center, Habitat for Humanity, New Day Clubhouse, Piedmont Care, SAFE, and St. Luke's Clinic. Park Hills School is our January recipient. Turn your ballot in after chuch or leave it on the Social Concerns table before 6:00 p.m. Jan. 27th.

Second, and very exciting:   We introduced the new Social Justice plan at the congregational meeting today! (read Dec. 1st post for details) At this month's Social Concerns committee meeting, we'll choose three global issues and three local issues to present to the congregation between now and May.   In May, the congregation will vote on our proposals.   Possible global issues include:

Haiti:   Helping Women and girls in Haiti.
Slave Labor: the oppression of women and girls
Environmental concerns
Help with skills to enable women and men to increase their income
Building schools for girls
Microloans for women
Hunger
The Death Penalty
Racism

We should have a lively discussion Jan. 27th!   Not on the committee? You are welcome to come & participate!

GIVE BLOOD for the Holidays!

2009-12-18T12:51:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, my family went from calm to crisis. My youngest cousin, mother of two boys aged 7 and 9, was admitted to the hospital with severe anemia, a hemoglobin of 6 gm and dropping! Two surgeries later, she had received a total of eleven pints of blood, plus platelets, and a diagnosis of an aggressive cancer. As I waited at home, I was thankful that I could donate blood and had given recently. Ironically, her younger brother, praying in the hospital waiting room, couldn't help her by giving blood. He is in a long term monogamous gay relationship, and according to the guidelines recommended by the Red Cross, the American Association of Blood Banks and the other professional groups most knowledgeable about the safety of our blood supply, he should be allowed to give blood. However, the FDA has ignored advances in medical science and still discriminates against gay men in their blood donation policy. For the benefit of all those who need blood, as well as my cousin Allan and all the other gay men who would like to give blood, think about making a stop at the Piedmont Blood Center on Main Street during your holiday shopping! No apt needed, takes about an hour. /Social Concerns chair, Alice Sutton

Dec. 1, 2009. Changing the Way We Do Social Justice

2009-12-18T12:49:00.000-08:00

Present: Alice Sutton (chair), Don Rollins (interim minister), members Abby Fowler, Teretha Fowler, PK Weiss, Launa Blackburn and Ed Wilde, and guest Jinx Jenkins

We briefly discussed December issues at the end of the meeting:
*Launa and P.K. are coordinating Christmas at Park Hills for particular children who need gifts. P.K. is looking for volunteers for lunch duty on Dec. 11th so teachers can enjoy a holiday lunch. She has sent this notice to the Happenings.   Anyone can volunteer for this, whether or not they have previously been at Park Hills.
*We are assisting Merike Tamm in her Book Fair, Dec. 6th, which will include books for Park Hills students.
*Dec. 17th Thursday Eve SPIHN (Spartanburg Interfaith Hospitality Network) dinner is coming up at Fernwood Baptist Church.   Our committee members will provide the dinner this time for 3 mothers and their 8 children between 2 and 10 years old: Alice (chili), Abby (bread, salad), Launa (dessert) and also Jinx (fruit salad) (did I miss someone?).    We can meet at our church at 5:00 with our dishes, and Alice will deliver them to Fernwood Baptist. We don’t need to bring drinks. Launa and her brother will be overnight hosts, so Launa can bring her dessert direct to Fernwood Baptist. We will look for another covenant group or small group for the next dinner, in February.
*We voted unanimously to recommend to the Board that 100% of the Christmas Eve collection go to Total Ministries to support their many programs. Alice will send an email to Karen Mitchell asking her to bring this to the Board’s attention (done).
*The second Sunday in January, ShareThePlate will be collected for Park Hills School.
*In early January, we will survey the congregation with ideas for ShareThePlate for Feb-April only, with a handout in the bulletin as well as the Happenings and Unison. (Launa, this should be very easy because the congregation is already familiar with the concept.)   Beginning in May, we will be implementing the new plan, which may, or may not, include ShareThePlate.

