From office at heartlanduu.org Thu Aug 5 13:15:47 2004 From: office at heartlanduu.org (HUUD Office) Date: Thu, 05 Aug 2004 17:15:47 -0000 Subject: [huud-l] FW: Request to Send UU Voter Registration to Heartland District Churches Message-ID: <20040805130529.GA18485@mail14a.sanjose14-verio.com> _____ From: randy [mailto:beelock47 at comcast.net] Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2004 10:26 PM To: de at heartlanduu.org; office at heartlanduu.org Cc: Patrick Shannon ; Peter Staples; Mary Lou Malone; Meg Baker; Mark Babcock; Jud Cole; Brenda Plecha ; Mike Dunaway; Al Ugelow; Eugene Perrin; Sally Borden; Lee Ren; Ann Chapman; George Lentz; Ellen Telle & Louis Leedle; Kathy Friedrichs; Rev. Norman Naylor; Marsha McCullough Subject: Request to Send UU Voter Registration to Heartland District Churches Dear Mary Andrus-Overley and Barbara Hamilton: Please forward the letter and UU voter workshop minutes (copied below) to all UU Congregations within the Heartland District. The letter provides encouragement and practical information churches can use to get involved with voter registration before the election this Fall. As promised in a previous letter sent to Heartland Churches, we are also forwarding an update on a UU Voter Workshop we organized in Detroit during June. We hope this example of local UU churches working together -- with support from the UUSC and in partnership with the Heartland District Social Justice Committee -- can encourage other churches within the District to get involved. Can this information be can sent to UU churches during August, perhaps as part of your regular mailing to UU churches? If mailing is not feasible in the near future, please let Mary Lou Malone and I know. For more information, you may contact me at my work phone at 313-446-4444, ext. 5842 next week. (I'll be returning from vacation on Sunday, August 8th., but can be contacted at home on Monday at 248-549-5170.) Highest Regards, Randy Block, Co-Chair UU Social Justice Network (Letter) UU Social Justice Network of Southeast Michigan Unitarian-Universalist Churches Networking for Justice www.mindspring.com/~northwestuusocial_justice_network.htm _____________________________ "There is work to be done...We want to see that this nation's promise of democracy is restored and do what we can to ensure that everyone's vote gets counted." -- UUA President, William Sinkford Dear UU Minister & Social Justice Leader: If your congregation has not already done so, it is encouraged to be part of a UU movement to help register and get out the vote in this Fall's election. This June, the Heartland District mailed a packet of UU voter information to your "Social Justice Leader". You were also invited to attend (or benefit from the results of) a "Get Out the Vote" workshop in Detroit organized by the UU Social Justice Network (UUSJN) with support from the UU Service Committee. Minutes from this Workshop, which include speaker contact information, are enclosed for your information. Here are some "next steps" that members of the UUSJN recently agreed to take as a result of the above workshop. We hope that YOUR CHURCH will consider using some of these ideas -- or coming up with better ones -- in YOUR community. 1. Register your own church members. Registration can be done at an information table on Sunday mornings. Announcements by the minister or others can support this effort. 2. Organize easy voter outreach. We plan to distribute voter registration forms to church members and request that they register family, friends and neighbors. Church members can join other groups already organized for this purpose (see minutes for contact information). You could organize a voter education workshop in your community. 3. Voter Reminder Post-cards. When we register someone, we will invite them to complete a UU voter reminder post-card. We will mail this post card back to the individual prior to the election. Voter registration and election resources are available on-line in each Heartland District State: Indiana: www.in.gov/sos/elections Kentucky: www.kysos.com/index/main/elecdiv.asp Michigan: www.michigan.gov/sos Ohio: www.state.oh.us/sos/voter Please let us know if your congregation would like more information or is taking voter initiatives! Call Randy Block at 248-549-5170 or Mary Lou Malone at 313-837-7952 for more information. Sincerely, Randy Block, UUSJN Co-Chair Mary Lou Malone, Chair, HUUD Social Justice Committee Enclosure (minutes) UU Social Justice Network of Southeast Michigan GET OUT THE VOTE WORKSHOP June 19, 2004 First Unitarian Universalist Church in Detroit MINUTES This workshop was attended by 25 people, representing multiple organizations in Southeast