opportunities to serve
Current Opportunities
The Social Justice Council invites you to continue to Serve Others by helping in any of the following ways: Hingham Food Pantry We are again collecting non-perishable, unopened, and unexpired food for the Hingham Food Pantry. Donations may be made at:
The most needed items at this time: Although all donations are appreciated, the food pantry reports that the following items are most needed at this time:
Spread the word: Should anyone need help, please call the Hingham Food Pantry at 781-740-8180. For additional information, visit the Hingham Food Pantry on Facebook. Upcoming Opportunities
Interested in Social Justice work at Old Ship?
Everyone is invited to join us at our next meeting on Sunday, July 28 at 4 PM. This is an in-person meeting. Please contact Davalene Cooper if you are not currently a member of the SJC and would like to attend the next meeting. UU the Vote Old Ship has signed up to be a "good trouble congregation" through the UU the Vote Program. We anticipate there will be opportunities this summer to participate in phone banks, text banks, and postcard writing. If you would like to be informed of these opportunities, Ellie Handleman is creating an email list and will contact people as these opportunities arise. To be on this list, send an email to Ellie Handleman. Father Bill's Place Father Bill’s can always use donations of bagged lunches, snack items or additional dinners (beyond the current teams providing meals). Check out the Bag Lunch information at Father Bills-Mainspring Bag Lunches and then contact the volunteer coordinator Mary Ann Mendes at mmendes@helpfbms.org or 508-427-6448 x2283 if you would like to participate. Other ways of helping can be found at Ways to Help- Father Bills-Mainspring. Green Sanctuary/350MA Group Meeting (First and Third Tuesdays of each Month, 7:30 PM) Our Green Sanctuary/350MA group meets the first and third Tuesdays of the month in the Fellowship Hall. Also, we are working actively with our Weymouth ally Friends of the Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station (FRRACS). Old Ship Social Justice Action Alert Network Sign up for the Old Ship Social Justice Action Alert Network to find out about specific advocacy opportunities such as letter writing, advocacy calls, and participating in educational and advocacy events with local legislators. Send your email address to Davalene Cooper, Keeper of the List. 
New Old Ship Task Force on Widening the Circle—Would you like to join us in this work?
Imagine an Old Ship community where all who come here feel fully welcomed and free to join in all our activities and programs. What would that Old Ship community look like? How would we create such diversity? How would this atmosphere of radical welcome change us as a community? What hidden obstacles, or perhaps overt obstacles, get in the way of someone feeling truly welcomed here? These are some of the questions this new task force will consider as it reviews “Widening the Circle of Concern,” a report issued in June 2020 from the UUA Commission of Institutional Change. This Commission was charged “to conduct an audit of the power structures and analyze systemic racism and white supremacy within the Unitarian Universalist Association.” The report makes findings and recommendations regarding the problems of racism and white supremacy within Unitarian Universalism. The report itself is grounded in the premise that our faith is calling us “into living the fullness of the theology we inherit and proclaim.” Last spring at our annual meeting, we unanimously affirmed that “the major focus of the social justice effort at Old Ship for the next three years will be centered around issues of racism, white supremacy, and climate change. This task force is a crucial step in dismantling white supremacy and any other obstacles that get in the way of welcoming everyone to Old Ship. Our work is to study the report, ask questions about our Old Ship community, and then make recommendations as to how we might create a more beloved community at Old Ship—a community grounded in our theology of love and acceptance. The Task Force is open to any person in our community who would like to be a part of this work. To join us, or if you have questions about this effort, contact Davalene Cooper, Chair of the Task Force. 
