Christmas at Park Hills School

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

 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. 
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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!

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

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!

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

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!

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)