About Action Evenings
Vancouver Unitarians host Action Evenings on a variety of social action topics. Volunteers from the Social Justice and Environment committees started Action Evenings in the Fall of 2020 and now our IBPOC caucus, Genders and Sexualities Alliance and others are carrying on with this initiative.
A small group from the Social Justice and Environment Committees came up with the idea of holding online gatherings similar to the Sunday forums, but where anyone from the congregation could suggest a topic or speaker. The group wanted to get away from the limits, or silos, created by requiring a committee to sponsor a forum.
Being extremely enthusiastic and somewhat naïve about what the project entailed, the Action Evening (AE) organizing Team ambitiously opted to host weekly Zoom gatherings! They quickly faced the steep learning curve of creating Order of Service, website and Facebook posts, organizing speakers and emcees, and learning the technical skills of running an online event.
The Team found the workload was balanced by the joy of connecting viewers and themselves with a range of amazing activists and scientists who generously shared their time and vividly showed the intersectionality of so many issues.
The arts community was involved as well. Two “ R&R Evenings” were held, with the theme that “even activists need to take a break sometimes”. One evening featured the UCV Lay Chaplains, the other brought in folk musicians from the community. Both evenings were reminders of the power of music, meditation and poetry to heal, inspire and motivate.
Many thanks to the Action Evenings team from Sept. 2020 to Feb. 2021; Tamiko Suzuki, Lynn Armstrong, Yvonne Marcuse, Cindy Cashin, Catherine Hembling and Marie Witt.