Our Social Action and Community Service
Our congregation functions as a wonderful mosaic of our professional staff and member volunteers. Our member volunteers give back to the community in countless ways and in many roles. Below are several of the major programs to which our members dedicate their time.
Please sign up or contact Jane Dixon at lilrhodie@gmail.com or (914) 949-5919 to see how you can get involved in any of these activities.
Download a list of ideas for how you can practice social action right now: What Can I Do to Help the Environment?
Social Justice Teams - How will you engage in service?
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The third part of CUUC's mission statement is to “engage in service to transform ourselves and our world.” Our goal is for each Member and Friend to participate on one team. This is an invitation, not an obligation, to be involved as you are able and as your time allows. Which Social Justice Team would you like to be a part of? They all address important issues, so look for one that resonates most powerfully with you. For general questions, contact one of the Social Justice Coordinators: Jeff Tomlinson (jefftomlinson8@gmail.com), Mary Cavallero (marycava4@gmail.com), Pamela Cucinell (pamelajcny@gmail.com), and Meredith Garmon (minister@cucwp.org). For meeting dates, please check the CUUC events calendar.
JOIN A SOCIAL JUSTICE TEAM
Economic Social Justice
The members of the Economic Social Justice Team commit to addressing disparities in the distribution of wealth in our country’s economic and social systems, with the goal of promoting more equitable outcomes that support dignity and wellbeing for all. We seek to find projects that make a difference locally and work to support those projects in various ways, including financially. Contact: Jim Walkup (jimwalkup@gmail.com).
Environmental Practices
The Environmental Practices Group is working toward CUUC receiving accreditation as a UUA Green Sanctuary. The group's theme for 2017-18 is Reduce the Waste Stream! EPG is exploring bringing food composting to CUUC and beyond, working on the idea of expanding textile recycling in our communities, and hosting educational events such as a movie and discussion about composting and "Reducing the Waste Stream." In general, the group meets on the second Sunday of the month. Contact: Janet Bear (jsbear1@gmail.com) or Charlie McNally (mcnally@pobox.com).
Hunger and Homelessness
Despite the appearance of affluence in Westchester County, hunger and homelessness exist in our own communities. The Hunger and Homelessness Social Justice Team provides education about these issues and advocates for our neighbors in need. H&H supports the Ecumenical Emergency Food Pantry; the Food Bank for Westchester (foodbankforwestchester.org) and their “backpack” programs; prepares meals for HOPE (Help Our People Eat) Community Services in New Rochelle (hopecommunityservices.org); and collects gifts and necessities for Hour Children at the Bedford Correctional Facility (hourchildren.org), The Coachman Family Center (westhab.org/familyservices), Open Arms Men’s Shelter, and Samaritan House Women’s Shelter (liftingupwestchester.org). New team members are always welcome! Contact: Nicole Turygin (nturygin@gmail.com).
LGBTQIA Justice
Our UU Seven Principles remind us that each being has worth and dignity, and that worth includes our gender and our sexuality. The LGBTQIA Social Justice Team discusses Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual justice issues. In 2005, CUUC was certified as a "Welcoming Congregation" after completing programs to increase understanding and inclusiveness of LGBTQIA issues. In 2018, the LGBTQIA team successfully completed the work required to renew CUUC’s designation as a Welcoming Congregation. The team also hosts an annual Transgender Day of Remembrance Service in November. Contact: Tony Arrien (arrien@optonline.net).
Racial Justice
The Racial Justice Team focuses on actions we can take to combat racism and to support movements such as Black Lives Matter. They have hosted the adult education curriuculum Beloved Conversations, film screenings of the documentary "13th," and book discussions of Tears We Cannot Stop by Michael Eric Dyson and The Third Reconstruction by Rev. William Barber II. Team members have attended and reported about meetings and events of local organization such as NAACP of White Plains and Greenberg, the Westchester Martin Luther King, Jr. Institute for Nonviolence, and the Westchester Coalition for Police Reform. The Racial Justice Team meetings include the "In the Spirit of Truth" group, which has been meeting for over 20 years at CUUC. ITSOT plans and coordinates activities such as the Kwanzaa celebration event in downtown White Plains and the Juneteenth worship service at CUUC. Team meetings close with the ITSOT sharing circle, where participants can be introspective and talk frankly and confidentially about race, racism, and other forms of bigotry, toward a better understanding of their own and others’ attitudes and reactions, and toward a more loving daily interaction with our fellow human beings. Contact: Jeff Tomlinson (jefftomlinson8@gmail.com).
