Announcements

Virginia Villarreal — July 2011 Volunteer of the Month

The word for July 2011 is “firecracker.”  Our Volunteer of the Month can be found popping up everywhere — the choir, maintaining and updating the hallway bulletin board, lending a hand on Building and Grounds work days, and more.  Where she has really exploded is in coordinating our team of office admin volunteers.  The Program Council is happy to name Virginia as our Volunteer of the Month.

2011 General Assembly News Online

The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) holds its 50th General Assembly this week in Charlotte NC.

General Assembly (GA) is the way that our faith does business – bringing together the distinctive character of our individual congregations through an open and democratic process.

UU World will provide extensive daily coverage of the UUA’s annual convention and business assembly 22-26 June 2011 as well as meetings of the UUA Board of Trustees on 21, 22, and 27 June 2011.

Visit the UUA GA Blog for the latest reports and daily news summaries, or subscribe to our General Assembly feed.

Live video of business plenaries and major events will be available on UUA’s General Assembly 2011 page and on a dedicated channel at Livestream.

Starting on Thursday, 23 June 2011, UU World will also publish a comprehensive guide to our GA coverage, which will be updated daily.  Highlights of UU World’s coverage will be publicized on their Facebook and Twitter pages.

9 June 2011 Hate Crime Public Meeting – Press Coverage

Hate Crime Forum
Matthew Johnson speaks Thursday evening during a hate crimes forum at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in Shreveport. / Val Horvath Davidson/Shreveport Times

On 9 June 2011, All Souls hosted a public meeting organized by P.A.C.E (People Acting for Change and Equality) and the Forum for Equality on hate crime laws.

The Shreveport Times press coverage for this public meeting can be found here:

Additional coverage about this story on the Unitarian Universalist Association’s web site can be found here:

Zoning board denies plan for ramp, and other UUs in the media

This meeting was held in response to the 26 January 2011 attack on John Skaggs at the Sand Bar in downtown Shreveport.  Police and witnesses said William Payne attacked Mr. Skaggs with the blunt end of a pool cue, causing serious facial injury to his eye socket and jawbone area and rendering him unconscious.  Mr. Payne was charged with attempted second-degree murder and committing a hate crime (Mr. Payne was making physically threatening statements regarding attacking the victim based on his sexual orientation). Mr. Skaggs suffered at least 14 facial fractures and had metal plates mounted in his face.

26 June 2011 Worship

“Becoming a Welcoming Congregation – What’s Next?” — In celebration of bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender pride month, members of the Welcoming Congregation Committee will present this celebration of our recent vote affirming our wish to become a Welcoming Congregation and to explore where this ministry in our congregation will take us next.