Our History of Social Justice and Inclusion
As Unitarian Universalists we live our Covenant by being actively involved in social justice issues. We know that tangible expressions of love, justice, and peace are candles in the dark, and integral to making a change in the world. We work to serve, raise awareness, and to support and partner with those who face injustice. More than 200 years ago the American Universalist Church was one of the first religious groups to formally oppose slavery and was the first group to ordain a woman into the clergy.
Members of our church are outspoken advocates of LGBTQ rights, climate justice, racial justice, immigration, and economic justice. We focus our efforts on issues such as homelessness, food scarcity, threats to democracy, environmental justice, and public health issues such as domestic violence and mental health. Accordingly, our Social Justice Committee collaborates with local organizations such as the Laconia-Gilford Lion’s Club to support nonprofit organizations with missions to provide assistance to those experiencing food or housing insecurity or serving the needs of those with mental health illnesses.
Our Current Social Justice Projects
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we are primarily focusing our efforts on sharing our monetary offerings with local charities and on coordinating collection drives to support local and state organizations working to mitigate the economic impacts of this crisis such as homelessness and food insecurity. Please click on the links to learn more about each organization.
- Share the Plate - We share our monetary offerings with the following local charities:
- Collection Drives - We are coordinating the collection of food and non-food items for organizations, and are partnering with the Laconia Gilford Lion's Club in this endeavor. The following are two organizations that will benefit from this effort:
- Isaiah 61 Cafe -The next Collection Drive is forthcoming
- Community Action Program Food Pantry - The next Collection Drive is forthcoming
- Other Social Justice Activities:
- We are participating in an initiative to become a Green Sanctuary
- We plan to do our annual hosting of the local American Red Cross Blood Drive in June
Our Previous Social Justice Projects
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we are tabling some projects until we can perform them safely. Below is a list of projects that we have either tabled with the intent to resume participation after the pandemic or projects we have done in the past.
- UU The Vote - We participated with our national organization’s efforts to get out 1 million Unitarian Universalists for the 2020 election. We conducted phone calls to members and friends to provide assistance with voting.
- Gun Safety - To highlight the need for common sense gun safety reform, we created a poster and did a presentation at our national organization’s annual meeting and have hosted educational awareness sessions.
- Hands Across the Table - We volunteer to serve food for Hands Across the Table, an organization that provides free, hot meals to those in need.
- Belknap House - We participated in the fundraising and grand opening of the Belknap House which is a local cold weather homeless shelter. We have sold Fair Trade products to support small scale farmers and we donate the proceeds to the Belknap House.
- Liberty House - Coordinating collection drives for clothing and winter items for homeless veterans served by Liberty House in Manchester.
- Mental Health Awareness
- Hosted the former Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, Justice John Broderick, for a presentation to reduce the stigma of mental illness in the Change Direction campaign
- Hosted NAMI for the presentation "In Our Own Voice" to increase awareness and help reduce the stigma associated with mental illness
- Bullying Education - Hosted a workshop for local educators on the issue of bullying
- Habitat for Humanity - Raised funds and participated in Habitat for Humanity projects