Diversity Committee

MEETING MINUTES of March 1, 2009

PRESENT: Joan Carrier, Carol Scheffler, Dolores Broberg, Mike Kasputes, Kathy Cotter, Elsa Peters, Pam Herrmann, and Deb Theriault

Carol opened the meeting with a prayer.

OLD BUSINESS:
Women In Harmony: Deb reported that WIH had been offered the use of FCC for their next concert, which has already been scheduled, but they are going to send someone from the group to see our new space and consider it for next year’s concert(s).

Clothing for Preble Street Teen Center: Everyone was interested in putting a box out (will check with John McCall re best location, when, amount of time). Carol will check to see the timing of the upcoming food drive so we don’t coincide with that. It was also suggested that we check with the Children’s Closet to see if they have any clothing that is too large for the children they serve that could be sent to the Teen Center. Dolores suggested that perhaps we could coordinate our efforts with the Rummage Sale and go through their clothing either before or after the sale to choose appropriate clothes for the Teen Center (Kathy will speak with Prudy about it).

“Anyone and Everyone”: It was decided to postpone the showing of this until after the Marriage Equality discussions.

Diversity Sunday: Great response from the congregation. We thanked Pam and Mike for sharing their stories (and thanks to Karen Westerberg, too!). Dolores suggested we ask others in the congregation to share their stories, revealing the Church’s “hidden diversity” interspersed throughout the year. The possibility of doing this in small groups after church was also discussed. Elsa mentioned that she and John have been discussing ways to use the “after hour” after church perhaps once a month and this might be something for that time.

NEW BUSINESS:
GLSEN: Betsy Parsons has sent an update regarding FCC’s help with funding transportation for the SPHS Gay-Straight Alliance kids to GLSEN events. There is still work to be done around how this would work, and we will table this until we get more information from Betsy.

March 15 worship service: Elsa talked a little bit about the upcoming discussion she and John will be having with the congregation on March 15 regarding the pending legislation/probable referendum regarding gay marriage in Maine. They will be addressing the issue from both a social justice point of view as well as regarding the separation of church and state. We discussed ways the Diversity Committee can help people understand this issue, and Elsa mentioned the UCC has a DVD available. Deb will try and get more information and possibly the Library Committee or Social Witness Ministries will purchase it for use at an after worship forum. Joan will send Deb a copy of the 150-page document that was distributed by the UCC following their formal discussion on the subject so she can print it out for the members to share. Deb suggested providing the names and addresses of local legislators at the discussion to be held following worship on March 15th so that anyone interested in contacting them regarding this issue could do so easily. She will also try and find a sample letter for this purpose that has been suggested by Equality Maine as well as research similar resources on the UCC Coalition website. We wondered if perhaps there were other resources, DVDs, etc. that the Maine Conference Library might have, and Deb will contact Sue Stevens about this. It was thought perhaps we should show the DVD in the fall, closer to the time of the anticipated referendum, and follow it up with a forum similar to those we’ve had in the past around similar issues with a discussion and time for a Q&A period. We all agreed Marvin Ellison would be a wonderful speaker, and Deb will talk to John and then email Marvin to see if he would be interested/available. Elsa noted that Marvin has a new book out on the topic of gay marriage.

NEXT MEETING: May 3. Since we felt it best to not schedule another meeting until after Easter and not competing with other after-church functions, we will be in touch with each other via email regarding the above issues. We will also discuss Pride Week at the next meeting.

Carol closed the meeting with a prayer.


Respectfully submitted,

Deb Theriault