Guest at Your Table

Quick Links:

• General information about Guest at Your Table (GAYT) and the UUSC

• Information about gathering our donations

• Recording of SFUU’s Feb 25, 2024 Sunday Service that tells the stories of this year’s four “guests”

• Simplified list of human rights

• 2023-2024 GAYT Theme

• Stories of Hope booklet about this year’s guests

• Template to make your own GAYT box

• Videos from the four “guests” for 2023-2024

• Supplemental videos for:

  • Foundation for Justice (FJEDD)

  • National Temporary Protected Status Alliance (NTPSA)

  • Pacific Islander Youth (PISFCC)

• What we will do at SFUU for GAYT

• Shelter Me

General Information

SFUU has begun to participate once again in the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee’s (UUSC) Guest at Your Table program. Guest at Your Table (GAYT) is UUSC’s annual intergenerational program, which raises support for, and awareness about, key human rights issues here in the U.S. and around the world. Each year UUSC features the stories of 4 different “guests” who lead organizations that are partnered with UUSC. Guest at Your Table is an opportunity to celebrate grassroots partnership, support human rights, and learn about just four individuals that UUSC works with – the “guests” in Guest at Your Table. The Social Justice Committee now brings this program to SFUU in the spring.

Gathering Guest at your Table Funds on March 31st (alternative date = Apr 7)!

On March 31st, baskets will be available to collect the GAYT donations during SFUU’s Sunday Service.

Here’s What to Do:

• Open up your box and count up what you have accumulated.

• Write a check for the amount, payable to UUSC (or if you prefer, you can make it out to SFUU with GAYT in the memo line).

• Cut out the white side of your box and fill out the information in that square (your name, and contact info if you want thanks from the UUSC; also put down our congregation and indicate how much you are donating)

• Bring your check and the completed information square to church for collection.

• If you are pressed for time, then you can bring the whole box, but it will save us both time and effort if you bring a check instead (thanks)!

• We will send the checks to the UUSC for you. 

Not Going to Be at Church on the 31st?

• No problem, you can bring your donation and information square the following Sunday (April 7th)

• OR, you can send it to UUSC directly (Guest at Your Table - UUSC, PO Box 808, Newark, NJ, 07101-0808) – you can even donate on-line and avoid using a stamp.

Your Social Justice Team thanks you for your commitment to the work of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee!

U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Here is a simplified list of the 30 Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

The 2023-2024 GAYT Theme is ‘Pursuing Liberation’

The alarming rise of fascism, authoritarianism, and nationalism in the United States and in many places around the world is putting the lives of people, and the sustainability of the planet, in critical danger. These far-right forces have co-opted the word “freedom” for their own purposes, but the concepts of liberation and freedom mean something very tangible to UUSC’s grassroots partners in communities the world over. Whether they are fighting for the right to seek safety in Mexico and the United States, convincing the UN’s International Court of Justice to address the human rights threatened by the climate crisis in the South Pacific, or replenishing the energy of human rights activists in eastern Europe by addressing burn-out, UUSC partners invite us into an expansive, regenerative space to pursue liberation.

more about this year’s 4 guests:

Supplemental National TPS Alliance videos

Supplemental PISFCC Videos

Supplemental FJEDD Video

What We Will Do at SFUU

Boxes for the program and brochures detailing the stories the guests are first distributed during a kickoff worship service (February 25, 2024), and remain available at church if you were not here that Sunday. Set the box at your dining table and read your guests’ stories. Show your support for their human rights work by placing a contribution in the box during each meal (or whenever you are moved to do so). The act of making a donation during at least one meal each day makes your advocacy of the work that the UUSC does a deliberate practice. Slipping just a quarter into the slot each meal will add up to a sizeable donation by the end of the program (usually a 4 to 6 week period)! At the end, write a check for the total and bring it to church on March 31, 2024 to be collected as we celebrate the Guest at Your Table journey!

• Click here for a pdf version of the Stories of Hope brochure for 2023-2024.

• Click here for pdf template to make your own box for 2023-2024.