27 Jun 2006, 7:00pm

Meeting Minutes of UUFP Social Concerns Committee

Attendees

• Jacquie Ream, Mason Moseley, CynthiaManuel, ChristopherHicks, Jerry tenney, Patricia Moseley, Donna Sprock, Nick Boke, Christine Mosby, Pam Tenney.

The meeting was chaired by Pam Tenney.

Presentation from Chair

Pam began with a brief discussion of the recent history of the Social Concerns group. The most recent effort entailed support for the spring presentation of "Clarence Darrow: The Search for Justice". The evening was considered a success, and among the sorts of activities that should be considered for the future.

Pam emphasized that many individual UUFP members and friends regularly participate in a wide variety of Social Justice issues.

An organizational approach to social conerns that would entail both a core committees and subcommittees to deal with specific issues;

1. The needs of the Port Project that provides meals for the homeless during the winter.
2. Past and current social concerns and justice projects individuals might be interested in addressing.
3. Communication about social justice issues with UU and other local churches, as well as the UUA.

There was general agreement with the proposal that Social Concerns be addressed both by the full committee and by smaller subgroups within the committee.

Review Minutes

Action Item review

1. PORT

The "End of Season PORT Winter Shelter Program Report" was shared with attendees.

Port is a collaborative project of many churches in the region to assist the homeless during winter months. The UUFP involvement has entailed cooking two dinners and two breakfasts for around 100 homeless people who spend the night in a nearby church. The two people most responsible have been Shirley Grice and Nan Procyson, both of whom have carried this load almost single-handedly and have decided to step back from this responsibility.

UUFP has been assigned to provide meals for two days during Week 10, Jan 10-17 at First Baptist Church of NN, and two days during Week 19, March 14-21 at Peninsula Korean Baptist Church 972 Harpersville Road. This responsibility will be discussed further at the next meeting.

2. Possible topics and issues; collaboration with other groups

1. The forthcoming Marshall/Newman so-called "Marriage Amendment" vote that would prohibit gays and lesbians from marrying in Virginia drew quite a bit of interest from attendees. The possibility that UUFP may go through the UUA-based process to become a "Welcoming Congregation" is clearly connected with such an effort. There was discussion of ways to provide the congregation with vehicles for working against the passage of this amendment. These included:
   1. Collaborating with other Virginia UU churches including but not limited to Norfolk and Williamsburg.
   2. Inviting articulate spokespersons to speak to the congregation in the fall.
   3. The group did not make any decisions.
   4. Prior to the next meeting, Mason will look into possible speakers, Jacquie will talk with the Sunday Services Committee about a forum for such speakers, Pam will talk with Bryan Hess for information about existing vehicles for working against the amendment.

1. There was some discussion of and general agreement that the Social Concerns group should not avoid controversial topics. Moreover, there are a variety of levels of involvement, both for the UUFP as a whole, for the Social Concerns group, and for individuals, in Social Concerns issues, ranging from merely publicizing an event or circulating a petition to enabling the entire Fellowship to take action.

1. Attendees were polled about social concern topics/approaches to addressing them. The topics that arose:
   1. Work together as a congregation on a least one other project in addition to PORT.
   2. Learn more about LINK functions/coordination of projects, etc.
   3. The impact of Microsoft licensing fees on Microsoft education.
   4. The need for improved public transportation on the Peninsula, including pursuing the light rail option.
   5. Promoting individual efforts as well as group efforts
   6. Survey congregation's interest in social justice issues.
   7. How the military industrial and prison industrial complex affect our future.
   8. Attract attention in "An Inconvenient Truth" movie and discussion. Use this as a model for other activities.
   9. Intelligent design in the schools.
   10. Privacy issues and the Bill of Rights.
   11. Communicate through announcements, order of service, newsletter and web site items, a chat-room outreach, publicity.
   12. Having UUFP as focus for local social justice activity, information source.
   13. Learn and participate in more inclusive projects

Action Items { help }

1. Set up and staff a table to distribute Social Concerns information at UUFP Sunday services: July2, 9 - Mason; July 16 - Chris, Cynthia; July 23 - Donna; July 30 - Jerry.
2. Mason will revise "An Inconvenient Truth" handout for table.
3. Pam will set up yahoo groups email for Social Concerns committee members.
4. Donna will serve as contact person for "What Bugs UU?" Social Concerns issues: dpsprock@hotmail.com
5. Continue the 9:30 Sunday Social Concerns Discussions, including "Inconvenient Truth" discussion Sunday, July 9.

New Business

Next Meeting: Monday, 28 August @ 7:00pm

Back to: MeetingMinutes

-- CynthiaManuel - 26 Jul 2006