SOCIAL JUSTICE ZOOM Meeting 7 pm, Wed. Mar. 3 rd .

All are welcome. Topics: volunteers for quintuple dip, little free libraries, consciousness team, SC Aquarium litter sweep project, and more.

Email socialjustice@uucs.org for if you have an agenda item to add and for Zoom Meeting ID and Password.

Another Quintuple Dip: Period Products in honor of International Women’s Day & Much More

Get your St. Patrick’s Day face masks here! Sunday, Mar. 14 th 3:00-5:00 or Tues. Mar. 16 th 10:00-12:00. Drive through, drop off, and you can receive a free face mask! We’re collecting for the Spartanburg Period Project, which will get our donations of feminine hygiene items to a variety of local organizations serving women and girls in need. We’re also collecting gently used children’s books for the 3 Little Free Libraries (LFL) we are supporting, as well as our regulars: food for TOTAL ministries and newspapers for Animal Allies. On Sunday only, we will host a litter sweep for the SC Aquarium project (more info below). Your participation and contributions are greatly appreciated!

Books your children or grandchildren have outgrown are great for the LFL’s. However, if you would like to purchase books to support our three Little Free Libraries serving children in African American and Hispanic neighborhoods, here are a few suggestions from our very own children’s librarian, Joyce Harrison. All are available on Amazon and most are paperback.

Hispanic Titles to consider:

• Cool Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Growing Up Latino in the United States – Spanish Ed. – Carlson and Hijuelos
• Abuela – Dorros
• Be Bold! Be Brave!: 11 Latinas Who Made U. S. History – Reynoso
• Round Is a Tortilla: A Book of Shapes – Thong
• Dreamers – Morales
• Just Ask!: Be Different, Be Brave, Be You – Sotomayor
• We Are Water Protectors – Lindstrom
• Nino Wrestles the World – Morales

African American Titles to consider:

• I Am Every Good Thing – Barnes
• I Need You to Know: The ABC’s of Black Girl Magic – McClain-Muhammad
• Hair Love – Cherry
• Full, Full, Full of Love – Cooke
• Hair Like Mine – Perry
• I Can Do Hard Things: Mindful Affirmations for Kids – Garcia
• Lola at the Library – McQuinn
• The Boy Who Became King: LeBron James – Curcio

Litter Sweep: Upcoming Litter Sweeps:  Making Neighborhoods Beautiful

Spruce up nearby streets by removing litter and recording the data for the South Carolina Aquarium.  Data empowers policy changes locally and throughout our state and we all benefit from clean streets and neighborhoods.  Work independently or while wearing masks and distanced with a partner.  Data collection sheets, clipboards, pens, garbage bags and grabbers will be supplied.  Bring gloves!  Routes will be designated and on sidewalks.  Meet at the Henry Place cul-de-sac to gather materials and walk to nearby designated sites.  Return materials and filled garbage bags to UUCS when done.

Time:  3:00 – 5:00 on Sunday, March 14 th . Rain date:  March 16th from 10:00 – 12:00.  Contact Joyce Harrison (864-680-9720) for additional information.

If you’d prefer to collect litter in your neighborhood either day, please email me (Joyce
Harrison, sptbgwalker@gmail.com) and I’ll send you a data collection sheet. You can then send me a copy of your completed data sheet for inclusion in our Aquarium data submission.

This is a great article about out new years social justice work we have chosen.

Annual MLK Day of Service. In the midst of the pandemic, more people than ever need some help. We collected the same toiletries as last year, and gave them to TOTAL Ministries for the employees at TOTAL Ministries to assemble into kitsWe also gave some to Angel Ministries’ program supporting women released from prison, to Piedmont Care, serving those affected by HIV-AIDS, to PASOS, and to the Divinity Center, serving homeless men. Of course, our toiletries kits included our cloth masks! Our drive-through collectors were busy! We also spruced up nearby streets by removing litter and recording the data for the South Carolina Aquarium

More than 25 people braved the cold to drop off items at our QUINTUPLE DIPS and enjoy talking & catching up with one another in the chilly UUCS parking lot! Donations for TOTAL Ministries included over 600 pounds of food, plus diapers and similar items. Our other collections: 4 boxes of wonderful children’s books, 4 boxes and bags of Teddy Bears, unicorns, etc., and 6 boxes of newspapers for the Humane Society! Thank you all! Everyone who came by got a holiday face mask for their families, and we took about 50 more holiday-themed face masks to the Hope Center for Children (30 for teens and staff, 20 for children).

MLK DAY 2021 is Monday, January 18th. This year’s event will need to be very different from last year’s! (That was so much fun!). If you have ideas on how to have a safe event that helps our community, please email socialjustice@UUCS.org. The Social Justice Council will discuss these via email/ zoom and come up with a plan! Probably a much smaller plan than last year, but that will be all right.

March 2021 Share the Plate Donation

Celebrating International Women’s Day
and the International Women’s Convocation (U*U)

March is Women’s History Month in the United States. UUCS honors this, in part, when we observe the UN-designated “International Women’s Day” (IWD) and recognize the work of the International Women’s Convocation (IWC). As UUCS has for several years, we will Share the Plate with IWC on March 7 and 14.

For more information, click here: Celebrating International Women’s Day

Donate to this month’s Share the Plate here:

IWC is a nonprofit partnership of U*U women working through U*U connections around the globe. It has gained special consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), advancing equity for women and girls worldwide through leadership development, empowerment and awareness programs, advocacy, and resources. IWC will host several parallel events virtually at the 65th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, March 15-26, 2021.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I hope you are home and staying safe as the pandemic rages around us.
MASKS: Let’s give a virtual cheer to some incredible mask makers! Naomi has joined Nicole in passing the 1,000 mark! You two are amazing! As a group, we have made 4,700 masks! We’re keeping people healthy and saving lives.
Recent mask give-aways:

Saturday, about 80 of our masks to the Mexican grocery in Inman.

Tuesday, 180 masks mailed to Navajo Nation; 60 to the Soup Kitchen; 60 to Angel Ministry (which offers transitional housing and case management to women during and after incarceration

QUINTUPLE DIP:

The next Dip is coming! Dec. 6th, 2:30-4:30, our Dip, : a special holiday collection of children’s books, new or gently used, for children in Safe Haven, SPIHN, PASOS, and Maranatha Church’s ministry with children. You can also donate food and toiletries for TOTAL Ministries, newspapers for the Humane Society, newspapers for the Humane Society, & pick up a holiday-themed face mask for your child or teen, plus a new mask for yourself. And, there’s one last chance to buy beautiful mural note cards from an LWV volunteer, until they sell out! We’ll repeat the Dip on Dec. 8th, Tuesday morning, 10:00-Noon.

The men’s winter clothing from the last Quintuple Dip was gratefully accepted by volunteers at the Spartanburg Opportunity Center. Volunteers filled a cart with coats and other warm clothing; the clothes for women and children were delivered to PASOS for Hispanic immigrants in the Boiling Springs area.