First Parish in Wayland Participates in Fifth Annual Roxbury Workday
Members of the First Parish in Wayland recently participated in a spring workday at the Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry in Roxbury, alongside youth from the inner city who are served by the program. Paralleling an annual fall workday in Wayland, parishioners have committed a spring afternoon during each of the last five year to sprucing up the buildings and grounds of the UU Urban Ministry. This year’s activities focused on landscaping and preparing gardens where youth grow food for the community.
The UU Urban Ministry is one of the oldest social justice organizations in the country, with an extensive volunteer program and the support of an alliance of approximately 50 Unitarian Universalist congregations. It provides after-school, weekend, and summer programming for young people; shelter and services for those escaping domestic violence; safe, affordable housing for young women, including those transitioning from shelter; and pro bono capacity-building professional services for Roxbury-serving non-profits.
The First Parish’s commitment to social justice extends far beyond its work in Roxbury, including participation in Partakers, Turning Point, Habitat for Humanity, the Sudbury-Wayland-Lincoln Domestic Violence Roundtable, and Family Promise.
Photographs courtesy of Henry Lewis and Brad Keyes.
