Our purpose is to offer activities to increase congregational and community awareness, and encourage action on global and local social justice issues.
Micah 6:8 “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
We welcome new members! Please join us — all are welcome. Contact the KUC office for more information.
Meetings: Global usually meets once a month on Sundays after the KUC church service, except in summer or during Covid restrictions, with occasional additional meetings as required when preparing for special events. Contact the church office if you would like to participate.
Jan, George & Diane (Global & Community Action) with recipient.
The Giving Tree: For more than 20 years the KUC Global and Community Action Ministry has organized the Advent Giving Tree Initiative to help the congregation give – to the wider Kamloops community, nationally, and around the world.
The theme for Advent 2021 was Peace. Global embraced the theme through the Empowerment of Women and Girls. The recipients were:
Local – Kamloops Chapter of Days For Girls: a local charity which produces and distributes reusable period supplies for girls. National – “Whatever They Need Most”, for unhoused women in St. John NB. From the UCC Gifts With Vision catalogue. International – “Help Build a Well” – In many communities in Zambia, water has to be brought from far away, often by young girls. Also from Gifts With Vision.
Global participated in the worship service on Dec. 14, traditionally ‘White Gift Sunday’, and Terry-Lynn Stone from the Kamloops Chapter of Days for Girls was our guest speaker.
The amount congregants donated to the 2021 Giving Tree was $3590.00 (approx. $1,197.00 to each recipient).
A huge THANK YOU to everyone who was able to donate this year, and to Global’s Jan Vint who hand-crafted 290 beautiful ornaments for folks to hang on their own Christmas trees.
2021 Chris Gaffney Fund:
Amount – $288.33 Recipient – Kamloops Aboriginal Friendship Society
Global Movie Night resumed in November 2021 (as Covid eased). We highly recommend all of these films, so if you missed them, stream them! (Scroll farther down this page for a list of movies shown previously.)
Nov. Eating Our Way to Extinction. A film that provokes us to question our everyday choices in eating. Featuring a wealth of world-renowned contributors including Sir Richard Branson and Tony Robbins, it has a message of hope that will empower audiences.
Dec. 2040. With 2040, documentarian Damon Gameau entertainingly surveys possible solutions to the climate change crisis, offering an unusually optimistic way forward.
Jan. Selma In honour of Martin Luther King Jr and Black History Month (February), Global screened the historical drama, Selma. Selma is a chronicle of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s campaign to secure equal voting rights via an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965.
Feb. Walk With Me. The documentary offers an insight into monastic life and the deeply personal reasons why Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s monks and nuns decide to leave their families and follow in his footsteps.
Mar. Beans Twelve-year-old Beans is on the edge: torn between innocent childhood and reckless adolescence; forced to grow up fast and become the tough Mohawk warrior she needs to be during the Oka Crisis, the turbulent Indigenous uprising that tore Quebec and Canada apart for 78 tense days in the summer of 1990.
Main Global Sponsored Events:
1. Global Day Of Action For Climate Justice – Nov 6 https://cop26coalition.org/gda/
Global initiated and co-organized with Transition Kamloops and Kamloops Climate Cafes this rally at Stuart Wood grounds in solidarity with the COP26 Coalition in Glasgow. Approximately 200 people attended. Events were held around the world (see the map Map – COP26 Coalition). This was to put pressure on world leaders and experts meeting in Glasgow, at the global climate talks, COP26. The decisions made at COP26 will shape how governments respond (or not) to the climate crisis.
2. Global Climate Action Petition
Global co-sponsored this petition. “I acknowledge the need for urgent action to keep the global temperature rising to 1.5 degrees, as called for by the International Panel on Climate Change, and as is being discussed at COP 26 in November 2021; I pledge to do everything within my power, with my fellow citizens and all levels of government, to meet that goal.”
Available online at: https://bit.ly/3nUm7cm. Kamloops Climate Cafes and Transition Kamloops will presenti this to the City in the new year.
Near Future Activities/Events
● Mason Bee Houses. George is still collecting straws to make another batch of Mason Bee Houses. If you
have spare large “milkshake” sized straws, please contact him at gjohnson@tru.ca.