Michigan. Panel Discussion Highlights: How to Get Out The Vote NAACP - Donnell White, Youth & Education Outreach Specialist, invited workshop participants to join with NAACP voter activism. In its "Take Your Soles to the Polls" campaign, you have to "think outside the box" to attract young people, e.g., use music, address underlying reasons why people don't get involved. Three big issues: voter registration, voter education and mobilization. Simone Lightfoote, NAACP State Director, said NAACP has 27 units in Michigan and aims to register 34,000 people. Through the new Help America Vote Act, $68 million is coming to Michigan to improve voting systems, voter outreach and education. Contact Donnelle: (313) 871-2087, dwhite at detroitnaacp.org Great Lakes Express (GLE) - Senator O'Brien, a former "Rock the Vote" organizer, said the GLE works with all political parties to involve people on the local level. He said GLE has an office on 9 Mile and Woodward and would like to set up other offices in the Great Lakes region. Senator advised learning voter registration rules via the Secretary of State. Noting that the U.S. has the lowest voting rate in the free world, Senator observed that "people are more cynical because they don't have their voices heard". You need to "make education an experience"; educate about local officials and issues. Contact Senator: 917-287-3353, saravamanagement at yahoo.com MOSES - Vickie Kovari, Project Coordinator, said MOSES has a network of 65 congregations in Southeast Michigan with others across the Country. MOSES does grass-roots organizing on a variety of issues, including voter registration. She urged attendance at a mass rally at 3:30 p.m.September 26th at the University of Detroit Mercy. "We want to move the politicians on the issues". MOSES, which has a goal of registering 15,000 new voters, asks churches to commit to: do registration within their congregations, outreach into neighborhoods, and/or registration at local events. The provide training and guidance for churches. Contact Vickie: 313-962-5290, vkovari at aol.com Action Ideas Brainstormed By Workshop Attendees * Educate against the anti-gay marriage petition * Follow-up calls to registered voters - Perhaps should get a card which reminds people to vote. * Show the "Unprecedented" film about the 2000 Florida Presidential election * Local events/"Edutainment" -- including church based * Education, education, education * Make copies of voter registrations completed * Coordinate with other voter groups * Call groups to get training * Send a delegation to a September 26th MOSES voter event * Target a specific area * Sound trucks to get out the vote (but could be legal barriers) * Educate on challenging at the polls * Have an event at a church and invite State Representatives and County Commissioners Results of this workshop will be mailed to all Unitarian Universalist churches in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. The challenge will be to expand voter registration/education efforts between now and the 2004 election! Respectfully Recorded, Randy Block, Co-Chair, UU Social Justice Network 248-549-5170, beelock47 at comcast.net From de at heartlanduu.org Tue Aug 17 20:15:32 2004 From: de at heartlanduu.org (Mary Andrus-Overley) Date: Wed, 18 Aug 2004 00:15:32 -0000 Subject: [huud-l] FW: [Fieldstaff-l] Another Hurricane Charley update on the Florida District--please share with your congregation Message-ID: <002801c484b6$5fb79e80$1501a8c0@89.40.1.beloit.edu> Mary Mary Andrus-Overley, LCSW, ACSW District Executive Heartland District of the Unitarian Universalist Association 445 N. Pennsylvania St., Ste. 330 Indianapolis IN 46204-1893 888-948-4883 toll free 317-634-5384 317-634-5385 fax 317-313-7013 cell Services from your Heartland District Office and Staff are possible only because congregations in our District make their Full Fair Share contributions to the Heartland District and the UUA Annual Program Fund. Thank you for your generosity! -----Original Message----- From: fieldstaff-l-bounces at lists.uua.org [mailto:fieldstaff-l-bounces at lists.uua.org] On Behalf Of Laurelamabile at aol.com Sent: Monday, August 16, 2004 9:26 PM To: Fieldstaff-l at uua.org Cc: kmontgomery at uua.org; bsinkford at uua.org; hlimpert at uua.org Subject: [Fieldstaff-l] Another update on the Florida District Greetings, Colleagues! I spoke with Mary Higgins this evening and she assures me that her spirits are good and she is able to maintain contact with the Florida District leaders who have been most affected by the recent hurricane. Mary's electricity has been restored, though she does not yet have email. The FLD office has neither at this point. Mary will be visiting the