The Laramie Project

“In this familiar place, listen: Find the silence among these people and listen to it all - breathing, sighs, movement, holding back - hear the tears that have not yet reached their eyes perhaps they are your own hear also the laughter building deep where joy abides despite everything. listen: rejoice.” -Barbara Pescan

A powerful cause, the Laramie Project

Last August when the YES team had our first meeting of the year, we revisited the idea of a district wide youth fundraiser (which was something that we have been thinking about doing for a while). We felt that our community was in a really, really good place this year and we wanted create/make more connections with the youth in the district. Too often I've heard about smaller churches/youth groups feeling isolated and not having a greater community of youth.

Personally I can relate to this feeling. Which is why when we began to talk about this, I immediately agreed to help lead the project. As we started to talk about what fundraiser we could do- the thought of the *Laramie Project* came up. Churches (the youth!) would show the Laramie Project and also help raise money towards one national and local group that helps with making GLBTQ feel safer.

*(the Laramie Project is a movie of a play by the tectonic theater in New York that went to Laramie, Wyoming to interview the residents about the murder of a young gay man, Mathew Shepard)*

Why I love this youth community

"Guard your light and protect it. Move it forward into the world and be fully confident that if we connect light to light to light, and join the lights together of the one billion young people in our world today, we will be enough to set our whole planet aglow."
- Hafsat Abiola

We (the youth) are truly remarkable.

I don't think people have yet to really comprehend what has happened.

I never would of thought last August how large the project would become and how heavily important it would become to me and the youth. Over all we had 27 congregations show the Laramie Project all across North America (see below for all the congregations) for the month of February. It started out as a PNWD fundraiser, but along the way of advertising (thanks to Tandi Rogers!) it became something much larger. With the help of Liz Stevens and Anne-Marie (adults that also helped with the project), through many emails, a facebook group- The Laramie Project- UUA, and etc, we manged to create and connect youth from major cities, to smaller more isolated areas. All the way from Hawaii to Georgia. In the PNWD, we raised over- 6,289 dollars (from the churches that have contacted us). Money will go to many different organizations, such as the Lambert house in Seattle and the Trevor project.

*If you had a fundraiser and didn't post how much you made, please do- or send an email to me.*

When Anne-Marie (one of the main adult coordinators/leaders for the YES team) first showed me the sheet of all the churches listed showing the project, I may have screamed a little, from excitement of course.

Unitarians have a calling, a calling to take action. I've said this before, our deeds guide our creeds. Recently there has been so many tragic deaths of GLBTQ teens, which makes the Laramie Project even more meaningful in light of that.

We are youth, that are helping, fighting, standing-up for other youth. We are taking ownership and empowering ourselves. By empowering us, (the youth), we are creating the next generation of future leaders and citizens, citizens of the world. Youth have such a short shelf-life (as my youth group adviser, Amanda would say), that is why it's especially important for youth to take the lead. I'm so thankful to have a welcoming community where I can do exactly that, where I can stretch my leadership wings.

What lights my chalice?

We are standing on the side of love. We live in a world where they are many injustices, but yet I don't feel discouraged by this, because I have seen with my own eyes what large impact youth can make and have made. You can see youth empowerment even before Unitarians and Universalists were one faith, the youth groups of each met together and helped the civil rights movement and worked with African-Americans to fight for integration. Those are very beginnings of youth empowerment, that is what inspires me.

This project gives me hope, our youth community- the Pacific North West District (PNWD) has had its ups and downs and was almost torn apart. But now I feel even more proud and confident in our abilities to create change. Not just in the PNWD, but nation wide, continent wide. That's what lights my chalice.

A calling, our deeds.

Finally, I ask of you- adults, RE, ministers, etc to help give a podium for youth to speak from (figuratively or literally), because we are the future leaders, the future citizens of the world. I ask for you look around in your churches and see what your youth are doing, to ask questions, to give opportunities to youth and know what's happening not only in your church but outside of it,-the greater youth UU community.

Youth, I ask you to be involved, to be empowered, and realize how much we can truly do. We have a voice, and I believe more then anything that we can bring change. I ask for to look around and find your patch of sky to help hold up, whether that's raising money and showing the Laramie Project or something other just as deserving cause of injustice.

I ask for you to find what lights your chalice, what inspires you, and what can give hope.

I ask for you, of everyone, to stand on the side of love.

"With faith to face our challenges, with love that casts out fear, with hope to trust tomorrow, we accept this day at the gift it is: as reason for rejoicing." -Gary Kowalski

Dates and churches that showed the Laramie project:

2/6: Edmonds/Shoreline, WA

2/9: Palouse, Moscow, ID

2/11: Marietta, GA

2/11 Woodinville, WA

2/12: Eastshore, Bellevue, WA - did a radio play version! (live!)

2/18: Corvallis, OR

2/19: Vancouver, WA

2/21: Salem, OR

2/25: Tacoma, WA

2/25: Kitsap/Cedars, Bremerton, WA

2/26: Spokane, WA

2/27: Saltwater, Des Moines, WA

2/27: Wy'East, Portland, OR

Churches:

All Souls UU Church

Kansas City, MO

UU Congreation of Wyoming Valley
Wilkes Barre, PA

Emerson UU Congregation

Marietta, GA

Spokane UU Church
Spokane, WA

UU Church of Vancouver

Vancouver, WA

First UU Society of Westchester
Hastings on Hudson, NY

First Unitarian Church of Honolulu

Honolulu, HI

UU Church of Indianapolis
Indianapolis, IN

Kitsap UU Fellowship

Bremerton, WA

North Shore Unitarian Church
Vancouver Lower Mainland, BC

UU Church
Farmington, MI

Woodinville UU Church

Woodinville, WA

UU Church
Worcester, MA

Edmonds UU Church

Edmonds, WA

Wy’East UU Congregation

Portland, OR

Unitarian Church of Westport
Westport, CT

Clifton UU Church and Thomas Jefferson Unitarian Church
Louisville, KY

Unitarian Church of Calgary

Calgary, Alberta

Saltwater UU Congregation
Des Moines, WA

UU Congreation of Greater Canton
Canton, OH

UU Fellowship Church
Corvallis, OR

Champlain Valley UU Society
Middlebury, VT

Anchorage UU Fellowship
Anchorage, Alaska

Starr King UU Church
Hayward, CA

UU Congreation of Salem
Salem, Oregon

Tahoma UU Congregation
Tahoma, WA

I'm so proud of what we have accomplished. Thank you for everyone that participated, all the youth and adults, those who saw the Laramie Project, and supported not only this cause, but youth leadership.

Go in faith, go in love, go in peace,

Elissa McDavid
Saltwater UU church
YES team
(Youth Empowerment Services)
Stay tuned for next fall- the YES team has already been thinking about our next fundraiser!

If you have any questions or want to know more about the youth are doing,
feel free to email me: elissa.mcdavid@gmail.com