Putting Faith into Action:
First Unitarian Church of Portland, Oregon, and the UU Global AIDS Coalition
The First Unitarian Church of Portland  , Oregon, is the founding congregation for the Unitarian Universalist Global AIDS Coalition (UUGAC). UUGAC started as a social justice action group formed by members Ann Pickar and Madeleine Lefebvre in response to the powerful address delivered in 2002 by Stephen Lewis, the UUA General Assembly Ware lecturer.
Since then UUGAC has expanded to a national organization with a board of eight members from all over the country including youth and youth advisor representatives. The organization's newsletter is published three times a year and reaches UUs in more than one hundred congregations in the United States, Canada, and Europe.
UUGAC's work in Portland includes major activity in three key goal areas: education and outreach, political advocacy, and direct service.
Education and Outreach
In First Unitarian Church, UUGAC is a regular presence at coffee hour and special events at the church. UUGAC is a founding member of the Portland Area Global AIDS Coalition, an alliance of over 50 local groups all active in addressing the impact of global AIDS. Organization members share resources, host public events, and build partnerships with the medical community, media groups, and other faith based organizations.
Political Advocacy
UUGAC works closely with the UUA's Advocacy and Witness staff group to support their work at the national level. In Portland UUGAC partners with other groups including Jubilee Oregon, RESULTS, Ecumenical Ministries and the ONE Campaign to publicize the issues and build relationships with their Congressional delegation. UUGAC hosted the first national Jubilee USA conference which brought activists from all over the country to work on debt cancellation.
Direct Service
UUGAC supports three organizations led by First Unitarian Church members. The Zimbabwe Artists Project has included a needs assessment on the impact of AIDS in Weya, Zimbabwe with the support of UUGAC and provides educational support for one hundred AIDS orphans each year. The Imani Project works in coastal villages in Kenya to provide HIV/AIDS prevention classes, care kits for the sick, and sponsorship for orphans.
The Happy Children's Centre in Malindi, Kenya, providing services and care to AIDS orphans, continues to operate because of support from First Unitarian members and UUGAC.
For further information: The UU Global AIDS Coalition
UUA President and UU Congregations Prepare to Observe World AIDS Day
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