Hurricane Recovery and Social Justice Project

More than 1000 Unitarian Universalist volunteers have visited the Gulf Coast since the inception of the Hurricane Relief/Recovery & Social Justice Project of the Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge. The program has since been adopted by UUA and UUSC and is now run by the Unitarian churches of the New Orleans area.

Upcoming Events

Free Tree Giveaway!

We will be giving away free tree seedlings at the church from 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, March 8. The trees were a donation from The Arbor Day Foundation and include live oak, red oak, red maple and bald cypress, all trees native to Louisiana and hardy trees that withstand hurricanes. The Arbor Day Foundation and LSU AgCenter booklets on how to plant and grow these trees will be offered for free as well.

Seedlings vary from several inches to two feet long with roots. Now is the best time to plant trees so their roots will establish before the heat sets in.

The Hurricane Recovery and Social Justice Project ended in 2007 but the Rev. Marilee Baccich and Cheré Coen continue to work in recovery efforts through the collaborative effort of the Resurrection Project. The tree giveaway is one of those projects.

UCBR and its work with hurricane relief and recovery are spotlighted in an article in UUWorld.org, the fifth article in a series running about UU congregations in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Mississippi, to mark the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

A farewell letter from UCBR HRSJP Director
the Rev. Marilee Baccich:

Rev. Marilee Baccich returned home to California last spring but her work continues as well. She has created A LA Maison, a non-profit dedicated to bringing skill laborers and contractors into New Orleans to rebuild houses, churches and communities.

At the end of August 2005, Hurricane Katrina changed our lives. People all over the country responded to the devastation of the Hurricane and resulting flood. The Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge became the focal point of the relief and recovery effort. People, goods and money started showing up the day after the storm and the congregation responded. A Hurricane Relief Steering Committee grew out of this response and they brought the Hurricane Relief and Social Justice Project to life. Cheré Coen and I were hired to run the Project, to continue to respond to the needs as they arose around us.

The Volunteer Program grew out of this Project, in a response to the constant calls from UU Congregations all over the country with one question: "How can we help?" To this question we added: "How can we support the UU congregations and the UU presence in New Orleans when both churches have been devastated?" and "How do we live our values in the face of what has happened?"

The answer to these three questions was the birth of the volunteer program and the Volunteer Center on the 2nd floor of First UU Church in New Orleans. Since the beginning of the HRSJP in February 2006 until April 2007, when the program goes national and will be run by the UUSC, we have organized and/or housed over 1,000 people representing over 150 churches.

This means that our UU Community has responded to the call and has made a significant difference in the recovery of the Gulf Coast affected by the Hurricane and the flood. Individuals and communities know we are here, not only to stand with them and assist them in their journey Home, but to address the conditions that keep them from easily returning.

It is important for each one of us who have participated in this effort, to take it in, be empowered by it and then use that power to continue to make a difference. In that way we grow and live our value of Justice for All. In that way we grow our spiritual lives by being stretched into greater and greater capacity to hold the suffering of life and transform it into joy.

This past year and a half has been filled with grief and filled with grace. It has been a privilege to work with my Volunteer Coordinator, Cheré Coen, and the congregation of the Baton Rouge church. It has been a privilege to meet volunteers from all over the country and to be constantly inspired by their (your) generosity and compassion. It has been a grace to be able to do some small thing in the face of the overwhelming devastation. It has been a joy to watch volunteers bring hope and caring to so many who have felt forgotten.

I tear myself away as I return to my family who have supported me in coming back home to my birthplace. Now I return back home to their loving arms.

Blessings,
Rev. Marilee Baccich

Members of the UCBR and Lafayette UU Fellowship youth groups helped clean out the home of a congregant of First UU Church of New Orleans over the July 4th weekend, 2006.

Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely.
—Clarissa Pinkola-Estes