Write Get Out the Vote Postcards

The climate crisis continues to worsen. Catastrophic events will become more frequent. We need action now. First UU has many leaders in the climate movement and has supported Austin climate organizations well, dozens of 1st UUers have already written postcards for our TX Climate PostCard Project, and dozens more have taken action to lower their carbon footprints. But we need to do more.

During this month, Climate Justice September at 1st UU will provide information and opportunities to learn and act, actions that take little time but have a large impact when done with others. September 1 – 7 Theme for First Week: Personal Actions to Take Every Sunday: Citizens Climate Lobby Postcard Project. Since public policy depends so heavily on elected officials, one activity we’ll continue each week will be writing postcards to get out the vote. We write to folks who want climate action but don’t always vote. Kudos to dozens of 1st UU members who’ve already written hundreds of postcards.

Sunday, September 1st from 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Presentation “Status of the Climate Crisis and What To Do About It” by Bob Hendricks, Chair of State Sierra Club ExCom and State Coordinator of Citizens Climate Lobby. Bob will highlight the worsening situation, the improving solutions picture, and what each of us can do.

Tuesday, September 3rd from 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. – Climate Justice September Art Share, folks share songs, art, stories, poems, etc., in Howson Hall with a mostly vegetarian potluck starting at 6:30 p.m.

Climate Justice September Art Share

Come kick off Climate Justice September by sharing climate feelings, music, art, stories, and more with food and fellowship. No judgment, just appreciation for those of us willing to reveal ourselves. Anything goes (well, almost anything).

On Tuesday, September 3, the First UU Green Sanctuary team and the Sierra Club Climate Crisis committee will join creative forces. We will start with a mostly vegetarian potluck at six thirty in Howson Hall, surrounded by visual art community members have brought to share. At 7 p.m, we will share essays, songs, (our own or beloved, inspirational pieces by others) with a theme of nature we love and want to save or our feelings about threats to that nature and to life on earth, human and nonhuman.  And of course, art about solutions is appreciated as are personal stories of moving or disturbing nature and
climate crisis experiences.

All, including young artists, are warmly invited to share or to attend and enjoy. So we can get displays and presentation order roughly set, please let me, Victoria, know if you have something to read, say, or show as soon as you can email seastarvsh@aol.com or text at 512-567-5985 (text preferred).

What: Climate Justice September Art Share
When: September 3, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Where: Howson Hall in First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin at 4700 Grover Ave.
Why: To inspire and connect with one another and kick off Climate Justice September

Foster and Adoption in Austin

First UU Social Action Council is hosting an information session with Madison Pittman and Yaiika Fernandez, Foster Home Development Specialists from Austin’s SAFE Alliance (Stop Abuse for Everyone), on Sunday, October 20th at 12:30 p.m. in room 13.

Border trip registration + UU the Vote

This is the last week to register for the TXUUJM/Texas Impact border witness trip, coming August 18th – 21st, 2024. Continue here for more information and registration in the TXUUJM August newsletter. 

TXUUJM is also your source for Texas UU the Vote efforts this election year! We are thrilled to have a whopping 36 Texas UU congregations signed up for our TXUUJM Votes! efforts. We are more powerful together! 

NOTE: Action Hour is returning Thursday, August 15th.Thursday nights and the final Friday of each month — just in time for all the increased energy around the election. Sign up for TXUUJM emails, bookmark this page for events, and follow @txuujm on Facebook and Instagram.

Drive a Senior ATX

Building Relationships One Ride at a Time

Drive a Senior ATX enables older adults to live independently, avoid social isolation and age in place by providing free, volunteer-based transportation and other support services to senior adults in Austin since 1985, including

• Daily rides to medical appointments and errands,
• Weekly rides to HEB for groceries,
• Monthly rides for social outings and events,
• As needed handyman services, tech assistance, and social visits.

