All members & friends are welcome to join the efforts of the Social Justice Outreach Team
SOCIAL JUSTICE & ALLIES FOR RACIAL EQUITY TEAM MEETINGS
We meet on the first TUESDAY of the month 1:00 to 2:30pm. via ZOOM
Our next meeting is TUES, March 1, 2022
All are welcome to attend; these meetings are your chance to provide input and contribute to our UUFH justice efforts. Contact Charlotte Corrigan for more information – i.e., agenda, prior minutes, Zoom link – if you would like to participate.
ARE updates and news can be sent to Charlotte Corrigan for inclusion in emails, eBlasts and Justice Worker News.
Want more JUSTICE NEWS? UUFH JUSTICE WORKER NEWS Contact Charlotte Corrigan to join the email list.
2022-2023 CONGREGATIONAL PROJECT
Ready to take on a new Congregational Project? Your input is needed!
Planning begins now so we can present options to the Fellowship and approve a Project at our Congregational Annual Meeting in June. For guidance, see “the GARDINER MODEL” which Rev. Don Rollins introduced to the Social Justice Team early in his interim ministry.
The primary goals are to engage the greater congregation in designing, delivering, and assessing its justice programming; to give direction and focus to the committee(s) charged to lead the congregation in its justice ministries; and to better utilize justice resources – human, financial, or otherwise.
The project should be designed to involve all UUFH members in some of the offered activities or actions. If you wish to make a proposal, start with the example in the model document and then send your draft to the SJ-ARE team (Charlotte Corrigan). If you submit a proposal, you are expected to play a major role in project selection and implementation with your active participation and leadership.
Upcoming UUFH WORKSHOPS
“OUR PLACE IN THE WEB OF LIFE”
This multipart series from the UUA starts February 26 in the UUFH Sanctuary.
“GIVE LIGHT: SPIRITUAL SUPPORT for CLIMATE ACTIVISM” April 9. (Registration info is upcoming). Rev. Small will also lead our service on April 10. For more information about Rev. Small, see his website: revfredsmall.com
OUTREACH COLLECTION for DREAM SCHOLARSHIPS
The Social Justice team presented a special service Sunday, February 6 to begin our recurring Outreach Collection for the Dream Scholarships. This continues through March 1.
In the 10 years since its founding at UUFH, donations in our community have funded scholarships for nearly 50 college students brought to the US as children. These Dreamers are qualified through a rigorous process and may receive up to $2500/year towards their continuing education.
To ensure that your donation is correctly credited:
- You may put cash donation in the Sunday plate, (any cash donation must be labeled for the Outreach Collection),
- donate by check through March 1 – please put Outreach Collection in the memo line.
- donate online through March 1 at the UUFH website – select “Outreach Fund”.
Let’s make this another stellar Outreach Collection.
Feed the Kids Coalition — Resumption of “normal” meal service
The FTK Board and Team leaders met last week to plan for again serving plated “hot meals” instead of handing out bagged sub sandwich meals to Boys & Girls Club kids. COVID has had a not-so-great impact on all our teams.
The target date for resuming served meals is late April. Members of the 3 congregations in Team #3 -Trinity, Unitarian Fellowship of Hendersonville, and Agudas Israel – are invited to serve with the cooking team or the serving team – whichever they prefer. Delivery help is also needed (some lifting required).
For each team, planning needs include revisiting and updating past volunteer lists, recruiting new volunteers, reviewing/revising menus and ingredients, and, in some cases, finding new leaders or using substitute kitchens. At Team #3, the team leaders are still able to lead, and our food prep kitchen at Trinity Presbyterian Church is expected to be available soon for our use.
We plan to serve the same meal – do-it-yourself tacos – which are much loved by the kids. Cooking this meal is mostly a “dispense and assemble the makings” process requiring a small sub-team on Thursdays. A serving team of about 12 people is needed on Fridays to plate and serve the meals to the kids.
Past volunteers have been contacted by e-mail, but NEW VOLUNTEERS for cooking, delivery, and/or serving are welcome and should contact Charlotte Corrigan. This is a scheduled event occurring about 8 times per year in rotation with other FTK teams.
We all look forward to seeing those delightful kids at the Boys & Girls Club and their smiling faces too! Contact Charlotte Corrigan if you like to join FTK Team #3.
Migrant Project Action – DRIVE Through Collection.
Saturday, March 19, 2-5 pm – UUFH Parking Lot
This year, Agudas Israel and UUFH will host a joint drive-through event for you to drop off items to be given to migrant worker coming to our community to labor in fields, warehouses, and orchards putting food on our tables.
The trucks begin to rumble in filled with migrant workers carrying their meager possessions in trash bags. The men who come alone without their families are often lonely and depressed. They work long hours six days a week with no time for relaxation. Up before dawn and home at dark with only Sunday to shop for food and do laundry. This leaves little personal time. Most have no transportation to get to grocery stores or laundromats. They often crave the ability to just go to a park or play soccer or shop for necessities.
