Gary D. Nissenbaum has been the Chair of the Social Action Committee of The Unitarian Church in Summit since 2005. In 2010, the congregation received the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee's Social Action Award. It was the first year such an award was given. That same year, it was also one of only two large congregations to receive the Unitarian Universalist Association's Breakthrough Congregation Award. Mr. Nissenbaum is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey and serves as a cooperating attorney for that organization. He has published