2022 Holiday Giving
Join us in supporting Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU) this winter holiday season.
How are your values present in the ways you choose to celebrate the holidays? Each winter holiday season, we invite the entire congregation into reflection about your relationship to the season, and to imagine how you might welcome more joy and liberation into your life by taking a countercultural approach to the holidays this year.
Societal messages, increasingly amplified by mass and social media, push us to consume, consume, consume—especially this time of year. They tell us that joy is in finding the best deal, or getting the newest gadgets, no matter the cost to our wallets or the planet. Yet we know in our hearts (and research has confirmed) that there is no true joy or justice in heeding those messages.
Our invitation to you and your family is to rethink the meaning of gift-giving, to spend less on the holidays this year—and to gift what you’ve saved to our Holiday Giving partner, Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU). By redirecting a portion of our holiday spending to BLUU, we can help foster justice and liberation and rekindle the season’s true spirit.
In 2019, we selected Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU) to be the recipient of our congregation’s holiday gift for five consecutive years. The 2022 winter holiday season marks year four of this five year commitment to supporting the important work of BLUU.
BLUU was formed in 2015, and strives to be a dynamic, nimble and responsive group of loving and fierce Black Unitarian Universalists, committed to supporting Black UUs, increasing power and capacity as Black UUs, and working for justice-making and liberation through our faith.
There will be multiple opportunities this holiday season to learn more about BLUU and why we are so excited to support the work they are doing, and to give.
We look forward to reimagining the holidays with you this year!
Make Your Gift to BLUU
Past Holiday Giving Recipients
In 2013, we worked together to support “The House That Love Built” through Habitat for Humanity.
In 2015, we partnered with Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative to expand the ways we can give the gift of home.
In 2017, we partnered with Marnita’s Table. With a focus on racial justice and community building, Marnita’s Table is dedicated to bridging gaps across difference. Working with neighborhood groups, government agencies, schools, and faith communities, Marnita’s Table empowers people of all ages and backgrounds to make genuine changes toward equity, inclusion, and understanding.
In 2019, we began a five-year partnership with Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU).
The Powerful Impact of Beacon, our 2015 Holiday Giving Recipient (recorded at First Universalist Dec. 13, 2015)
Garlicia Montgomery is a young woman who has lived at Beacon’s Nicollet Square. Listen to her powerful testimony about the impact that Beacon has had on her life. “Thank you for helping me build my future,” she says.
