SOCIAL CONCERNS AND ACTION COMMITTEE

2007 Year End Report

Co-Chairs: Gary Chanco and Al Usack

Committee Members: Arlene Sweeting, Don and Jane Thompson, Will & Lois Rullifson, Chris MacCormack, Carol Bartz, Walter Pascal, Bill and Zeta Riordan, Bill Hayes, David Beaton, , Jane Van Delft, and Peggy Dixon and many others who occasionally attend meetings and/or are on our email list.

Highlights for the year included some new initiatives, several programs at our first Friday potlucks and a large number of services devoted to social concerns and actions topics, installation of our peace pole, our support for the Interfaith group called Family Promise, and progress on a number of other activities.

The major new initiatives were combining the Social Action and Social Concerns into a single committee and starting monthly special collections. In May, the Social Action Committee voted unanimously to support a merger of the Social Action and Social Concerns Committee. This was agreeable to the Social Concerns Committee members and the Board and became official shortly thereafter. Al and Gary agreed to be co-chairs of the new Social Concerns and Actions Committee.

Early in the year, Al’s proposal that the Fellowship have monthly Special Collections for worthy causes was approved by the Board for a one-year trial period. The first collection was on Justice Sunday in March to support the efforts UUSC and a committee based in Sarasota to help the people of Darfur. Since then, we have had special collections for Family Promise, Our Daily Bread, Family Services, the Jefferson Center, the Coalition of Concerned Patriots, Campus Ministry, Open Door, Equality Florida, and the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space. In nine months, a total of nearly $4,300 has been collected with an average collection of more than $475. Thanks to the congregation for providing such great support to charitable organizations in our community and elsewhere.

First Friday Potluck programs handled by members of our committee included one led by Al Usack in March to celebrate social action involvement over the years at our fellowship. In September Arlene Sweeting and Drew Hudson led a discussion about the Culture of Peace. Then in November, Bernita Franzel put together a wonderful program on immigrant laborers here in Florida.

Our Peace Pole was officially dedicated on September 21 (International Peace Day). The dedication ceremony was planned by Arlene Sweeting with the help of many folks including the kids from RE. RE members were also were involved in choosing the languages engraved on the pole. We hope that members, friends and even strangers will come to the peace pole and reflect on what it would mean to have real peace and perhaps on how we might attain this lofty goal.

Family Promise, an interfaith program to provide housing, food and other services to homeless families in Manatee County started operating in November. Our Board agreed to be a support congregation for this program and Al Usack agreed to coordinate our efforts. Many members of our congregation have been involved in providing food, acting as office angels, and providing other services to the host congregations. This program promises to be one of the major interfaith efforts in the County and, hopefully, will help bring people of different faiths together to work for social causes.

Other ongoing projects include:

Green Sanctuary: Bill Hayes is leading our efforts to be officially acclaimed a “Green Sanctuary” congregation. This will require us to work on a number of activities that will reduce energy consumption and that will help clean up the environment. Our application to be accepted into the program has been submitted to the UUA.

Crop Walk: Carol Bartz and Chris MacCormack put together a large group of walkers from the Fellowship who collected a tidy sum for another worthwhile interfaith cause.

Our Daily Bread: Gary Chanco continued his yeoman work in getting volunteers to help feed the hungry once each month.

UU legislative Committee of Florida: Upon recommendation of the Social Concerns and Actions Committee, the Board approved of membership in this Committee which will seek to pass socially responsible legislation in Florida.

GLBT Issues: Bill Hayes and Gary Chanco have been attending meetings of an interfaith group that sponsored an AIDS service on World AIDS day and has been bringing supportive faith communities together on GLBT issues. Dave Beaton’s motion to join the Fairness for all Families Coalition, a group of organizations devoted to defeating legislation that defines marriage as only between a man and a woman was approved unanimously by the Board.

Peace Issues: Many members of our Fellowship are among the leaders in various peace organizations. The Coalition for Concerned Patriots meets at our Fellowship and after a tough fight, has got permission from the schools to include opt out information for students who are making decisions about joining the military. Also, Drew Hudson and Arlene Sweeting facilitated a wonderful eight-week workshop on Nonviolence from February to April at our Fellowship.

Socially Responsible Investment: The Committee has strongly recommended that the Church look at our investments and see if we can put these into socially responsible financial institutions. A meeting of the Finance Committee to discuss this was held in January 2008.

Fair Trade Coffee: We continue to use fair trade coffee at the Fellowship and have fair trade coffee and tea available for purchase at the Social Actions and Concerns Table.

Social Concerns and Actions Table: We now have our own table to pass out information and to answer questions that Fellowship members may have concerning issues we are or could be involved in. Letter writing possibilities are also available at this table.