SOCIAL ACTION
Click on the following social action initiatives
at Buxmont to learn more:
Split Plate Program
The Green Sanctuary Committee
The Peace and Justice Committee
Apartment Partners
SPLIT PLATE PROGRAM
The split plate program was initiated at BuxMont in October 2004.
Fifty percent of the offertory donations (not including operating
pledge money) taken on Sunday go to help organizations in BuxMont's
community who serve those in need. A different organization is chosen each
month. If you have any suggestions for organizations that you would like to
see BuxMont help in this way, please contact Dena Condron.
March Split Plate
The split plate recipient for March is the Rainbow Room, the only center in the region for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, queer, and allied youth (LGBTQA). With combined leadership by area youth and Planned Parenthood Association of Bucks County's Education and Training Department, the Rainbow Room is a safe, supportive, and welcoming environment for LGBTQA youth ages 14 to 21. At the Rainbow Room, youth can be themselves and experience the freedom of knowing they are accepted totally and without reservation.
Click HERE for more information about split plate and to see a list of past recipients.
GREEN SANCTUARY REPORT
The Green Sanctuary committee is working on several new projects for obtaining our certification goal. Thanks to everyone who has helped with progress so far.
We will be sponsoring another film after Sunday service on February 21, The Story of Stuff. This short 20-minute film is a funny and informative look at consumerism, as well as a call for action on sustainability. Babysitting will be provided. If you want more sustainability films, check the Ambler Theater’s film series on sustainability, described on its web site, www.amblertheater.org, in the News section.
Look for the new, larger recycling boxes in the RE hallway in addition to the containers already available in the kitchen. The Adopt-a-Roadway signs for Paul Valley Road
behind Lowe’s have gone up proclaiming that BuxMont UU will keep this section of road clean. You can glimpse the sign as you drive by on Easton Road. Green Sanctuary will post sign-up sheets for the first clean-up crew in the next month or so. Look on our bulletin board or in future newsletters for other activities you can get involved in, such as weatherization projects.
Click
here for Green Sanctuary Resources.
PEACE
AND JUSTICE NEWS
MARRIAGE EQUALITY VALENTINE CARDS DELIVERED ON FEBRUARY 8
UUs are definitely Standing on the Side of Love in Pennsylvania! So far, 13 congregations, including BuxMont, have collected 533 valentines for 31 state senators and 521 valentines for 83 representatives. Most of these were hand-delivered by volunteers from the Unitarian Church of Harrisburg and the UU Congregation of York. Two of our members spoke at Sen. Daylin Leach’s press conference—Rev. Dr. Justin Osterman, Sr. Minister of Main Line Unitarian Church, and Alanna Berger, UUPLAN Board member and member of the Unitarian Church of Harrisburg.
POVERTY SIMULATION EVENT RESCHEDULED FOR APRIL
Participate in a simulation to help you understand what it might be like to live in a typical low-income family trying to move beyond survival and achieve economic self-sufficiency. Participants will role-play a member of a family living in poverty for four abbreviated weeks. The simulation will be followed by a discussion of the feelings you experienced. Seventy-four participants from the community, ages 16 years or older, are needed to make this an authentic experience.
Doylestown United Methodist Church will host this event on Saturday, April 17, 2010, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in conjunction with the Bucks County Opportunity Council. Sign up by email at dumcpovertysimulation@hotmail.com or call the DUMC office at 215-348-5224 to register or for more information.
PEACE AND JUSTICE ON FACEBOOK
Thanks to Alisa Brownlee, our Peace and Justice Committee now has a presence on Facebook. If you are a member of Facebook, please visit our page and join with us.
BUX-MONT MEALS ON WHEELS NEEDS VOLUNTEERS
Bux-Mont Meals on Wheels is a nonprofit organization that provides meals for elderly and disabled residents of Hatboro, Warminster, Upper Moreland, and Horsham townships. The organization relies on volunteers to pack and deliver meals five days a week. Volunteers are now needed for the following positions:
Drivers and assistants are needed to transport and deliver meals on one of four routes each weekday. Each team picks up meals at Abington Hospital’s Warminster facility and delivers to about 12 clients. Meals are ready at 10:30 a.m., and deliveries usually take about 90 minutes.
Pantry aides assist hospital personnel in packing meals for delivery. They work at the Warminster facility from about 8:30 until 10:00 a.m. daily.
Meals on Wheels volunteers are asked to work two or three days per month on a regular schedule. If you are interested, call Donna Homiller, the Meals on Wheels Coordinator
ONGOING PROJECTS
Apartment Partners
BuxMont has responded with great generosity to our project to adopt an immigrant family from Mexico. We have received clothes, food, furniture, and assorted household items along with a generous financial contribution. If you have items you would like to donate, please contact Celia Sharp. The children in the family, ages 15, 13, and 8, would also welcome help with their homework.
Doylestown Food Pantry
We have an ongoing collection of items for the Doylestown Food Pantry (also by the Social
Action bulletin board).
Other Projects
Other ongoing projects supported by the committee include donations of eye glasses to
Volunteer Optometrists Serving Humanity (there is a box in the social hall to
drop off donations) and collection of used printer cartridges and cell phones
that are donated to A Woman's Place. (A collection box for these is next to the
Social Action bulletin board outside of the kitchen.)