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Although it was found that staff at the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center in Staunton, Virginia, placed mesh hoods on detained immigrant children’s heads and strapped them to chairs, an investigation by the state’s Department of Juvenile Services found that these practices didn’t meet their threshold for abuse or neglect. The Rev. Jeanne Pupke, minister of First Unitarian Universalist Church in Richmond, criticized the investigation, stating, “I'm not sure we're really examining the big question, which is there are 90 people, some as young as 12, in a prison circumstance, even though they've committed no crime.” ( WTVR.com- 8.14.18)
No More Deaths, a ministry of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson, is profiled in a story about criminalizing efforts to provide aid to migrants in the Arizona desert. Jim Shaffer observes that some U.S. immigration laws violate internationally recognized human rights. No More Deaths’ organizational mission of providing food and water to migrants in the desert supports these human rights and is compatible with moral imperatives underlying public land conservation efforts of agencies monitoring activities in that region. ( Nonprofit Quarterly- 8.15.18)
Add your name to show your support for No More Deaths’ humanitarian work at the U.S. border with Mexico.
Collecting computers, fighting to install solar panels
After a very successful book drive, members of the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Pines in Weeki Wachee, Florida, were inspired to do more. They began collecting computers and have so far set aside fifty for children in their community. “We believe that we are empowered and we're activated to be in the community and to work in the community,” said church member Robert Keim. ( BayNews9.com- 8.14.18)
Out of a Unitarian Universalist commitment to sustainability based in the Seventh UU Principle, First Parish in Bedford, Massachusetts, embarked on a project to install solar panels on the roof of its sanctuary. When the local Historic District Commission denied the church permission to make this modification, the church sued. Last week, a Massachusetts Superior Court judge ordered the Commission to grant the church permission to install the solar panels. (Bedford Minuteman- 8.16.18)