Charlie Eisenhauer (pictured with Sarah Rubin, the new chair) has stepped down from chairing the Housing and Homelessness Task Force, a major part of the UUCR social justice program. We applaud Charlie’s leadership and commitment to social justice and will honor him at a dinner on October 28.

His efforts began about 20 years ago, when he and his wife Bobbie began providing food to the Chase Men’s Shelter. About 15 years ago, a fairhousing group led by Ellen Menis, and a shelter group led by Charlie, merged at UUCR to form the Housing and Homelessness Task Force. Charlie has chaired this Task Force and shaped its program over the years.

Charlie served on the Chase Men's Shelter Advisory Board in its early days. He has organized UUCR’s participation for ten years, as the largest church group in the annual ShelterWalk sponsored by the Montgomery Coalition for the Homeless. He served on the Board of Directors of MCCH from 2000-2003 and was their Secretary from 2004-2006. He organized our effort to house and feed the homeless for one week each year at UUCR, during the Congregational Based Shelter days. Since moving from church to church each week was hard on the men and women, the County found a permanent facility, now known as the Community Based Shelter, where we bring meals one week each June.

Charlie was active on the Capital Campaign Committee to raise funds to build the new sanctuary. In this capacity, he worked to provide an opportunity for UUCR members to make a contribution to a Social Responsibility Capital Fund. As a result, the Social Justice Committee has been able to donate about $35,000 to various housing projects in the County and region. In addition to Charlie’s work at UUCR and in our county, Charlie was a presence at the birth of the idea of the UU Affordable Housing Corporation in 1989 and nurtured it as a Board member. Sarah Rubin has assumed leadership of the Housing and Homelessness Task Force.

Several members of UUCR joined the March on Washington on September 15, carrying a "Wage Peace" banner. Charlie Eisenhauer wrote this editorial afterwards, published in the Washington Post:

I object to your Sept. 16 headline "Dueling Demonstrations," in the A section. The antiwar rally was organized first; the other was a much smaller rally organized in response to it.

You made no mention of the relative turnout for the two rallies. I was at Lafayette Square, where a dedicated crowd of thousands assembled. On C-SPAN, there appeared to be about a thousand at the other rally. Should you have mentioned that thousands more were at the antiwar rally?

UUCR is participating with other UU Churches in a Peacemaking initiative. We will study and act on what we learn about peace. Part of that effort is our new Peace Pole, a hand-crafted monument that displays the message May Peace Prevail on Earth in English, Arabic, Russian, Hungarian, Chinese and Spanish. There are more than 200,000 Peace Poles in 180 countries all over the world dedicated as monuments to peace. The pole connects us to a network of peace consciousness and serves as a constant reminder for us to work for peace in ourselves, in our families, communities, our country and the world.

UUCR's Social Justice Committee formally endorsed the aims of the Washington Region Religious Campaign Against Torture (WRRCAT) that for the past year and a half has been protesting and lobbying against torture by the current U.S. administration.

The Washington Region Religious Campaign Against Torture (WRRCAT) was founded at River Road Unitarian Universalist and has representatives from a variety of denominations and religious bodies.

The resolution states that the use of torture as a tool of foreign policy or for any other reason poses a grave threat to the United States and to the world and agrees to unite with other faith-based bodies in taking a public stand against U.S.sponsored torture. It calls for an end to all U.S. torture of prisoners regardless of the victim’s nationality or where it takes place; an end to secret renditions and closure of all secret prisons; and an independent commission to investigate human rights abuses at U.S. installations, including Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and Bagram Air Force Base.

Charlie Eisenhauer, head of the Housing and Homelessness Task Force at UUCR for many years, spoke during the service today about the founding of the UU Affordable Housing Corporation in 1989. Together with Ellen Mennis and others from the UU community, UUAHC was formed with the purpose of providing loans to non profit developers of affordable housing in this area. From starting assets of just $5,700, the UUAHC has grown to a loan fund of over $10 million.

In July, UUAHC merged operations with Washington Area Housing Trust Fund (WAHTF). The two have teamed up to tackle the region’s escalating shortage of affordable housing more effectively as the OpenDoor Housing Fund.