Message from Project Unity Founder, Richie Butler
|
|
Great news! Pfizer booster vaccines are now available for anyone 65 years and older and persons 18 and up with compromised immune systems or work in high risks areas of employment. Project Unity, with the help of our dedicated health partner, Catalyst Health Network, is committed to ensuring our communities stay safe so that we can get back to a true safer normal. If you have loved ones or friends who are in any of the approved categories, we encourage you to visit our vaccine clinic events for the booster shot. Clinics are available each Saturday during the month of October and designated days in November and December due to the holidays. We are looking forward to providing pediatric vaccines in the near future. If you are still unsure about getting the vaccine, we encourage you to visit the CDC website for a wealth of information. Remember, Together We can stop the spread and safely share our smiles! |
|
|
We would like to thank you for your donations to Project Unity on North Texas Giving Day! Your generous support makes a meaningful difference as we continue to change lives every day.
Communities Foundation of Texas’ North Texas Giving Day gives us a chance to introduce our organization to a new audience and raise funds to keep our mission going. Your donation on North Texas Giving Day brings us one step closer to reaching our overall fundraising goal for the year!
A huge thank you to everyone who donated during the 18 hour giving campaign! The money raised will help us support our mission and fuel our work in the community.
|
|
A Walk in His Shoes | In Memory: Andrew R. Bramley
(1926-2021)
|
|
In honor of our partnership with the Dallas Holocaust Museum, we are honoring Holocaust Survivor Andrew R. Bramley. Here is his story. Walk in his shoes.
Andrew Bramley was born Endre Rosenberg on May 19, 1926, in Budapest, Hungary to Robert and Mariska Rosenberg. |
|
|
|
Andrew was close to his parents and twin sisters, Hedi and Lili, who were born in 1922. Andrew had a happy childhood but remembered experiencing antisemitism while growing up in Hungary, noting "it was in the culture."
Although Hungary was allied with the Nazis, it was not until the German invasion in March 1944 that conditions really deteriorated for Andrew and his family. Shortly after the invasion, he remembered being forced to wear a yellow star marking him as a Jew. Andrew graduated from gymnasium in spring 1944 and was called up for forced labor. In April 1944, he was sent by boxcar to a labor camp in Bor, Yugoslavia. There he worked in a copper mine. In September 1944, the camp was evacuated. Andrew and the prisoners he was with were marched out of the labor camp by German and Hungarian guards. Upon entering the woods outside the camp, they were liberated by Communist partisans. Many other groups of prisoners that left the camp were forced on death marches into Austria and Germany and few survived.
After being liberated by the partisans, Andrew was picked up by the Russians and taken to Timisoara, Romania where he stayed with a Jewish family until January 1945. Returning to Budapest, Andrew found his mother Mariska and sister Hedi alive in his childhood apartment which they now shared with two other families. He learned that his father, sister Lili, and her husband had died. Sometime later, the family heard that Robert Rosenberg perished in a Hungarian labor brigade, and Lili, pregnant with their first child, and her husband George Steiner, were murdered by Hungarian Arrow Cross who shot them into the Danube River.
Andrew eventually made his way west to a displaced persons camp near Wasserburg, Germany and from there he immigrated to the United States via New York in December 1947.
In 1952, Andrew was drafted into the U.S. Army serving in military intelligence as a photo interpreter. He became a citizen during his time in the Army. After finishing his service, he played cello for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for 20 years and then went on to receive bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry from SMU, where he taught Organic Chemistry. He later owned a chemical manufacturing lab which he sold on his retirement.
Andrew found happiness and home when he married Ruth Solka Waranch in December 1968. Andrew Bramley is survived by his wife of almost 52 years, Ruth, children, grandchildren, extended family, and friends. Let’s keep them in our thoughts and prayers.
|
|
Lennox International Supports Project Unity
|
|
Project Unity is pleased to announce  and celebrate Lennox International as a Platinum Sponsor of Together We Can. Like other partners such as Jackson Walker, LLP, Toyota and the SMU Athletics Department, Lennox International is utilizing the Together We Can program as part of their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion resources to support the corporation's overall commitment to providing actionable ways employees can make personal transformations that tie back to their company's core values of Integrity, Respect and Excellence!
Send an email to charlene@projectunity.net if your company is interested in learning how Project Unity can become your DEI resource. |
|
Together We Can Wristbands
Now available online and Dallas County Tomb Thumb Stores!
|
|
|
Together We Can Wristbands can now be purchased online! Not only can you find our Together We Can Wristbands at 29 Tom Thumb stores in Dallas County, but you can now purchase them for your friends and family online! Purchase your wristband today to demonstrate you are not silent to racism and that you are part of the solution. All proceeds fuel our work in the community.
|
|
Faith & Blue National Event Weekend
|
|
Project Unity was pleased to partner with Dallas Police Community Affairs as part of the national Faith and Blue weekend event. This event is a powerful initiative and collaborative effort to build bridges and break biases. Officers from Dallas Police Community Affairs participated in Together We Dine with Highland Park UMC Chancel Choir and St. Luke “Community” UMC Choirs on Friday evening. |
|
TOGETHER WE DINE:
Registration Open for Virtual Event | October 26, 5:30PM
The community is invited to attend our upcoming virtual Together We Dine event on TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26 from 5:30 – 7:00PM Central. Our Together We Dine virtual events offer the opportunity for participants to have safe conversations on race and relations, discuss their experiences and learn about the experiences of others. Conversations are guided by a facilitator.
