Shared Plate – Monthly Social Action Focus

Each Sunday, a portion of the non-pledge plate collected (in-person or online) during our service is donated to a 501c3 cause or group (both local/national/international) chosen by the members of the Social Action Committee. This is a way for the entire congregation to participate in the justice work of the UUCLV

Recipients of the Shared Plate include many of the organizations listed below.

Shared Plate – Monthly Social Action Focus

UU Alliance with PA, National and International UU’s

The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC)
The UUSC is our national advocacy organization. It advances human right and social justice in the United States and around the world, partnering with those who confront unjust power structures and mobilizing to challenge oppressive policies. Click HERE for more.

The Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office (UU-UNO)
The UU-UNO is engaged in international advocacy work at the United Nations based on Unitarian Universalist values. Click HERE for more.

Side With Love

Side With Love is a public advocacy campaign that seeks to harness love’s power to stop oppression. Click HERE for more.

Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice

Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice has as its mission to advance equitable national policies and actions, aligned with UU values, through engagement, education, and advocacy. Click HERE for more.

UUtheVote

UUtheVote is an “all hands on deck” project to articulate UU values in the public square and activate and organize Unitarian Universalists on a mass scale. Formed in response to a moral call to combat the rise of white supremacy and fascism and to imagine a just society where all have inherent worth and dignity, where our communities are governed democratically, and where we live sustainably. Find out more HERE

UUJusticePA
UUJusticePA is our state advocacy group that works to support our UU values in Pennsylvania state policies and legislation. Consider signing up for the monthly e-newsletter, becoming a member, and joining one of the justice teams. Click HERE for more information.

Lehigh Valley Peace, Social Justice & Community Building

Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center
Located in Allentown, the Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center creates a vibrant LGBT community in the Lehigh Valley through exciting LGBT arts & culture programs, leading-edge LGBT health programs, daily LGBT youth programs, critical supportive services and an informative Training Institute. Find out more HERE.

Community Bike Works
Community Bike Works provides youth living in at-risk situations with meaningful work-ethic alternatives. They use bicycles, peer role models and adult mentors to develop and nurture relationships and to engage youth and, once engaged, influence their behavior and their outlook about school and life.  Find out more HERE.

Jim Lawson Freedom School

Jim Lawson Freedom School is a program of the Resurrected Life Church. In partnership with the CHildren’s Defense Fund, this 6-week summer program provides Allentown School District youth in grades K-12 with a unique educational opportunity to help prevent summer learning loss experienced by many inner-city children. The research-based curriculum supports children and families around these essentials: academic enrichment, nutrition, health and mental health, boosting motivation to read, positive attitudes toward learning, and awareness of community resources. Find out more HERE

Lehigh Conference of Churches (LCC)
Lehigh Conference of Churches addresses food and nutrition, housing, mental and physical health barriers which prevent LV citizens from succeeding. The mission of the LCC is to unite communities of faith as ecumenical partners. Putting our faith info action, we minister to and advocate for those in need and encourage all to reach their full potential. Find out more HERE.

Lehigh-Pocono Committee of Concern (LEPOCO)
The Lehigh-Pocono Committee of Concern (LEPOCO) is a non-profit citizens group that brings residents together to work on a range of problems that threaten peace and our planet. Find out more HERE. LEPOCO also runs a Peace Camp which has been one of our shared plate recipients: click HERE

Lehigh Valley Promise Neighborhoods

Allentown, Bethlehem & Easton Promise Neighborhoods have a mission to foster cooperation among residents and with the Greater Lehigh Valley in order to create safe, healthy, vibrant, inclusive neighborhoods, which expect children to succeed in school and where adults and families thrive and want to live. Find out more HERE

NAACP of Allentown

The mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to secure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons. Find out more HERE

Nazareth to Bethlehem Peace Pilgrimage
For more than 50 years, peace-seeking people have been gathering in Nazareth in December to walk the 10 miles to Bethlehem, PA. This pilgrimage, symbolic of the journey of Mary and Joseph, emphasizes the heart of what Christmas really means. Walk with your family, friends, and others who seek a more peaceful world. Frequent rest stops and relief transportation are available. Find out more HERE.

Nurture Nature Center

Nurture Nature Center uses science, art and dialogue to help communities address local environmental risks. Through a diverse set of programs engaging adults, families and organizations, they are helping communities to understand the science, policy and cultural implications of issues including flooding and food access, and ways they can prepare and make positive changes for the future. Find out more HERE.

OATH (Operation Address the Homeless)

Oath is a non-profit completely supported by volunteers, located in Allentown. They help find housing, financial assistance, and employment for homeless individuals. They also supply food, water, clothing, blankets, tents, and more. Find out more HERE

Pride In The Park Lehigh Valley
Pride of the Greater Lehigh Valley has been organizing the Pride Fest since 1993. What began as a small community festival has evolved into the dynamic, arts and culture celebration of today. The event includes vendors, merchants, artisans, business service, and community groups, games and live entertainment. The UUCLV supports PrideFest, marching in the opening parade and having a booth at the festival. Find out more HERE.

Second Harvest Food Bank
We encourage people of the Lehigh Valley to help those in need of food by contributing money to the Second Harvest. It is the most effective way to support this great organization. Find out more HERE.

SELF!

SELF’s goal is to provide a one-stop shop to address the challenging needs of the female prison population re-integrating into society.  The objective is to coach women achieving and maintaining a safe and productive lifestyle, contribute to their communities economically, and cultivate a mindset that allows for all women to flourish. Find out more HERE

Silent Witness Peacekeepers
Silent Witness PA (SWPA) is an organization of gay and straight allies dedicated to providing a non-confrontational buffer between those who condemn others based on their sexual orientation or identity and those they condemn. The UUCLV has members trained by Silent Witness PA and has held Silent Witness training in our church. Find out more HERE.

