The Social Responsibility Committee

The Social Responsibility Committee(SRC) at WUC is a group, open to all, that meets at least bimonthly to review, discuss, and support initiatives aimed at promoting social and economic justice. The actual work is done by ad hoc committees or engaged individuals who become interested in various specific efforts. Recent actions include: 1) involving WUC in the annual "Buy Nothing Day Coat Exchange", 2) hosting an open meeting with spokespersons from the Restore the Vote coalition, 3) partnering with RINOW to present an educational movie on Human Traficking, and 4) supporting the International Institute through a Christmas time "Giving Tree", to name a few. The Social Responsibility Committee retains no hierarchical auspices over these efforts, but rather serves to facilitate, coordinate, and to keep social justice issues visible within the congregation.

The SRC also mirrors and supports the work of Rhode Island Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice(RIUUSJ), which is a state-wide advocacy group comprised of lay people from RI's UU churches. This organization strives to imbue government policy with UU values by lobbying in support of important legislation. Two examples are the ONE RI agenda and Marriage Equality. Also through RIUUSJ, UUs in RI are playing a major part in local, state, and national efforts to end the occupation or Iraq.

PATRIOT Act and Civil Liberties (The 6th Principle Group)

The Sixth Principle Group continues the efforts of an ad hoc gathering of Westminster folks who opposed the invasion of Iraq. This group tackles issues that have clear political implications. Near the time of the Iraq invasion, some Westminster people involved with the Social Responsibility Committee were not opposed to a war in Iraq. Therefore, the Social Responsibility Committee could not make peace advocacy an overarching effort. The Sixth Principle Group could. In addition to attending rallies in Washington, DC and New York City, the Sixth Principle Group circulated an anti-war petition to allow individual members and friends of Westminster Unitarian Church to express their consciences. More than 70 people signed the petition.

In response to a suggestion that we join with the UUA in questioning the USA PATRIOT Act, members of the Sixth Principle Group continued to "push the envelope" at Westminster. At the end of the 2003 church year, our petition against the abridgement of civil liberties by the PATRIOT Act gathered over 60 signatures, and we sent it to all of Rhode Island's Congressional delegation. The Sixth Principle Group also assisted a group of East Greenwich citizens in their inspiring effort to convince the East Greenwich Town Council to pass a resolution opposing the PATRIOT Act. By working with the Rhode Island Unitarian Universalists For Social Justice (RIUUSJ), who are wholeheartedly for political advocacy, the Sixth Principle Group easily merged its actions with the broader RI UU community and the RI activist community in general. We helped RIUUSJ form a coalition that succeeded in introducing a statewide resolution opposing the USA PATRIOT Act in the RI state Senate last May.

The Sixth Principle Group has also undertaken numerous smaller projects, including the showing of videos with thoughtful political content, such as “Uncovered” about the lead-up to the Iraqi invasion, and “Unprecedented” about the Florida 2000 election situation.

Same-gender Marriage

At Westminster, the Interweave organization and the Sixth Principle Group were eager partners in helping RIUUSJ hold a press conference of clergy here in February 2004, to demonstrate religious support for same-gender marriage. RIUUSJ brought significant lobbying pressure to bear in favor of same-gender marriage legislation, and our joint efforts gathered an overwhelming number of signatures on a petition in favor of marriage equality. In 2004, Westminster Unitarian Church unanimously approved a statement supporting marriage equality for all, showing that it is indeed a welcoming congregation by taking a public stand on this issue.

Food Pantry

We encourage you to take a one of the grocery bags with its attached list of needed food items. Pick up the bag in Fellowship Hall, and take it with you to fill when shopping for groceries. Donated items are taken to St. Luke's Church in East Greenwich for their food bank pantry.

Equal Exchange Coffee

At our fellowship hour after services, we serve good coffee for a good cause. Westminster Unitarian Church serves organic regular, decaffeinated, and hazelnut coffee from the worker-owned co-op, Equal Exchange.

This great-tasting gourmet coffee also helps farmers from around the world get a greater share of the profits from the products they grow. The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee also benefits because, for each case of coffee purchased by this congregation, Equal Exchange makes a contribution to the UUSC.

In addition, we offer for sale each Sunday from 10:00 to 11:00 AM a selection of coffees, teas, cocoa and coffee mugs. You can feel good about these purchases because they're putting our principles into practice.

One World (2nd UU Principle)

The Our World Is One World Society, a UU startup group, is committed to three missions to further "justice, equity and compassion in human relations" (the second UU principle). These missions are:

Invest in people in some of the poorest and most desperate areas of the world to promote change rather than dependency.

Demand that equity and justice for vulnerable low-income citizens is a priority when our representatives enact budgets.

Partner with and mentor our UU youth in their own charitable endeavors.

The Our World Is One World Society adopted two international causes that invest in people to fulfill our first mission: Oikocredit and Adopt-A-Doctor. They both operate in areas where even a small amount of US currency is a relative fortune.

Oikocredit, started by the World Council of Churches in 1975, is an agency that makes microfinance grants to encourage self-reliance, empowerment, and community development. The name comes from oikos, Greek for "community" or "household," and credere, the Latin verb "to believe." Oikocredit embodies the concept of belief in fellow members of the world community.

Adopt A Doctor, based in Providence, Rhode Island, subsidizes the inadequate salaries of doctors already working in one of seven extremely poor countries to make it financially feasible for them to remain working in their own country and preventing an insidious "brain drain." Our partner country is Sierra Leone on the west coast of Africa.

The Our World Is One World Society supports the One Rhode Island legislative platform in fulfillment of our second mission. One Rhode Island is a coalition of the state's major antipoverty groups that began working together in 2002 to devise a unified legislative strategy.

Our World Is One World Society mentors youth in our Religious Education program in support of charitable causes they select. Last year, we made a $134 grant to their selected charity, Child Haven International, a UU charity that seeks to find homes for orphans in India, Pakistan, and Nepal.

The Our World Is One World Society seeks to become a regional UU facilitator for the international charities selected, joining the efforts of UUs in nearby congregations to raise both funds and consciousness.

Green Group (Eco-spirituality, the 7th UU Principle)

We are a group of Westminster Unitarian Church members concerned about making our church community more environmentally friendly and conscious. Working within the UUA Green Sanctuary certification program, we sponsor environmental activities in four program areas: Worship and Celebration; Environmental Justice; Religious Education; and Sustainable Living. While we pursue certification for Westminster, we are also working on immediate practical concerns, such as increasing recycling efforts, increasing energy efficiency, reducing energy usage, and using environmentally friendly cleaning products and supplies.

Westminster recycles corrugatede cardboard, paper, plastics, cans, glass and juice containers. We have made arrangements with "Collectivegood" to be a collection site for used cell phones, PDA's, pagers and computer ink cartridges as a way to recycle and raise funds at the same time.

Our group is open to all, and we invite you to join us. Please call the church office for information on meeting times.

Bread Table and East Greenwich Bread Distribution

For about 10 years, we have run the Bread Table between services. Stocked with yesterdays baked goods donated by Stop and Shop and Panera Bakery, the project provides Westminster attendees the opportunity to obtain day-old baked goods by making a reasonable donation to the bread basket. Each year we collect and donate over $2000 to charitable causes outside of the church, including food banks, domestic abuse shelters and local human services agencies.

All bread that remains afterwards is donated to the Rhode Island Food Bank or the East Greenwich Housing Authority, which distributes the bread to needy seniors in local senior housing complexes.