Social Justice
At Shelter Rock, we seek to involve all members in our Unitarian Universalist mission to build a world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all. While action on behalf of justice is the responsibility of the entire congregation, the Social Justice Committee exercises special leadership in this sphere by providing opportunities for education and action on the most pressing moral and social issues of the day.
- Our current issues include focus on comprehensive and compassionate immigration reform, prison reform, and anti-hunger efforts.
- The Social Justice Mental Health Sub-Committee provides members with the opportunity to address the injustice that those with mental illness face.
- The Social Justice UU-United Nations Office Work Group offers members the opportunity to address issues at the global level.
- The Racial Justice Sub-Committee is integrating the new Eighth Principle into Shelter Rock's mission and vision; the Eight Principle calls all people to dismantle the structural foundations of racism.
- The LGBTQ+ Sub-Committee works to advocate and educate to advance the interests of people of all gender identities, while also fostering a supportive community of members and their allies.
Read the UUCSR Social Justice Blog for Timely Commentaries
Donations will give immediate help to families fleeing war in Ukraine, providing transportation, shelter, food, supplies, and counseling. Click HERE.
Through both social action and social justice advocacy, the committee seeks to involve members of UUCSR in bringing about systemic change. This is not achieved in isolation but by collaboration with many local grass roots organizations and Large Grants recipients including Long Island Jobs with Justice, United Veterans Beacon House, the AIDS Center of Queens County, the Interfaith Nutrition Network, the National Alliance on Mental Illness-Queens/Nassau (NAMI), the NY Civil Liberties Union and many others.
The Social Justice Committee also collaborates with the Socially Responsible Investment Sub-Committee by providing recommendations for areas of shareholder advocacy and by supporting investor statements from the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility. In this way we exercise our responsibility to call for justice in the corporate world.
If you want to help make the world a better place, the Social Justice Committee would welcome your participation. Please contact Committee Liaison, Sharyn Esposito, for information about events and programs at or 516.472.2960.
2022 Spring Series Co-Sponsored by the Social Justice Committee and Veatch Program
A Virtual Commemoration of the 76th Anniversary of the U.S. Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
IT IS TIME TO BAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS.
IT IS TIME TO CUT MILITARY SPENDING.
IT IS TIME TO END RACISM, MILITARISM AND POVERTY.
Speakers: RAY ACHESON, Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom; Emily Rubino, Director of Policy & Outreach, Peace Action NYS
Moderator: CLAIRE DEROCHE, Social Justice Committee
UUCSR Reading: MARGARET ENGEL, LI Alliance intern
Music: WILLOW Women’s Interfaith Choir with Director FARAH CHANDU
Closing: MARGARET MELKONIAN, LI Alliance for Peaceful Alternative
Organizers: The Social Justice Committee of Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Shelter Rock, LI Alliance for Peaceful Alternatives, Peace Action New York State, Willow Interfaith Women's Choir
Co-sponsors: Homecoming Farm; South Country Peace Group; Pax Christi Long Island; North Country Peace Group; Hofstra University Center for Civic Engagement; Peace Action Matters@Hofstra; LI Teachers for Human Rights Hofstra, UUCSR Shelter Rock Forum, Veterans for Peace LI (partial list)