UU Church New Year's Eve Celebration

There will be a New Year's Eve Party for church members and friends on Saturday, December 31st from 5:00pm to midnight in the Fellowship Hall. Kid's Party 5-7 pm The kids will enjoy a pinata, Chinese calligraphy writing, and a punching bag. Coffeehouse from 7-9 pm If you would like to sign up to perform at the coffeehouse, or can help with refreshments or setup and tear down, please contact Jodi Barnhill at 217-840-1812 or barnhill@illinois.edu. Childcare is available, please contact the office at 384-8862 if you need to make arrangements for childcare. Ring in the New Year from 9-midnight with music and dancing. Hope to see you on New Year's Eve!

The Mitten Tree

A Description of the book "The Mitten Tree" from Amazon.com. Candace Christiansen (Author), Elaine Greenstein (Illustrator) "On a snowy day, Sarah notices that a little boy at the bus stop does not have any mittens. Worried that he couldn't join in the winter fun, Sarah knits mittens for the little boy, placing them on a tree at the bus stop the next day. Each day thereafter, the children look for new mittens, and every day Sarah knits new ones. One morning she covers every branch with bright new mittens for the children. Though she has used up all her yarn, Sarah returns home with a full heart and discovers a wonderful surprise waiting on her porch." With this wonderful book as an inspiration, members of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Urbana-Champaign donated a huge variety of hats, mittens, scarves and other warm apparel to the East Central Illinois Refugee Center, which is housed in our church. ECIRMAC (ecirmac.org) is an organization that aids in the resettlement of refugees and immigrants, regardless of country or origin, in the East-Central Illinois area and aids in the exchange and preservation of their respective cultures. Special thanks to all the members and friends who support this worthwhile cause. If you would like to make a donation to the Mitten Tree, please contact the church office at 384-8862.

Collecting Backpacks and Necessities for Daily Bread Soup Kitchen

Daily Bread Soup Kitchen will be handing out backpacks filled with cold weather items and toiletries on Wednesday, Dec. 21st and will be sorting/organizing backpacks the day before--Tuesday, Dec. 20th. They need both donations and volunteers to either sort/organize on the 20th or help hand them out on the 21st. For donations, backpacks can be filled with toiletries such as deodorant, hand lotion, toothpaste/toothbrushes, shampoo, shaving cream, etc., and cold weather items like gloves, hats, scarves, socks, long underwear, t-shirts, sweatshirts, hand warmers, cough drops and other items like deck of cards, books, small fleece blankets, candy, gum. All items should be new. Backpacks should be labeled with gender and size; most guests request L or XL (2X and 3X also needed). Filled diaper bags also appreciated. You can bring filled backpacks (or any of the above listed items--you don't have to fill an entire backpack) to the Hunger Initiative table after each of the services on Sunday, Dec. 11th in the Fellowship Hall, or they can be dropped off the week of Dec. 12-19th at Daily Bread, 124 W. White, Champaign from 9-1. To volunteer, or for more information about donating, call Daily Bread volunteers at 356-2551 or 356-7687.

Partner Churches Benefit from December Shared Offering

The Mission and Objectives of the Partner Church Committee are to develop long term mutually supportive relationships with our fellow Unitarians in Transylvania, Romania and in the Khasi Hills of India. To this end we promote an exchange of people and ideas, provide funds and other forms of assistance to help our Partner Churches in Szekelykal (Transylvania) and Nongtalang (Khasi Hills, India) and their communities to improve the quality of life for all the inhabitants and to foster economic development through enhanced educational opportunities. Our two Partner Churches are quite different, although they share an economy based on farming. In Szekelykal, its mixed agriculture, while in Nongtalang the primary crop is beetle nut. In Szekelykal, the Church building dates from before the Reformation during which the Church became Unitarian. The Church in the Khasi Hills has been finished and is a small concrete building. Paved roads are the connections between urban areas and villages. The roads in the villages themselves are dirt roads. Szekelykal has heated homes and electricity, but in the Khasi Hills, the level of income is frequently below the global poverty level of a dollar a day, but they do have electricity. Seventy seven percent of young children in the State of Meghalaya (where Nongtalang is located) drop out of school before grade ten due to poverty. The needs of both congregations are sizeable. Education and basic necessities are high on the list of ways the Committee hopes to support the growth and stability of both our Partner Churches. There are current photos from both Churches on the Bulletin Board in the Fellowship Hall. In the south entrance hall (by the parking lot door) are hanging several gifts from our friends in Szekelykal. If you wish to help support this ongoing effort to benefit those churches, please note that collections throughout the month of December are designated to that end. You may either write a check made out to the UU Church, with a note in the memo line that your donation is to go to Partner Churches, or you may use a red marked envelope. These funds will go directly to the Partner Churches. In addition to those funds, 50% of the undesignated cash collection will go to the Partner Churches.

