Social Action Council Minutes 2011 November 16
Social Action Council Minutes
November 16, 2011
In attendance were Mary Rose Curtis, Jean Sorrels-Jones, George Jones, Bob Gross, Al Reynolds, Sharon Baiocco, Greta Dershimer and Kip Newland.
Brief checkins included the following:
- IMPACT had a meeting of over 400 multi-congregational attendees (35 from TJMC) that selected vocational education as this year’s effort on behalf of the community. Bob indicated that Achsah Carrier and Carol Saliba will be participating on this year’s study teams.
- Bob also indicated that the Dialogue on Race initiative would be reopening discussions in January.
- Jean reported that Erik is planning a service on the partner church effort this spring in tandem with the monthly collection for this worthy effort. Jean is also planning a dialogue this spring at the church where, hopefully, the minister from the TJMC partner Church in Transylvania will participate digitally.
- Sharon had just returned from a demonstration in DC on mountain top removal. She told us that her car pool project was complete and had been successful. She also talked a bit about the TJMC arboretum dedication and the church’s work on eco justice.
- Mary Rose hopes that Erik will be mentioning the Chalice Lighters effort at a service before the holidays in conjunction with the service chalice lighting.
- Al Reynolds reported that the Peace-Action group now has seven active TJMC members. He is also looking for a place to hang the plaque he received from GA celebrating TJMC’s efforts on behalf of the United Nations.
- Greta reported that TJMC has 50 members in UUSC after the Somalia and East Africa Relief Fund donations. She emailed “Nearly Expired” and “Expired” UUSC members and encouraged them to sign up for the TJMC Holiday Card as a way to renew their UUSC membership. 12 people did so, and 10 totally new people joined UUSC through the Holiday Card. Corrections made in UUSC records added 4 more TJMC members to their list. TJMC now have a total of 76 UUSC current members. Edith Good reports that the Holiday Card raised over $1400 for UUSC. Kate Walker of UUSC wants to learn more about our Holiday card tradition to suggest it as a strategy for other UU churches.
- George had nothing to report from the Board.
Sharon Baiocco then discussed efforts of the Environmental Action group on behalf of operating the church in a sustainable manner. The goal is to inspire the congregation to function this way, not act as a policing arm of TJMC. She asked SAC members to think about this goal and what implications it might have for each of us. She also asked all of us to fill out an evaluation questionnaire. Her group is now awaiting a congregational vote on the Green Sanctuary proposal, hopefully in January.
Bob Gross raised a concern that we might have too many social action projects within TJMC, thereby risking burn out among some members. He suggested that the SAC might consider a process that would prioritize and/or limit the number of major projects we supported. At the request of council members, Bob agreed to gather some information on this potential problem and report back to the council, perhaps at a special meeting set up for this discussion.
The SAC will next meet at 5:30 PM on February 22, 2012.