During February’s potluck meeting, Mark Miner, lead of the Green Sanctuary Project, gave the first of three update reports on Green Sanctuary at UUCB. The main effort of the Green Sanctuary Project focused on church infrastructure and kitchen practices. Mark has joined the Building and Grounds Committee to promote environmental sustainability and has been impressed with the expertise of all its members. Given the cost of the urgent repairs, however, it will take time to bring energy efficiency and sustainability into the equation.

Future composting for the kitchen at UUCB, except for special efforts by individuals during singular events, is dependent on the City of Kensington’s instituting a weekly composting pickup. Mark suggested that we might encourage Kensington to contract for this waste management service from El Cerrito as is done for fire protection. Mark’s next report will be about the Marin Community Energy option coming to Kensington in the coming months.

UUCB will be hosting the monthly Immigrant Justice vigil at the West Contra Costa County Detention Center later this spring. The vigil takes place in front of the detention center on the first Saturday of the month.

January’s Good Neighbor recipient, Berkeley Food Pantry, received $2366 from the Sunday collection. February’s recipient was Youth Emergency Advocacy Housing (YEAH) of Berkeley, which provides daily shelter and services to 30 young adults and their pets. Planting Justice is the Good Neighbor recipient for March. Planting Justice is a grassroots organization with a mission to empower people impacted by mass incarceration and other social inequalities with the skills and resources to cultivate sovereignty, economic justice, and community healing.

On Sunday, May 6, the LFDC Annual Guest Speaker Luncheon (postponed from March 4) will feature Professor James Lance Taylor, author of Black Nationalism in the United States: From Malcolm X to Barack Obama, which earned a 2012 “Outstanding Academic Title” rating from Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries. He is a former president of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists, served as chair of the Department of Politics at the University of San Francisco from 2012-15, as faculty coordinator of the African American Studies Program from 2015-17, and chair of the “Committee on the Status of Blacks” in Political Science for the American Political Science Association, 2016-17.