SARAH is grateful to the good folks at Big Sunday who help us turn Orange County to Blue and Yellow!
SARAH had a vision several years ago to head a county wide weekend of community service and Big Sunday was the perfect solution. We organize the community and send them to Big Sunday to participate on that weekend. The community signs on to Big Sunday's website, choses a service project and then worked shoulder to shoulder with other community members. We also encourage you to let us know who also may need our help on that weekend.
However, this one weekend a year is not our only goal. We are committed to creating a more harmonious community by providing opportunities for Orange County to get to know our neighbors. We can do that on our way to, and following Big Sunday Weekend.
Big Sunday is an awesome and already existing and credible organization in LA for the past 12 years. SARAH is partnering with Big Sunday to increase community service and community building in OC in a unique way; by united our faith communities. We are also engaging our civic and youth communities.
Join the Village!
We are at work now creating community alliances known as "Villages". A Village can consist of diverse faith based organizations in a given area to develop relationships which ultimately builds community. We then see the Villages collaborating in relationship building activities. All of this happens on the way to next May, which is really where we do our best work.
We are working hard at making sure our Villages are diverse as well. Each Village will have a designated Anchor or Hub.
We are making ourselves available to come and speak to you as well but I would like to invite you to an informational meeting on Sept. 16th. Please let us know if you will join us at ocvillage@gmail.com
Frequently Asked Questions
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Q.If Big Sunday is in May, why are we getting together now
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A.We are getting together now in order to create greater community involvement. We believe you are aware of the needs of your community and will be empowered to provide projects that all of Orange County may find of interest and join in doing good works for the benefit of all.
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Q.If it’s called “Big Sunday” why is it held on Saturday too?
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A. This initiative started out as Temple Israel of Hollywood’s annual Mitzvah Day, community service day. As TIOH’s Mitzvah Day grew into a community wide, apolitical, non-denominational ecumenical project, it’s name changed to Big Sunday several years ago. Once Big Sunday grew to the point where tens of thousands of people were volunteering, it became a weekend long event to accommodate more needs but by then the Big Sunday name was too recognizable to change.
Q.What kind of projects can we expect to propose and work on?
A.The range of project activities can be very broad. Some may be beach or park clean up, working in a soup kitchen, reading to the blind, visiting an elderly home with a choir or small children to sing or play games. As long as they are a legitimate organization and meet Big Sunday’s protocol, we will publish them on the website.
Q.Do I have to work on a project that my Village proposed?
A.Nope! You can choose any project that you as an individual or family would like to participate in.
Q.How do I sign up for a project?
A.Sometime around early April, the Big Sunday website will list all the projects broken down into cities. Go to www.bigsunday.org, find a project and sign up! Hurry up as they do fill up.
Q.But our organization has it’s own annual community service day or pet projects.
A.Big Sunday is not intended to replace your existing projects, but an opportunity to take part in a county wide initiative and work together as community. It’s also a very good way to empower others in OC to know about your projects to further support for them.
Q. What will our youth be doing in the Interfaith Youth Council?
A.The Interfaith Youth Council is modeled after the county’s Interfaith Councils. The youth will come together to dialogue and also create programs that are interesting to them, all revolving around understanding and respecting one another’s unique culture, religion and customs. The committees that our kids can participate on are: Youth Forum (dialogue sessions), Community Service, Website management, Fundraising, Network and Outreach, Education, Justice, Environment, Performing Arts and Music. There is mentor support and their Board of Directors is impressive including community leaders, and educators, including the Dean of Religious Studies at USC.
Q. What kind of things will we do as a Village prior to the weekend of Big Sunday?
A. Since we are empowering you to engage in community building we have some suggested activities that have been quite successful. However, you may find there are some things your Village would choose to do in addition or in exchange for these:
Bring your entire Village together to watch the documentary On Common Ground; made while members of the Orange County interfaith community went to Mexico to build a home for a needy family soon after 9/11. Then break into small group dialogues with leading questions provided by and facilitated by SARAH. A great way to get to know your neighbors is to invite one another to your place of worship for a service or a tour. Make sure to take time to sit down and answer questions or maybe more dialogue discussions. Bring a small community service project to your Village as an interim activity. We encourage each Village to join the entire community of Villages to include food collection at each Village gathering for your local food pantry.
Q. Who is SARAH and what qualifies them to facilitate our dialogues and lead the Big Sunday Initiative?
A.SARAH has been active in interfaith collaboration for 6 years (Sept 2002). We have facilitated and or participated in 10’s of dialogue sessions, either participating, providing the prompt questions or actively facilitating them. We use rules of dialogue and techniques that are tested and published. The Sacred Art of Listening, by Kay Lindahl (SARAH Sister, Community Leader and Interfaith Minister) and the model set forth by the Orange County Human Relations Commission are 2 of our methods. SARAH’s vision and energy are dedicated to creating a more harmonious community by the means of dialogue and community service, both of which the Big Sunday Initiative is providing. You can visit SARAH’s website at www.sarah4hope.org
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Q.Who is Big Sunday?
A. Big Sunday is the largest annual region-wide community service event in America. In 2008, Big Sunday weekend engaged over 50,000 volunteers, the organization’s 10th anniversary. Each year, Big Sunday builds on its goal of being the largest all-volunteer day in America, not in response to a man-made or natural disaster, but simply because Big Sunday wants to build community, when volunteers of every age and from every walk of life — work together to help others. For more information please visit their site... www.bigsunday.org
Q. Are there any rules or protocol?
A.Since the nature of our work here is to promote peace, understanding and harmony in our county, it’s helpful to understand a few courtesy measures. If you are hosting an event please do not serve alcohol as many in the faith community do not partake. As well, it’s nice to have non-caffeine beverages available in addition to coffee and tea. We also encourage you to openly ask your new friends, whose culture is new to you what is appropriate and what is not. They will surely answer you in the same spirit in which it was asked. No politics! Period! If you find that you are interested in another’s opinion or position, please arrange a meeting outside of the Big Sunday arena. Those sort of conversations are stimulating but divisive. Our goal is to focus on celebrating our differences, and that rarely happens in politics.
