First Principle Project: The inherent worth and dignity of every person

This effort, still evolving, will help us fulfill our commitment to the UU First Principle that we respect the inherent worth and dignity of every person.

Following discussions of how UUGP can most effectively serve the homeless and insecurely-housed in our community and expand our outreach the Homeless Teen Backpack Project has transitioned to our First Principle Project. We seek to modify rather than eliminate this important project as we move to a more inclusive outreach to our homeless neighbors of all ages. We are coordinating with various agencies that serve this population and offering assistance when specific requests are received.

We have discovered that we are ready to reach out in a more targeted and organic way to the homeless in our community. Thanks to the incredible generosity of our congregation, we have the financial ability to make this happen.

The next steps are to find the best way to connect with agencies that serve houseless families and seniors so that we can be more effective in our outreach. Discussions on how to proceed with our outreach to the homeless are continuing. We are seeking ideas to simplify the process while reaching out to a wider group, from children to seniors. These include using our funds to acquire basic items and dispensing them as requested by our various partner agencies: Maslow, Schools, UCAN, WCST, etc. rather than filling backpacks with items that may, or may not be needed by the recipients. Surveys returned by the schools have helped us identify which items are most important, and discussions with UCAN are continuing to inform development of the outreach.