Social Action
The Social Action Committee has taken on the present UUA Congregational Study/Action Issue (CSAI), Ethical Eating: Food & Environmental Justice. Arguments in support of the CSAI are the fact that food production and distribution affects farm workers, who face deplorable working conditions; food purchasers may be economically limited in the kinds of food they are able to buy; and food producers face rising costs for transportation and other requirements.
The Social Action Committee is engaged in the following activites that are in line with this CSAI:
- Serving as the conduit for donations to the South County Food Pantry.
- Supporting Fair Trade for Farmers through the sale of Equal Exchange coffee, cocoa, tea, and other goods.
- Actively engaging in the efforts of the Coalition of Immokalee Farm Workers to fight for fair pay and safe working conditions.
- Supporting the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) and their efforts by selling holiday cards, engaging the congregation in the "Guest at Your Table" program, and actively working with the Youth RE group to work on their annual service project that supports a UUSC cause such as La Red Vida, which fights for safe drinking water for poor and indigenous peoples in South America.
Other items on the Social Action Committee agenda include the Keep Sarasota County Beautiful program with the coordination of the Venice Ave. street clean-up, the selection of the monthly recipient of the 50/50 First Sunday Offering, and the coordination of congregational participation in social justice organizations.
Interfaith Action Against Slavery in March and April
Did you know that there are more slaves in the USA now than there were when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation? Each year approximately 18,000 people (in addition to those born in the USA ) are brought into the USA to work as slaves in agriculture, sex trade, sweatshops and as nannies and domestic workers. Interfaith Action of Southwest Florida is partnering with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to raise awareness of human trafficking in Florida with a traveling 'modern-day slavery museum' in March and a three-day march from Tampa to Lakeland in April. See www.interfaithact.org/latestnews for more information.
Pat Wellington, UUCOV Social Justice Committee farmworker liaison
Social Justice News
Kindra Muntz
50/50 Offering
Kindra Muntz
Fifty percent of the offering on March 7 will go to FairDistrictsFlorida.org for its work to educate voters about the need for fair electoral districts, to end gerrymandering in Florida. Voters need to be able to choose their elected leaders rather than the politicians choosing them. Two amendments for fair redistricting of state and federal districts based on the 2010 census, will appear on the ballot in November 2010. All Florida voters are encouraged to vote YES for these amendments. See www.fairdistrictsflorida.org for more information.
The April 50/50 offering is being moved to March 21, as part of a statewide "Impact Sunday" offering for UULMF to help mobilize participants for the Homelessness Impact Lobby Day in Tallahassee April 7. The UU Legislative Ministry of Florida will be working with the Florida Coalition of the Homeless to stage a lobby day that will have a direct, positive impact on Florida's homeless population. UUs will lobby with members of other faiths if possible for greatest impact on our representatives. All interested participants from UUCOV please contact Barb Strife at 941.375.2400, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . We will drive to Tallahassee April 6, have dinner at the Tallahassee UU Church, stay overnight, lobby the next morning, and drive back to Venice. The personal meeting with our legislators can make all the difference. See www.uulmf.org for more information on the issue.
UUSC Justice Sunday, March 21
Pat Wellington
UU Service Committee's annual Justice Sunday for 2010 will focus on economic justice.
As your UUSC Local Representative, I urge you not only to renew your membership today, but to encourage a friend to join as well online at www.uusc.org. (Or use the envelopes available on the literature rack at church). Individual annual membership is just $40, Seniors are $20. Youth and student memberships are just $10. Join UUSC today!
UUSC is a membership-based organization, separate from and independent of the UUA. It receives no funding from the UUA.
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC)
Pat Wellington
Thank you for a successful membership drive and "Guest At Your Table" giving opportunity. I met January 10 in Sarasota with two representatives from UUSC HQ in Boston who told us there are 2000 fewer members than last year due to the economic troubled times. Five staff members were let go and there are only 35 left due to the loss of funding. The five who left had been in charge of the Gulf Coast Relief effort, among other duties. The funding you help provide is needed now more than ever.
A film was shown of the accomplishments of UUSC in Louisiana and Mississippi following the 2005 hurricane disaster:
- $3.5 MILLION was raised for Gulf Coast relief, with 2/3 going to the poorest of the poor
one goal was to help low income people and people of color in connection with 25 grassroots partners - 1500 homes in New Orleans and 800 in Biloxi were gutted and rebuilt
2000 UU volunteers - the UUSC and UUA pushed for federal legislation that the recovery effort would include the involvement of the people affected (the reality: black workers were excluded from clean-up work and immigrant workers were recruited and exploited)
For more information, go to www.uusc.org and see their annual report, a list of program partners around the world and much more.
More Articles...
Page 1 of 3