We have a To Do List: we each need to give some thought to the 3 local issues and 3 global issues (discussed in workshop) and email initial ideas to Alice (Ed has already sent his--Thanks, Ed!)

Workshop Topic: Changing the Way We Do Social Justice
*We voted again unanimously to adopt this new model for Social Concerns.
Here is most of Don’s outline with my notes on what we talked about as we went through it.
PROPOSED “GARDINER” MODEL /Don Rollins December 2009
“A summary of the model Don encountered several years ago, as part of a UUA-sponsored, social justice program. (tweaked here and there)

The primary goals are:
1. To engage the greater congregation in designing, delivering and assessing its justice programming.
2. To give direction and focus to the committee(s) charged to lead the congregation in its justice ministries.
3. To better utilize justice resources – human, financial or otherwise.
4. To allow for, but minimize, any additional areas of emphasis related to justice work.

The Model:

1. Justice work is divided into two broad categories: Local and Global.
Local issues are those that have to do with the immediate area, and may or may not involve partnership with an agency or another congregation. Examples: food pantries; soup kitchens; shelters; Habitat for Humanity.
Currently, almost everything we are doing at UUSC is on the local level

Global issues are those that involve the congregation in efforts that are outside its “parish”.
            Examples: slave trafficking; women and children affected by war; climate change; Amnesty International.

2. The Committee identifies three possible issues for each of the two categories (six, total), complete with a short plan for each issue. Plans should include estimated necessary resources and responsibilities.

3. An educational plan is designed and implemented at least six weeks in advance of the next Annual Meeting (or otherwise duly called congregational meeting), describing the new model, any related bylaw amendment proposals, six identified issues and plans for each.
NOTES:   the social concerns committee decides on three issues in each group and spends several months educating the congregation in these issues.   This can be done with 10:00 classes in depth, perhaps two issues at each, also with info in happenings, unison, bulletin, and on Social Concerns bulletin board.   We also discussed the need to change our committee name to Social Justice committee, in keeping with including the global perspective.   This can also be presented on and voted on at the Annual Meeting or earlier called meeting, at this point projected for ~April (maybe).   This educational process helps get more people involved in the issues on different levels.

4. Committee members attend 2010 Annual Meeting (or other duly called meeting) prepared to present and explain the new model.

5. The congregation votes, in accordance with the legal processes, to make any necessary bylaw changes.   NOTES:   only a majority of members present is needed for approval.

6. The congregation votes to identify two areas of focus, one, local and the other, global.
NOTES: This includes presenting a BUDGET needed for each proposal, which would be included in the proposal, so the congregation votes on the budget.
The same issue can be chosen for both local and global.    We had some discussion over the length of each campaign, one year vs. two years, whether one year was enough time, vs. the excitement value of a new issue every year.   We will think about this and revisit it at our January meeting.    Committee members will also brainstorm about possible issues and email their ideas to Alice.

7. The Committee begins it work, complete with means of assessment and progress reports.
NOTES: The selection of new issues is a good time for new committee members to join.   If work is not completed within the 12 months, the committee may continue somewhat beyond that point, but reports to the church as appropriate through the year and at the conclusion of the year.    There could be a spin-off subcommittee for the issue.

8. The Committee, beginning in April of that church year, prepares the justice proposal for the congregation’s new justice plan.
NOTES: The Social Justice committee would, again, choose 3 issues for global and 3 issues for local, educate the congregation, and present for a vote at the Annual Meeting in spring 2011.

Remember Special Workshop!

2009-11-28T05:27:00.000-08:00

Social Concerns Meeting Tuesday Dec. 1, 7:00 pm

Interim minister Don Rollins will lead a special workshop on a new model for Social Justice activities in a congregation, a model with the power to increase congregational involvement and commitment to issues. Please attend if you are a committee member or interested in being a committee member.