Rake-A-Thon and Mulch-A-Thon at UU Church

A huge thanks to all the RE and property committee members, the RE classes and any other volunteers that showed up on Sunday, November 13th to either rake or move mulch, clean up the weeds on the slopes, etc. There are way too many to recount everyone's names, but please know how much we appreciated all your efforts. It was a great event and having it punctuated by the second Sunday potlucks gave people a chance for a break and to refuel their bodies. Thanks to all how organize and contribute to the potluck as well. The event helped promote camaraderie, helped educate our kids about working together, volunteerism, and about stewardship of our property. It will make the job of adding some additional mulch much easier in the spring. Again, a huge THANK YOU to all!

Food Drive at the Church-Begins Sunday November 27!

The Hunger Initiative Coordinating Team is asking for your help in kicking off a food drive to benefit the Eastern Illinois Foodbank (EIB) starting Sunday, November 27 and continuing through the Holiday season. Representatives from EIB spoke at our service in October to inform our congregation about the wonderful work they do. EIB provides food to agencies like food pantries, soup kitchens, snack programs, and shelters who serve the hungry in Champaign County and 13 other counties in Eastern Illinois.According to EIB, Champaign County's poverty rate is estimated at 21%, which is higher than Cook County's. The food drive is another great opportunity to get involved in our church-wide initiative to fight hunger in the Champaign-Urbana community. Starting November 27, you can bring canned and boxed foods to church which will then be donated to EIB. Foods in greatest need are the following; canned meats, canned complete meals (ravioli, spaghetti-O's, etc.), canned beans and other vegetables, canned fruit, boxed meals, and peanut butter. They also accept toiletries, cleaning products, and pet food. &They CANNOT accept food in glass containers, homemade food, or any open containers. Would you like to help organize the food drive? We need folks to hang up signs at the church, label boxes and place them in the fellowship hall, count food items, pick up boxes of food and take them to the Food Bank, and other related tasks. Interested? Send an email to hunger@uucuc.org and let us know what type of activity you are interested in, and we'll put you to work to help fight hunger in our community. Thank you!

November Shared Offering: Champaign County Health Care Consumers

Champaign County Health Care Consumers (CCHCC) is a grassroots non-profit organization founded in 1977, with the mission of health care for all. CCHCC provides a variety of free services to community members, as well as advocacy and community organizing to make improvements in the health care system, and in policy and legislation at the local, state, and national levels.

CCHCC provides free direct services to about 700 clients a month through its Hotline, Medicare 100/Plus Program (for low-income Medicare beneficiaries) and its Dental programs. CCHCC also runs a mobile dental clinic for low-income seniors twice a month in its office.

CCHCC’s community organizing campaigns work with local residents to improve the health care system or to advocate for policy and legislative changes. Current campaigns focus on access to care, protecting Social Security and other vital programs from budget cuts, and the 5th & Hill Neighborhood Rights Campaign (an environmental justice campaign).

http://www.healthcareconsumers.org/ 

Book Discussion Group; Prothero

Beginning on Thursday, November 3rd, at 7:00 p.m., Axel Gehrmann will be leading a ten-session discussion on the book “God Is Not One” by Stephen Prothero. Prothero offers a unique and timely approach to the world’s dominant religious traditions, which stands in sharp contrast to the perspectives offered by scholars we have discussed in years past, such as Huston Smith and Karen Armstrong. Prothero’s book is “an indispensable guide to the questions human beings have asked for millennia - and to the disparate paths we are taking to answer them today.” The group will meet on the first and third Thursdays. Please sign up on the sheet Minister’s Office door, or contact Axel (minister@uucuc.org) with questions or childcare needs.