Gift bags don’t seem like much, but just knowing there are people who care and appreciate them is huge! Receiving a gift bag is like Christmas. These bags show that there are people in this community that care about them and appreciate their work.
The items to be collected this year are:
toothbrushes & toothpaste. bar soaps, razors, Neosporin ointment, ball caps & bandanas (Sherman’s on Main Street in Hendersonville is ordering basic, reasonably-priced ball caps along with nice cotton large bandanas), and laundry soap & laundry softener.
Any monetary donations can be mailed to: True Ridge 110 Edney Street, Suite A Hendersonville, N. C, 28792 You must designate “For Migrant Workers” on the memo portion of the check Contact Ann Backer for additional information.
UU Justice NC
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DONATE to UU Justice NC HERE
OPPORTUNITIES FOR ACTION
from Rev. Lisa Garcia-Sampson, Executive Director UU Justice NC
FRIDAY ACTION HOUR
Every Friday at 11:00 UUs from across the state gather to recap the past week and take action on the issues impacting our state and country. In the coming month, we’ll Be Keeping the pressure on our elected officials to better promote the HOPE program. We always have good music to help us feel the justice movement in our bones! Join us via this Zoom link. If you can’t make it on Fridays, you can still take action at any time – just check our Weekly action list.
SIGN-UP MAKES IT EASY: to receive weekly updates automatically. Click Here to Sign Up!
MORE Opportunities for Action
Per UPDATES from Rev. Lisa Garcia-Sampson, Executive Director, UU Justice NC:
POSTCARDS COMING SOON: A new postcard campaign is about to launch and we’ve made a commitment to complete kits for 1000 postcards to encourage voter registration in Union County, NC (southeast of Charlotte, NC). These kits of 25 postcards each will be shipped the week of Feb 28-March 5.
SIGN UP FOR YOUR KITS:
Contact Charlotte Corrigan to sign up for one or more kits. Stamps but not pens will be provided. Signees will be notified when the kits arrive regarding pick up/distribution options.
CLIMATE JUSTICE CONGREGATIONAL PROJECT
In the coming months, we’ll add a new emphasis on the 8th principle, with 2 workshops and a Zoom webinar. As you can see from our coming events, Racial Justice and Climate Justice are inseparably linked.
IOur Place in the Web of Life launches February 26.
Rev. Fred Small will present a workshop on April 9: Give Light – Spiritual Support for Climate Activism and will also speak for our UUFH service on Sunday, April 10.
The proposed 8th Principle states: “We, the member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association, covenant to affirm and promote: journeying toward spiritual wholeness by working to build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions.”
For more information about the 8th Principle, see 8thprincipleuu.org/background. This UUA site is organized by responses to these key questions:
what is the origin?
why now?
why single out racism?
what is beloved community”
what does it mean to be accountable?
Upcoming UUFH WORKSHOPS
“OUR PLACE IN THE WEB OF LIFE” begins February 26
This multipart series from the UUA starts February 26 in the UUFH Sanctuary.
Join us for a four-session workshop designed by the UU Ministry for Earth ‘Our Place In the Web of Life’! At our annual meeting last year, our congregation voted to become more involved in Climate Justice, so here is your chance to deepen your understanding and explore this issue; and develop a greater awareness of our congregation’s impact on our local community and beyond. Through videos, music, participatory research, visual mapping and ethical reflection, we will discuss who is “upstream” and “downstream” from us, the consequences of our actions on other people and ecosystems, and what it really takes to embrace interconnectedness. Each session will be facilitated by a team of two facilitators.
To sign up, please contact Jan Partin at janpartin@nullhotmail.com or 828-606-9191
- Session 1 February 26 9am-12 noon, UUFH Sanctuary
- Session 2 March 12 10am-12 noon, UUFH Sanctuary
- Session 3 March 26 10am-12 noon, UUFH Sanctuary
- Session 4 April 2 10am-12 noon, location outdoors TBD
Masks and social distancing will be in effect for each of the sessions
This series culminates with our workshop from Rev. Fred Small, “GIVE LIGHT: SPIRITUAL SUPPORT for CLIMATE ACTIVISM”, on April 9.
Watch for REGISTRATION information in the coming weeks.
Rev. Small will also lead our service on April 10.
For more information about Rev. Small, see his website: revfredsmall.com
YWCA STAND AGAINST RACISM CHALLENGE
The YWCA STAND AGAINST RACISM CHALLENGE is launching on APRIL 4. The Stand Against Racism Challenge is a virtual learning tool designed to create dedicated time and space to build more effective social justice habits – particularly those dealing with issues of race, power, privilege, and leadership.
Participants will be presented with 21 days of impactful challenges, such as reading an article, listening to a podcast, reflecting on personal experience and more in the Stand Against Racism app or website. Participation in an activity like this helps us to discover how racial injustice and social injustice impact our community, to connect with one another, and to identify ways to dismantle racism and other forms of discrimination.
There is no cost for this challenge – Register here.
The more that we work together, the greater impact we have.