Renewal of the C2C-BUF Partnership Upcoming Vote Forum, April 8, 2018

Please take note: This Sunday’s Forum has been relocated 

from the Conference Room to the upstairs FLEX ROOM.

In May 2018, the Congregation will be voting on whether to renew the Community to Community (C2C)-BUF partnership for another three years. This important relationship began in 2005 in shared struggle for immigrant justice. It has continued to grow over the years with collaboration on direct actions, and support for farmworker families and immigrant families. In 2012, the BUF congregation voted in favor of a formal partnership between C2C and BUF. This forum is providing an opportunity to Celebrate, Learn and Comment on the partnership over the last three years.  Please take a moment to review the colorful four page report  "July 2015 - June 2018 Partnership Report" at http://www.buf.org/files/121/sejc/partnership/buf_c2c_partnership.pdf before you come to get a sense of where we've been and where we'd like to go in the future.

April 1, 2018

THERE WILL BE NO FORUM Sunday, April 1st

No Forums are held on Holiday weekends

Love Salmon? So Does NSEA! March 25, 2018, 9:15am, BUF Conference Room

We welcome Phelps McIlvaine, Board President of the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association, who will tell us about the progress of exciting major projects undertaken during the 2016-17 season. NSEA believes that salmon are an essential part of our environment, culture and economy. Bring your questions about stream restoration, monitoring, community engagement and education and how these tasks involve volunteers.

The Importance of the League of Women Voters, March 18, 2018, 9:15am. BUF Conference Room.

Rebecca Johnson, co-president of the League of Women Voters of Bellingham/Whatcom Co, will tell us about the current work of that organization, and about upcoming important events. We will hear a brief history of the League, how the organization reaches “League positions” and their use for advocacy work, state legislative highlights, and the local league’s priorities and current activities. LWVBWC has several active committees open to members and non-members: health care, healthy community conversations, voting rights, voter services, and climate change/water issues. 

As it approaches its 100th Anniversary, the League of Women Voters® continues to play a vital role in our community, working to engage all eligible voters in our democracy. The nonpartisan League encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy. 

Water in Whatcom - March 11, 2018

9:15 a.m. Whatcom County has generally had an adequate supply of water - but as the population and our industries, have grown, that has come into question. What should we be doing, before we hit a serious too-dry condition where keeping water available for all needs?   This presentation will expound on those needs, and inform the public (oh, yeah, and the governments) what we ought to be doing, now. 

A long time UU, Marian is a retired Civil Engineer and Meteorologist.  For most of her professional life, Marian has worked with water issues. She worked for seven years researching and implementing improvements to irrigation systems, earned a U.S. Patent, and then became the Deputy Chief Engineer of a County Public Works Department in Hawaii.  She also performed consulting job-assignments all over the globe, most of which were improvements to irrigation systems for sugar-cane plantations in Brasil and a half-dozen South-Asia nations, starting with Bangladesh. ("Ami Bangla alpo jani.”).  After retiring in 1991, Lake Whatcom and the Nooksack River were naturally things of interest, and she was one of a trio of folks who, as citizen volunteers, jumped on the pollution of those waters, and motivated Bellingham to implement two notable programs of pollution-reduction.