What We Did
In December, the members of UUHS put their hearts and their wallets together, and decided to take donations and put all of our product sales towards the work of Flaming Chalice International.
This was a really emotional time, watching us raise more than 16,000 dollars, which is enough for FLI to literally lift two human beings out of a refugee camp and bring them to a new life in Canada. I knew that I--we--would want to do this every year.
It was also an emotional time as I put together literally hundreds of packages of products during the busiest season of the year. And as I made repeated trips to the post office, the guy looked increasingly perplexed by the return address stamp, and eventually asked "So, er, what is the Unitarian Universalist Hysterical Society?"
You think it's hard to answer "what's a Unitarian Universalist"? I DREAM of that kind of easy question. I usually say something glib like "It's a group I run that makes fun of my religion", but that never really captures it.
Our tag line is "Mirth and Dignity", which is a play on "the inherent worth and dignity of every person", and I've always loved that. Because it is a nod to fun, and also to the work that we do around learning together how to be goofy and giggly and also thoughtful and kind. It encapsulates this very important part of who we are.
Now, I kept thinking how it also encapsulates how there are two people whose lives will never be the same because of the existence of this group.
I knew that I could have more impact if I could apply for a grant to prepare better for next year, and do a little development of some of our very haphazard practices around publicity... So I asked Fulgence, who runs Flaming Chalice International, to partner with me to apply for a grant.
"Why don't you apply yourself?" He asked.
"Because you have to be a real organization to apply. With a Board, and financial statements" I said.
Fulgence looked at the table between us, where I had laid out all our financial records (because you don't move sixteen thousand dollars through your bank account without some serious book keeping and oversight, and he was helping me with that).
"You have financial records." he said, "and I think you could find Board members."
I knew that was true. Never in my life would I have more volunteers for a church job than Board of The Hysterical Society.
"This is real and important work," Fulgence said.
And so, with a "some grown up is going to stop me" attitude, I filed the paperwork for a new Unitarian Universalist organization "dedicated to evangelism, community, and faith development using humour as a primary tool" that also raises money for causes in keeping with our principles. This organization runs the Facebook group "UU Hysterical Society", and also creates products, web content, and runs a yearly fundraiser.
On January 13th, 2020, the government of Canada officially approved the new not for profit:
Mirth and Dignity.