Part 3, Blood Bank Policy

2009-11-28T05:26:00.000-08:00

As I left the Piedmont Blood Center on Main Street, I enjoyed that self-satisfied, yes, even smug feeling that I had done my civic duty! I dropped into the Center at my convenience and, in less than an hour, was in and out. I think everyone who can safely give blood, should. It saves lives and for most people, it’s an easy way to help others.
The Food and Drug Adminsitration (FDA) blood donation policy denies gay and bisexual men this opportunity to help others and contribute to the common good. If medical science hadn’t advanced since the 1980’s, this would be a necessary ban, along with similar bans against Haitians and Africans and, in Washington DC, all African American women (this group now has a frighteningly high risk of contracting HIV/AIDS). Of these, only people from a few African countries are banned from donating. Of course, medical science has advanced since then. In fact,

The Medicine Association of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (HIVMA)
The American Association of Blood Banks (AABB)
America’s Blood Centers (ABC)
and the American Red Cross (ARC)
have all been calling for the ban’s revision since 1997—that’s 12 years!

In March 2006, the FDA held a workshop on this issue. Dr. Steven Kleinman, Senior Medical Advisor for the American Red Cross, stated then that “current duplicate testing using NAT and serologic methods allow detection of HIV- infected donors between 10 and 21 days after exposure. .. It does not appear rational to broadly differentiate sexual transmission via male-to-male sexual activity from that via heterosexual activity on scientific grounds... To many, this differentiation is unfair and discriminatory.” Yet, the FDA, ignored the recommendations of all four professional groups and took no action to revise the ban.
So, why is there a ban against gay men donating blood?
What do you think?

Part 2. FDA Policy on Blood Bank Donors exclusions is outdated

2009-11-17T05:37:00.000-08:00

What organizations in the US are most knowledgeable and concerned about preventing HIV/AIDS? The Medicine Association (HIVMA) of the Infectious Diseases Society of America would be at the top of the list. It represents over 2,600 physicians, scientists and other health care professionals who practice on the frontline of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
HIVMA explains that all blood donations today are tested with the Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAT) for HIV. The NAT detects HIV beginning 11 days after a person has contracted it. In 2004 HIVMA stated that “the accuracy and reliability of the NAT …call for significant revisions to the current donor screening guidelines. It is discriminatory and unnecessary to continue to exclude any man who has had sex with another man since 1977 from donating blood.”
HIVMA recommends that the blood donor screening procedures be revised to ask all potential donors to exclude themselves if they have recently engaged in unprotected sex with a partner of unknown HIV status or used a syringe not prescribed by a physician to take drugs or steroids. To err on the side of caution, HIVMA states, “recently” might be defined as the previous six months. … Why is the ban still in place? More next week … *HIVMA’s full statement at http://www.hivma.org/Content.aspx?id=2788

Social Concerns Meeting Tuesday Dec. 1, 7:00

2009-11-14T07:18:00.000-08:00

FDA Blood Donation Policy Information

2009-11-14T07:14:00.000-08:00

The Social Concerns committee will be submitting a weekly paragraph to the bulletin & happenings to educate the congregation on this topic. Here is No. 1:
Did you know that well over 10% of men are banned for life from donating blood? In the 1980’s, when HIV/AIDs first became a problem, the FDA banned Haitians, intravenous drug users, and men who had had sex with another man from donating blood. However, the ability to detect HIV in blood donations has become very good. In 1990, Haitians protested their blanket exclusion from blood donations as racism, and Haitians were taken off this list. However, all men who have had sex with another man (even once) since 1977 are still banned for life from donating blood. Is that necessary for the safety of our blood supply? Since 1997, AABB (the American Association of Blood Banks) has advocated that this lifetime ban should be lifted. For more info, see http://www.aabb.org/Content/Members_Area/Members_Area_Regulatory/Donor_Suitability/bpacdefernat030906.htm …Why is the ban still in place? More next week …

