The Social Justice (SJ) Work of UUCS is carried out by the whole congregation, and although
most of the planning is done by the SJ Council, please note that in this report, “we” generally
refers to the church members, not the SJ Council. Social Justice projects give our congregation
the chance to be all that we can be and to make a difference in our world, working together in
the areas that call to us.

Our overarching justice goal at UUCS is to create a world of mutual thriving for all. We do this
through five main areas and their related activities: Voting Justice; Ecological Action; Being a
Good Neighbor; Immigrant & Refugee Justice; and Consciousness.

Consciousness: Summer and Fall: we hosted Proud Mary Theatre company for several
productions and participated enthusiastically in the Upstate Pride March & Festival. Rev. Jean
Batson-Turner and Katherine Hope led a book study of “Unequal: A Story of America” by
Michael Eric Dyson and Marc Favreau.

Voting Justice Team: We partner with the League of Women Voters, WREN, and others.
Partnership with the LWV is especially easy because 19 LWV members are UUCS members
(25%), and we serve in leadership positions in the League. The 2024 UU the Vote Challenge!
Good Trouble Congregation: The congregation again jumped on board with the Good Trouble
Congregation challenge, and again earned this UUA recognition with our work in canvassing our
community to give out door hangers with voting information and writing postcards for elections
in swing states. We participate in demonstrations on human rights and our democracy.

Holiday Season: The Holiday Season at UUCS begins the first Sunday in December with our
annual “Teddy Bear Sunday,” with folks bringing a stuffed animal to church to donate to
children in crisis. The bears and other critters are donated to the Children’s Advocacy Center,
the City of Spartanburg Police Department, and PS I Love You. Other giving projects focused on
20 activities for our congregation helping local communities. With the giving tree, we collected
everything for three “baby kits” for Global Refuge (formerly Lutheran Immigration and Refugee
Services in Spartanburg). We collected new and lightly used children’s winter jackets and coats.
We donated to the Soup Kitchen (we were unable to contact PASOS/ Vida y Salud).

Martin Luther King, Jr Day of Service and Unity Week–a highlight of our year!
UUCS is a sponsor of Unity Week, and many of us participated in a variety of ways! We
collected items for the Spartanburg Period Project, with a packing party on MLK Day. We also
had a litter pick up (with SC Aquarium program).

Neighborhood Team:

• We are involved in planning the resurrection of the old SPIHN program, hosting homeless families
  through a consortium of churches, this time as a host church aboutonce a quarter.
• In addition to holiday and MLK Day activities, we host a Little Free Food Pantry,
  sponsored by Spartanburg Day Students, on our church grounds.
• Little Free Libraries: We donate “outgrown” books to the little free library we sponsor, as well as
  buying new books for it.
• Converse University Valkyrie Supply (a basic needs hub): food and STP donations one month a
  year.
• Maintain a food barrel for donations to TOTAL Ministries.
• Maintain a basket for donations of newspapers for the humane society and animal allies, a low
  cost spay and neuter clinic.

Environmental Justice: Green World, Green Sanctuary, Green Team.
We continued the extensive work in making our campus a true part of the “Homegrown National Park,”
planting & watering the native plants that nurture the insects essential for life on earth! We offered
eight classes on Sundays in January and February and are developing a tree-planting project in the wake of
Hurricane Helene. This work is funded by a designated gift, not through the regular church budget.
Dan Hazard created two beautiful pictures to help church members envision our campus “backyard” is vibrant
with trees and shrubs! We’ll be sharing these with the church community this spring and inviting members to
join our planning sessions. We collect plastic bags, contributing to USC-Upstate’s project to “earn” Trex benches
made with recycled plastic.

Additional Activities:

• Collaborate with the Humanist planning group to present several topics of mutual interest at
  Humanist meetings.
• Monthly sale of fair trade, organic coffee, tea, and chocolate, through Equal Exchange, helping
  small farmers & the earth, as well as helping the church budget and the individuals who buy
  here (win-win-win-win).
• “Knit, Crochet, Camp; Conversation,” with instructions for beginners. Monthly meetings &
  crafting are a tremendous help in staving off blues and anxiety, plus we end up with something
  beautiful and useful for ourselves or others.

Share the Plate: Share The Plate (STP) was initiated at UUCS in 2008 by then minister, Rev. Meg Barnhouse,
and plays a major role in the Social Justice program at UUCS. It increases congregational involvement in our
church community by letting everyone assist in our major projects, even if they can’t participate physically,
as well as provide the money for those hands-on activities. Each person can contribute according to their ability
and interest to each cause, and is therefore involved in the church efforts for that cause. Half of the undesignated
Sunday offerings and all of any STP-designated offerings, go to the cause of the month, as do online
donations to Share the Plate. The bulk of the money spent or allocated by the Social Justice Council
comes from the STP collections, and recipients are decided at Council meetings. We try to balance local
vs global recipients. “Share the Plate enables us to act together, as a community, to support social justice
causes both local and global, and to aid those hurt by disasters.”
Partial report, numbers rounded:

• June; August; Nov: Voting Justice: $2,140.00
• July: Food, Not Bombs: $1,377.00
• September: Speaking Down Barriers: $940.00
• October: Hurricane Help for Sptg: $3558.00
• November: Arts & Crafts Auction for Palestine Red Crescent: $700.00
• November: Valkyrie Supply for Converse Univ students in need: $788.00
• December: Swannanoa UU/Hurricane Helene: $1,754.00
• December: TOTAL Ministries: $500.00
• January: MLK Day activities, esp. The Period Project: $1,283.00
• February: Church retreat at the Mountain
• March: Vida y Salud’s program “Mujer a Mujer” (Woman to Woman), to support women
  immigrants and their families in Spartanburg County during this time of stress and upheaval.
• For April, we are supporting Global Refuge (formerly Lutheran Immigration and Refugee
  Service), to help immigrants in our state.