Dear Members and Friends of UMA,
As many of you know, I lived in Ithaca for 30 years, owned a business on the Commons for a few of those years and worked at the Unitarian Church as the Youth Leader for several more and was the PTA Co-President of a very diverse elementary school. I made many good friends whose lives and experiences were, and are, very different from my own. All these interactions and connections left me with a better understanding of diversity.
I like to tap into these different opportunities to help us better understand the world outside our beautiful and loving but not very diverse community.
As we know Jesus was always reaching out beyond the boundaries of his peers, he was always traveling to the least likely places to talk with those who were different. The woman at the well is such a great example, she was unmarried, she was from a different community, a despised community, both major no nos! And yet, much to the judgemental questions and chagrin of his disciples, he had the longest conversation with her than anyone else in our Gospel stories and then he went home with her for three days!
Someone asked me why I am involved in the Safe and Warm program in Auburn, my answer is because that is what Jesus taught me to do through his example and his teachings, to reach out and go to them. To learn their stories and humanize them, to help as best I can, to see Christ in every encounter I have with the “other.” And, because, though we might not see homelessness in our immediate community, Union Springs does, the surrounding community does. Just last summer two people with their two dogs and full shopping carts walked through the village on their way to find a safe place to stay. My friends, homelessness is right outside our doors.
On March 2nd, we are, in partnership with Create Kindness and the Aurora Free Library, hosting an Inspire and Ignite event!!! I am very excited to introduce two old friends with special and diverse talents to our community who will be highlighting this event.
Rik Daniels has been paralyzed since birth. His mom, a religious person, instilled in him a love of God. She never let him feel that he was disabled. He was a poster child for the March of Dimes and a NCAA gymnast champion. He now travels around the country with a dance group where he performs in his wheelchair and on his hands. (He used to come to parties at my house and, because it was not wheelchair accessible, he would walk up the stairs onhis hands.) He will definitely inspire, teach and amaze you!
I have known G-Quan Booker for over 10 years. He is now a young adult but in his younger years he was a mentor and friend of Brandon’s. Often homeless he would live with us for awhile. He lived in Aurora with us for two years. He taught at Wells and became quite well known in Auburn for his mentoring of young people through hip hop dance and rap. He was great with Brandon and his friends, he helped me with my mom, she loved him! And now he is making quite a name for himself and just released an album on his birthday yesterday. He joined us for Hocus Pocus with a Focus on Halloween and the kids loved him so he is back again to inspire and ignite a passion in our souls to be the best we can be!
I hope you join us on March 2nd, 2-4. It is also a fundraiser for the all SCC First Responders.
It will be fun, it will inspire us and the young people in our community to be kind to those who are different, to respect diversity and to always strive to be the best despite obstacles – the very things that Jesus inspires and ignites in us and how we live our lives. .
PS. If you would like to bring some baked goods that would be wonderful!!!!f
Peace and blessings!
Barb