By Elaine Castles

As we head into the new year, the Social Justice Council is working to organize itself in a way that can best support the myriad justice activities of our Fellowship members. The existing Social Action Committee is broadening into a leadership group for the Social Justice Council. This leadership group, which currently consists of Aera Atkins, Cindy Allen, Pat Evenson-Brady, Elaine Castles, and Rev. Barbara, will handle the organizational “nuts and bolts” of the council, including liaison with the Board, spearheading the Share the Plate program, overseeing the council’s budget, maintaining contact with the various action groups, and developing the agendas for the larger council meetings. And we would love to recruit a few more people to join this team.

The broader Social Justice Council meetings, which will occur on the fourth Sundays of every month, are open to anyone who has an interest in the social justice activities of the congregation. This is the place to come and share ideas, report on what is going on, suggest new programs, and recruit volunteers. Current ongoing activities in which we are involved include the FISH food bank, Somos Immigrantes, UU the Vote, GEM, the Holiday Project, relationships with our Native American community, and the scholarship fund. But there is room for many more ideas. How about climate justice? Support for our immigrant neighbors? Offering de-escalation training and cultural/racial sensitivity training to the larger community? Ways for getting our children involved? We are also looking for someone who could serve as our liaison to the Oregon UU Voices for Justice.

So how might you get involved? If you are interested in learning more about serving on the leadership team or as a liaison to Oregon UU Voices for Justice, please contact Rev. Barbara or Elaine Castles. If you want to get more involved in ongoing activities, have new ideas to share, or would simply like to learn more about what is going on, come to the Social Justice Council meeting after the service on February 22. New people are specially invited to attend. Working together, we can do great things.And if you’d like to learn about all the tools that Rev. Barbara and Elona have put together for better communication within our committees and with the wider community, please attend the “What You Need to Know: Tools for Fellowship Leaders” from 12-2 this Sunday at the Grange.