REGISTER online today.
Registration closes Monday, October 25 at 3PM Central.
|
|
Featuring Our Facilitators
Facilitators are the heart and soul of our Together We Dine program. They volunteer their time 2-3 times a week helping to navigate safe conversations on race. They do this heart-felt work because it matters so much to each of them. Let us introduce you to them and learn why they volunteer.
- Kyle Ogden, President & CEO, The Thanks-giving Square Foundation, facilitator since 2020
I volunteer because I enjoy facilitating and witnessing the discovery that some participants experience. The biggest takeaway so far is learning of the vast diversity of experiences in people's lives. Facilitating for TWD has exposed me to more personal stories, and has helped me develop empathy for all people regardless of where they are on their race relations journey.
- Robert Munoz, Director of Community Engagement, DPD Community Affairs, facilitator since 2019
I volunteer because I want to help work toward a solution. The reason I continue to volunteer with Project Unity is because their vision and mission is to continue improving race relations and foster community relations with law enforcement. What I have learned from TWD is a sense of camaraderie and the dialogue created by people who I just met. It's so heartfelt and inspiring. We can learn from each other's different perspectives.
|
|
Speaker Series | Listening & Learning
|
|
|
Join Project Unity as we host a 3-month speaker series entitled "Listening & Learning". This virtual event is a next step and action item opportunity of our Together We Dine and Together We Can programs. The speaker series runs from September through November and will feature stories of individuals and authors alike who will share stories about their journey and examine the journeys of key figures in our history.
|
|
|
Be a part of this special one hour to listen and learn as we all work to continue our individual journeys around race, race relations, having courageous conversations and walking in someone else's shoes.
October Speaker: Mr. Dale Long, one of few remaining survivors of the 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church where four of his friends were tragically killed and twenty-seven people were injured. Dale and his late brother escaped unscathed. Take an hour to "walk in his shoes" as he shares his story of that painful day in history.
- When: Thursday, October 21, 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. CST
- Register: Email your name to charlene@projectunity.net. Zoom information will be sent to the email address used to request registration prior to the event.
|
|
Project Unity & Jesuit High School Senior Summer Intensive Program Partnership
Project Unity is excited to partner with Jesuit High School as part of their social justice Senior Summer Intensive Program. Six seniors selected Project Unity as their organization of focus to learn about what we do, our community impact and to serve with us in the community. The seniors will help plan and implement the Together We Learn and Together We Can programs for their entire senior class.
|
|
TOGETHER WE VACCINATE: 
COVID-19 Vaccine Events in the Community
|
|
NOTE: We are now offering Boosters to 65+ and eligible individuals. Schedule an appointment for your eligible family member today!
Vaccine card required. Click here for to see if you qualify.
|
|
|
|
For a full listing of our vaccine clinics, please click here.
|
|
 Thank You, Volunteers!
|
|
Thank you to our volunteer facilitators, vaccine teams and canvassing crews for helping to make a difference in the community. Your time and energy are making a difference!
Upcoming volunteer opportunities: Together We Vaccinate. If you would like to volunteer, send an email to volunteers@projectunity.net. |
|
An Evening of Conversation with Civil Rights Activist and Original Freedom Rider Dr. Bernard LaFayette, Jr.
The Sojourners invite you to join a special webinar on Tuesday, October 19th from 6:30-7:30 p.m. ET for an evening of intimate conversation with longtime civil rights activist, organizer, original freedom rider, and authority on nonviolent social change, Rev. Dr. Bernard LaFayette, Jr. and Sojourners President Rev. Adam Russell Taylor.
In 1960, Dr. Bernard LaFayette directed the Alabama Voter Registration Project, co-founded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and was a leader in the Nashville and Selma Movements and on the Freedom Rides. He was appointed the National Program Administrator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and National Coordinator of the Poor People’s Campaign by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. Lafayette currently serves as the curator of the Kingian Nonviolence Workshop, which examines the philosophy used by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the movements he led from 1954 to 1968 and seeks to apply them to contemporary movements opposing violence and conflict.
Rev. Adam Russell Taylor is president of Sojourners and author of A More Perfect Union: A New Vision for Building the Beloved Community. Sojourners is committed to demolishing barriers, equipping the faith community to live out the biblical call to justice and peace, and defending the vulnerable through our campaigns and advocacy work, which includes a major emphasis on voter engagement and protection so that every person can fully participate as a citizen in this country.
The event is free but space is limited.
|
|
Calendar of Upcoming Events
Keep up with Project Unity! Visit our calendar to find out where we are or who we are serving in the community. Click Here!
|
|
|
|
|
|