St. Andrews Food Pantry
Our church volunteers in a food pantry program with three other churches in distributing food for families whose income is under the federal poverty level. Find out more HERE

Trinity Episcopal Soup Kitchen
Trinity Episcopal is our neighbor on Market Street. They have a weekday soup kitchen from noon to 1:00 PM which we support each year through our “shared-plate offering.” Find out more HERE

Turning Point Lehigh Valley

Turning Point is a safe place where victims of abuse and their children can find refuge. They provide services in Lehigh and Northampton counties and reach nearly 4,000 people a year through our programs and services.  Those include:  a 24-hour Helpline, Safe House, Counseling, Support Groups, Court Advocacy, Community Outreach, Prevention Education, and Medical Advocacy. Find out more HERE.

Valley Health Partners Street Medicine

VHPSM is a program designed to deliver primary and urgent care to homeless people in the Lehigh Valley wherever they are – in shelters, soup kitchens, under bridges or in the woods. All care provided by VHP Street Medicine. Find out more HERE

VAST (Lehigh Valley Against Sex Trafficking)

VAST is a non-profit organization that works to empower survivors and encourage our community to take action in the anti-trafficking movement through collaboration, education and advocacy. Find out more HERE

Women’s Center Escorts
Several mornings each week, members of the UUCLV provide escorts for women with appointments at the Allentown Women’s Center. These women are accosted by fervent radicals opposed to all forms of birth control and women’s reproductive issues. Find out more HERE

YWCA of Bethlehem
YWCA of Bethlehem is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all through their many programs. Find out more HERE.

Peace and Social Justice Organizations – State and National

American Civil Liberties Union

Founded in 1920, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is the nation’s foremost guardian of liberty. The ACLU is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to defending and protecting individual rights and personal freedoms by organizing educational outreach. The Lehigh Valley chapter meets on the 2nd Thursday of every month. Find out more HERE.

CeaseFirePA

CeaseFirePA is a statewide organization working with mayors, police chiefs, faith leaders, community organizations, and individual Pennsylvanians to take a stand against gun violence. Through outreach, education, coalition building, and advocacy, they work to reduce gun violence and gun tragedies in our communities, stop the flow of illegal guns onto our streets, and keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have them. Find out more HERE.

Doctors Without Borders
Doctors Without Borders helps people worldwide where the need is greatest, delivering emergency medical aid to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from health care. Find our more HERE.

Global Mamas

Global Mamas is a fair trade community of African women in Ghana who create and sell their clothes and soap to the world at large so their families can thrive and prosper. Each year the Social Action Committee holds a sale to benefit Global Mamas. Find out more HERE

March On Harrisburg
Statewide, nonpartisan, volunteer-driven organization in PA working to take democracy where it’s NEVER been! Find out more HERE. The Lehigh Valley chapter is headed by two UUCLV members.

PennEnvironment

PennEnvironment’s mission is to transform the power of our imaginations and our ideas into change that makes our world a greener and healthier place for all, working towards solutions such as solar and wind power, electric cars and buses, and more walkable and “bikeable” cities. Find out more HERE

Pennsylvania Interfaith Power & Light
Pennsylvania Interfaith Power & Light is a community of congregations, faith-based organizations, and individuals of faith responding to climate change as an ethical and moral issue, through advocacy, education, energy conservation, energy efficiency, stewardship, and the use and promotion of clean, renewable energy. Find out more HERE.

Playing for Change

Playing for Change is a movement dedicated to bringing change to the world through music, inspiration born from the shared belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. The Playing for Change Foundation (PFCF) has created 15 music programs in 11 countries (many in Africa) and is serving over 2000 children. Find out more HERE

Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood is one of the nation’s leading providers of high-quality, affordable health care for women, men, and young people, and the nation’s largest provider of sex education. They offer quality health care, backed by medical experts and over 100 years of research in reproductive care. Find out more HERE.

Playing for Change

Playing for Change is a movement dedicated to bringing change to the world through music, inspiration born from the shared belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. The Playing for Change Foundation (PFCF) has created 15 music programs in 11 countries (many in Africa) and is serving over 2000 children. Find out more HERE

The Poor People’s Campaign : A National Call for Moral Revival

The Poor People’s Campaign has picked up the unfinished work of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and many others who called for a “revolution of values” in America. They seek to build a broad, fusion movement that unites poor and impacted communities across the country in order to confront the interlocking evils of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, militarism and the war economy, and the distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism.Find out more HERE

Repairers of the Breach
The Repairers of the Breach is a nonpartisan and ecumenical organization that emerged from the Dr. Reverend William Barber’s Moral Monday Movement that began in NC in 2013. Repairers of the Breach seeks to gather people of all faith traditions to rekindle a prophetic moral vision for justice, social change and movement building. Find out more HERE.

Sandy Hook Promise
Sandy Hook Promise is a national non-profit organization founded and led by several family members whose loved ones were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012. Their mission is to build a national movement of parents, schools and community organizations engaged and empowered to deliver gun violence prevention programs and mobilize for the passage of sensible state and national policy. Find out more HERE

Southern Poverty Law Center
Southern Poverty Law Center monitors hate groups and other extremists throughout the U.S. and exposes their activities to law enforcement agencies, the media and the public. Find out more HERE.