Faith in Action Groups’ Reports

The former Peace and Justice Group renamed itself and has three Faith in Action sub-Groups: The Peacebuilders Group, The Environmental Group, and The Social Justice Group.

The Peacebuilders Group:

As a framework expressing our values and concerns, we adopted the Friends Committee five priorities: advance global human security through international cooperation and non-violent conflict resolution; promote nuclear controls and disarmament; shift federal budget priorities to meet human needs; reduce U.S. oil consumption and dependence; and restore civil liberties for all persons. To inform ourselves on the issues, we read extensively, watched videos, attended many lectures and did research on the internet. In October we celebrated U.N. Day with a talk on peacekeeping by Nancy Wrenn after church. We supported nuclear arms reduction and opposed legislation funding new nuclear bomb development and new nuclear power plants by writing Parish News articles, three letters in the Lincoln Journal and numerous letters to our government representatives both individually and at a "Tea and Letters" afternoon. On all these issues we worked with peace groups in neighboring towns.

 In conjunction with a temple in Somerville, we developed a reconciliation model for use in resolving the Palestine-Israel conflict. We also brought Abby Yanow of United for Justice with Peace and Mary Canning with her moving video of Israelis working for peace with the Palestinians to the Stearns room for an evening discussion.  Privately we contributed $300 to the Geneva Peace Accords initiative and also contributed magazine subscriptions of "The Nation", "The American Prospect" and "Tikkun" to the Lincoln Library.

To strengthen our democracy we worked to increase voter registration, to provide verifiable paper printouts for voters using new electronic voting machines, and to protect diverse, locally-owned media outlets against further monopolization by large conglomerates.

Our Peacebuilders' budget was contributed to support the following organizations:

This year's Easter Offering of $3,557 went to the U.N. High Commission for Refugees to aid their work in Iraq. We look forward to another active year and welcome participation from the congregation. For more information, please call Jane Cooper.

Respectfully submitted,

Joanna Hopkins, for the Peacebuilders Group

The Social Justice Group:

Our group again focused on working to end family homelessness in Massachusetts.  The situation for homeless families remains dire and we are committed to at least see the end of the inhumane and extremely expensive motel program.

Our efforts to affect public policy were driven by the priorities of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless. We responded to calls for action from them. For the next state budget, which will take effect July 1, 2004, we worked for the passage of R.A.F.T. (Residential Assistance for Families in Transition) as an important family homelessness prevention initiative. We distributed postcards addressed to legislators on this issue.

Once again, First Parish in Lincoln was a large presence at the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless Lobby Day, held in February. Over 15 members and friends of the church attended. Some committee members collected signatures beforehand asking our state legislators to sign onto a “Dear Colleague” letter supporting restoring funding for Emergency Aid To Elders, Disabled, and Children. These petitions were delivered in person to the offices of our legislators on Lobby Day and as a result both legislators signed the letter and the funding was passed.

We also participated in a Tea and Letters afternoon in March. For this event we researched the national Bringing America Home Act and drafted sample letters to our federal Senators and Representative in support of this legislation.

In December the Family To Family organization contacted us to let us know that a family using a Section 8 voucher had moved to Lincoln and was in need of some help. We provided a total of $600. for food and are planning to use our remaining funds to purchase a refrigerator. We also located two bureaus and a modem to give to the family. Family To Family also has communicated that there is at least one more family residing in Lincoln that could use help. We are concerned that there are no support services in town for these at-risk families and would like to see some dialogue between the local churches on this issue in the near future.

We are a small but dedicated group. Members include: Lorraine Fiore, Rachel Mason, Mary Terrell, Diana Smith, Claire Pearmain, Barbara Sisson, Kay Doherty, Joanne Fraser, and several occasional participants. We would like to thank members of the church and especially our ministers for their support.

Respectfully submitted,

Joanne Fraser, for the Social Justice Group

The Environmental Group:

The theme for our "Environment Table" at Codman Fair, Sept. '03 was, like last year, "Children's Health". We were provided space under the "Wellesley Pesticide Awareness" tent and enlarged our e-mail contact list from a sizeable numbers of visitors. A proposal for a "Meander Garden was sent to The Parish Committee following review by Facilities Management. A note on loss of biodiversity was sent to The Parish Committee who was considering the need for additional parking space. By way of Lobby Days, State House hearings on environmental bills, and contacting people in Senator Fargo's and Congressman Pope's District we worked with The Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow (an environmental organization consisting of 130 groups in Massachusetts) for three proposed environmental laws. The Environment Group attended the annual "Rachel Carson Lecture on Environmental Ethics" in Cambridge. The title of the lecture was "Echoing Nature: Lessons for a Sustainable Future", by Janine Benyrus. A "Tea & Letters" event was initiated this year which, on two occasions, produced 80 and 90 letters to our legislators and decision makers on the environment, peace, and human rights issues. More events are planned for next year. Several of us attended the annual course at Harvard Medical School entitled, "Human Health & Global Environmental Change" from February to May, 2004. A poster session, which concluded the course, included our poster on non-renewable energy use and the distribution of Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) to the students. At the Green Fair in Lincoln we: (a) passed out CFLs along with information on energy efficiency and (b) presented a video entitled, " In Hot Water". Our activities this year and plans for the future have benefited by support from Roger throughout the year and E.O.Wilson's sermon this past December. On the occasion of Wilson's sermon a biodiversity program for the Church School was initiated which will present seasonal programs three-four times during the Church year. The first of these biodiversity programs with the Church School took place Sunday, May 2. Earth Day was celebrated at First Parish on April 25 with the Service presented by the Church School. The video, "In Hot Water" was again shown after the Service in the Stearns Room and CFLs were offered to all who came.

Environment Group Allocation of funds for Church Year '03 - '04

• Funds already spent:

Funds to be spent

Respectfully submitted,

The Environment Group:  John Terrell (Chair) and Elizabeth Cherniack. Jane Cooper, Priscilla Damon, Martha DeNormandie, Lynn Gargill, Sarah Little, Catherine Maas

General allocations cutting across our three focus areas were:

Respectfully submitted,

Jane Cooper, Chair