New Members Welcome For Just Peace Action Groups

Categories: Carillon Newsletter,Just Peace News & Events,News

The Just Peace Team meets monthly on the 4th Wednesdays at 7:00 in the Parish House Lounge.   New members are always welcome.  The Team is now forming smaller Teams to study and plan initiatives on the following justice issues.  If you are interested in participating in a Team, contact the leader of each.

  1. Food Justice – The SCC Food Justice Team will develop plans to educate the congregation and community about opportunities for action both for charity and advocacy. The opportunities already active in this area include the Bread Ministry, Food Share, the Bread for the World letter writing campaigns, food distributions, and a food bank.  Areas to be more fully developed are relationships with the Windham Community Food Network, Grow Windham, the WAIM garden, Commercially Licensed Community Kitchen (CLICK), activities and research at the RUDD Center for Food Policy and Obesity at UCONN, and communication and discussions with our Representative Joe Courtney and Senators Chris Murphy and Richard Blumenthal.

Contact: Dianne Sprague, 401-447-4421; dispraguew@gmail.com and

Rev. Don and Jan Hoyle, 860-423-6141; donhoyle@aol.com and janishoy25@aol.com

  1. Reducing Gun Violence – The Team will study, support and advocate for the UCC resolution on prohibiting semiautomatic assault weapons, explosive ammunition and large capacity magazines and the resolution on recognizing and studying gun violence as a public health emergency, promoting funds for research by the CDC for improving gun safety.

We will support and advocate for other sensible state and federal gun control  legislation.  In addition, we will develop a relationship with Sandy Hook Promise to bring their violence prevention programs to our local schools.

Contact: Kathy Lindner, 201-723-0458; kathyartist72@gmail.coom

  1. Criminal Justice – The Team will study and support the UCC criminal justice reform recommendations. We will work in the areas of juvenile justice reform, prison reform and offender reentry issues.   Focus areas will be:  Education for advocacy and service, 2. Influencing state and federal policy issues concerning criminal justice, 3. Possible direct service ministries with local organizations.

Contact: Darryl Hilliard, 201-665-1772; darrylhilliardg@gmail.com

  1. Immigration –As a lay leader of the Just Peace team on Immigration I will work with others to:
  • Continue to honor our commitment as a faith community partner with the Quiet Corner Refugee Resettlement program in collaboration with IRIS, the regional agency in New Haven sharing updates from the Quiet Corner Core Group which I sit on and informing team members of ways to advocate, educate our church community and participate in supporting our current refuge family in Willimantic and any future resettlement assignments we receive.
  • Grow the church’s access to information about and participation in interfaith understanding and partnerships so we can live out in new ways in the future Christ’s extravagant welcome to strangers and persons different than us. i
  • Expand our focus and understanding of our the full scope of immigration issues including but not limited to DACA Dreamers, Asylum Immigrants, and the efforts locally to understand “Sanctuary” needs.
  • Facilitate discussion with members and friends at SCC about how they might participate in SCC efforts to address the full scope of immigration issues.
  • Gather a team of individuals who share a passion for the immigration issues, celebrate those individuals, welcome their ideas, and plan together how we can stand up and make a difference.
  • Use the resources of UCC and other immigration focused networks and interfaith communities as well as the Human Rights institute housed at the Dodd Center to assist students and faculty with immigration focused interests. I will continue to serve as a supervisor for students at UCONN wishing to apply for QCRR internships through the  Human Rights Institute housed at the Dodd Center and invite others on the team to participate in this outreach to our campus community.
  • I welcome a co-leader of the team who can partner with me in these efforts.

Contact:  Pam Roberts, 860-428-2406; drpampt@gmail.com

  1. Mental Health – The mental health team will work on planning educational programs and other initiatives that support mental health.

We will work toward becoming a W.I.S.E. congregation:  Welcoming,     Inclusive, Supportive and Engaged, according to the UCC guidelines.

Contact: Annetta Miller, 609-751-8929; annettakmiller@yahoo.com

 

For more information on the justice issues of the UCC, go to www.google.com and look up “understanding the issues – United Church of Christ”.  You can select issues and read about the background, opinions, resolutions and resources of the national UCC.

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