The Cash in the Plate for the month of February will be donated to the Brockton Area branch of the NAACP.
The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) has pulled together various resources to inform congregations and communities of the tragic ongoing situation in Israel/Gaza. We would like to share their message with you, as well as their link to the various resources available for you to review. “We are keenly aware that members of our UU community do not all share an identical analysis of the history of the region or realities of the current crisis, and yet what is clear is that we are all united by our shared heartbreak over the killing, kidnapping, displacement, and violence impacting so many of
In a program called Adopt a Family organized by the Town, churches and other organizations have been asked to purchase $20 gift cards for the refugee adults and teenagers. (St. Vincent de Paul is providing toys for all the children.) Town Manager Jay McGrail asked FUUSM to adopt eight families totaling 21 adults and teens.
On December 4, Governor Healey signed a $250 million funding bill that is expected to cover shelter costs through this spring, with a waitlist that keeps growing. Source: Citizens; Housing & Planning Association (CHAPA) https://www.chapa.org/ In related research reported by CHAPA, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) found that over 1 in 5 homes sold in the Greater Boston area from 2004 through 2018 were purchase by an investor or speculator.
It was disappointing for Middleboro Matters and the Social Justice Team, as well as the two childcare workers loaned by the YMCA, that no one showed up for the Substance Use Prevention presentation, with hot chocolate and other goodies, on Saturday, December 9. Mae of Middleboro Matters took it in stride, saying “Sometimes people come, sometimes not.” We will try to reschedule in a less hectic season.
In a victory for prisoners and their families, Governor Healey has signed the “Putting Families Over Prison Profiteering” bill, passed by the MA legislature, into law. This establishes Massachusetts as the fifth state in the nation to make prison phone calls free–and the first state to extend the provision to county jails and houses of correction as well as prisons. The new law will end the exorbitant charges prisoners and their families currently pay to stay in touch. It applies to phone and video calls and emails, and goes into effect December 1.
The Cash in the Plate for the month of December will be donated to Doctors Without Borders in light of the casualties and suffering being experienced by Israelis and Palestinians.
…thanks to Alan Melchior, Sarah Person and Jim Bonnar, who got the new banner up on November 25, 2023, within days of the wind storm that brought down the old, worn-out one. You may not even have noticed the banner was missing!
The early part of this church year has been a busy one for us: with major help from Dan Hotchkiss and Val Ortelt, we finalized our section of the church website so that we now provide current information about local social justice events. At our summer retreat we organized our future efforts into 3 categories: Charity, Change, and Education. We hope to offer events and options that appeal to the congregation in all three. Our recent programs included a July presentation on domestic violence that highlighted the problem in Southeastern Massachusetts and featured a talk by “Jane Doe” whose family
