Quite a few folks in the congregation have been writing postcards to voters in Georgia to help motivate them to participate in the primary there on May 21. Just a few cards in our stack of 500 are still outstanding. The rest have been mailed. Please be sure to return your cards to Lois on Sunday, April 28, even if you haven't completed them. Can you contribute postcard stamps (no flags) or money to purchase them?
The Cash in the Plate for the month of April will be divided evenly among three “get out the vote” organizations: Movement Voter Project, The Workers Circle, and Working America.
Our congregation’s March Cash in the Plate (CIP) will be donated to Brockton-based Health Imperatives that has as its mission “to improve the health and well-being of low-income, vulnerable people in Southeastern Massachusetts.” Because March includes a fifth Sunday this year, the proceeds of the CIP that day (3/31) will be given to the Mashpee-based Native Land Conservancy, a Native-led land conservancy that is working to purchase additional land to expand the conservancy.
This is an update about our on-going monitoring of the Haitian refugee situation here in town: The refugees continue to be housed at the Quality Inn, and the state is committed to covering the cost of both housing and food through June 30. All school-aged children are attending Middleboro schools; and last we knew, the town is offering at least some “English as a second language” training at the town hall. We are attending monthly UU Mass Action Immigrant Justice Team meetings. Several Massachusetts UU congregations are now providing temporary housing to immigrants (the state has contracted with the Brazilian Worker Center to manage those logistics for all refugees) as is the UUA, which has converted 2 floors of its Boston building into housing for refugees.
The Dock C. Bracy Center for Human Reconciliation is sponsoring a project to this effect. From now until May 1, they are accepting visual art and/or 200-character written-word submissions, in either Youth (<19) or Adult (18+) categories. Entries may be submitted from now until May 1. Those that are accepted will be displayed on their Threadless Store site.
The following story was reported on March 7 by Samantha Riedel of the online news site Them. A Pennsylvania state trooper has been placed on "restricted duty" after he threatened to use his taser on one of Philadelphia's top LGBTQ+ officials during a traffic stop last weekend. The Philadelphia district attorney's office is investigating the incident, NBC news reported.
"Whipping up anger against immigrants has dangerous consequences," per a recent column by Yvonne Abraham in the Boston Globe. She reports ugly pushback against refugees in Dedham and other MA communities. Yet a recent federal report found that, between 2005 and 2019, the net economic contribution of refugees and asylees approached $124 billion." This is opposite from what many misinformed people believe, that somehow immigrants are taking more than they contribute.
The South Coast LGBTQ+ Network has opened a new headquarters in Taunton center. The many support services offered by the Network now have an even more local face. They include ongoing support to LGBTQ+ youth and their families, trans and non-binary adults, and LGBTQ+ elders: fun group activities, as well as targeted support services, in all these areas. They will be screening the new Netflix film “Rustin” soon in a Taunton venue; stay tuned. https://www.sclgbtqnetwork.org/
Our team has been researching how our congregation can maximize its impact on the critical 2024 elections. We’ve reviewed non-profit organizations that can help us increase both voter turnout and knowledge of the issues voters need to know when casting their votes. And on the first Sunday in April (4/7), we will present opportunities that we believe can offer all of us effective ways to become engaged and have a significant impact on our democracy at local, state and federal levels.