● Vegan Cookbook. We are collecting favorite vegetarian and vegan recipes from KUCers, and friends for KUC’s first Vegan cookbook! The plan is to produce a printed cookbook just like in the old days, with proceeds to KUC (exact beneficiary to be established). Interested? Contact office@kamloopsunited.ca.
● Elin Kelsey speaks on Hope and the Climate Crisis at TRU, Wed. Apr. 6th 7 pm. Mountain Room (COVID permitting). In conjunction with her Pathways to Hope and Resilience English course at TRU, Nina Johnson is bringing in Dr. Kelsey, a world-renowned scientist and science communicator on climate issues. Dr. Kelsey will be speaking about the evidence for hope in dealing with the planetary climate crisis, drawing on her recent book, Hope Matters. Global will be supporting this event and plans to hold a response session to this not to be missed event.
● Climate Action Legacy Fund and Book Donation. Ross Styles made a substantial bequest to KUC to be put towards climate action and also donated his books on climate action to KUC. Global has been helping Ron and June Routledge in deciding how to distribute these books and will be involved in putting his legacy into action. We are so grateful to Ross for his generous donation, and also for his unstinting commitment to tackling the climate crisis through his organization of the Blue Dot campaign and mentorship, for which he received the AIM Canada Environmental Mentorship Award in 2021. Rest in peace, Ross.
Earlier film viewings and discussions (which we recomment):
“How to Start a Revolution” was presented in celebration of the UN Iternational Day of Peace, and Orange Shirt Day: is a BAFTA Award-winning British documentary film about Nobel Peace Prize nominee and political theorist Gene Sharp, described as the world’s foremost scholar on nonviolent revolution. The 2011 film describes Sharp’s ideas, and their influence on popular uprisings around the world. Screened in cinemas and television in more than 22 countries it became popular among the Occupy Wall Street Movement.
“The Biggest Little Farm” a 2018 American documentary film, directed by Emmy Award Winning director John Chester, profiles Chester and his wife Molly as they acquire and establish themselves on Apricot Lane Farms.
“ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch”: a cinematic meditation on humanity’s massive reengineering of the planet. Four years in the making, this documentary film came from the multiple-award winning team of Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier and Edward Burtynsky
“PAUL Apostle of Christ” (2018): film tells the story of Paul, who was known as a ruthless persecutor of Christians prior to his conversion to Christianity. After watching the film, Dr. Chuck Anderson provided commentary on the movie. Dr. Anderson is a well-known expert on St. Paul. He is author of St. Paul For the Perplexed – Making Sense of the Man: his life, his letters, his story, in 2017.
“How to Change the World”: documentary film, from writer-director Jerry Rothwell, which chronicles the adventures of an eclectic group of young pioneers who set out to stop Richard Nixon's nuclear bomb tests in Amchitka, Alaska, and end up creating the worldwide green movement with the birth of Greenpeace.
“Banking Nature”: documentary film looks at the growing movement to monetize the natural world and to turn endangered species and threatened areas into instruments of profit.
“To The Ends of the Earth”: a Canadian film follows concerned citizens living at the frontiers of extreme oil and gas extraction, bearing witness to a global crossroads, calling for human ingenuity to rebuild society at the end of the fossil fuel era.
“Demain” (“Tomorrow”) Climate is changing. Instead of showing all the worst that can happen, this documentary focuses on the people suggesting solutions and their actions.
“Fahrenheit 11/9”: a 2018 American political documentary by filmmaker Michael Moore about the 2016 United States presidential election and the subsequent presidency of Donald Trump. The film had its world premiere on September 6, 2018 at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival.
“A New Economy” documentary features seven interwoven stories about people making a fresh start towards building a new economy. Several organizations move towards a more cooperative future by experimenting with open and non-traditional business models. By rewarding human effort fairly and proportionately instead of obsessing about the bottom line, these revolutionary businesses are creating a more people-friendly future, creating new ways to make money and make it sustainably.
“Belonging in the Body: Transgender Journeys of Faith” offered a collection of stories from the lives of transgender Christians. Within these stories was opportunity to learn, to understand, and to advocate for our transgender siblings in Christ. Belonging in the Body was a timely and invaluable glimpse into the lives of transgender Christians.
