Pilgrim House

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship

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Social Action

Emma Norton Services "Circles of Support" Volunteer Opportunity

PH member Marcie Jefferys is on the board of Emma Norton Services, which provides residential services to homeless women in St Paul and transitional housing for women and children in Maple Grove. ENS is about to embark on an initiative called "Circles of Support", intended to bring people together from across economic classes to support women working their way out of poverty, and address the causes of poverty at a societal level.

A woman who has chosen to participate (after stabilizing her life situation through other ENS programs) will have a small group of “allies” who will meet with her twice a month over dinner (provided by ENS). At one of the meetings each month, others will join the group to discuss some of the systemic causes of poverty and potential solutions. Local decision makers (e.g., government officials) will sometimes be asked to join the latter discussions, depending on the topic.

Volunteers are needed to be allies (two meetings a month for 18 months) or members of the guiding coalition (once a month for 18 months). People “from all economic classes and races who are committed to building their community and ending poverty” are needed. Training will be provided. If you think you might be interested and would like to learn more before making a commitment, two orientation sessions will be held at the Maple Grove residence (a light meal and beverage will be provided):

April 22 6:30 PM 8:30 PM, or April 24 9:30 AM—11:30 AM

For more information, you can contact Rhonda Bell at ENS 651-747-8766. You can also visit http://movethemountain.org and http://emmanorton.org to learn about “Circles” and ENS. Marcie would be happy to try to answer your questions, too.

Other Social Action Activities at PH

PH supplies volunteers who work every Tuesday night at the Ralph Reeder Food Shelf in New Brighton. See the Food Shelf page for more information.

The Welcoming Congregation Committee, Welcoming Congregation page, works on GLBT issues at PH. At the Annual Meeting on June 1, 2008, PH voted to become a Welcoming Congregation.

The Great Decisions Group, Great Decisions page, informs about important international issues.

Children’s Religious Education, PH.Children, frequently does social action activities with the children.

The UUA Social Action Calendar http://www.uua.org/socialjustice/23187.shtml lists major nationwide social action events.

The Social Action Committee has investigated becoming a Green Sanctuary (See http://www.uuministryforearth.org/grs_overview.htm). Instead, the committee decided to work to implement a number of green initiatives with formally joining the program.

In June, 2007, PH participated in the Gay Pride Parade:

We also marched in the 2008 and 2009 parades. Please join us for this year’s parade!

In the past Pilgrim House members have been active in Fare Share, Family to Family Ties, and Habitat for Humanity.

In 2007, we participated in a Habitat for Humanity workday in the Heritage Park area of North Minneapolis:

In June, 2006, PH also worked at a Habitat for Humanity site in Woodbury: