5)       If the event can be held at UUFBR, the date will be reserved, a contract will be sent for signature, and the member or group pays deposits, gets insurance and fulfills other contract requirements.

• • For member-sponsored events, once the event takes place, the sponsoring or producing member submits a written report and an oral summary of the event and its success to PP so we can learn from each other and keep track of events.

Be aware:

• The written request form is NOT a guarantee that the event or project can be done.
• Please be patient with Sharex – please wait at least a week before calling to follow up on the Request Form. Volunteers and staff are working hard on many projects!
• Bring your proposal to Program Planning at least three months before the planned even.
• Make sure at least three (and preferably more) UUFBR members are involved to ensure sufficient coverage in case of unanticipated absences.

Have you ever wondered:

 —How to get something done at UUFBR?

—Where information is about our committees, teams and other groups?

—Who’s in charge of a particular committee?

—Whether there’s template or checklist for a project you’re interested in doing?

—When certain repeating annual events happen?

In this new Unicorn column, we’ll try to answer your frequently-asked questions.  To find past articles, please go to our website under the drop-down tab About Us / FAQ’s – How Things Work tab. To submit a question about How Things Work, please email secretary@uufbr.org.

]]> https://www.uufbr.org/healing-justice/building-justice-love-and-action-together-healing-justice-committee-updates-2/ Sat, 30 May 2026 21:38:18 +0000 https://www.uufbr.org/?p=22438 On September 23, 2025, the Healing Justice Committee gathered once again to share updates, strengthen our commitments, and remind each other that even in difficult times, we can be bearers of love, courage, and hope.

We opened with a grounding prayer from UUA’s Braver/Wiser:

“Even as fear abounds and reverberates, may I notice the life-saving, persistent presence of Love. May I be that love for others.” – Manish Mishra-Marzetti

That call to embody love guided the evening’s work across racial, immigration, reproductive, and LGBTQ+ justice, as well as upcoming opportunities for direct community action.

🌿 Racial Justice: Building Understanding and Action

Our recent screening of Race: The Power of an Illusion sparked meaningful discussions. Feedback emphasized the importance of expanding our reach by inviting other groups earlier in the planning process. Looking ahead, we’re considering a program on intersectionality, with possible training sessions in February 2026.

Meanwhile, Linda shared her experience at the Community Healing Circle in Boca Raton. Through diverse table conversations, participants unpacked prejudice, privilege, and discrimination in powerful and personal ways. One concrete idea already emerging: restructuring Boca’s City Commission so each commissioner represents a district, rather than serving “at large”—a change already in place in Delray Beach.

✊ Immigration Justice: Standing with Our Neighbors

Amanda is leading the way with an upcoming event: Empowering Our Neighbors: A Workshop on Immigrant Advocacy in Palm Beach County
📅 October 26, 2025, 9 AM
📍 UUFBR, Parker Room

This workshop will highlight local organizations like the Florida Immigrant Coalition, ACLU of Florida, and Indivisible’s Immigrant Committee. Attendees will learn hands-on ways to support immigrant communities.

In the spirit of generosity, we’ll also be collecting food, supplies, and holiday gifts for immigrant families. Items include rice, beans, pasta, diapers, sunscreen, cooling towels, and new/unwrapped toys. Donations will go to the Guatemalan-Maya Center and Caridad Center.

Amanda also shared recent outreach in Lake Worth, where volunteers distributed Know Your Rights packets to local businesses. The urgency is real: Florida Highway Patrol is working with ICE under the state’s 287(g) program, increasing risks for immigrant communities.

Progress continues in shutting down the Everglades Detention Center, though challenges remain. Many who have been moved are not anywhere in ICE’s records – they are missing. Interfaith vigils are still held Sundays at 5:00 PM.

💜 Reproductive Justice: Protecting Healthcare Access

The Presidential Women’s Center in West Palm Beach continues its 40 Days of Light witness (9 AM – 3 PM daily). Volunteers are always welcome to escort patients seeking care. See Amanda if you want to get involved.

Upcoming virtual events:

• Sept 24, 6:00 PM – Planned Parenthood Statewide Training: Access to Care in Florida
• Sept 25, 3:00 PM – Policing Pregnancy: The History of Personhood

Both programs will help us understand the ongoing assault on reproductive rights and equip us to fight back.

🌈 LGBTQ+ Justice: Creativity Amid Challenges

While Delray’s City Commission has ended its legal fight to defend rainbow crosswalks, community members are exploring other ways to visibly honor LGBTQ+ residents. Ideas include banners, murals, plaques, and rainbow light projections on city landmarks. The conversation continues at the Commission’s October workshop.

🕊 PEACE: Listening to the Community

As part of its mission, PEACE (People Engaged in Active Community Efforts) begins each year with listening sessions. Our UUFBR session is scheduled for Sunday, Sept 28, after service. 

Listening is not just symbolic—it informs PEACE’s campaigns.

