Human Relations Committee

Notes from Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Planning Committee December 20,202 4 at 4 pm at The Unitarian Universalist Society of Laconia, NH Present: Matt Soza, Trish Weatherbee, Faith Pakasuk, and Rev. Judith Wright Unable to be Present: Richard Littlefield Discussion: 1. We worked on creating two flyers. One was approved (the Colonial Theater One), and the other one about the Library events, Trish will take our comments and work on it in the next few days and Faith will then format the flyer. After that the flyers will be sent to Richard to get published at Winnesquam Printing. 2. We generated a list for advertising and assigned folks to work on specific targets: Richard – Laconia Talking Matt – Laconia Links, Mental Health Center, and distribute the flyers Rev. Judith – Ministers Group and LHRC Faith - Schools including the tech. She may reach out to Meals on Wheels. Boys and Girls club – Plymouth State University Black Student Union, Trish – outreach to homeless, Isaiah 61 and Food Pantries. We also discussed Navigating Recovery, and in the previous meeting, the Community College.. We discussed social media as a venue for advertising this event. We hope to do this without having to pay someone to do this (which we did last year). Faith will be talking with Richard about this possibility 3. Discussed Pat Wood contacting Representative Pappas, Senator Hassan, and Senator Shaheen and letting us know what their responses are. (Will they be present or write a letter?) 4. Discussed police presence . Officer Noyes has recommended one officer present, and with backup quickly available, according to him, if need be. Pat Wood is checking 1  with Kirk about the fee of $ 500 for this officer. Rev. Judith has submitted the form at the police station for this coverage. 5. We will have a drawing for the books that Trish has purchased. We will use the tickets that people get at the box office. A table will be set up right after folks enter with a box for the tickets and the books. Stride towards Freedom, The Trumpet of Conscience, and Autobiography of Martin Luther King – all by Rev. Dr. King will be the prizes, and there is one children’s book, as well. 6. Panel: Rev. Judith confirmed with Paula Chambers. She will talk about the Temple bombing in Atlanta. Two other confirmed panelist are Asheena and Grant (a counselor in a rehab recovery program.) Two other folks will speak from the audience – Joe and Shabez, both persons of color. Faith has an idea for a fourth panelist, who is a person of color, and she will be asking this person. We agreed that we needed to send each panelist more information about this event, so they know where they fit into the program and how long to speak. 7. Rev. Judith confirmed with Dr. Benaquist that he is coming, and she will send him more information about this event. 8.. Technical issues. Trish is in conversation with Adam at the Colonial about our needs for a projector, screen, mikes, including one handheld mike. Henry Weatherbee is working with Trish on all of this, at both the Colonial and the library events. 9. We need two discussion leaders for the events at the library. Faith is going to ask Heather, and we hope one other person from the LHRC will lead the other discussion. 10. Refreshments for all three events are ordered, thanks to Trish. 11. The Power Chords will close the program with two songs. “Let There Be Peace On Earth” and one other one. 12. Trish shared some materials for children and adults to be shared at the Colonial. Two thoughts Rev. Judith had after the meeting : Do we want to have the “I Have A Dream Speech?” and we need to write an article and advertise in the Daily Sun. We will meet next on January 2 nd at 4 PM at UUSL. 2 Respectfully submitted by Rev. Judith E. Wright, Chair 3