by Mary Higgins, District Executive

The year I turned twenty one I served as a VISTA volunteer in Tulare County California. I worked with the Community Action Agency there as the staff person for the Neighborhood Youth Corps Program and the Job Corps. I worked with many migrant workers and with a few Native Americans on one reservation. What I learned there has been a lifelong lesson and has been reinforced over the years in a thousand profound ways. The lesson was: There is something terribly wrong with white liberals who try to save a community and a people with their own ideas of what the other needs. What people need is theirs alone, as is the ability to chart their own destinies, name themselves, make others uncomfortable by the difference between what we think is needed and what the people themselves see as their need. We sometimes look at social justice through the eyes of parents looking at their wayward children and indicate by our actions that we can see into the future and know what is best for "those" people. I have seen those in our congregations take on causes that sound just and right only to feel a sense of betrayal and failure as their offers of specific help are dismissed or rejected. How do we enter into appropriate relationships with people in our culture who have differing needs than we can imagine but who would welcome allies in their struggles for safety, security, nourishing food, adequate housing, good schools, adequate mental health resources and good wages?

The answer is simply complex: We ask them who they are and what they need and then we put aside a natural instinct to take their needs on as our tasks to fulfill. We must come back with another question: "How can we become allies with you to make these needs a reality?" It sounds like it should be an easy task, doesn't it? It is not. In California it was, "Help me find ways to keep my children in one place rather than traveling with me so they can get a good education." "Without good daycare, I cannot work and keep my children safe at the same time." "Can you, will you help us secure a health clinic on wheels to come to the camps." "We are being threatened all the time if we ask for what we have been promised. Will you walk with us to protest this behavior?" The list goes on and on. One man, Ernesto Laredo, a migrant farmer, was a friend of mine and he said bluntly to me one day. "Washington does not need to send any more white teenagers to "help" us out: If we had the resources we could make our own away." Ernesto and his family were very active in rent strikes protesting inhuman living conditions on the farms where they lived in metal Quonset huts in heat that often reached 115 degrees inside on a summer evening.

Sharon Welsh, in her book The Feminist Ethic of Risk taught me that people needed to be able to "name themselves." They need to be able to identify the reality of their own lives, without anyone trying to correct them. This also does not feel like a difficult thing, but I have watched many in our churches squirm when someone identifies us a "tree huggers" without allowing us to declare that we are those who care about balance on this planet. When people call our religion a "cult", what is your reaction? I want to tell others who we really are. I got a letter this week from a woman who had read the UUA website and told me that only reason she could identify that we called ourselves a church is because we wanted the tax exemption. I want to name our own reality, for when others do it for us, they often get our faith so wrong so often. A gift we can offer is that of seeing another when we extend the right of self identification to those around us. I want to call you what you want to be called in an attempt to have you direct your part of our alliance. I have struggled over the years to put myself in service to your imagination of justice and safety, not my own. I have privileges beyond naming; probably many I have not yet identified. In the challenging video done by documentary film make, Lee Mun Wah years ago, "The Color of Fear", he filmed conversations between men of differing ethnicities. At one point in the film, a white male and an African American male were talking. The African American man said to the other (not an exact quote but what I remember), "You do not have to agree with me that this is my reality, but I am asking you to pretend it is. Here is my metaphor: When you drive into a parking garage, it seems as if the teeth go down and you glide in easily. When I go into a parking garage the teeth stay up, I get four flat tires, and although I can park and go on about my business, I have to repair all my tires before I can continue my journey." The face of the white man changed with that. He told the other man that if that was so that would be terrible. Our task here, as I see it, is to believe that in many cases in our lives this is exactly what happens. Allowing others to name themselves and their realities allows us the possibility of honest connection at basic human levels.

I cannot imagine your reality. You can only guess at mine. It is time to open our hearts and connect to those we cannot know without the courage of our hearts opening. The beating, open heart and the human desire to know and be known may be the most important factor in finding justice for ourselves and others. Where will our church find its rightful place in the community of hearts and lives? Do not let this be a domain handled by just one or two people. All the refractions of light our people exude, in relationship to the entire human and natural world need to be honored with awe, wonder, humility and action. Let it be ours to do.

Publicity and conversation abounds concerning General Assembly, the yearly gathering of UUs in 2012. It will be unlike any other. It will focus on the issue of immigration in partnership with those most impacted in Phoenix, Arizona.

It would be wonderful if a large group of UUs from the NNED were able to attend this historic GA. If you would like to be part of such a group, maybe even travel together, send me an email and we'll begin planning. Wouldn't it be amazing to send a cohort of UU activists of all ages?

The UUA has two excellent resources on immigration: a web page  and a blog called "Cooking together, recipes for immigration work"   You will find a fantastic pool of ideas, stories and connections in each.