📣 Upcoming Actions You Can Join

• De-escalation Training with Corky resumes late October: Register here
• NO KINGS Protest – Stand up against authoritarianism.
  📅 Oct 18, 10 AM – 12 PM
  📍 Boca Raton City Hall, 201 W. Palmetto Park Road
  Learn more & RSVP

💫 Moving Forward in Love and Justice

Our work touches many areas—racial equity, immigrant dignity, reproductive freedom, LGBTQ+ visibility, and more—but they are bound by one shared truth: justice begins with love in action.

We invite you to join us, whether through showing up at a protest, contributing supplies, listening in community, or simply holding space for conversations that matter. Together, we can continue creating hope, resilience, and meaningful change.

✨ “May I notice the life-saving, persistent presence of Love. May I be that love for others.”

In Love,

Karen E. Matroni

Our 2026 UUFBR annual congregational meeting went very smoothly, thanks to the hard work of many volunteers and our wonderful Administrative Assistant. In fact, it was more like an event than just a business meeting, complete with cheery decor and a delicious potluck feast beforehand. Thank you to the many hands who made it a celebration of our UU principles and values and our unique UUFBR community.

We DID do business, of course: we approved a budget for the upcoming fiscal year here and we elected leaders to the Board of Trustees (Patrick Larson, Claire Smith, and Lynn Smith) the Endowment Committee (Mitch Major and Rona Solomon), and the Nominating Committee (Myra Terry and Amanda Bowers).

But that’s just the beginning:

• Our Stewardship Team will continue to urge all members and friends to pledge generously to support the budget and enable the programs we value so highly
• Our Ministerial Search Committee will continue to receive and evaluate applications from potential ministers
• Our Program committees will continue to enrich our communal lives through worship, events, Sharex partnerships and community-building activities
• Our Endowment Committee will continue to invest and share the financial assets entrusted to us for long-range development and special projects
• Our Nominating Committee will continue to strengthen our leadership development efforts so we make full use of all talents and skills represented by our diverse community
• Our Board of Trustees will continue to move forward as stewards of our assets and coordinators of our ongoing efforts to live out our vision and mission

Please Note: Despite an erroneous statement in the meeting, the Board is able to fill the two vacancies on the Board immediately if there are members interested. If you think you’d like to serve our community in this way, please contact the Nominating Committee – we welcome new energy and ideas.

Congratulations on a productive and pleasant Annual Congregational Meeting – and thanks again to all who made it so.

Judy Keiser
Secretary

[NOTE: Meeting minutes to come]

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Our minister, Rev. Edith A. Love spoke about her experience:

Last Sunday afternoon, before our Solstice ritual, I joined others at a vigil for those who are being unjustly detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Broward county. We stood in front of the facility where people are being held, holding signs and candles, the flames flickering as the wind blew. People drove by, honking their support. 

 

We had several speakers, and someone led us in singing. And then, to our surprise, a large bus drove out of the gates. The windows were heavily darkened, so that we could not see any of the human beings inside. We drew closer, holding up our signs and our candles, so those imprisoned could see our support. One woman in the crowd raised her fist in solidarity. I felt tears begin to rise within myself, knowing that moving people around from one barred detention center to the next is a deliberate tactic, used to cut people off from any support they might otherwise receive. The families don’t know where their loved ones are, or even if they are still alive….the uncertainty is brutal.

 

These are our neighbors, they live in South Florida just like we do. They buy food at the same stores. Their children are in our schools. Like you and I, they just want to be able to live their lives in peace. And yet, in our current reality, immigrants are hunted. 

 

Masked men, agents of the government, are snatching people up. This isn’t what Jesus stood for. Jesus was a radical who warned of the evils of unchecked power. If you look at the gospels, Jesus always, always, always sided with people who were marginalized, not the system that was oppressing them. 

 

As Unitarian Universalists, we hold love at the center of our values. Love drives us in everything we do. And because we also hold sacred our seventh principle, the interdependent web of life, of which we are all a part, this matters, deeply. Our neighbors who are immigrants make this country a better place. As Unitarian Universalists, we hold our values dear, and we express those values by taking action. One way to do that is to support our immigrant siblings who are under attack. Whether that might be in prayer, protest, funding the opposition, feeding them, or vocalizing your support to lawmakers, there is a place for you in this movement for justice. 

.

CBS Miami reported

About two dozen protesters gathered outside the Broward Transitional Center immigration detention facility on Christmas Day. Holding a vigil under the slogan, “Injustice doesn’t take a holiday. Neither does resistance,” the demonstrators said they came together to call attention to what they describe as a nationwide crackdown on immigration enforcement and to stand in solidarity with people being held inside. Organized by three South Florida groups — Joyful Resistance, Resist Wilton Manors and Wilton Manors Indivisible — the vigil lasted about an hour.

 

Several protesters said they were speaking out for immigrants taken into custody during routine appointments or enforcement actions, arguing that detainees deserve due process and shouldn’t be “grabbed” from jobs or courthouses. Deputies with the Deerfield Beach Sheriff’s Office told the group they had the right to protest as long as they didn’t obstruct traffic, and organizers said they plan to return in two weeks.