Feeding Body and Soul:UPDATE! 11-16-11

 The storytelling celebration, with performances on the theme of food, raised $566 for the Eastern Illinois Foodbank on Saturday, November 12 at the church.  Performances by Dan Keding, Barbara Bolser, Camille Born, Kathe Brinkmann, Linda Dust, Sue Searing, Kim Sheahan, and Hal Southern entertained a crowd of about 60 people in Fellowship Hall.  Thanks to Pat Nolan and Lynne Handy for all their work in helping organize the event, and to the Hunger Initiative Volunteers who provided deserts!



A Tellebration Storytelling Celebration and Benefit for the Eastern Illinois Foodbank November 12, 7:30 pm $5 minimum donation Unitarian Universalist Church 309 W. Green St. Urbana, IL 61801 384-8862 Performers: Dan Keding, Barbara Bolser, Camilla Born, Kathe Brinkmann, Linda Dust, Sue Searing, Kim Sheahan, Hal Southern For more information, contact Kim Sheahan at kimtales@mchsi.com The Champaign-Urbana Storytelling Guild, in partnership with the Unitarian Universalist Church of Urbana-Champaign, will be hosting a benefit for the Eastern Illinois Food Bank on Saturday, November 12. "Feeding Body and Soul", a storytelling celebration, will be held in Fellowship Hall starting at 7:30 p.m. and will feature storytellers Dan Keding, Barbara Bolser, Camille Born, Kathe Brinkmann, Linda Dust, Kim Sheahan, and Hal Southern. The evening will be a feast of stories to entertain and engage the mind and heart -- with a sampling of tasty treats for the body as well. Suggested donation is $5.00, with all proceeds going to the Eastern Illinois Food Bank.

Coffeehouse October 8th! Please Join Us!

Greetings All!
The first UU Coffeehouse of the year will be Saturday, October 8th from 7-10 pm at the UU Church of Urbana-Champaign, 309 W. Green St., Urbana, IL.  We are planning this event as an unofficial kickoff to our church-wide project of addressing hunger in our community.  We are asking everyone who wishes to participate to consider songs, poems, stories or other performances that in some way address hunger, and the other related issues of poverty, injustice, discrimination, etc.  As always, we welcome all performances, even if they are not related to the hunger issue!  If you need more information, contact Sam Beshers at beshers@illinois.edu or John Coppess jcppss@aol.com.  Thanks!
 

Get Involved in our Hunger Initiative!

To help address hunger in our community, the church is in the beginning stages of a two-year church-wide social action initiative around the problem.  To start things off, we have developed a website! Visit http://uucuc.org/hunger-initiative to review the Initiative’s background and events coming up. We are now coordinating volunteer efforts and would love to hear from you. 

Until our online volunteer site is ready, just email us at: hunger@uucuc.org   

Also, don’t miss the upcoming 5th Annual Hunger Symposium 7-8:30 pm Monday, Sept. 26: Illinois Terminal in Champaign.

We hope you will get involved! 
 

