The Religious Society of Bell Street Chapel » Social Justice

Guest at Your Table

cwelch — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 22:19:26 +0000

Guest at your Table boxes for the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee can be returned to Bell Street on Christmas Eve or January 15th, Martin Luther King Sunday. Through a combination of advocacy, education, and partnerships with grassroots organizations, UUSC promotes economic rights, advances environmental justice, defends civil liberties, and preserves the rights of people in times of humanitarian crisis. Please convert the money into a check made out to Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. Membership gifts of $100 or more are eligible to be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock in Manhasset, N.Y. You can also donate online at http://www.uusc.org/guest.

Helping Those in Need

cwelch — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 22:21:14 +0000

Join us for the Cossroads-RI lunch brigade on the first Sunday of every month.

Helping those in need

MeredythW — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 14:37:23 +0000

The Peace and Social Justice Committee wishes to thank all who participated in the PSJ-sponsored Worship Service on Feb. 20. The theme of the service was homelessness, a particularly relevant topic this cold and snowy winter. We were reminded that homelessness can happen to anyone who is faced with an unanticipated loss of employment or serious disabling illness. We were also shocked to learn how little our society offers to the children in state care when they come of age; they just suddenly stop receiving any form of support or assistance and often end up on the street. For Unitarian Universalists who pledge to affirm and support the “inherent worth and dignity of every person”, the service was a good reminder of our obligations to those who, often by no fault of their own, do not have a place to call home.

Consequently, our Share the Plate recipients for the months of February and March were nonprofit organizations that provide services to the homeless. We also collected blankets, hoodies and new underwear and socks for the clients of shelters.

Also, just a “heads up” from the Peace and Social Justice Committee concerning our May Mother’s Day project! We will once again creatively fill 30 baskets for women who might not otherwise be acknowledged on Mother’s Day. This year’s recipients will be clients of Sojourner House, a resource center and safe haven for victims of domestic violence and their children. Sojourner House has served as a leader in Rhode Island in the assistance of such families since 1976. We will collect personal care items like lovely soaps, make up, perfumes and personal hygiene products during the weeks from now until Mother’s Day. And we will be looking for help putting the baskets together and decorating them. So stay tuned… Sojourner House will also be the recipient of Share the Plate for the month of May.

GLBT Movie Night – Feb. 11 6:30 p.m.

MeredythW — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 02:30:41 +0000

For the past several years, Bell Street Chapel has sponsored a monthly movie night at which we view and discuss films with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or gender-identity themes. In this way, we live out our commitment as a Unitarian Universalist Association Welcoming Congregation; we also have a good time together and share a delicious potluck dinner. Over the past few years, we have seen some spectacular films – dramas, comedies, musicals, and documentaries – all mainstream films, many of which have won awards. We show these films on a large screen donated by the Rhode Island International Film Festival, for which Bell Street Chapel is a venue.

This season we are focusing on foreign films. Films we have viewed so far include a French Canadian and an Irish film. The movie for February, which our licensing agreement prohibits our citing by title, is a 2004 Spanish film written and directed by Pedro Almodovar. It is an award-winning movie about the relationship among two boys, Ignacio and Enrique, who are classmates in a Catholic school, and the priest who sexually abuses one of them.

February 11 promises to be another wonderful night at the movies at Bell Street Chapel. So bring some food or beverage to share and join us at Movie Night!

GLBT Movie Night Jan. 14, 6:30 p.m.

MeredythW — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 23:50:27 +0000

The movie for this month, which our licensing agreement prohibits our citing by title, is a 2003 Irish film written and directed by David Gleeson. It concerns a conservative country youth who comes to the city of Limerick to work and settles into a flat with a gay art student. It is an honest look at contemporary youth and the problems and decisions they face as they define their identities.

So bring some food or beverage to share and join us at Movie Night!