“Joyeux Noël” (Merry Christmas) was our November/Remembrance Day movie: a 2005 epic war drama film based on the Christmas truce of December 1914, depicted through the eyes of French, Scottish, and German soldiers. . It was written and directed by Christian Carion.
“Journey’s End”: Set in a dugout in Aisne in 1918, it is the story of a group of British officers, led by the mentally disintegrating young officer Stanhope, as they await their fate.
“Flin Flon Flim Flam”: John Dougherty, the investigative journalist who made the documentary, attended the screenings and facilitated discussion afterward. This film documented Hudbay’s legacy of lead poisoning in a remote Manitoba community where the company operated a notorious copper smelter for 80 years.
“Wasted: the Story of Food Waste”. Starring chefs like Anthony Bourdain, Dan Barber, Massimo Bottura, and Danny Bowien, the documentary shows how even small changes can lead to new ways of using more food, feeding more people, curbing environmental damage, stimulating technology and business, and ultimately improving the health and well-being of all citizens worldwide.
A Special Presentation, “Spitting Slag”: A theatrical duet for voice and electric guitar. A hard rock miner searches for justice and redemption after an industrial accident, to come to terms with the death of his son. “Fierce. Poetic. Uplifting.”
“Life is Sacred“, “In Pursuit of Silence“, “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power“, and “A Plastic Ocean“.
More distant highlights:
1916
– At the 10,000 Villages sale we operated a Fair Trade Cafe, which netted $467.
– Donated $200 to Sewing New Futures in India through Alix Dolson who worked with them in India.
– Donated $75 to the Out of the Cold Program at St. Paul’s Anglican.
– Donated $1000.00 to the UCC refugee appeal from approximately $3,000 from the Giving Tree.
– Offered a service at KUC on International Year of the Pulse
– held the annual Global Renew and Recycle Sale in Westsyde, with donations from the congregation.
1915
Coldest Night of Year. A group from KUC joined the Coldest Night of the Year, Feb. 21. Funds raised went towards the work of the New Life Mission.
Chris Gaffney Fund. Funds received through the Chris Gaffney Endowment went to purchase 137 tokes that enables a recipient to receive $2.25 worth of menu items from Erwins deli and bakery across the street. The tokens were distributed through the church office and the other outreach programs in the city when they identify a need for nourishment.
Renew and Recycle Sale, was held at George Johnson’s home during the Westsyde neighbourhood garage sale April 25th. Proceeds went towards Global Activities.
Fair Trade Rice Sales. The support Global provided to Fair Trade Rice Farmers enabled them to connect with Level Ground distributors to sell the rice in Canada. Global brought in the three rice varieties to support the venture and funds raised went towards Global Activities.
Mardi Gras, Global coordinated the Shrove Tuesday pancake dinner along with Youthful Energy.
Trans Himalayan Aide Society, provided a short talk and Global served soup to participants. The society was one of the recipients of the Tree of Joy during Advent in 2014.
Craving Change Alexis Blueschke , Registered Dietitian offered a Craving Change workshop for a handful of KUC participants. While the technique is used for weight loss, the same techniques can be applied to change in general.
PIT Stop Coordinator Hired. Rick Windjack was hired in April to take on the Coordination of PIT Stop.
Support for Nepal Earthquake. Global provided $200 for earthquake relief, which was leveraged with matching funding from the federal government.
Fair Trade Cafe, in conjunction with 10,000 villages, Global hosted a Fair trade cafe made with fair trade ingredients if available, or organic and local ingredients when possible. Funds raised went towards Global activities.
Advent – Tree of Hope, Global designates a local, national and international charity to receive donations during Advent for this year’s theme, “Tree of Hope”.
2014
Sold over 30 Mason Bee Houses and raised over $600.
Held “Soup and TED TALKS” after Worship service:
https://www.ted.com/talks/david_steindl_rast_want_to_be_happy_be_grateful Brother David Steindl-Bast
https://www.ted.com/talks/louie_schwartzberg_nature_beauty_gratitude Louie Swartzberg
https://www.ted.com/talks/tania_luna_how_a_penny_made_me_feel_like_a_millionaire Tania Luna
-led a KUC worship service.