Port Charlotte's UU Fellowship of Charlotte County and Fort Meyers congregations on Tuesday and reports relief teams are assembled and ready to go assist the affected communities as soon as an assessment has been done. Neighboring UU's are able to host the volunteers who travel there to help. The UUA's Trauma Response Team will be coming to the district soon to provide additional support and training to district and congregational leaders. For all this, we are grateful. Right now the biggest need is financial. There has been an estimated $3 billion in damages to the Orlando area alone. The coastal areas that were hardest hit have not yet been fully assessed. Financial contributions can be sent to: The Florida District-UUA Disaster Relief Fund Florida District, UUA 1901 E. Robinson St, Suite 18 Orlando, FL 32803 Many thanks for keeping our FLD folks in your thoughts and prayers, Laurel Laurel Amabile, Southeast Regional Lifespan Program Consultant for the Florida, Midsouth and Thomas Jefferson Districts of the UUA PO Box 8215 Asheville, NC 28814 Email: Lamabile at uua.org Asheville Office # 828-231-0960 (voice mail) Laurel Laurel Amabile, Southeast Regional Lifespan Program Consultant for the Florida, Midsouth and Thomas Jefferson Districts of the UUA PO Box 8215 Asheville, NC 28814 Email: Lamabile at uua.org Asheville Office # 828-231-0960 (voice mail) _______________________________________________ Fieldstaff-l mailing list Fieldstaff-l at lists.uua.org http://lists.uua.org/mailman/listinfo/fieldstaff-l From de at heartlanduu.org Tue Aug 24 18:56:31 2004 From: de at heartlanduu.org (Mary Andrus-Overley) Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 22:56:31 -0000 Subject: [huud-l] FW: Request to Send UU Voter Registration to Heartland District Churches Message-ID: <004801c48a2d$adc8dcc0$1501a8c0@89.40.1.beloit.edu> -----Original Message----- From: randy [mailto:beelock47 at comcast.net] Sent: Wednesday, August 04, 2004 10:26 PM To: de at heartlanduu.org; office at heartlanduu.org Cc: Patrick Shannon ; Peter Staples; Mary Lou Malone; Meg Baker; Mark Babcock; Jud Cole; Brenda Plecha ; Mike Dunaway; Al Ugelow; Eugene Perrin; Sally Borden; Lee Ren; Ann Chapman; George Lentz; Ellen Telle & Louis Leedle; Kathy Friedrichs; Rev. Norman Naylor; Marsha McCullough Subject: Request to Send UU Voter Registration to Heartland District Churches Dear Mary Andrus-Overley and Barbara Hamilton: Please forward the letter and UU voter workshop minutes (copied below) to all UU Congregations within the Heartland District. The letter provides encouragement and practical information churches can use to get involved with voter registration before the election this Fall. As promised in a previous letter sent to Heartland Churches, we are also forwarding an update on a UU Voter Workshop we organized in Detroit during June. We hope this example of local UU churches working together -- with support from the UUSC and in partnership with the Heartland District Social Justice Committee -- can encourage other churches within the District to get involved. Can this information be can sent to UU churches during August, perhaps as part of your regular mailing to UU churches? If mailing is not feasible in the near future, please let Mary Lou Malone and I know. For more information, you may contact me at my work phone at 313-446-4444, ext. 5842 next week. (I'll be returning from vacation on Sunday, August 8th., but can be contacted at home on Monday at 248-549-5170.) Highest Regards, Randy Block, Co-Chair UU Social Justice Network (Letter) UU Social Justice Network of Southeast Michigan Unitarian-Universalist Churches Networking for Justice www.mindspring.com/~northwestuusocial_justice_network.htm _____________________________ "There is work to be done...We want to see that this nation's promise of democracy is restored and do what we can to ensure that everyone's vote gets counted." -- UUA President, William Sinkford Dear UU Minister & Social Justice Leader: If your congregation has not already done so, it is encouraged to be part of a UU movement to help register and get out the vote in this Fall's election. This June, the Heartland District mailed a packet of UU voter information to your "Social Justice Leader". You were also invited to attend (or benefit from the results of) a "Get Out the Vote" workshop in Detroit organized by the UU Social Justice Network (UUSJN) with support from the UU Service Committee. Minutes from this Workshop, which include speaker contact information, are enclosed for your information. Here are some "next steps" that members of the UUSJN recently agreed to take as a result of the above workshop. We hope that YOUR CHURCH will consider using some of these ideas -- or coming up with better ones -- in YOUR community. 