Peace and social justice news

MeredythW — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 14:22:50 +0000

The mission of the Peace and Social Justice Committee is to create opportunities for members and friends of the congregation to practice our Unitarian Universalist principles through activities that promote peace and understanding, as well as social, economic and environmental justice in our community and the world.

We will make lunches for the clients of Crossroads RI on Sunday, Nov. 7, after the service. We are very grateful to A.T. Siravo Wholesale Produce for agreeing to donate a case (at least 100 pieces) of fruit each month for inclusion in the lunches. Being able to include fruit helps make the lunches more nutritious. And thanks, also, to PSJ member Mike Durette for volunteering to pick up the fruit each month. We count on YOU to donate the juice boxes, cookies, BIG cans of tuna, lunch bags, and plastic sandwich bags. If you pick up one item each time you shop, it will help us so much! We only have a limited budget for purchasing these items, so we really need your donations. Bring them to church any time and leave them in the kitchen.

Our November activities will include observation of Trans Day of Remembrance by participation in a march and vigil on Nov. 20. People will gather at 5:30 p.m. at Youth Pride, Inc. (171 Chestnut Street, Providence) and march to Beneficent Church on Weybosset Street for the vigil. Refreshments will be served after the vigil back at YPI. We hope there will be a large turnout of Bell Streeters to support our transgender citizens.

The 14th Annual Buy Nothing Day Winter Coat Exchange will be held on the State House lawn, across from the Providence Place Mall, on the day after Thanksgiving, Friday, Nov. 26, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (rain location: St. John’s Cathedral, 570 North Main St., Providence). As usual, Bell Street Chapel will participate by collecting coats, scarves, hats and gloves to donate to the coat exchange, where people can come to select winter coats, etc. for the whole family, no questions asked. The day after Thanksgiving is the busiest day in the American retail calendar and the unofficial start of the international Christmas-shopping season. Thousands of activists and concerned citizens worldwide will take a 24-hour consumer “detox” as part of the annual Buy Nothing Day. Jim McCartin will head up Bell Street’s participation in this event.

We continue our Books Through Bars project of sending books to prisoners all over the country. Many prison facilities do not provide adequate library services for their inmates. Reading is a healthy productive way for incarcerated individuals to spend their time. The letters of gratitude that we receive inspire us and renew our commitment. Please join us on Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. Come when you can. It’s fun!

The PSJ committee would love some new members on the committee. See Carol Crowley or come to one of our meetings if you want to know more about the important work we do.

~Carol Crowley, Chairperson

CR OS S R O AD S

MeredythW — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 04:10:48 +0000

On the first Sunday of every month, members of Bell Street Chapel make bag lunches for the clients of Crossroads Rhode Island, a shelter for our homeless and needy fellow citizens. We gather in Eddy Hall immediately after the service and share fellowship and fun while we make 100 bag lunches, which a member of the Peace and Social Justice Committee delivers. We have been doing this for over a decade. We hear fromthe staff at Crossroads that our reliability and the quality of the lunches we provide are very much appreciated by the clients. We try to make the lunches as nutritious as possible within our budget.Crossroads Rhode Island is the largest provider of services to the homeless in the state. It depends on volunteers to provide lunches on weekends. Anyone who delivers the lunches cannot fail to be saddened by the large number of souls who gather at the facility for lunch. It reminds us to work not only for the immediate needs of the homeless, but also for their long-term needs, which can only be met by policy and legislative changes. Many hardworking and responsible individuals and families become homeless because of the acute shortage of affordable housing in RI. Other homeless individuals are mentally ill or addicted and have not been able to get the help they need.

This is a safe way for children to work for social justice. If at least eight volunteers participate, we are finished within an hour or so. If you are unable to join us in making lunches, you can participate by bringing juice boxes, cookies, or large cans of solid white tuna to church each Sunday. We also need lunch bags, baggies, napkins, and mayonnaise.

