Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto

Weaving the Web

December 14, 2007
Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

It ought to be an assignment, here at Guest at Your Table time, but it’s actually not. I could write my column about anything that’s on my mind, but I just have to write each winter about all the reasons to join the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. It’s a passion of mine — I am so impressed with this organization, so happy that it is acting on my behalf in this crazy world, that I think every one of us should be a member. So this issue’s column is a list — The Top Ten Reasons You Want to Join the UUSC:

• 10. It organizes disaster relief when Hurricane Katrina strikes the Gulf or a tsunami strikes Indonesia, and gives you a way to help instantly.

• 9. The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Shelter Rock, in New York, will double your donation of $100 or more. (You’ll also get 20% off books from Beacon Press, the Unitarian Universalist Association-owned publishing house.)

• 8. UUSC’s Action Alerts, which let us know when items concerning human rights are scheduled to be acted upon so we can write, call, fax and e-mail their state and federal legislators and raise our voices as one for our views.

• 7. Just Works camps, where teens and others can go on an “alternative spring break” restoring justice to the Gulf region, or learn about water justice in California.

• 6. The UUSC Coffee Project, helping us all promote fair trade.

• 5. The STOP (Stop Torture Permanently) Campaign, saying a flat NO to torture.

• 4. If we UUs don’t sustain this fantastic organization, who will?

• 3. Instead of calling the shots and missing the boat, UUSC partners with local organizations who best understand the challenges they are dealing with, whether the issue is civil liberties in the US during the “war on terror,” the control of Bolivians’ water access by Bechtel, the struggle for a living wage in Brazil’s poorest slums …

• 2. When UUSC works in a region, you know your UU values will be represented.

• 1. Your money doesn’t just put bandages on the symptoms; it goes to work uprooting the causes of poverty and disaster.

— Hoping you will join me in joining UUSC,
Amy