1. Register your own church members. Registration can be done at an information table on Sunday mornings. Announcements by the minister or others can support this effort. 2. Organize easy voter outreach. We plan to distribute voter registration forms to church members and request that they register family, friends and neighbors. Church members can join other groups already organized for this purpose (see minutes for contact information). You could organize a voter education workshop in your community. 3. Voter Reminder Post-cards. When we register someone, we will invite them to complete a UU voter reminder post-card. We will mail this post card back to the individual prior to the election. Voter registration and election resources are available on-line in each Heartland District State: Indiana: www.in.gov/sos/elections Kentucky: www.kysos.com/index/main/elecdiv.asp Michigan: www.michigan.gov/sos Ohio: www.state.oh.us/sos/voter Please let us know if your congregation would like more information or is taking voter initiatives! Call Randy Block at 248-549-5170 or Mary Lou Malone at 313-837-7952 for more information. Sincerely, Randy Block, UUSJN Co-Chair Mary Lou Malone, Chair, HUUD Social Justice Committee Enclosure (minutes) UU Social Justice Network of Southeast Michigan GET OUT THE VOTE WORKSHOP June 19, 2004 First Unitarian Universalist Church in Detroit MINUTES This workshop was attended by 25 people, representing multiple organizations in Southeast Michigan. Panel Discussion Highlights: How to Get Out The Vote NAACP - Donnell White, Youth & Education Outreach Specialist, invited workshop participants to join with NAACP voter activism. In its "Take Your Soles to the Polls" campaign, you have to "think outside the box" to attract young people, e.g., use music, address underlying reasons why people don't get involved. Three big issues: voter registration, voter education and mobilization. Simone Lightfoote, NAACP State Director, said NAACP has 27 units in Michigan and aims to register 34,000 people. Through the new Help America Vote Act, $68 million is coming to Michigan to improve voting systems, voter outreach and education. Contact Donnelle: (313) 871-2087, dwhite at detroitnaacp.org Great Lakes Express (GLE) - Senator O'Brien, a former "Rock the Vote" organizer, said the GLE works with all political parties to involve people on the local level. He said GLE has an office on 9 Mile and Woodward and would like to set up other offices in the Great Lakes region. Senator advised learning voter registration rules via the Secretary of State. Noting that the U.S. has the lowest voting rate in the free world, Senator observed that "people are more cynical because they don't have their voices heard". You need to "make education an experience"; educate about local officials and issues. Contact Senator: 917-287-3353, saravamanagement at yahoo.com MOSES - Vickie Kovari, Project Coordinator, said MOSES has a network of 65 congregations in Southeast Michigan with others across the Country. MOSES does grass-roots organizing on a variety of issues, including voter registration. She urged attendance at a mass rally at 3:30 p.m.September 26th at the University of Detroit Mercy. "We want to move the politicians on the issues". MOSES, which has a goal of registering 15,000 new voters, asks churches to commit to: do registration within their congregations, outreach into neighborhoods, and/or registration at local events. The provide training and guidance for churches. Contact Vickie: 313-962-5290, vkovari at aol.com Action Ideas Brainstormed By Workshop Attendees * Educate against the anti-gay marriage petition * Follow-up calls to registered voters - Perhaps should get a card which reminds people to vote. * Show the "Unprecedented" film about the 2000 Florida Presidential election * Local events/"Edutainment" -- including church based * Education, education, education * Make copies of voter registrations completed * Coordinate with other voter groups * Call groups to get training * Send a delegation to a September 26th MOSES voter event * Target a specific area * Sound trucks to get out the vote (but could be legal barriers) * Educate on challenging at the polls * Have an event at a church and invite State Representatives and County Commissioners Results of this workshop will be mailed to all Unitarian Universalist churches in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. The challenge will be to expand voter registration/education efforts between now and the 2004 election! Respectfully Recorded, Randy Block, Co-Chair, UU Social Justice Network 248-549-5170, beelock47 at comcast.net