Inside Republic Windows and Doors

I happened to be in Chicago while the workers of Republic Windows and Doors were occupying the plant in an effort to save their jobs and get the company to pay them the almost 2 million dollars they were owed.



I was there for my first meeting as a board member of Interfaith Worker Justice, and the workers invited us into the factory to pray with them. Click on the link below to read my guest blog entry on the UUA website:
http://uuasocialjustice.blogspot.com/2008/12/victory-for-republic-window-workers.html

An Experiment in Outreach...

Our congregation just rolled out a new demographically-targeted outreach last week. We are sending oversized cards to 1700 Santa Barbara households in advance of our Holiday services. The cards target adults 45 and under with kids. Hopefully they will work, but we feel like it's a good step forward regardless. This is a kind of test-run, and we'll refine as we go.

Anyway, the card features an illustration by my dear friend and artist, Brian Andreas (you can check his work out his website:

http://www.storypeople.com/storypeople/Home.do

We are using the illustration to echo some familiar and welcoming themes of Christmas, while also striking our own individual note. I will put a copy of the card up later, but I can't find a good copy on my computer just now...but click on this link, and then again on "The Universal Sign of Peace" to view an animated bit featuring our little dude:

http://www.publiczoo.com/menuholidaystories.htm

In other news, our new, and much improved website is now up, thanks in large part to the tireless efforts of my awesome wife, Eliza - who I will be struggling to repay for a long, long time. It is still in progress, and will have new material added every day. You can look check it out at http://www.ussb.org

And by the way, Merry Christmas!