Let’s let our homeless and hungry fellow citizens know that we at Bell Street Chapel do care about them. Clara Hardy heads up this project, which is sponsored by the Peace and Social Justice Committee.

Book Through Bars Update

admin — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 02:45:44 +0000

July and August’s recipient of Share the Plate proceeds will be Providence Books Through Bars, whose library is housed in the Bell Street Chapel Parish House. Although BTB is again out of postage money for our national outreach; the good news is that we have finally received permission to donate books to the ACI’s Intake Service Center. A building that houses up to 1500 inmates, the ISC currently has no provisions for getting books to these men. Over the summer, we plan to place at least one bookcase with about 300 paperbacks in each, into the first eight “modules.” The bookcases must be metal, not wood, and we may have a resource to secure these. As usual, thanks to the Big Gray Book Bin, the generosity of our congregation and many local libraries, we have plenty of books! We hope to start answering letters and mailing books again in September.

Mother’s Day Baskets for McAuley Village

admin — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 10:45:08 +0000

McAuley Village is two-year transitional housing program for homeless single parents and children. The Village has 23 apartments and an on-site child care center. They provide the basic human needs of shelter, child care, supportive services, advocacy and guidance to homeless families seeking help. Village residents have diverse backgrounds and different levels of preparation. Some residents did not graduate from high school. Others are victims of domestic violence and some are immigrant families. Whatever their backgrounds, all are homeless and living in desperate poverty.

This Mother’s Day, May 8^th, Bell Street Chapel will be delivering Mother’s Day Baskets to the 23 mothers of McAuley village. Children in the village receive lots of attention, but mothers are often overwhelmed, overworked and still living in difficult conditions. We hope that these baskets will send a message of love and hope to the single mothers of the Village.

If you would like to help, we will be providing baskets, ribbons and tissue for adornment by the children, and art supplies for cards, but we need the small gifts to fill the baskets. Some ideas are: toiletries (trial sizes?), small flowering plants or flowers, hair accessories, mini sewing kits, or anything else you can think of! (Sister Holly, the administrator, asks that we NOT donate candles). Cash donations will go toward gift cards to CVS. We will need 23 (or 11 or 12) of each item, so they can be distributed evenly. Please see Carol Wiseman about your donation or fill in your idea/donation on the form in Eddy Hall. Thank you!

Ethical Eating: The Truth About Water

MeredythW — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:38:10 +0000

Aggressive advertising by corporations has convinced many US citizens that drinking bottled water is healthier and safer than drinking tap water. Guess what! It’s not. And there are good reasons to drink tap water instead. Although there are some places where mineral content adversely affects the taste of tap water, the truth is that tap water is safe to drink all over the USA and Europe (don’t try this in India or Africa). In fact, public water supplies are much more carefully regulated and more frequently tested than the sources of bottled water, which is one of the least-regulated industries. And about 40% of the sources of bottled water are merely tap water from somewhere else! Recent studies by the National Resources Defense Council concluded that bottled water is not safer or cleaner than tap water. (Go to their website at nrdc.org/water for details.)

People, including those who can least afford it, spend 10,000 times more per gallon for bottled water than tap water. Providence Water recently pointed out in their annual water quality report to consumers (which you all received – remember?) that 8 glasses of water per day, including that used to make coffee, tea, juice, etc., costs $1400 per person annually if bottled water is used, whereas the same amount of tap water would cost 49 cents!

And then there are all those plastic bottles. Despite nationwide efforts to recycle, the Container Recycling Institute estimates that 90% of plastic water bottles end up in landfills. And if you need more convincing, there are the costs to the environment of moving all that water from one place to another. I am always surprised when I notice huge trucks delivering massive quantities of water to residences, stores, and restaurants.

Okay – once in a while a Pellegrino or Gerolsteiner is a treat – but, for every day use, drink water from your tap and be grateful for safe drinking water. It is a privilege that all too many citizens of this world lack. This is one ethical choice that is easy to make.