If you need an additional nudge to make your way to worship this Sunday, come to hear more about our congregation’s involvement with the 2015 Mt. Pleasant Area CROP Hunger Walk taking place on October 11. One of our youth, Josh Daniels, will be taking the lead in signing up people to walk on our behalf that Sunday as well as collecting our donations to help “end hunger one step at a time!” And if you can’t wait until Sunday, please read more about CROP Hunger Walk here.

If we want to participate in the “under new, more inclusive management” community-wide Christmas Outreach program this year, we need someone (or a couple of someones) in the congregation willing to coordinate our congregation’s contributions – we’re being asked to donate children’s books this year...partnering with our local Jewish temple members. Our minister is in possession of all the information you need – so please contact Dawn Daniels by email, Facebook, or by phone at 989.763.6315 ASAP – there is an organizational meeting scheduled for September 29.

It is time to talk about a national crisis. Almost weekly, we hear of another incident that begins when a person of color meets with the suspicion of the police or private citizens and ends in violence. A growing movement, under the banner of “Black Lives Matter,” is challenging communities across the country to understand the roles that racial suspicion and racially-targeted criminal justice policies are playing in enforcing the color lines in our own neighborhoods.

Let’s make this moment count by taking steps to make our community a more just, welcoming, and safe place for all people. The Community Action Dialogues starting in September will provide a chance to learn from each other about common experiences of people of color in our communities and how to work together to achieve the community and country we know we can be.

Whether you are a student or a life-long resident, please join the conversation on Tuesday, September 15 at 7:00 pm at Veterans Memorial Library in downtown Mount Pleasant. This is a project of the Mount Pleasant Area Diversity Group. With questions, please contact Joyce Henricks at joyce.henricks@cmich.edu or 989-773-4709.