Our mission is transportation, but our impact is relationships. Our volunteer-based rides come with care, empathy, and inclusion. Our clients are treated like family and build meaningful relationships with our staff and volunteers.

First UU is a founding congregation of Drive a Senior, originally called North Central Caregivers. Our congregation formerly contributed annually to its work and has provided many volunteers since its inception in 1985.

The Green Sanctuary Committee has joined a Get Out the Vote postcard-writing project for the November elections. This project will send postcards to environmentalists who are less likely than average to vote and who live in a contested legislative district. Getting the right public officials elected is important for climate justice, indeed, for all social justice work. Come to our table in Howson Hall after the service to get more information and postcards to write.

A Taste of Soul

These two meetings, called A Taste of Soul, will provide a sample experience of a Chalice Circle meeting. They will be held on Sundays, August 4th and 11th at 12:30 p.m. after services. Each meeting will run for about 60-75 minutes and lunch will be provided.

To ensure we have enough food and materials, please be sure to register for the Sunday, August 4th meeting or you can sign up for the Sunday, August 11th meeting when registration opens on Wednesday, July 24th.

Sign up now for Border trips, UU the Vote, and more!

This August, join the Texas UU Justice Ministry and our interfaith partner Texas Impact, in a timely and important border witness trip, one scheduled especially for Houston-area UUs (August 11-14, 2024) and another open to all Texas UUs (August 18-21, 2024). The trips include time in Harlingen, Brownsville, McAllen, and Matamoros (Mexico) witnessing at immigration court, observation at border wall and of Border Patrol, meeting with migrants and local humanitarian groups, community building among fellow UUs and partners, planning for how to share and act on your “courts and ports” witness effectively back home, and more.  Passport required.

UU THE VOTE: TXUUJM is also your source for Texas UU the Vote efforts this election year! Follow our Facebook and Instagram, and Sign up for TXUUJM emails to get the latest news and actions. [Please note: TXUUJM is closed for study leave and rest in July.]

The Monthly Service Offering for July is the Online Abortion Resource Squad (OARS). This trained volunteer group moderates the r/abortion community forum within the Reddit social media website. They oversee what is essentially a peer-based counseling service, where users offer non-stigmatized, accurate information on making decisions regarding accidental pregnancies and safe abortion care.  90,000 individuals visit r/abortion every month. This public forum is a critical resource for the people most impacted by restrictive laws and barriers to access.  These volunteers run the site 24×7, every day of the year, providing high quality information, navigation, and emotional support to folks at all stages of the abortion journey. For more information on OARS and how they operate, please visit oarsquad.org.

While Unitarian Universalism comes out of Christianity, many of us have–at best–mixed experiences with the Christian bible. Whether you are bible-curious or concerned about what’s in there, this workshop is for you.

Join UU seminary student AJ Juraska on Sunday, July 14th from 1-3pm in Room 17 to learn tools for understanding the bible from an academic/historical perspective, rather than a “literal” one. You’ll walk away not only knowing more ways to investigate this commonly referenced text, but also feeling more confident in how to approach the Christian bible on your own terms.

Denominational Connections

The UUA General Assembly was held from June 20 – 23. GA is the annual gathering where UUs gather to worship, celebrate, and make decisions.  This year GA was completely virtual.  

At this year’s General Assembly delegates debated revising Article II of the UUA bylaws, which outlines our UU values and sources.  The revision passed with a strong 80.2% positive vote.  Delegates also adopted a business resolution “Embracing Transgender, Nonbinary, Intersex and Gender Diverse People is a Fundamental Expression of UU Religious Values.”  Three Actions of Immediate Witnesses were approved, addressing climate change, support for Palestinians, and responses to epidemics.  

More information is available on the Article II revision and the three Actions of Immediate Witness.

For 2025, General Assembly will be held in Baltimore, MD, and virtually. Contact David Overton at denom@austinuu.org if you would like more information about General Assembly.  

Hello all Earth Ship travelers,