Heritage UU Church

Celebrating Life
Creating Community
Seeking Justice

Social Justice Collaborative

The border wall from the Mexican side.

Sunday, March 3, 2019, 9:00 a.m.

The Cincinnati Women’s March falls apart, and government workers’ paychecks are held hostage for a border wall. Transgender recognition is undone in the schools and at risk in the military. Women’s reproductive options are about to be curtailed further in Ohio. Hate crimes against synagogues and mosques are on the rise. What’s going on?

But our voices can be effective, as shown in the recent past, when we kept the Affordable Care Act from being repealed. And we continue to do the everyday work of donating goods and time to the Inter Parish Ministry food bank, of adding our labor to the building of a Habitat for Humanity house, of providing food and shelter to the homeless through volunteering at Interfaith Hospitality Network, and in other ways both recognized and unknown.

Come join with like-minded people to share what you’ve been doing or would like to do to promote Unitarian Universalism’s Sixth Principle, “The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all.”

The meeting is on Sunday, March 3, at 9 a.m. in the Heritage Room. If you have any questions, please talk with this meeting’s leader, Louise Lawarre, or send email to:

Racial Justice Film Night: “Selma”

Friday, March 1, 2019, 7:00 p.m.

The 2014 film “Selma,” directed by Ava DuVernay, chronicles the three-month period in the Civil Rights movement—including three attempts to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge, Bloody Sunday, and finally the successful march from Selma to Montgomery—that brought about President Johnson’s signing of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. This powerful film, rated PG-13, brings home the reality of this truth about our national history. Not only does it document the key figures like Dr. King and Rep. John Lewis, it includes the heroism of UUs Rev. James Reeb and Viola Liuzzo.

The film will be shown in the Heritage Room. If you have any questions, please talk with Louise Lawarre, or email her at:

IHN Dates Set for 2019

Ashley and her family, who received help through IHN.

Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN) is a program whereby homeless families are housed for a week at a time in churches, temples, synagogues and mosques. Organizers have now set the dates when First Unitarian Church of Cincinnati will host families, which means that we now know when Heritage folk can help in this effort.

Please consider signing up to be a Dinner Host, Activity Host, or Overnight Host for one or more of the dates below.

  • February 19th (at First Church)
  • April 16th (at First Church)
  • July 9th (at Grace Place)
  • November 12th (at First Church)
  • December 24th (at First Church)

First Church is located at 536 Linton Street, Cincinnati, OH 45219 (in Avondale). Grace Place is located in College Hill – see Rae Jane Araujo for more information.

More information on the various hosting roles can be found on Heritage’s IHN page.

To volunteer or for more information, please talk with Rae Jane, or email her at:

January 2019.

Outreach Offerings – Did you know?

Did you know that the church website has a list of ALL the organizations that have benefited from Heritage Church offerings since our outreach began in 2006? Check out our Outreach Offerings Page to view the extensive list of worthy recipients. For information on offering amounts to each organization, click on the “Outreach Offerings Historical Detail” link. If you have an organization you believe puts the spirit of the UU Principles into action in our world and would like to see them supported with one of our future offerings, contact Regina Pugh at:

July 2018.

Soles4Souls

Remember, as you “gear up” for summer, that your outgrown or worn out shoes are welcomed by Soles4Souls, an organization that gives them to those who have none, both nationally and internationally. The collection box is in the back hallway of the church.

If you have any questions, please see Joann Meyer, or email her at:

May 2018.

Heritage and Inter Parish Ministry

Inter Parish Ministry

Most of you are aware that Heritage UU Church has an ongoing relationship with Inter Parish Ministry. But for those who are not fully knowledgeable of that relationship, perhaps it is time to review what IPM is and how we support their efforts. Inter Parish Ministry was founded in 1964 with the purpose of providing food, clothing and some social services to residents of eastern Hamilton County and all of Clermont County. It was originally started with the support of a number of churches in that geographic area. The IPM food pantry and offices have been located on Debolt Road in Newtown for many years after starting out as a storefront operation.

Recently, some significant changes have been made at IPM. Well over a year ago, a second store was opened just off Ohio Pike in Amelia. Hours of service were altered and now clients can shop at the Newtown site from 10:00 to 2:00 on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The pantry in Amelia is open to serve client needs at the same hours on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Additionally, the Newtown store is open from 6:00 to 8:00 on Monday evening. Another change was brought about by the retirement of Lindsay Ein, the Director of IPM for many years. She was replaced last fall by Katie Brass who came from a Northern Kentucky non-profit.

In the past, families served by IPM were allowed to shop at the store once every three months. However, at the beginning of 2018, that policy was changed to allow families to come every 30 days. It is hoped this change will allow families in dire need to obtain the food necessary to maintain a healthy diet. Last year, IPM served over 4,300 families and this number is expected to rise significantly in 2018.

As a social justice advocate and an associate of Heritage UU Church, how can you help? There are a number of ways. Several of our church members serve as regular volunteers at IPM. Volunteer activities may include assisting clients as they shop for food and clothing; stocking shelves and sorting food donations; covering the office by answering phones and greeting visitors; and helping during the many special events that are held throughout the year. If you are interested in volunteering, contact Carol Rountree at 513-561-3932. Also, once a month, our Sunday collection is donated to IPM. Your generous support of this act of giving allows the staff at IPM to better service the needs of its clients in a variety of ways. Also, our church happily accepts food and clothing donations. All donations may be placed in the grocery cart located in the Great Hall of the church. These are taken weekly to IPM for distribution to clients. A big Thank You goes to all of our Heritage UU family for the fantastic support given to IPM over the last decade.

April 2018.

Varieties of Gender – Time Change

Trans* Collage. (Click picture for details.)

