{"id":21308,"date":"2019-12-03T21:29:33","date_gmt":"2019-12-04T02:29:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/?p=21308"},"modified":"2019-12-04T17:55:32","modified_gmt":"2019-12-04T22:55:32","slug":"bob-mccarthy-on-a-most-memorable-advocacy-corps-visit-why-i-engage-on-federal-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/bob-mccarthy-on-a-most-memorable-advocacy-corps-visit-why-i-engage-on-federal-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"Bob McCarthy on A Most Memorable Advocacy Corps Visit (Why I Engage on Federal Policy)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Bob McCarthy,\u00a0member of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax, VA. Retired from\u00a0defense and information technology industries.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Three years ago, I realized that I needed to do more than bemoan the 2016 presidential election results and started looking for opportunities.<\/span><\/p>\n

I first became aware of the Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice (UUSJ) Capitol Hill Advocacy Corps and its efforts to deliver the UU vision to federal lawmakers from <\/span>Adam Wasserman, <\/b>a member of UUSJ and my congregation — the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax (VA).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My first venture to Capitol Hill with the Advocacy Corps was in March 2017.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t take long to feel comfortable making the rounds to various Senate and House offices delivering constituent letters from fellow UUs across the country and speaking to various congressional staffers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps my most memorable visit was to the office of <\/span>Sen. Mark Rubio<\/b> (R-FL) in April 2017.\u00a0 <\/span>Lavona Grow<\/b> and I had followed a family of five adults who had driven over 16 hours nonstop from Florida to plead that Medicaid continue funding home care of disabled family members.\u00a0 Their 30+ year-old-son was wheeled into Sen. Rubio\u2019s office atop a stretcher with a respirator and a tracheotomy tube attached.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We waited while the mother made her heart-felt case. Then it was our turn.\u00a0 Lavona delivered many constituent letters from UU congregants around the Tampa area. We also spoke with the family members.\u00a0 I talked with the young man equipped with a laptop and a speech synthesizer. It was an emotional moment that for me put everything into the human perspective, something we sometimes forget when making visits to the offices of elected officials.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I never thought at age 78, I would find myself advocating for various pieces of federal legislation or policies grounded in Unitarian Universalist social justice work or lead federal advocacy work for my congregation\u2019s Social Justice Council.\u00a0 During the last two years, I have had the pleasure of meeting UUs from around the country as well as a very impressive group of people who work as Senate and House staffers. I learn more about how government works (or doesn\u2019t) with each interaction. It makes me feel good to know I\u2019m doing my part as a UU using advocacy to advance social justice.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is impossible to directly link our Advocacy Corps visits to the passage of any single piece of legislation but I believe UUSJ is being heard and having an impact.\u00a0 I am happy and proud to do this work and know it satisfies both a spiritual and patriotic obligation for me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In gratitude,<\/p>\n

Bob McCarthy<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Please consider making a donation to UUSJ to support our work into 2020<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0*<\/p>\n

——————<\/p>\n

Bob McCarthy<\/b> is a member of the UU Congregation of Fairfax (UUC Fairfax) since 1999.\u00a0 Bob has been a member of the Advocacy Corps for over 2 years. He is also the UUC Fairfax representative to the UUSJ Board of Directors.\u00a0 He retired in 1999 after over 40 years in the defense and information technology industries.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three years ago, I realized that I needed to do more than bemoan the 2016 presidential election results and started looking for opportunities. I first became aware of the Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice (UUSJ) Capitol Hill Advocacy Corps and its efforts to deliver the UU vision to federal lawmakers from Adam Wasserman, a member … Continue reading Bob McCarthy on A Most Memorable Advocacy Corps Visit (Why I Engage on Federal Policy)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,1934,29,11,13,1952,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advocacy","category-democracy","category-economic-justice","category-health","category-politics","category-testimonials","category-volunteer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21308"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21313,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21308\/revisions\/21313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}