FW: Upcoming Social Justice Opportunities May & June 2012
Alice King
Hi
See the wonderful opportunities below. The first bolded area sounds worthwhile AND so does the Justice Plunge.
Sounds great.
Alice
Hello,
I hope you’re having a great day! This spring there are a lot of opportunities to create justice & compassion in our community—I hope the information below will help you to connect to an opportunity that calls you to get involved.
One on-going opportunity to make a difference is through our Monthly Service Projects. Each month, the Social Justice Ministry Team of our congregation partners with a local community organization to do a hands-on, family-friendly service project. Through these projects, we’re able to address some of the immediate needs of our community.
This month we’re partnering with the Peace Resource Center for the Work-a-thon for Peace & Justice. We will be helping to create a school garden at the King Chavez Arts & Athletics Academy in Southeast San Diego, which will serve to connect children & their families to their source of food. Through our work, we will be able to contribute to the Peace Resource Center’s on-going work for food justice. If you would like to join us, please see the below announcement for more details, and the attached sign-up sheet. May 19, 9 am til mid-afternoon.
I look forward to working alongside you and your families one month soon!
Peace,
Kristen
Upcoming Social Justice Opportunities
May 6, 1:15-3:15 Telling Our Stories (Hillcrest)
May 15, 6:30-8:30 pm Telling Our Stories (South Bay Campus)
May 19, 9 am SJMT Service Project: Work-a-thon for Peace & Justice
May 20, 3-8:30
pm
Farm Worker Reality “Justice Plunge”
with UULM (Watsonville)
May 21, 9:30am-2:30pm Immigrant
Justice Day 2012: One California (Sacramento)
May 22 &
27
Doctrine of Discovery Class & Discussion
June 3, 1:15-3:15 Telling Our Stories (Hillcrest)
June 9, 8am-2pm SJMT Service Project: Facelift in City Heights
June
20-24
Justice General Assembly, Phoenix,
AZ
July 21, 11 am
March in the San Diego
PRIDE Parade with UUs
July 27, 4:30-7:00
pm SJMT
Service Project: Dinner at the Monarch
School
Generosity
Offering for May: ARTS (A Reason to Survive)
For the first two Sundays in the month of
May our offering is being received in support of First UU’s Contemporary
Worship Music and the UU Musician’s Network. The last two Sundays in May,
our offering is being received in support of ARTS (A Reason to Survive). ARTS
is a San Diego
based nonprofit organization that believes that the visual, performing, and
literary arts can literally transform lives. The organization uses all art
forms as a vehicle to create positive, long-lasting change in children and
youth facing major life challenges – giving them not only a reason to
survive – but to also thrive. To find out more about ARTS, you can come
to the Social Justice Ministry Team Table on the Hillcrest Campus, the Get
Involved table on the South Bay Campus, or you can go to: www.areasontosurvive.org.
Did you
know…
One way we act on our values to help heal the world is through our monthly
Generosity Offerings. In February, we gave $5,149.80 to the Big Sister League
of San Diego,
and in March we gave $4,205.79 to Survivors of Torture International (SURVIVORS).
Your generosity is making a real difference in the lives of people in our local
community.
Telling
Our Stories: A Spiritual Exploration of Diversity
May 6 (Sunday) from 1:15 to 3:15 p.m.,
Hillcrest Campus, Room 113
May 15 (Tues), 6:30-8:30 pm, South Bay
Campus, 970 Broadway, Suite
103
Find out what it’s like to speak
deeply from the heart and listen deeply to others as a spiritual practice. Through
sharing personal stories, we discover how diversity lives in each of us, and we
deepen our connection to
ourselves and one another. In keeping with the overall themes of intercultural
diversity and social justice, we respond to a prompt that evokes memories of
transformative moments, people, and
events in our lives. No “storytelling” experience is necessary;
spontaneity, a bit of introspection, and
a willingness to explore are essential. This is open to everyone. Join us and
tell your story! For more information contact Kristen Kuriga: Kri...@firstuusandiego.org,
619-298-9978, x216.
