During the service on Sunday, November 3, the Board of Trustees of the Unitarian Universalist Community of Charlotte presented the Sybil Bernstein Award and the Charlotte Watkins Beacon Award to two worthy UUCC members.

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June Blotnick and Roger Coates

The Sybil Bernstein Award, presented annually by the Board of Trustees to honor a lengthy record of commitment and generosity to our congregation, is named after a beloved member of our congregation, now of blessed memory, whose remarkable generosity and devoted service to our congregation stand still as shining examples for us. In offering this award the Board honors Sybil Bernstein and the prior recipients of this, our highest recognition for meritorious giving and service to our congregation.

Roger Coates, this year’s recipient of the Bernstein Award has demonstrated an undying passion for social justice, particularly in the areas of homelessness, affordable housing, and environmental justice. Roger has been steadfast and consistent in service to the UUCC and the larger community for as long as he has been a member of the UUCC.

He has been an active member of UUCC’s GreenFaith Initiative since its inception, serving in a significant leadership role, both as a member of the steering committee and in organizing workshops, meetings and education programming related to the “Align Your Money with Your Values” campaign. He also co-started a program called Climate Action Together to encourage members to take individual actions to reduce their carbon footprints.

Roger has also been a tireless advocate for our most marginalized neighbors, fighting for justice for the unhoused and advocating for affordable housing. At the UUCC, he spent many hours supporting the Room in the Inn program and was often seen taking individuals aside to talk one-on-one to learn about their struggles and offer support and resources. He also served with teams of UUCC members to cook and serve meals at the Men’s Shelter, build Habitat for Humanity houses, and rehabilitate homes with the Reentry Housing Alliance. In the larger community, he started the Charlotte Housing Investment Partnership non-profit, raising funds to rehab distressed houses as affordable housing opportunities.

The UUCC Charlotte Watkins Beacon Award was established in 2010 in honor of the indomitable, indefatigable, truly amazing Charlotte Watkins who lived a life of service to others, embodying UU values, working tirelessly towards creating a more just society, especially in the areas of racial justice and women’s empowerment. This award is given to recognize other UUCC member-leaders who take their commitment to UU principles and values into the wider community, standing up for that which they believe, without interest in personal aggrandizement or financial reward, but do what they do, day in and day out, years on end, because they must.

Our Charlotte Watkins Award winner this year is June Blotnick who, since the 1970’s, has been involved in community organizing in North Carolina around issues of financial equity and opportunity, access to legal representation, and community organizing in under-resourced neighborhoods. She started a worker-owned business, community gardens and food co-ops in neighborhoods without grocery stores, and the Charlotte branch of the Self-Help Credit Union, making loans possible for those the banks turned away.

Clean Air Charlotte was begun in 2002 as a local volunteer organization promoting awareness of the negative impacts of air pollution in our area. When June winner took the helm in 2005, she went about expanding the mission and reach of the organization, building coalitions of community leaders in the health care and environmental awareness arenas throughout the state, reducing pollution loads in the most vulnerable communities in the Charlotte region and throughout the state, shining an important spotlight on the inequitable burdens that climate change and air pollution impose on low income communities.

She helped to establish affiliated groups such as Clean Air for Kids, Medical Advocates for Healthy Air, NC Clinicians for Climate Action, Citizen Science Airkeepers, Charlotte-Meck Climate Leaders and NC Climate Ambassadors, again focused on the importance of reducing air toxins, particle pollution and carbon emissions, given their demonstrable link to asthma and other lung- related health conditions that show up in disproportionate numbers of lower income children.

And since stepping down from the Executive Director position after her 17- year tenure of growing Clean Air Carolina into a nationally known environmental justice leader, June continued and increased her leadership role at the UUCC with GreenFaith, the international, multi-faith effort committed to organizing climate action to create a livable future for all people.

Please join the Board in congratulating and recognizing this year’s award recipients, Roger Coates and June Blotnick.