Social Concerns Minutes October 28, 2009

2009-11-01T06:19:00.000-08:00

October Meeting Minutes

Attendance is listed at the end.
We briefly reviewed October activities and November plans:
*Wed. Oct. 21st. Love, Knit & Crochet had its second meeting. We are knitting/crocheting scarves for the homeless from now till Christmas, meeting on the third Wednesdayat 6:30.   We hope more will join us.
*Oct. 1st & 3rd. SPIHN (Spartanburg Interfaith Hospitality Network): The Diane Dixon Covenant Group prepared dinner for six guests at Fernwood Baptist Church, and Launa Blackburn and her brother were overnight hosts at Fernwood Baptist Church.    Abby Fowler agreed to lead the next dinner, in December.   We will look for another covenant group or small group for the following one, in February.
*Pink Sunday: Alice spoke briefly about this breast cancer awareness day at the Oct. 25th service and material was available for interested church members. This material is on the social concerns table.
*Nov. 1st Connie Godenick will begin a monthly Sunday morning health program for our congregation, and also open to the community. Connie and Alice will lead a vegetarian Wonderful Wednesday in November.

This month’s Topics
1. Don Rollins spoke on a particular model for Social Justice activities in a congregation, a model with the power to increase congregational involvement and commitment to issues.   Don offered to assist us with this if we wish, and then left for another meeting. We decided we want to work with this model, so will schedule a special meeting in November with Don on how to implement this, with the goal of information-gathering, educating the congregation, and then offering resolutions at the May Congregational meeting.
2. PK gave us an update on the excellent work that Brandon David and fellow students are doing to fight school-district sanctioned religious speech & prayer at school events.
3. PK also reported, from Launa Blackburn, that Park Hills School is NOT accepting new volunteers at this time due to increased cost of background checks and the availability of Americorps volunteers.   However, previously screened volunteers are still very welcome.
4. Alice shared the Board’s request that we educate the congregation about the FDA Blood Bank policy and the resolution proposed by David Stack.   He shared with us additional information on this clearly discriminatory ban.   We discussed this, and all members present agreed to undertake this educational effort and discussed a step-by-step process using the Bulletin, the Happenings, and culminating in a 10:00 am meeting in January, some time prior to the Congregational meeting
5. ShareThePlate:   Alice reported that the Board heard the recommendations from the Social Concern and Finance Committees and postponed action. The members of the Board were uncomfortable with the social concerns language because it was not explicit enough. Karen and Nancy Mandlove are working on the phrasing.   No decision as yet.
Social Concerns members are anxious for a speedy decision so that we can, hopefully, resume ShareThePlate.   Cindy mentioned the favorable attention our church received at the Asheville UU for our ShareThePlate checks on display.
5. Placement of Collection Barrels:   We need to find a place—will consider this later.
6. Teretha Fowler presented information on prescription drug assistance available to low income people for a fee of only $20/ year.   We posted this information on the Social Concerns bulletin board.
7. The committee approved Flu Epidemic/No hugs reminder signs for the church doors. These are posted.

Present: Alice Sutton (chair), Don Rollins (interim minister), members Abby Fowler, Teretha Fowler, PK Weiss, Cindy Howe, and Ed Wilde, and guests David Stack and Michael Rainey

October Social Concerns Calendar

2009-10-04T15:16:00.000-07:00

Love, Knit & Crochet Wed. Oct. 21st, 6:30. We are making scarves for the homeless between now and Christmas. Come with your hook or needles, yarn is provided. Everyone is welcome ~ we will teach beginners.

Social Concerns Committee's Next Meeting: Oct. 28th, 6:30. Topics: Don Rollins will talk about social concerns; blood drives & discrimination against MSM, update from Brandon on youth concerns, update from Launa on Park Hill, and other ideas and concerns brought by members. No meetings in Nov. & Dec.

Wed. Sept. 23rd. Social Concerns Meeting 6:30

2009-10-04T15:11:00.000-07:00

Corrected Minutes (thanks, committee members!)
Update on activities of September-October
This month’s topics include: Youth activities, ShareThePlate, Critter Connections, Discrimination against Gay Men by FDA in accepting blood donations and others.