The Varieties of Gender (VoG) group is changing its meeting time from 4:30 p.m. to 1:00-2:30 p.m. on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month. The confidential, anonymous, peer-led, professionally-facilitated group is open to all individuals (whether church-affiliated or not) who self-define as gender-variant/ non-conforming.

The VoG group has been meeting at Heritage Universalist Unitarian Church for the past six years. Its members are grateful for the welcoming hospitality that has been shown by the church and its members.

For more information, contact Cori Yaeger at iroc1949@icloud.com.

February, 2018.

Flag Stickers are Back!

For some years, Heritage UU Church has offered rainbow flag stickers for people to put on their name badges, to show that they are supportive of Heritage Church being a welcoming place for people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or in other marginalized groups due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. At some point, we ran out of stickers, but now they’re back! You can get one at the LGBT Rights section of the social justice bulletin boards. Help yourself and show your support.

2017.

 

More Information on the Cincinnati Sanctuary Congregation Coalition

Because of concern for the impending threat of ramped-up incarceration and deportation of immigrants—particularly those from Latin America and those who are Muslim—a number of local faith communities have started the Cincinnati Sanctuary Congregation Coalition.

On February 13, 2017, the Heritage UU Church Board of trustees voted for the church to become a member of the Coalition as a “Solidarity Congregation,” a congregation in a supporting role.

This Coalition is something new and evolving. Through attendance at two organizational meetings, we at Heritage now know more about how it will operate.

Within the Cincinnati Sanctuary Congregation Coalition, a team of people will be trained and ready to respond if there is an ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raid, as happened some years ago at Koch Foods in Butler County. The team will fulfill various functions, including videoing what happens, but will not in any way interfere with or impede the actions of the ICE officers.

Within the Coalition, another team will be interviewing persons or families seeking sanctuary. The team will be looking for those who meet certain criteria.

Sanctuary will be offered only to individuals who have an appeal pending as to their immigration status, but who nevertheless are at risk for immediate deportation. (It sounds strange that you can be shipped out of the country even before your appeal is resolved, but it’s true.) Thus, sanctuary will be offered only to people who may indeed be allowed to stay in the U.S. legally, but for whom the final status is not yet known.

The final decision on whether to offer sanctuary in any particular case will be made by the congregation that would be providing the shelter to the immigrant.

Once an immigrant has received sanctuary and moved into a faith community’s building or worship compound, the media will be notified and an announcement will be made to this effect. There will be interviews on camera, probably with the person in sanctuary and with others in the movement. Thus, this is not an attempt to “hide” someone from law enforcement. Supporting congregations are also being public about their support.

By tradition, ICE officers will not enter a place of worship to arrest someone, but this is not law.

Heritage Church will not be providing living quarters to immigrants, but will be in a helping role, providing support to congregations that do provide physical sanctuary. Heritage’s role is what is known as a “Solidarity Congregation.”

Congregations that will actually house immigrants are known as “Sanctuary Congregations.” Right now the Coalition has only one Sanctuary Congregation; it is Christ Church Cathedral (Episcopal), which has a living quarters as part of its church campus. Several other churches are seeking funds in order to remodel so as to provide suitable living quarters and become Sanctuary Congregations.

The Coalition has approximately 15 member congregations at this time. The member congregations are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Unitarian Universalist.

One additional point for all of us at Heritage: At the city-wide Coalition meetings, it has been emphasized that this effort “is a marathon, not a sprint.” It could be a long time before a church takes in a person in sanctuary, and once that happens, it could be weeks—months—years—during which that person (and possibly their family) lives there and needs our support.

For more information, talk with anyone who has attended a Coalition meeting: Bob and Jackie Drake, Doug Beezley, Rae Jane and Russ Araujo. Bob has taken an active role in beginning to get Heritage plugged into other ways to support the immigrant community, and can be reached at:

April 2017.

H-MAC Clean Energy Drive

Climate change is real. It’s such a big problem that one can feel helpless against the big money interests that are destroying our environment. The bad news is we also are accelerating climate change through rapidly increasing carbon emissions that are a byproduct of our modern lifestyle. The good news is we have the power to decrease carbon emissions and slow global warming by choosing “green” alternatives when making lifestyle decisions. These low-carbon alternatives are becoming more affordable, and as people continue to “vote with their dollars,” market forces will compel the big polluters to change their ways.

A good first step is for people to be aware of their personal “carbon footprint.” Two of the biggest contributors to most household carbon footprints are transportation and home energy consumption. For most of us at Heritage UU Church, transportation means our automobiles, and making a big impact in terms of carbon footprint in that area requires a big commitment. That’s why the Heritage Men’s Action Cooperative (H-MAC) has targeted home energy consumption as a way to make a big impact on our carbon footprint with a small investment of money and effort. “Green” energy is affordable and available in our area. Just four households in our group (10 people) have kept over 50 tons (per year) of CO2 out of the atmosphere.

Make the Switch to “Green” Electricity

It’s easy and affordable:

Step 1: Inform yourself; study your electric bill; understand your usage and what you are paying – especially the electricity ‘Generation Charge.’ Google your electricity supplier’s ‘Environmental Disclosure.’ Measure your energy footprint; here’s a link to the EPA’s Carbon Footprint Calculator: https://www3.epa.gov/carbon-footprint-calculator/

Step 2: Make the Switch to Green Electricity. Here are some options:

Step 3: Tell us about it. Let’s make this a group effort. Bring your electric bill to church and share your savings numbers with us. The CO2 Savings chart will be on display in the great hall, and we’ll be available to answer questions and help you with the carbon footprint calculator and the other green energy websites.

April 2017.

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Heritage UU Church …

Has Hearing Assist Devices

Is an LGBT+ Welcoming Congregation

Is Wheelchair Accessible