About Faith in Action

We UUs often say that deeds are more important than creeds. Outreach is the faith-in-action committee of our Church that seeks to facilitate social action in accord with our faith in the power of love giving life the shape of justice, our hopes, and the seven ethical Principles that we hold in common:

1. The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
2. Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;  
3. Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations; 
4. A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
5. The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
6. The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;  
7. Respect for the interdependent web of existence of which we are a part.

For more information on the Outreach/Faith in Action committee, and how you can get involved, please contact faithinaction@fuunco.org

Share the Plate Report - Every Sunday, half of the undesignated collection goes to a worthy cause.

Recent totals for share the plate were $731.00 to Reach Unlimited, a non-profit that serves developmentally delayed persons in Cypress and Northwest Houston, and $108.50 to Planned Parenthood of Northwest Houston, a non-profit that provides reproductive health care to low income women. Thanks to all who provided the funds for these donations!

The recipient from mid-March to mid-April was Urban Harvest. The upcoming recipient will be the Texas Urban Wildlife Rehab Center. Following this will be the Katy Prairie Conservancy.

The April Outreach meeting resulted in a great list of potential recipients for future Share the Plate. We will be meeting this summer with Social Justice committee members from the Museum District and Thoreau campuses and will be brainstorming ideas for coordinated giving several times a year. Also coming your way sometime between July and end of Septmeber will be a list of organizations to vote to support. Ideas include: AniMeals (outreach donating food for pets belonging to low income senior citizens), Houston Galveston Institute, Houston Food Bank, and continuation of donating to Cypress Helping Hands, Reach Unlimited, and Planned Parenthood of Northwest Houston.

Blood Drive - Lea Mock is organizing a blood donation day for May 18. Read all about that in the article below! Especially with the accident in West, Texas, there is a need for blood donations. If you would like to donate, the group is meeting for lunch on Saturday, May 18, and then going to the donation center located near FM 1960 and Highway 290. Thanks, Lea, for initiating this great project!

Windfern High School Project

Annual Outreach Major Donation - The budget for  this year was 2% of our total church budget, about $1200. This amount was divided into $200 toward fruit trees, mulch, and water bags, and $1000 in the form of a check to Windfern High School. The principal, Martha Strothers, and Vice Principal Kris Schrandt, were delighted to receive this donation from our church.
 

Garden Project - Several church members and friends had a fruit tree planting session at the high school on Saturday April 20. Two apple trees and two orange trees were donated to the school, along with water bags to keep the young trees hydrated. Students who attended the Beautify Windfern Day assisted with planting. Thank you to Rita Cusack for spearheading this, and to Carole Courtney, Geoff Sanders, Bil Cusack, and Julia Taylor for your hard work!

The container vegetable garden is thriving and should have mature produce by the end of the school year. Thanks to Rita Cusack for taking the training and helping the school plan and fill out the needed application, and to Heide Jones who assisted with the installation of this project. Several classes of students came out and received hands-on instruction in planting the containers with vegetables, including tomatoes, kale, and other healthy plants.

Global Volunteer Application - Summer Help with Fruit Tree Maintenance - If you are ready to sign up as a gardener at Windfern High School, please visit the link below, print and fill out the form, and mail it to Pam Scott at the address on the form. It is free of charge. List Windfern HS and grades 11-12 as your areas of interest: http://www.cfisd.net/dept2/pie/Global%20Volunteer%20Application.pdf

Next Outreach Team Meeting

The next meeting will be on the third Saturday in June, 9-10:30 a.m. 

For more information, email faithinaction@fuunco.org.

Here are some of what our Faith In Action Committee is planning or working on recently:

• Accepting the UUA Ministry for Earth Ten Tree Challenge in support of the environment.
• Various projects for the homeless and displaced persons such as in relation to Hurricane Katrina (we were organized and well represented at the G.R. Brown and elsewhere), a soup kitchen, a women’s shelter, marsh grass planting and other worthy charitable endeavors.
• Houston Gay Pride Parade presence every June, and hopes to also begin marching in the local Martin Luther King Day Parade in support of civil rights and in affirmation of the inherent worth and dignity of all individuals.
• Prison ministry of some kind, as this is a focus of two other UU congregations in Houston.
• Explore how to coordinate efforts with the UU Network of Houston.
• Develop ties with interfaith public policy advocates such as Texas Impact.
• Promoting Compassionate Conversations positive communication skills.
• Civic art happenings such as the recent Painting For Peace mural project held at Iman Academy Islamic School in Houston. We will have a similar mural project at our Church in cooperation with organizations like Decade of Nonviolence, the Peace Hour and the Peaceful CoExistence show on KPFT 90.1 FM, and Art Miles (mile of murals for Peace, Unity and Healing) in May of 2007. The free form murals will be available to various exhibitions on themes of peace, unity, healing and human rights in addition to being on display at the Church for the next two years, at which time they will be given to the Art Miles exhibition. The landscape mural will be installed at U Bar U Retreat near Kerrville and the Labyrinth Floor Cloth mural will be used by the church for rituals (or by others on loan).