What is “Social Concerns”? Nationally, UU churches have committees, variously called Social Concerns, Social Action, and Social Justice, with efforts similar to ours. They usually stress, as we do, “think globally and act locally.”

Present: Alice Sutton, chair; Don Rollins, minister; Launa Blackburn, Park Hills Liaison; Brandon David, youth rep; Kim Danner, board liaison; additional members Ed Wilde, Abby Fowler, P. K. Weis, Palma and Mitchell Eisner, and Cynthia Howe; and supporters Bobbie Schoss and David Stack.

Update on activities of September-October:
*Total Ministries: Penny Hatchell calls Total Ministries when the food barrel is full. Previously, Meg Barnhouse sometimes gave food directly to needy applicants from the barrel, and Penny has continued that through the summer. We had a consensus that it was better to refer to Total Ministries but agreed that DON ROLLINS should decide whether he wished to continue this tradition or preferred that all applicants go direct to Total Ministries: Discussion w/ DON: he wants to follow the church recommendation. We recommend that he refer all to Total Ministries & Free Lunch at Second Pres. *Wed. Sept. 16th. Love, Knit & Crochet had its first meeting. We will knit/crochet scarves for the homeless from now till Christmas, meeting monthly. We hope more will join us.
*Ruth Stanton offered info on pending legislation for public education & voter registration on Sept. 20th.
*Launa Blackburn spoke at the Sept. 20th service on Park Hills partnership to recruit volunteers and put calendar on bulletin board.
*Alice spoke about Social Concerns committee after service. Also bought organizations directory.
*Oct. 1st & 3rd. SPIHN (Spartanburg Interfaith Hospitality Network): UU church commitment to Fernwood Baptist Church is to provide one meal to the homeless family/families hosted. Dixon Covenant Group will provide Th. Oct 1 meal and Launa will be a Saturday overnight host.
*Breast Cancer Awareness & Memorial: Sally Hicks has ordered Pink Sunday materials for us and Alice will speak about this at Oct. 25th service.
*Nov. 1st Connie Godenick will begin a monthly Sunday morning health program for our congregation, and also open to the community.

This month’s Topics
1. ShareThePlate: we all thought this was very worthwhile last year. Did we really lose money doing this? Ed Wilde explained the Finance Committee recommendation of 7/09. They recommended that “any plate amount over $80 each Sunday will be given to the charity of the month in addition to checks and contributions given to the church in the charity’s name.” This was calculated based on church pledges and the pattern of giving, to hopefully meet budget.
We felt that this phrasing was very awkward and also would not encourage people to give that extra amount for charities that the previous Share the Plate plan did. However, we acknowledged the financial realities that make the previous Share the Plate plan more generous than we can afford at this time. After much discussion, we reached a consensus and make this recommendation to the Board:
That we share the plate every Sunday with the following phrasing: This month, the ___________(charity) will receive all designated checks or money placed in the donation envelopes and labeled for _________, as well as a portion of the loose cash and change put in the collection plate.” We would like to continue to have each recipient organization speak at one service for a few minutes, and would also like that org. to have a table with info. in the fellowship hall at least one week in the month.
Further, we designate Park Hills School as our next Share The Plate recipient. We will do a new congregational survey and choose additional recipients in October and January. Launa agreed to create this survey.

2. Bobbie Schoss shared information on “Critter Connections,” an animal foster-and-adoption NPO in Spartanburg. This is a good place for people looking for pets or who would like to foster a pet, and also a good candidate for Share The Plate.

3.David Stack shared information about the lifetime exclusion of blood donations from men having sex with men (MSM). The American Red Cross, the American Assoc. for Blood Banks and America’s Blood Centers have urged the FDA to revise the ban because of technological advances ensuring the safety of the blood supply with a revised plan. This discrimination has led some to call for banning blood drives from some locations. We agreed that all members present will research and think about this topic and discuss this at our Oct. meeting. Launa will discuss this issue with Rick Hahnenburg & Margaret Schmidt, who have been involved in recent blood drives, and invite them to our next meeting.

