Plate Partners
Check ceremonies with our past Plate Partners. Click on the slide to learn more about each organization.
About Our Plate Partner Program
We acknowledge, as Americans, that the land, country and society bequeathed to us is on one hand the product of conquest and exploitation and on the other “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all are created equal”.
Justice is at the core of our faith and we are called on to make a positive difference in our wider community as we work to build a diverse, multicultural Beloved Community free of racism and oppression in our society, government and ourselves.
As Unitarian Universalist, we believe that each of us has worth and dignity and that worth includes our gender and sexuality; that women have a right to bodily autonomy; that every American has the right to vote and a right to health care and a sustainable way of life. We believe in the right of people to seek and to be granted asylum from persecution. We believe in and support the sovereignty of indigenous communities.
To these ends, we are eager to find and support movements and organizations that align with our mission, community needs, and the justice work of the UUA and ourselves. Such organizations may become a Plate Partner for one month during the year. During that month, we invite the Plate Partner to share their work and mission and we collect a portion of that month’s offering to share with the Plate Partner.
Nominating a Plate Partner
The Social Justice Council looks to the members and friends of our congregation to nominate organizations to be Plate Partners. Please visit the Plate Partner Nomination page.
2024-2025 Plate Partners & Spiritual Themes
“This year’s overarching (theme) is The Practices of Our Faith.
We’re using this frame to focus on how Unitarian Universalism is a lived faith that inspires us to act out our values in the world. Or to put it another way, we’re diving into our long-loved UU commitment to ‘deeds not creeds.’ … (It) is also a way for us to connect to our new UU core value of Liberating Love, with each of our monthly themes framed as a practice that helps us embody liberating love in our daily lives.”
September 2024
Invitation | Citizens’ Climate Lobby (Boise Chapter)
October 2024
Deep Listening | Duck Valley Indian Reservation
Our History
The Tribes once freely occupied the land of their forefather’s and foremother’s in the tri-state area of what are now Idaho, Nevada, and Oregon. This however quickly changed at the coming of the populations from Europe. Land and resources were wrestled away from the Shoshone and Paiute Treaties were made with the United States of which some were ratified and others not. the chiefs signed all the treaties in good faith and for the survival of their people.
Descendents of the Western Shoshone and the Northern Paiute occupy the Duck Valley Indian Reservation of Idaho and Nevada. Various bands of the two closely related tribes have jointly utilized the area from time immemorial.
On April 16, 1877, United States President Rutherford B. Hayes established the reservation for the Western Shoshone and on May 4, 1886, United States President Grover Cleveland expanded the Reservation for the Northern Paiute through respective Executive Orders. On July 01, 1910 United States President William H. Taft further expanded the reservation by yet another Executive Order.
In the early days of the Duck Valley Reservation the people lived in earthern willow and sagebrush huts. Respective bands of Western Shoshone occupied and revolved on and off the reservation depending on their survival needs and because of the unfulfilled promises of food and supplies from the federal government. Some bands adapted as best they could and others did not want to readily leave their expanded homelands and campsites which were located off the reservation. In 1884, an effort to move the Western Shoshone to the Fort Hall Reservation in Idaho (and open up Duck Valley lands for non-indian homesteads) was successfully resisted by the headmen of the bands.
The Northern Paiute bands became allied with their kin, the Bannock in the Bannock War of 1878 and were subsequently sent to a a prisoner of war camp in Yakima, Washington. Upon their release, the survivors were returned to their homelands and the Western Shoshone Reservation was expanded for their use in 1886.
The tribal bands located at Duck Valley existed as best as they were allowed under the watchful eye of the Indian Agent and Indian Police. Farming and ranching was the mainstay for the people. The Shoshone and Paiute united at Duck Valley under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 and formed a tribal government through a Constitution and Bylaws which was adopted in 1936.
From 1884 through 1911 a boarding school operated on the reservation. Thereafter 3 day schools were operated in three separate locations on the reservation. In Owyhee, the Swayne School was built. In 1931 the day schools were closed and all students attended the Swayne School. Students of the higher grades were sent off reservation to boarding schools until 1946 when high school classes were added. In 1956 the reservation school system was consolidated into the Elko County School District of Nevada and today is known as the Owyhee Combined Schools (K-12). Recently, a Community Education Center was placed in Owyhee for GED and higher education courses.
The first full time physician was assigned to Duck Valley in 1882 and by 1897 a small one-room infirmary hospital was built and was replaced by 1920 with a structure which had two seven bed wards. In July of 1937 the native stone hospital was completed with a 20 bed ward, x-ray and laboratory facilities. The native stone hospital was closed in 1976 when the modern Owyhee Community Health Facility was completed.
The Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of Duck Valley are governed by the Business Council. The Business Council is composed of a Chairman, Vice-Chairman and five Council Members, all of whom are elected to serve three-year terms. The Business Council directs the Tribal government. The Chairman manages the operations of Tribal government. There are four divisions of tribal administration: Health & Human Services, Judicial Services, Tribal Programs, and Support Services.
Farming and Ranching are still mainstays for Duck Valley and is reflected in the 12,000 acres of subjugated lands. The Duck Valley Reservation is composed of 289,819 acres held in trust by the United States Government for the use and occupancy of the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes. Included in the total acreage of the Reservation is 22,231 acres of Wetlands. Wildhorse Reservoir was constructed in 1936 for the Duck Valley Irrigation Project. Tribal membership is over 2,000 with approximately 1,700 living on the reservation. The Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of Duck Valley continue to exist within the original territories of their ancestors.
Shoshone-Paiute History Video #1
Shoshone-Paiute History Video #2
Shoshone-Paiute History Video #3
November 2024
Practice of Repair | BUUF’s Refugee & Immigrant Justice Ministry
The Refugee & Immigrant Ministry teams mission is to support and advocate for refugee and immigrant issues in our community (and beyond) through connection with our local community partners and national UU partners and to create awareness and opportunities for engagement among BUUF members about immigration, refugee and asylum seeker support. We do this by building accountable relationships with immigrant & refugee agencies & support groups, supporting what they request, without usurping leadership.
December 2024
Practice of Presence | Idaho Crisis & Suicide Hotline
Idaho Crisis & Suicide Hotline (988) serves as a lifeline for thousands of individuals and families in crisis every year. Whether you or someone you love is feeling suicidal, struggling with a mental or emotional problem, having trouble with drugs or alcohol, having family or relationship problems – reach out. Someone is always here for you 24/7. Your generosity helps support Idahoans, and every dollar counts.
January 2025
Practice of Inclusion | Agency for New Americans
Agency for New American’s mission is to improve the educational, social and economic well-being of new Americans and the communities in which they live by creating individual, agency and public/private partnerships. Our vision is to honor the journey and tremendous strengths of new Americans. We strive to be the leader in preparing diverse communities to overcome the challenges of an ever-changing world.
February 2025
Practice of Inclusion | BUUF’s Racial Justice Ministry
The mission of the Racial Justice Ministry is to raise awareness and understanding of and engagement with race and racism. This includes our individual and collective opportunities to achieve racial justice. We are also guided by the UU 8th Principle, which asks us to affirm and promote journeying toward spiritual wholeness by working to build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions.
March 2025
Practice of Trust | Pink Haven Coalition
Pink Haven Coalition is a coalition of trans organizers, mutual-aid groups, progressive faith organizations, queer associations, and individual justice-lovers. We know that liberation is a group project and that no one is free until everyone is free. We proclaim that trans lives are sacred. Our work centers trans lives and experiences, particularly the lives and experiences of BIPOC trans and gender expansive people. Please know that all donations are moving directly into the hands of trans-led organizers and being used to support trans and non-binary people in accessing the resources and support they need. We are deeply grateful to First Parish Malden, Universalist for serving as the fiscal sponsor for this life saving work.
April 2025
Practice of Joy | City of Good
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May 2025
Practice of Imagination | Idaho Abortion Rights Collective
Since January 2012, thanks to the generosity of members and friends of our fellowship, we have been able to fund scholarships for roughly half the tuition and expenses to help the youth of our partner congregation in Mészkő, Romania
June 2022
Practice of Freedom | Women’s & Children’s Alliance
Since 1910, the Women’s and Children’s Alliance (WCA) has provided safe housing for women in Boise, Idaho. However, in the last 40 years, the focus has been narrowed to provide shelter and supportive services to individuals impacted by domestic violence and/or sexual assault. These services are provided at no-cost, and span a four-county service area representing 30 percent of the population of the state of Idaho. Since its founding, the WCA’s crisis program has evolved into one of the most vital, unduplicated, comprehensive programs in our community and region. The WCA has been at the forefront of providing services to women, men and their children healing from domestic abuse and sexual assault. The WCA is proud to be a community leader in providing these critically needed services. We’ve been an important community partner for 110 years and providing safe places for women to live has always been at the core of our mission.
July 2023
No Theme | Boise Mészkő, Scholarship Fund
Since January 2012, thanks to the generosity of members and friends of our fellowship, we have been able to fund scholarships for roughly half the tuition and expenses to help the youth of our partner congregation in Mészkő, Romania.
August 2023
No Theme | Pay-It-Forward-Fund
The Rev. Elizabeth Greene Pay it Forward Fund (PIFF) was created approximately fourteen years ago to address a need among our own BUUF community for short-term emergency financial assistance. PIFF is the recipient of the social justice outreach plate offerings each year and is available to support BUUF members and friends through the generosity of those who donate. Over the years, funds have helped members and friends stay in their homes, pay for groceries, utilities, medical expenses, and other basic needs of living.