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 has suffered from a domestic partner’s abuse. In September we held a well-attended and well-received De-Escalation Training session at the church.
The unexpected arrival of 150 refugees in Middleboro in early October led to mobilization of our congregation to offer food assistance (25 members have offered to help!). Eventually, the State agreed to provide basic food and shelter; so our efforts have now shifted toward offering the refugees help with transitioning to life in the USA.
Bill Howe