4. Brandon David shared his ideas on how our youth would like to contribute to our church, first, by helping with fundraising, and second, with our help to expedite community volunteer activities. He also spoke about the need for more recreational youth activities in our community, and we discussed some ideas on how youth recreation and fundraising could be combined. We thought the youth could make a wonderful contribution to the auction by teaming up to offer hours of work. Our new fundraising committee clearly needs a youth member, too! Don, P. K. and Launa will take initial steps to help with ideas such as a youth coffee house or dance, and volunteer help at after school activities at Park Hills School. Alice & Launa will be happy to talk to a youth group about community activities after Alice has attended upcoming neighborhood assoc. meetings.

5. Brandon also spoke about the Respect and Equality Petition with 600+ signers presented by high school students at the District 6 School District Board meeting. This was in response to a very exclusive prayer-speech given at last spring’s graduation at Dorman High. Subsequently, the School Board lost the petition. The Social Concerns committee support this petition and agree that Brandon, et al, should have a table in the Fellowship Hall on a Sunday very soon, to give our church members the opportunity to sign a new petition. Brandon will let us know when he would like to have a table in the Fellowship Hall (soon).

6. Launa shared her concerns about declining contributions to the Total Ministries Food Barrel. She would like the barrels put in a more visible location. Alice will bring barrel locations and other housekeeping concerns up at the next COC meeting.

2009-09-17T06:25:00.000-07:00

Social Concerns Calendar September, 2009

Wed. Sept. 23rd. Social Concerns Next Meeting 6:30 (4th Wednesday).
Topics include: Youth activities, SPIHN dinner, ShareThePlate, Critter Connections, and others.
All interested members and friends are welcome.

Wed. Sept. 16th. Love, Knit & Crochet first meeting. For fellowship, creation of prayer shawls, baby blankets, etc. Open to youth and adults. Come to learn to knit or crochet and make warm scarves for the homeless, a blanket for a premature baby, a shawl for a sick person. Or join us for camaraderie while you work on your own projects. If you need to purchase your first knitting needles, buy size 10 or 11; crochet hook, buy size J or K. BEGINNERS, you do not need to bring yarn to the meeting, but you do need to bring hook or needles.
Next meeting: Oct. 21st, 6:30. Our fall group project is knitting scarves for the homeless.

Sunday, Sept. 20th Community Fair
*Launa Blackburn will speak on Park Hills Volunteer needs & opportunities from the pulpit for 5 minutes, and volunteers will wear special nametags “ask me about Park Hills”
Alice Sutton will speak at the Community Fair about Social Concerns as a whole and opportunities to volunteer.
*Ruth Stanton will share info on legislative efforts to improve public education and offer voter reg. & address updates via a table in the fellowship hall.

OCT 1st. Provide 1 dinner for SPIHN (Spartanburg Interfaith Hospitality Network): UU church commitment to Fernwood Baptist Church to provide one meal to the homeless family/families hosted. Although we have provided restaurant meals and take-out pizza most recently, we agreed we needed to do a low-budget meal, i.e., homemade mac&cheese, etc. How about a simple home-cooked meal and a great dessert?

Social Concerns Meeting Aug. 26, 2009 Minutes

Present: Alice Sutton (chair), Abby Fowler, Connie Godenick, Sally Hicks, Cindy Howe, Bobbie Schoss, P.K. Weiss. Unable to attend: Launa Blackburn, Teretha Fowler, Ruth Stanton, Ed Wilde
Purpose: To promote and coordinate social concerns efforts, especially to make participation easier for our church members

1) What is “Social Concerns”? Nationally, UU churches have committees, variously called Social Concerns, Social Action, and Social Justice, with efforts similar to ours, but with enough differences to make their statements interesting reading. They usually stress, as we do, “think globally and act locally.”

