Justice Notes: Invest in Bystander Training

Justice Notes: Invest in Bystander Training

Bystander Training ~ Sunday, July 11 ~ Noon-2 p.m. ~ Free on Zoom

Reserve your spot now by filling out this short form

By Cora Goss-Grubbs
Learn the do’s and don’ts of bystander intervention in this virtual, interactive workshop designed to help learn and practice the skills of reacting in the moment to street harassment. Rather than utilize a one-size-fits-all approach, we also explore context and positionality to help give each individual the tools needed.

The training is led by Courtney Wooten, founder of Suburbia Rising. She has also served as an equity consultant in the Pacific Northwest, focusing on educational spaces, family engagement and faith communities. She serves as a lead organizer with the Edmonds Neighborhood Action Coalition, sits on two Snohomish County Commissions, and is a board member for the Creative Dance Center. 

There’s no cost for this training – it’s brought to you by WUUC’s Racial Justice Task Force (RJTF)! The training is limited to 30 attendees. You’ll receive a confirmation and meeting link after you sign-up at https://forms.gle/txFpZXA4jtLoo5ZQ9, and we will start a waiting list if needed. Contact Pam Green at pgreen@wuuc.org with any questions.

Sunday Special Collections

            In May our congregants raised $575 for Circle Faith Future, an organization chosen by the WUUC youth group. Circle Faith Future provides a healing presence to organizations and communities in Oregon, Washington and Idaho by offering chaplaincy, presentations, workshops, crisis intervention, and/or local conversations addressing climate change, incarceration, poverty, trauma, racism and healing. 

On July 18 our special collection will support EarthGen (formerly Washington Green Schools), a nonprofit organization that equips youth to grow their power as change-makers for a healthy environment. Through EarthGen’s science-based, action-oriented programs, young people gain the knowledge, skills, and experience they need to become leaders for climate solutions and environmental justice.

The ASJ Committee thanks WUUC members and friends for their generous support of our monthly special collections, which take place during services on the third Sunday of every month. Instructions for giving are posted during the service, and you can also donate anytime the following week at https://onrealm.org/wuuc/-/give/now, or by sending a check to WUUC at P.O. Box 111, Woodinville, WA 98072. Please make checks out to WUUC and write “ASJ Special Collection” in the notes.

Retired Women: Hiatus Followed by Hybrid Meetings

Retired Women: Hiatus Followed by Hybrid Meetings

By Jan Radoslovich
Retired Women’s Group – we meet to support one another in our retirement journeys, to learn about Conscious Eldering and to have fun and social time together.

Retired Women won’t be meeting during July and August, 2021.  Instead, we will be individually working on Life Review activities such as journaling, autobiography work, art projects, picture scrapbooking and other activities. 

Starting in September, we will begin a hybrid meeting schedule.  We will meet twice a month on the first and third Thursdays of the month.  On the first Thursday, we will have a lunch and social gathering from Noon to 2 p.m.  Locations will vary.  On the third Thursday, we will have a Zoom meeting from Noon to 1:30 p.m. on a topic of mutual interest and facilitated by one of the group participants. Group activity coordinators/facilitators are:  Jan Radoslovich and Marian Johnson. 

First meeting of the 2021-2022 church year will be on Thursday, Sept. 2 from Noon to 2 p.m. at the home of Ann Lu. 

Questions?  Contact either:  Jan Radoslovich, (206) 718-3399, or Marian Johnson, (425) 931-3674. 

Give the Gift of Life

Give the Gift of Life

WUUC will host blood drives Wednesday through Friday, July 28, 29 and 30.  The signup sheet for appointments can be found online here:

https://schedule.bloodworksnw.org/donorportal/grouplanding.aspx?s=1799&utm_source=Degree37&utm_medium=tracking_link&utm_campaign=Pop-Up_Donor_Centers&utm_content=Woodinville&ds_campaign=Pop-Up_Donor_Centers

Please be a donor if you can.  The pandemic has greatly affected the blood collection process, so we need to give all the help we can.

Contact Dewey if you have questions or need more information, 425-867-1781.

Notes4Earth: High Environmental and Social Justice Costs of Clothing

Notes4Earth: High Environmental and Social Justice Costs of Clothing

By Cynthia Cobb
Thank you to DD Hilke for introducing this topic to me.  Since then I did some research and found these books discussing the high cost of clothing at the library. 

Elizabeth Cline’s first book was Overdressed, The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion. In The Conscious Closet she writes “Overdressed was one of the first investigations to draw a straight line between our increasing consumption of fashion and the critical problems of climate change, pollution, and poor working conditions. Driving it all was the meteoritic rise of “fast fashion,” a hyper-accelerated cycle of making, consuming, and trashing clothes that is wrecking our environment and keeping workers locked in poverty.”  

 Elizabeth Cline’s second book, The Conscious Closet, the Revolutionary Guide to Looking Good while Doing Good, she writes, “If you want to change the world, there’s no better place to start than with the clothes on your back, and the shoes on your feet.” The clothing industry is “among the world’s largest emitters, water polluters, and users of toxic chemicals. As much as 8% of carbon emissions are caused by fashion. A third of microplastic pollution junking up our oceans is coming from what we wear. A garbage truck’s worth of unwanted fashion is landfilled in the United States every two minutes. And in an industry that makes some people so fantastically rich and famous, there are somehow only a handful of garment workers earning a living wage anywhere.” 

 These books offer lots of ideas for changing your relationship with clothing by reducing social and environmental impacts from clothing purchases. Consider applying the 5 R’s to your clothing buying choices;  Refuse, Reduce, Repair, Repurpose, and Recycle.

King County Repair Clinics are offering a repair event in Woodinville on July 22 where they will be offering repairs to clothing and textiles, and small household and personal items including some electronics. For more info on the Repair Clinics Program or to sign up for this event see:

https://kingcounty.gov/depts/dnrp/solid-waste/programs/ecoconsumer/repair-events/repair-woodinville.aspx

 

Let’s Not Rush

Let’s Not Rush

As we get closer to reopening church, it is tempting to try to rush back into the building and try to “get back to normal.”  We miss each other and need connection.  AND as a faith community that strives to live into shared values, the decisions of how and when to reopen, and in what capacities is not as simple as it is for businesses.

CB Beal, a consultant on welcoming and inclusion, wrote an amazing blog post on the subject from a Unitarian Universalist perspective. It is long, but I think it is very much worth the read. For those of us not involved in the decision-making process, it highlights things that the reopening committee is considering and gives us a perspective as to why this process is not as simple as it may seem from the outside.

The link to CB’s post can be found here: “Thoughts About Inclusion Before Reopening: So Close We Can Taste It”

Please be patient for a little while longer.  We will soon be together again.  We just need make sure that we are all safe and included when we are.

Love and Laughter,

Bridget