Allison & Carol’s Excellent GA Adventure!

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African Americans make up about 3% of Hawaii’s population. On many Sundays Carol and Allison are one of the very few, if not the only, African-Americans at First Unitarian Church of Honolulu – the only Unitarian Universalist church on the island of Oahu!

Allison is a 2nd generation UU whose parents were among the founding members of the Unitarian Society of New Haven, CT. Carol is a relatively new UU for whom FUCH is the last church on the block after a long search for a spiritual home and she brings many gifts from her faith journey to her faith home here with UUs.

We need GA so we can replenish our depleted spiritual and ancestral reserves! We need to get refreshed and renewed so we can continue to use our gifts and talents at First Unitarian Church of Honolulu (FUCH)! We are requesting help from the wider Unitarian Universalist community to ensure that we are able to attend the UUA GA in Spokane. In order for there to be racial equity in UUism, it is crucial that people of color participate in the process on an ongoing basis. Although Hawaii is a multicultural state, FUCH is still working on being a multicultural congregation. We are asking you to support us in attending GA because, as leaders in our church and two of the very few people of color in FUCH, it is important that we get renewed by being able to tap into the greater Black UU and Indigenous, Black, People of Color (IBPOC) community on the continent for ideas and resources. Our participation in GA will be mutually beneficial for the First Unitarian Church of Honolulu (FUCH) and ourselves.

Resources and Expenses:
Our church raised approximately $1,000 and another $500 was received from the UUA for four church members to attend GA in Spokane this year. We each received ¼ of the church and UUA funds which amounts to $375 apiece. We have each included this $375 in this Faithify campaign.We are each volunteering 18 hours at GA in exchange for receiving the GA registration fee.

Airfare is the only transportation option for us to get from Honolulu, HI to Spokane, WA. Please help us bridge the geographic challenges that affect us on the island of Oahu. We are seeking funds for round trip airfare to Spokane, round trip ground transportation from the airport to GA, and room/board. We estimate that this trip to GA will cost as follows:

Round Trip Airfare from Honolulu to Spokane	$ 750.00 x 2	$1,500
Round Trip Ground Transportation from airport to GA	$ 80.00 x 2	$160.00
Hotel $120 x 6 days each	$ 720.00 x 2	$1,440.00
Per diem for food ($50 x 6)	$300.00 x 2	$600.00
TOTAL		$3700.00

Please read about each of our backgrounds, the work we do in our church community, and how we intend to use our GA experience.

Updates

June 16, 2019

Aloha!

It’s the LAST TWO DAYS of Allison and Carol’s Excellent Adventure! We are at 91 % of our goal in our All or Nothing campaign!

We are so thankful that the community has been supportive of our fundraising efforts to get to GA in Spokane. Contacts have been made to meet with other UU’s at GA to discuss what we at FUCH have been doing around social justice and racial justice issues. It will be exciting to meet with them and share our experiences and programs at FUCH: A.D.O.R.E. (A Dialogue on Race and Ethnicity), A.D.O.R.E. book group, Jubilee Anti-Racism Training, the 8th Principle Task Force, and the Social Justice Council. We have a lot of information to share and we look forward to learning with other UU’s in the quest for social and racial justice.

This all or nothing campaign ends in 2 days at 4:55 p.m. HST

Beloved community, success is in our reach! Only $330 more is needed to make our goal!

Please help us get over the finish line!

Aloha and Thank you,

Allison & Carol

June 13, 2019:

WOW!! We are in the home stretch of Allison and Carol’s Excellent GA Adventure!

As of 12:30 p.m. today we have received $2,965 (80%) of our $3, 700 goal! This is an All or Nothing Campaign so we are in a final push during these last 3 ½ days to reach our goal.

Faithify is on Eastern time so when this campaign closes at 10:55 pm EDT on Sunday, it closes for us at 4:55 pm (HST) !!

We are so appreciative to our Beloved Community – Unitarian Universalists near and far, known and unknown and anonymous as well as family, friends, acquaintances, associates, strangers, non-Unitarian Universalists, organizations, and all other sentient beings who have supported us in our time of financial need. A HUGE SHOUT OUT to the following Earth angels who have donated since our last update: Paula, Linda, Raelyn, Anonymous, Heather, Anonymous, Bethany, Elizabeth, Kathryn, Sue, Anonymous, Melissa, Susan, Jane, Anonymous, Shelia, and Eileen. The First Unitarian Church of Honolulu funds allocated to Allison and Carol to attend GA are included in this campaign.

Thank you again to everyone who has supported our Excellent Adventure by donating and sharing this campaign with others!

With aloha,

Allison and Carol

June 8, 2019:

A heartfelt Thank you, thank you, thank you to you four wonderful anonymous supporters whose donations ranged from $10 to $300! Thanks to you, we are getting closer to GA!

June 5, 2019:

Our official Faithify video with interviews by FUCH minister Rev. T.J., Allison and Carol is coming soon!

In the meantime, here is "Allison & Carol's Excellent Adventure,... The Trailer"!

It is from last Sunday's church announcements, contains some information about our next meeting of A Dialogue On Race and Ethnicity (ADORE) and at 2:38 this campaign is mentioned!

Allison & Carol

June 4, 2019:

“We are so appreciative of Earth angels, Lee Curran and Carla Allison, who gave a fantastic kickoff to our campaign to get to Spokane!

