UUCEP has several on-going Social Justice projects, including our foodbank, which serves our neighborhood, our prison ministry, and our commitments to the poor and the dispossessed, along with our commitment to LGBT justice.
Community Partnerships
UUCEP’s prison ministry at La Tuna Federal Correctional Institute began in 2010 when we received a request from an inmate for UU services. Since then, we have continued to minister to inmates twice a month, with the help of video sermons featuring Rev. Christine Robinson of First UU Church of Albuquerque. Getting to know those living under incarceration has taught us a lot about solidarity and our nation’s penal system. To learn more, talk to any of our La Tuna volunteers: Kathy Anderson, Aurolyn Luykx, and Janet Kincaid, or visit the Facebook group “UUs Resisting New Jim Crow and Mass Incarceration.”
Our members also help out at Villa Maria, the Annunciation House and Nazarene Hall, three El Paso efforts to help the most needy and vulnerable among us.
When Ruben Garcia of Annunciation House sent out a call to all churches to help with the increase in migrants, we have been serving lunches once a week at one of the shelters. We generally serve burritos, potato salad, coleslaw, and a brownie or cookies. Most of the people we serve are parents with young children who have recently been released from detention, where fresh, home-cooked meals were not available. Each week, we purchase groceries as well as plates, cups, and utensils. Thanks to several generous donations and special collections, we’ve been able to sustain this work, and we are deeply grateful. Our costs typically range from $150 to $200 per meal.
Donations are always welcome – click the button below to donate via PayPal, or go to our Donate page for other methods.