Interested in learning about new opportunities to help others? You can volunteer for an ongoing effort or get a taste of trying something new.
June
It’s Our Future media training program for students. It’s Our Future is a local program for students who want to advocate for climate change solutions and their futures. The program, offered by Seven Generations Ahead, will teach high school students to make podcasts, write editorials and newspaper stories, learn about radio production, organize community forums, present to local government groups, plan screenings for the One Earth Film Festival, learn about sustainability, and connect to national and international climate change movements. The program is open to youth ages 12-21 who live in Oak Park and River Forest. Information on how to apply is available on the group’s website. Or contact amy@sevengenerationsahead.org.
Oak Park Solar Pilot Program. If you’re interested in solar energy but can’t put solar panels on your home, you’re invited to sign up for Illinois’ first residential community solar pilot program. The new program will start later this year and is open only to village residents. Participants, chosen on a first-come, first-served basis, will receive 20 percent guaranteed savings through net metering credits on a monthly ComEd bill while supporting the development of renewable energy resources in Illinois through Chicago-based MC Squared Energy Services. For more information and to sign up, visit this MC² link.
Lighthouse Foundation Zoom seminar on differences and empathy, June 6. The Lighthouse Foundation, a nonsectarian, nonprofit social justice organization that advances justice for Black LGBTQ people across the Chicago area, is holding a Zoom seminar on how faith communities, nonprofits, and individuals can use our pandemic experience to better understand difference and to cultivate empathy. “Mary Don’t You Weep: Utilizing Pandemic Experiences to Understand Difference, Part 2,” will be at noon Saturday, June 6. Leaders of the foundation will speak, and participants can join the discussion afterward. You can register at this link.
Standing Our Holy Ground webinar against gun violence, June 9. PC(USA)’s Presbyterian Mission program is holding a series of webinars on the issues surrounding gun violence called Standing Our Holy Ground. It’s a year-long look at gun violence and what the faith community can do about it. The next webinar, “Too Close To Home: Guns and Domestic Violence,” will be aired at noon Central time on Tuesday, June 9. You can register for the webinar and watch past webinars at the group’s website.
Israeli-Palestinian conflict webinar, June 16. Noted Palestinian-American historian Dr. Rashid Khalidi will present a Zoom webinar at 1-2 p.m. Central time Tuesday, June 16, entitled “A Fatal Attraction: Colonialism and Apartheid.” Dr. Khalidi, the Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University, is the author of A Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonial Conquest and Resistance 1917-2017. More details, including how to sign up for the webinar, are available at the website of the PC(USA)’s Israel/Palestine Mission Network.
Fourth Sunday Offering, June 28. Each month, all undesignated money in the offering plate goes to a specific beneficiary supported by First United, often one of our mission partners. This month’s Fourth Sunday Offering on June 28 will benefit BUILD, one of Chicago’s leading gang intervention, violence prevention, and youth development organizations. Its mission is to engage at-risk youth in schools and on the streets to help them realize their potential and contribute to our communities. You can learn more about BUILD at the group’s website.
NOTE: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, church is being streamed at 11 a.m. Sundays instead of being held in the Sanctuary. Giving online and marking the donation for the Fourth Sunday Offering, texting FIRSTUNITED to 73256, or mailing checks to First United can take the place of the in-person Fourth Sunday Offering, at least for now.