SJMT
Service Project for May: Work-a-thon for Peace & Justice
May 19, 9am to mid-afternoon (or part of the day), Stockton Area of San Diego,
just South of the 94 (details of location provided upon signing up for the service
project)
Volunteer
for this family-friendly service project to help build gardens at the
King-Chavez Arts & Athletics Academies, attended by 3rd-5th grade students
in a low-income neighborhood of San Diego. The garden will provide hands-on
educational experiences to connect children with the source of their food. Work
to be done includes: leveling ground, digging, removing old plants, building
raised beds, planting edibles, and creating a beautiful garden! The work-a-thon
will also support the Peace
Resources Center
and Project YANO, two local non-profits. In addition to providing labor,
volunteers are asked to sign up sponsorships from family and friends, although
this is not required to participate. For more information and to sign up,
please contact Kristen Kuriga: Kri...@firstuusandiego.org or
619-298-9978, x216.
Farm Worker Reality “Justice Plunge” with UU Legislative Ministry
May 20 (Sun), 3-8:30 pm, Watsonville – meet at Gizich Ranch
Starting at Gizich Ranch strawberry fields where Ramiro Lazcano will talk about his life, picking strawberries and supervising other pickers, participants will have an opportunity to pick and purchase berries. Visit BuenaVista Migrant Labor Camp where farmworkers will share a look at their living quarters and give testimonies on their wages, working conditions, the use of pesticides and the challenges their children have in receiving an education. Conclude our day with a farmworker dinner. Understand the conditions of Mexican farmworkers in Northern California and both sides of the border. Learn about farmworkers demographics, how globalization propels immigration, the prospects for passage of AgJOBS and immigration reform. Register on-line at www.uulmca.org/farmworker. Cost: $30.00 regular/ $15.00 for young adults (18-35) – fee includes farmworker dinner
Immigrant Justice Day 2012: One California
May 21 (Mon), 9:30am-2:30 pm, State Capitol, Sacramento
Unitarian Universalists will join immigrants, advocates, community members, and policy makers in raising our voices on behalf of all of California's immigrant families. We are pleased to collaborate with the CA Immigrant Policy Center and many other immigrant justice groups for
this day of education, witness and advocacy. We will be supporting AB1801 (Ammiano), the TRUST Act – a bill to restore trust and accountability to California's participation in the S-Comm program, respecting the wish of local communities to opt-out of the program and implement safeguards to guard against racial profiling. Training is available for those interested in attending (not required). Register on-line at www.uulmca.org/Immigrant.
Doctrine of Discovery Class & Discussion
May 22 (Tuesday) 6:30-8:30 p.m., Hillcrest
Campus, Common Room
May 27 (Sunday), after the service, South Bay Campus
Do you know what the Doctrine of Discovery is? How it relates to
our current immigration policies, as well as our historical policies of
colonization? At the urging of partner organizations, the Unitarian
Universalist Association Board of Trustees has asked member congregations to
educate ourselves about the Doctrine of Discovery and vote to repudiate it at
our General Assembly in June. Come learn about the doctrine and the effects
that it has, hear why the UUA Board has called on us to do this, and provide
your input to guide First Church delegates who will vote on this resolution in Phoenix. For more
information and to RSVP, contact Kristen Kuriga: Kri...@firstuusandiego.org,
619-298-9978, x216.
Save
the Date…Upcoming Social Justice Ministry Team Service Projects
June 9, 8am-2 pm: Facelift with Community Housing Works in City Heights.
Join with hundreds of volunteers to beautify a block in a day in a low-income
community in City
Heights.
July 27, 4:30-7 pm:
Meal at the Monarch
School. Come together
with other church members to provide a meal for youth and their families at the
Monarch School, a school for homeless youth.
For more information about service projects or how to get involved in the
Social Justice Ministry Team, contact Kristen Kuriga: Kri...@firstuusandiego.org, 619-298-9978, x216.
Save the Date…March in the San Diego Pride Parade with Unitarian Universalists from
throughout San Diego
County on Saturday, July
21 at 11 am. Details about signing up as a marcher or to ride the trolley
coming soon!
Kristen Kuriga
Social Justice & South Bay Ministry Teams Coordinator
First
Unitarian Universalist
Church of San
Diego
Kri...@firstuusandiego.org
Office: 619-398-4446
619-298-9978, x216
Cell: 619-947-4612