Those of us who will not be able to go to Phoenix in 2012 may be able to connect here at home to the groundswell of UU engagement in immigration as a human rights issue. Food may be one such connection.

Here in the NNED there is great momentum around ethical eating. The reliance on immigrant labor for our food - from apples to cheese - is a natural connection between the two issues. Unsafe exposure to chemicals, limited access to health care, anxiety about legal status, and substandard living conditions are a few of the issues many migrant food-workers deal with. Our ability to eat ethically is bound to their realities.

Consider contacting the immigration rights organization in your locale to find out what is happening in your state and who the partners are. Here is a link for each of the three states of our district:    Maine , New Hampshire , Vermont            

As your congregation learns the stories of people who grow and harvest food and care for livestock in your own area, you will know if and how your current work on ethical eating naturally enfolds this too. Let me know if the District Office can help. And, please share what you learn. Your stories inspire the rest of us.

Cheryl Bourassa, Volunteer & Outreach Coordinator 

UU Church of Concord, NH 

A group picture of most of our "Third Circle"  on a hike with our Iraqi family.  Picture taken by Cara Leuchtenberger.

On September 18th, someone sprawled words of hate on the homes of three African refugees living in the South End of Concord. Most of the city reacted with horror; Concord's UU Church responded with a message of love that grew out of many long term relationships that had been forged with the refugee community over the past several years.

Members of our congregation had been working with the refugee community for years when we decided to become more formally organized. Working with Lutheran Social Services, we formed a circle of volunteers to welcome a newly resettled African family. Eventually this group became known as the First Circle. Having several families work together with one refugee family became a very successful model for resettlement work. With help from this group, the family found work, the children settled quickly into their new school setting. Based on this model, we have created three more circles.

 Certainly, being a part of a circle is a boon for a resettled family, but without a doubt, the UU families that form the circles find their lives enriched as well. What begins as a volunteer relationship develops into wonderful friendships. Many of the circle members have young children. Our children gain friends; more than that, they see what true resilience looks like. Even if they can't articulate the concept, they come to understand that struggle can bring strength. They are introduced to new foods, they get a firsthand look at other faiths, they improve their communication skills as they help to teach English and they learn the value of sharing. We get to witness the extraordinary generosity of families with truly limited means. Many of us have received gifts of food and offers of help with our own children.

Concord UU's who had experienced the many benefits of working with refugees decided to form a new committee, the UU Friends of Refugees (UUFOR). This umbrella organization helps to recruit new volunteers for our circles. UUFOR shares its collective understanding of the social services available to ease a refugee's transition to our city. We invite the families with whom we work to church wide events, such as our Thanksgiving Dinner, enlarging their circle of American friends. We have helped many congregants to get training as ESL tutors.

Because Concord is a resettlement center, refugees are most often part of an extended network of families who knew each other before immigrating to the U.S. While these communities are essential, success in their new home means joining the broader community of Concord. We have raised funds that can be used by congregants to help provide opportunities for refugees to connect with their new city. Sometimes this is as simple as a trip to the park or to an ice cream parlor. Often, it involves getting kids into sports programs. We help with paperwork, applying for scholarships when available and we arrange transportation. This fall, a nine year old Somali girl who just moved across the city, and thus found herself enrolled in a different elementary school, played soccer with her new classmates. She is a gifted athlete and a sweet kid; by the end of the season she was securely connected to her new school community.

Because our church uses our weekly collection basket to fund local, national and international organizations, UUFOR can leverage a great deal of support for organizations in Concord that help with integration. We raise money for family centers that bring parents and early childhood educators together and help to support our Recreation Department's scholarship program. Concord is the home of the Sycamore Community Garden Project which makes gardening accessible to low income families, providing tools, compost, seeds and seedlings. Our church has been a significant source of financial and volunteer support for the project. We also use our front lawn to grow food: part of the garden is managed by a team of volunteers who give away the produce; other sections are gardened by five refugee families.  Whoever it was that opted to write a message of hate in Concord soon learned that this is a community that loves our neighbors.

The Concord UU Church took a leading role in organizing our city's response. Working with other faith communities and with refugee groups, we organized a "Love Your Neighbor" rally in the South End. Our "Standing on the Side of Love" banner and tee shirts proclaimed that we are a congregation that welcomes the strangers in our midst, letting them know that they have arrived in a safe and compassionate place.      

The District  Chalice Lighter Committee is looking forward to the receipt of applications from Congregations for grants.     The grants are awarded to congregations with a vision and plan for growth or expansion of outreach to their communities.     The first grant awarded for this fiscal year will be announced this month.   If you are a Chalice Lighter, you will shortly receive a "call letter" announcing the congregation receiving our latest grant.   We thank you for your participation.

Chalice Lighter Committee Members:   Nancy Chaddock (Chair), Dana Baron and Charles Boothby