Refugee Resettlement
The CUUC Refugee Resettlement team supports the work of the Interfaith Council for New Americans (ICNA), a group of five area congregations of which CUUC is a member. Our team members are active with refugee families in our area, providing transporta-tion, tutoring, cultural and community excursions, and more. We also coordinate with Hearts and Homes for Refugees for donations of clothing and other needed items. Contacts: Jane Dixon (lilrhodie@gmail.com) or Robin Rocchi (robinandal@verizon.net).
Women's Issues
The Women's Issues social justice team promotes social action for just and compassionate laws for family planning, reproductive health, and gender equality, as well as pay equality and the prevention of gun violence. The team organized approximately thirty people to participate in the Women's March in NYC in January 2017. Members continue to partner with Planned Parenthood to participate in the annual Family Planning Advocates Day of Action in Albany. The team has also sponsored postcard mailings and petition drives to local representatives focusing on women’s health issues. Contact: Julie Gans (julieagans@aol.com).
More Ways You Can Serve the CUUC Community
- Worship Committee
- Choir
- Music Committee
- Musician's Group
- Chalice Lighter
Community
- Caring and Sharing
- Path to Membership (Welcoming)
- Auction Dinner
- Brunches / BBQ / Seder
- Coffee Hour
- Crafts Fair
Religious Education
- Social Action
- Teaching
- RE Council
- Special Sunday Projects
- Children's Worship
- Adult RE
Operations
- Building and Grounds Committee
- Finance Committee
- Technology/Social Media Committee
More Ways You Can Work Toward Social Justice
Our members are motivated by our faith to take individual action to improve the lives of their neighbors and of people the world over. Below are some of the initiatives that take place at CUUC. These activities involve the time and dedication of many volunteers.
In the past, those involved with issues of social concern have written letters to their representatives about pressing social issues, attended marriage equality rallies, had speakers visit on topics such as homelessness and poverty in Westchester, and worked with a family shelter in White Plains.
Other ongoing areas of focus for CUUC’s social action projects include:
Ecumenical Emergency Food Pantry
Share the Plate
Half of our non-pledge offertory donations are contributed to outside organizations in need. Recent financial contributions have been made to the Westchester Refugee Task Force; Operation L.I.P.S.T.I.C.K (Ladies Involved In Putting a Stop to Inner-City Killing); the Westchester Martin Luther King Institute; Rehabilitation Through the Arts; SHORE (Sheltering the Homeless is Our Responsibility); the Coachman Family Center; Of Home, Family, and Future; and PrideWorks. Suggestions for future recipients can be made to the minister.
Fair Trade Coffee
Coffee served at church functions is purchased thru Equal Exchange, an interfaith coffee program partnering with small-scale coffee growers to give them a fair price for their product and a chance to stay on their land.
Children's Social Action Projects
Our religious education program selects social action projects for each year. In the past, projects have been done in support of Riverkeeper, the Heifer Project, and the Wolf Conservation Center.
Midnight Run
Coachman Family Center
CUUC has worked on various projects with the Coachman Family Center, a temporary home for adults with children in White Plains. We run an annual program where members donate holiday gifts and summer toys, games, and sports equipment for the shelter children.
In the Spirit of Truth
In the Spirit of Truth (ITSOT) is a process, rooted in the Unitarian-Universalist first principal: the inherent worth and dignity of every person. A forum (a talking circle) is held each month following the worship service for the purposes of: providing an avenue for introspection and honest and confidential dialogue about race and other diversity issues, so that members may grow in understanding themselves and in their ability to relate to those who are different from themselves; discussing and reacting to events in the larger community having to do with racism, sexism, and other forms of bigotry; and allowing creation of an agenda for cooperative action against bigotry.
While the major purpose of In the Spirit of Truth is served by the monthly talking circle, through the years our church’s participation in a number of events and activities has been facilitated by this committee. Most recently, ITSOT developed a coalition with a number of local organizations to create a Kwanzaa celebration that became, and has remained, an annual community-centered event held in the Thomas H. Slater Center.