2) We reviewed our congregation’s activities in social concerns for the past year and previously, including continuing commitments:
*First Pride March: members of our congregation had a major responsibility for this wonderful event! Social concerns activities don’t have to spring from our committee.
*Adoption of Park Hills School: Launa Blackburn and PK Weiss spearhead this work. See end of minutes for August activity at ***.
*St. Luke’s Clinic: Teretha Fowler coordinates volunteer participation here one evening a month. If 1-2 additional people are interested in helping interview patients, this would be a plus. If 4-6 people were interested, we could take another evening.
*Total Ministries: Penny Hatchell calls Total Ministries when the food barrel is full. Previously, Meg Barnhouse sometimes gave food directly to needy applicants from the barrel, and Penny has continued that through the summer. We agreed that DON ROLLINS should decide whether he wished to continue this tradition or preferred that all applicants go direct to Total Ministries.
*SPIHN (Spartanburg Interfaith Hospitality Network): UU church commitment to Fernwood Baptist Church to provide one meal to the homeless family/families hosted. Their next event is Sept. 27-30. Although we have provided restaurant meals and take-out pizza most recently, we agreed we needed to do a low-budget meal, i.e., homemade mac&cheese, etc. How about a simple home-cooked meal and a great dessert?
*ShareThePlate: we all thought this was very worthwhile last year. We want to focus on this at our next meeting and make a thoughtful recommendation to the BOARD, so we have requested that the board make no decision on this until then.
*In previous years, groups, including youth groups, volunteered at Habitat for Humanity housebuilding and at Second Pres. Church serving free lunches, among others. We would like one or more YOUTH REPRESENTATIVES at our meetings to discuss what the youth would like to do or are already doing as volunteers. P.K. will discuss with Kathleen Anderson. Connie pulled her daughter, Laura, into our meeting to share her work with the Mayor’s Service Board, a volunteer group open to all high school youth in Spartanburg county—sounds like a great group! Thank you, Laura, for speaking to us!
Also, we'd like to invite any of the high schoolers who would like to participate in the Social Concerns committee at church to attend the next meeting: Wednesday, September 23 at 6:30 p.m. (at the church).

4) New Social Concerns Activities & Plans:
*Bobbie will present information on “Critter Connections” at the next meeting.
*Ruth Stanton would like to share info on legislative efforts to improve public education (http://www.goodbyeminimallyadequate.com/) and offer voter registration via a table in the foyer for 1-2 Sundays late in September. Our committee felt this was worthwhile, but was concerned that we had too much going on in September. We would like BOARD feedback on this.
*Connie shared her desire to help both our congregation and others become healthier through better nutrition. We health professionals will talk about this further and report at our next meeting.
*Alice shared her discussion with David Stack: we want to start a knitting/crocheting fellowship group open for people of all ages, those who want to learn either skill, or already know how & want to participate in making prayer shawls, baby blankets, or similar for charity, or simply knit and chat. Several committee members would like to join the group. Alice & David are both free only on the 3rd Wed. after dinner.

*Communications Issues: sharing information on what members are involved in and offering other opportunities is an ongoing need. Although monetary donations to charities are important, activities are more important. Alice will purchase a copy of Directory of Opportunities from the library and we will keep it in the Social Concerns Mailbox (please return it there if you look at it!)
(Sept. 15th note: DONE, but the directory was "borrowed"-- we hope it will make its way home to the mailbox.)
We discussed ways for committee members to communicate w/ Alice and for Alice to share that information via Unison, etc. and a webpage. We see the main function of the committee chair as handling communication.)

*Right now: Recruitment Plan for Park Hills: Since it is the beginning of the school year, we want to quickly recognize Park Hills volunteers who have been working there in August and give others the opportunity to get involved. We will make special nametags for that day for volunteers to wear that say “Ask me about Park Hills.”

***P.K. provided a list of August Park Hills volunteers who have held a “Back to School Breakfast” for faculty and staff, and put together information packets for 400 students and their parents. This was forwarded to Joyce. We have been contributing school supplies to the Park Hills barrel in the fellowship hall. Volunteers are needed for classroom help, lunch buddies, field trips, etc.