September Shared Offering: Education Justice Project

September’s Shared Offering is the Education Justice Project (EJP), at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Under the inspiration and direction of Dr. Rebecca Ginsburg (Professor of Landscape Architecture), the EJP offers upper-level university courses and related activities to incarcerated people in Illinois. The related activities include tutoring, an on-site resource room, bilingual Spanish-English instruction, book clubs, a speaker series, and support for a network of families of EJP students. The program currently operates at the Danville Correctional Facility for men. Nearly all staff in the program are trained volunteers from the university and the local community. The program is grounded in a well substantiated body of research. College-in-prison programs reduce arrest, conviction, and reincarceration rates among released prisoners. College-in-prison programs are also linked to fewer disciplinary incidents within prison and thus safer environments for prisoners and staff alike. College-in-prison programs also have benefits for inmates’ families and, hence, their communities. The strongest predictor of whether a given person will attend college is whether her or his parents did. So, when an incarcerated person receives a college education, his or her children are more likely to pursue their own educations. In spite of these significant benefits, there has been a precipitous drop in college-in-prison programs around the country. There were over seven hundred degree-granting programs at their height, in the early 1990s. In 1994 the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act eliminated the use of Pell Grants for prisoners, and most prison college programs closed, including Illinois’ BA-granting programs. Bachelor degrees have not been offered in Illinois prisons since 2002. The EJP is a vital program, seeking long-term responses to chronic structural problems like crime and incarceration, both of which disproportionately affect the poor and people of color in our society. Please check out the website http://www.educationjustice.net/ or ask Jennifer Greene for further information.

Snack and Chat UU Community Fair; Sept. 25

Get Connected at the Snack and Chat UU Community Fair on Sept. 25 Find out about the many opportunities for involvement and connections at our church at this year’s UU Community Fair; Representatives from our church’s committees and small groups will be in the Fellowship Hall after each service on Sunday, Sept. 25. Stop by their tables, sample tasty snacks, and find out how you can get connected with others at church and contribute your time and talents to the many facets of our UU community. Questions? Contact Peggy Patten at m-patten@sbcglobal.net.

Khasi Dinner and Travelogue Saturday, October 1st, 6:15 pm

The Partner Church Committee invites you to enjoy
“An Evening in Meghalaya: Khasi Dinner and Travelogue”

Celebrate the culture of Northeast India
as you taste Indian food with a Khasi flavor
and share Peri’s and Brigitte’s experience
with our Partner Church in Nongtalong
and the northeast region of India.

Join us for appetizers at 6:15 pm; dinner served at 6:30 pm.
Entertainment and travelogue follow dinner

$20 per person or $45 for a family of three or more
Reserve or buy tickets on September 18 or 25,
or from a Partner Church Committee member.

UU Team helps with Habitat for Humanity Build

Volunteer crews from the UU Church participated in two build dates for Habitat for Humanity in June and July. Over these two dates, church members built a handicapped ramp, installed doors, painted woodwork, installed blinds and other fixtures, caulked around sinks and bathtubs, and did multiple other jobs in helping finishing the house for Towanda Frazier and her family. Thanks to these UU members who were part of these crews: Anne and David Sharpe, Charlie Boast, Charlie Wisseman, Dara Purvis, David Wolfe, Geoff Levin, Jeff Watts, Kathleen Robbins, Nicole Tami and her brother, Tullio, and father-in-law, Kosta, Pat Nolan, Roch Ducey, Sandy Hannum, Shawnda Fuller, Steve Troyes, Teresa Jones, Tim Schreiber, and Sandy and Joe Finnerty. The photo shows some of our crew on the front porch of the home. Habitat is building two more houses this summer and fall, so if some of you would like to participate in these builds, please contact me for information.
Jim Hannum
Social Action Committee

Social Action Committee recommends...

Check out the following community events and activities if you are interested in social action issues. These are not sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Church but are activities that promote the ideals of the church.

Would you like to stand up for peace?
Join AWARE (Anti-War Anti-Racism Effort)'s monthly peace demonstrations
The first Saturday of every month, 2-4pm in downtown Champaign, on the corner of Main and Neil streets.
New faces are always welcome!

C-U Coffee Party Summer Film Festival at Channing-Murray,
1209 W. Oregon St., Urbana, IL
Saturday, July 23, 2011
3pm-6pm with potluck intermission

Film: The Corporation -- explores the nature and spectacular rise of
the corporation, the dominant institution of our time. Taking the
corporation's status as a legal "person" to the logical conclusion,
the film puts the corporation on the psychiatrist's couch to ask,
"what kind of person is it?" Including interviews with 40 corporate
insiders and critics including Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Milton
Friedman, Howard Zinn, Vandana Shiva and Michael Moore, plus true
confessions, case studies and strategies for change.

