- Description
- Updates
- FAQ
- Comments
- Backers
In July, youth from the Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady will travel to Guatemala City, where we will spend time working with youth of Camino Seguro (Safe Passage), a top-rated charity organization begun in 1999 by Hanley Denning and members of the Guajero (dump picker) community. Camino Seguro has grown from an educational reinforcement program serving 46 children, to current day, providing more than 550 children and 100 parents with education, social services, and the chance to move beyond the poverty their families have faced for generations. According to their website, “Safe Passage is a refuge for children facing difficult situations marked by extreme poverty, neglect, and abuse. Safe Passage is a gateway out of poverty. Safe Passage is hope.”
Our congregation has been working with Safe Passage for 14 years. We have developed deep, meaningful, and lasting relationships with the children, youth, and adults at Safe Passage. Each time we go, we collaborate with Safe Passage to determine which project we will work to fund. We work for an entire year to raise the funds we need for Safe Passage. We pay for own travel and housing expenses. We create lesson plans for the children in addition to the project we fund. This year, our project is to fund the Quinceañera (a favorite, both for our group and the youth in Guatemala). A Quinceañera is an important Coming-of-Age ritual for the Guatemalan girls who are turning 15 and their families. The funding we raise helps defray the costs of the Quinceañera educational program, which includes classes on self-esteem, higher education, and healthy sexuality. It also includes a celebration for the girls and their families and friends. Without our work, it would not be possible for Safe Passage to host the classes or the celebration. As Fredy Maldonando, one of the founding members of Safe Passage, said to us during our last visit, “The most important thing is that you are giving the girls something special, something unforgettable, something that is about dignity. They will never forget it. This is so important to the girls and their families, the dump.”
Funds raised will go toward the Quinceañerea and program fees for Safe Passage.
Updates
Project FAQ
Our Project Claims Unitarian Universalism
Our UU Society of Schenectady mission statement is: “Connecting in spiritual community, we celebrate life with joy, grow in compassion, and create justice. As Unitarian Universalists, we embrace this mission as we celebrate the worth and dignity of every person. We adhere to the words of Lilla Watson, who said, “If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” It is in this frame of mind we go, not to “help,” but to WORK WITH people. From our work in Guatemala, we have initiated other congregational social justice programs in New Orleans and locally as well. It is by putting our faith and principles into action that we nurture our spiritual growth and serve the cause of global justice.
Our Project Is Claimed by Unitarian Universalism
This project is organized by the youth and adult members of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady. We have a long history of Social Justice Action in our congregation. This social justice journey is one of the ways we teach our youth and adults how to be advocates for positive change in their communities as well as the greater global community of which we are all a part. Throughout our month’s-long planning and our journey, we incorporate the six circles of social justice, which include: direct service, advocacy, education, witness, community organizing, and leadership development.
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06/04/2019Go UU Yuuth !!$66.00
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06/02/2019Good work everyone.$50.00
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06/02/2019$25.00
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06/01/2019$10.00
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06/01/2019Awesome job Whisenhunts!!!$100.00
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06/01/2019$25.00
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05/29/2019$50.00
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05/28/2019$15.00
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05/26/2019Make a better world$20.00
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05/26/2019Hope this is a wonderful experience for all!$200.00