Based on some thoughtful conversations about our adventure, we want to share our appreciation of FUCH Board president Nancy Schildt who worked throughout the year and organized several church lunches to raise money for four FUCH members to go to GA. Thanks to Nancy’s efforts, approximately $500 was raised and another $500 was received from the UUA for a total of $1,000.

In addition, we are very thankful to Catherine Graham, who organized a fundraiser which raised $500, as well as to the FUCH board which generously allocated those funds to help the four church members attend GA. We will each receive ¼ of the church and UUA funds ($1,000 plus $500 = $1,500) which amounts to $375 apiece.

According to FUCH church policy, the $375 we get from the church is money that will be available to us after we submit receipts.

Thank you again to everyone who is supporting our Excellent Adventure by donating and sharing this campaign with others.”

Allison and Carol

Project UU Connection

Allison Jacobs:
I am a second generation UU and I am looking forward to participating in GA again this year. I grew up in Southern Connecticut and my parents were among the founding members of the Unitarian Society of New Haven.

I am serving my 2nd term as a FUCH Board member and I will be one of my congregation’s delegates at GA. In 2017 I participated in the Our Whole Lives (OWL) Training of Trainers for all age groups and I have trained OWL facilitators as well as facilitated OWL sessions.

I am dedicated to doing anti-racism work. Approximately 3 years ago, Paula Cole-Jones chose Jill Rabinov and me to co-facilitate her A.D.O.R.E. (A Dialogue on Race and Ethnicity) program.

We continue to partner and stay connected to people on the continent which prevents us from being isolated. This partnership has helped us to continue to expand our programming to the church and the community regarding race and multiculturalism. I was involved in the 2017 White Supremacy Teach-In at FUCH. I attended the Black Lives of UU (BLUU) Convening in New Orleans in 2017 and being around over 100 members of BLUU was a positive and affirming experience for me as it was the first time in my entire life that I had ever been in the presence of more than a handful of UU’s of color, even though I was raised as a UU. I helped plan and participated in two Jubilee Anti-Racism Trainings which help participants understand what is involved in nurturing a multicultural community and working against racism in all of its forms. I have also served in an advisory capacity for the 8th Principal Task Force’s initial “Micro-Aggressions” training session.

Thanks to our church’s foundations in ADORE, in May 2017 FUCH members voted to adopt the 8th Principle to “dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions.” Our congregation is the 2nd UU church in the nation to embrace the 8th Principle. Along with A.D.O.R.E. Co-chair Jill Rabinov and Rev. T.J., I collaborated and had input in the design and creation of the FUCH 8th Principle Task Force.

I have been elected to the FUCH Social Justice Council for a second term. Through the Social Justice Council (SJC) our church is a member of the Hawaii Justice Coalition (HJC) and Faith Action for Community Equity (FACE). Through the HJC I am involved in bail reform issues and I have produced a video on Bail Reform for the HJC which will be shown on the Olelo Community Media station. I was one of several SJC members who attended the FACE Faith Summit on Homelessness earlier this month.

While at GA I plan to strengthen my existing connection with the Black Lives of Unitarian Universalists (BLUU) who, in conjunction with Love Resists, will be presenting “Love Resists Detention: Accompaniment & End Money Bail” and organizing the GA Public Witness: Demand Smart Justice for Spokane.

These activities will augment and enhance my work with the Hawaii Justice Coalition and being there in person will enable me to bring back a variety of different contacts, opportunities, and information to Hawaii as well as nourishing and deepening my connections with the Black UU community on the continent.

I also look forward to gathering with members of other UU congregations who have established or who are exploring the acceptance of the 8th principle for their congregations and discussing how the 8th Principle can be actualized in our faith community.

Carol Amos:
My renewed spiritual journey began in 1980 at Founder's Church of Religious Science, becoming a Licensed Religious Science Practitioner (first step of becoming a minister). I became a licensed minister with the Johnnie Colman School of Ministry in 2002, which was a spinoff of Unity Worldwide ministry. I was the senior minister of Unity Church of Burbank and North Hollywood in 2006 and 2007. Moving to Honolulu I joined Unity Church of Hawaii and after being there for a while it no longer served my spiritual or civic needs. I met Bill and Karen Scarvie and, after talking with them several times about the First Unitarian Church of Honolulu (FUCH), l decided to try it out and I have been attending FUCH since August 2017. I have given many sermons since attending FUCH, always with the intention that those listening will take away one sentence, song, or idea that they can use to make their lives better and create a better world. I am proud to have taken part in the ordination of our new minister, Rev. T. J. FitzGerald.

I attend and participate regularly in A.D.O.R.E. “A Dialogue on Race and Ethnicity”. I have participated in two Jubilee trainings. I am a facilitator in our OWL program that required special training for the facilitators. I sing in our choir on special occasions or by request. I am very active on the Worship Associates Team and soon will be the coordinator or lead worship associate. I’ve volunteered to set up and clear the sanctuary before and after special events. I have freely given to the Church my gifts and talents for the betterment of the church at large, my community, and the world. For me FUCH is the last church on the block, it fills my need to be of service and be an instrument of peace and change to all people.

My purpose for going to GA is to gather information about programs of interest that might be implemented at FUCH. I am volunteering 18 hours at GA registration in lieu of paying the registration fee. I have received a scholarship for $250 from GA which can only be redeemed upon arrival to GA.

Alllison & Carol:

We are both active in numerous church activities, from the Beloved "No Rehearse Christmas Pageant" :