Last year a number of us marched with our UUFCM banner in the Alma Highland Festival Parade supporting LGBT rights. If you would like to participate with us this year on Saturday, May 23, at 10:30 am, please contact Vicki Chessin (989-463-3076 or [email protected]) or Norma Bailey (989-560-3952 or [email protected]) to sign up!

From Mari Potter:
Hello, I need your help! I have been offered the opportunity to go to Nepal through Utopia Volunteers to help support victims of the earthquake at The Butterfly House Project and Early Childhood Development Center located in Katmandu, Nepal. I plan to be in Nepal for the month of July. The focus of my trip is simple: I will be working with Pushpa Basnet, CNN Hero of 2012, with 48 children she supports and the ECDC/Butterfly House. Children in Nepal go to prison with their mother's if there are no other guardians. Pushpa gets the children out of prison and raises them until their mother is released. Pushpa and her children are currently sleeping under an abandoned greenhouse and are still extremely exposed to the elements.

One way to help is to assist me in raising the funds to make this trip to Nepal in July. The Utopia Foundation will be funding part of my trip. I am working to come up with travel expenses. To donate toward my travel expenses:
• Go to http://utopiavolunteers.org/giving/support-the-general-fund/ 
• Choose the amount you will donate
• The next page is the Checkout Form. On the RIGHT side of the Checkout Form you will see 
Additional Information. In the Notes box, please type: For Mari Potter Nepal Travel and relief fund.

Going through this site and specifying that your donation is intended for Mari Potter Travel and Relief, is tax deductible and all of the donation will go toward my travel expenses. Any additional funds will go directly to Pushpa and her work. Your contribution will allow me (and you) the privilege to help in Katmandu Nepal. I can also take cash or checks to help pay for my other expenses.

Thank you in advance for your support with this cause. 
Mari Potter

Our UUFCM-sponsored Town Hall Meeting about LGBT Rights on Thursday, April 23, was very successful with 45 people from the community in attendance. Jay Kaplan, the LGBT Project Attorney for ACLU Michigan, did a great job presenting information about marriage equality, amending the Elliott Larsen Civil Rights Act, and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, all actions current in our state legislature’s docket. He is also going to send information regarding what each of us can do to influence our legislators regarding these issues.

MUUSJN and its Interfaith Reproductive Justice Coalition are members of a coalition that is working to bring an important resource to Michigan families – paid sick leave. More than half of working mothers (54%) do not have paid sick days they need to care for themselves and their loved ones.

How you can make a difference: Collect signed postcards that will be sent to Michigan legislators. The goal is to collect 5,000 post cards by June 2nd. Norma Bailey and Joyce Henricks have the postcards for you to sign and also share with your neighbors and friends to get more signatures. If you were not in church on Sunday, May 2, contact Norma (989-560-3952 or [email protected]) or Joyce (989-773-4709 or [email protected]) to get postcards. Once collected, they will deliver them to MUUSJN who will then forward them to our legislators.

Last year a number of us marched with our UUFCM banner in the Alma Highland Festival Parade supporting LGBT rights. If you would like to participate with us this year on Saturday, May 23, at 10:30 am, please contact Vicki Chessin (989-463-3076 or [email protected]) or Norma Bailey (989-560-3952 or [email protected]) to sign up!