Who We Work With Friends of the Homeless of the South Shore Old Ship hosts the annual holiday party for this organization and its clients each December. In addition to being involved with this activity, you can contribute to, or volunteer directly with, Friends of the Homeless, or donate furniture to their furniture bank. Contact Director Rev. Herb Newell or click here for more information. Father Bill's Place Old Ship supports this homeless shelter in Quincy which also provides job training and living skills. For many years, along with other volunteer groups, Old Shippers have been preparing and serving meals for the residents. Old Ship youth occasionally serve meals as well. If you would like to help, see details above or click here for more information. Hingham Food Pantry Based at Second Parish UU in Hingham, the food pantry serves primarily Hingham families in need. Old Ship supports the Food Pantry through donations of food and other staple goods in the box at the Parish House entry as well as running a Food Drive annually in the spring. See details above, or click here for the Pantry's list of ongoing needs. Please click here for additional information. Holly Hill Farm, Cohasset Along with its retail and educational programs, the farm grows vegetables for Father Bill's under a Community Outreach Grant. There are opportunities to help with the spring and fall to harvest last crops and prepare beds. Please contact Janice McPhillips via email or at 781-740-8782 or click here for more information. School on Wheels Provides educational support for homeless kids at locations in Norwell, Stoughton, Brockton. Opportunities are available to provide one-to-one tutoring to a K- 12 child one hour per week, 3 month minimum. Training provided. Please contact Robin Gilbert via email or at 508-587-9091, or click here for additional information. Wellspring Multi-Service Center Based in neighboring Hull, Wellspring has a variety of programs to support people in financial, physical, or emotional need. Educational programs develop literacy, financial knowledge, business skills. The facility also houses a thrift shop, book store and food pantry. Volunteer opportunities include store assistant, food pantry assistant, reception assistant, maintenance helper, and fund-raising assistant. Schedule at your convenience. Teach or tutor ESOL, literacy skills, financial management, nutrition, test prep, transition to college, home repair, business interviewing. Please call 781-925-3211, or click here for additional information. Afghan Resettlement Work Massachusetts has doubled the number of Afghan evacuees now expected to arrive in the Commonwealth. The six resettlement organizations now expect to serve about 2000 evacuees. If you would like to help with this effort, Old Ship has supported the work of the International Institute for New England; you may find out more about their work at Home - International Institute of New England (iine.org). There is also a local group through South Shore Action that is working with the Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center (R.I.A.C.) in Boston. This group needs help in a variety of ways--filling welcome baskets, donating furniture and appliances, offering transportation, helping with the grocery shopping, and finding affordable housing. For more information or to volunteer or provide financial support, contact Ann McCarthy-Egan, Meg Glazer or Deb Emmett-Pike. Honduras Hopes Previously we heard from Hingham residents Peter and Kathy Swanson, who are board members of Honduras Hopes, a New Hampshire based non-profit that works on issues related to health, education, and entrepreneurship in rural Honduras. (Some Old Shippers have purchased baskets made by women in one of the organization’s empowerment programs). The community supported by Honduras Hopes has been especially hard hit by two hurricanes that hit the country in a two week period and by COVID-19. We decided to support this organization again this year, given its importance to the lives of the people it serves and the crisis in which it now confronts. You can learn more about the organization at https://www.hondurashope.org/. SOLA (School of Leadership Afghanistan) Our congregation has supported SOLA in its goal of educating women and girls in Afghanistan. We have been concerned about the safety and the future of the school given the situation in Afghanistan. We are able to report that Shabana Basij-Rasikh, the school's founder, who has spoken at Old Ship, is safe. She reports that SOLA's faculty, students, staff, and family members have left Afghanistan and are in Rwanda where the school will operate for at least this semester. They hope to be able to return to Afghanistan as soon as it is safe to do so. Shabana is posting updates on the SOLA website at www.sola-afghanistan.org. Donations to support the school also may be made at this site. UUSC Disaster Relief for Haiti As you know, Haiti experienced a devastating 7.2 earthquake on August 14, 2021. UUSC is contacting long term partners to assess and respond to the most pressing needs. As is always the case with the UUSC's disaster relief, the goal is to build an equitable and sustainable recovery while also dealing with the immediate devastation. Donations to this relief effort can be made at www.uusc.org. 
UU Service Opportunities
Ballou Channing District of the Unitarian Universalist Association UUA districts connect individual congregations to each other and to the Unitarian Universalist Association. Old Ship is a member of the Ballou Channing District. Like other districts, BCD offers professional, religious and education services to the 46 congregations in Southeastern Massachusetts, Cape Cod and the Islands and Rhode Island. BCD is governed by 14 officers and directors elected from member congregations. Old Ship also belongs to BCD's South Shore Cluster, 12 parishes along the South Shore. Cluster meetings provide informal places for congregation leaders to share common experiences. Opportunity: Staff local collection sites for district-wide food pantry drives. Contact: Belinda Arams or Ralph Brown Unitarian Universalist Service Committee We contribute in a variety of ways to the UUSC's global and domestic programs in support of human rights, peace, and social justice. A portion of our Christmas Eve offering is designated for the UUSC. We promote the annual Guest at Your Table program to generate financial support for UUSC, and we host Old Ship's "Coffeehouse on the Square," a monthly folk coffeehouse whose proceeds benefit the UUSC. Opportunities: Attend UUSC meetings and bring information back to Old Ship; join one of the many issue committees of the UUSC Contact for UUSC: Davalene Cooper Contact for Coffeehouse: Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry The Boston-based UUUM serves the needs of youth in Roxbury, women and their children who are victims of domestic abuse, men in transition, and the disadvantaged Asian American community in Boston. We support UUUM through a fall fund drive for their shelter, Renewal House. Opportunities: tutor students in Roxbury programs, teach ESL to foreign mothers, organize a Saturday Explorer's Club event, cook a Wednesday supper for students Contact: Pam Harty |
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