Film: Inside Job
Sunday, August 14, 2011
2:30pm

Film: Casino Jack and the United States of Money
Sunday, September 18, 2011
2:30PM

Islamophobia
Manufacturing the “Muslim Menace”
Public Forum
Thursday July 14th, at 7:00pm
Champaign Public Library
Robeson rooms A+B
200 West Green St., Champaign IL 61820

Speakers include: Matt Niemi, and Ola Moshref of CMIC the local Mosque,
Stuart Levy of AWARE, Eric Heim of the ISO, and Raad Ismail.

This program will explore how the war on terror impacted the Muslim, Arab, and
South Asian populations in the U.S., and the efforts of the Federal government
to isolate, harass, and intimidate American Muslims in the name of “Homeland
Security”. Entrapment and dramatic media-assisted raids have allowed the
government to present a picture of the American Muslim community as a
breeding ground for dangerous terrorists. Subsequent, often questionable,
prosecutions have led to some convictions, some charges being dismissed and some accused
accepted guilty pleas to dramatically reduced charges under the threat of
long prison sentences. The unsuccessful prosecutions have had much less media
attention.

Our goal is to educate the public in respect to Muslim religion, values, and politics, Islam and democracy.

Sponsored by: AWARE, and the ISO (International Socialists Organization)
Contact: Iso.champaign@gmail.com; aware@anti-war.net

July Shared Offering: Generations of Hope

Generations of Hope is a unique 16 year old 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation located on the former Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, Illinois. Our mission is to develop and sustain the intergenerational neighborhood, Hope Meadows, for adoptive families of foster children that promotes permanency, community and caring relationships while offering safety and meaningful purpose in the daily lives of older adults. Hope Meadows is a geographically contained, intergenerational, intentional community. It is a place where adoptive families can get the support and information they need, children can finally find a place to call home, and and elders find real purpose and meaning in their everyday lives.

Butterfly Garden: Look How Far We've Come!

About the Green UUs

Many of our members of our congregation are environmentally active in their personal and professional lives. We have a great pool of expertise available from green building designers, solar power scientists, community planners, bicycling advocates, master naturalists, authors, poets, and agricultural innovators. I personally tend to pull on my engineering experience with energy audits in buildings, and working at Camp Drake for five summers as the Eco-Stud. So my dream merit badge might have to do with recycling soda bottles to make solar hot water panels for camp showers. (If you’ve never taken a shower under the stars you’ve missed a religious experience.)
The goal of the UUA Green Sanctuary Program is to encourage living the UU 7th Principle: Respecting the interdependent web of existence on our planet. The program requires 12 projects in 4 program areas: Worship & Spirituality, Religious Education, Environmental Justice, and Sustainable Living.
Over the past couple of years we have completed seven of these projects and have three more actively in the works. Highlights include:
-A Deep Ecology Chalice Circle led by Emily Laugesen and Amy Hassinger, which allowed us to explore our spiritual connection to our environment.
-We have led several Worship Services including Amy’s memorable “On Pests” short story and the upcoming flower service and monarch waystation dedication June 19th with help by GreenUUs, Barbara Jauhola and Gail Hueting.
-Monarch Waystation Garden with the kids of RE including planning by Renee Cogill, Karla Peterson and with master gardeners Japhia Ramkumar, Mary Kay Solecki. Look for a dedication in conjunction with the 5-19 flower service.
-Green Cleaning and Beauty Products and information with Patrick Stewart.
-Ethical Eating Together (October 2010 local harvest potluck).
-Walnut tree recycling with help from Ann and Dave Sharpe.
-Building efficiency improvements with Property Committee and Myron our sextan. (Some projects are small such as new LED bulbs for five exit signs which will save $30/yr each. Then some projects are large like a new boiler which might cost $20k but save a couple of thousand each year.) Note that our new wing already has fairly high efficiency heating and cooling. In the far distance wouldn’t it be an awesome goal to offset our energy impact with renewable energy credits or solar panels on the roof?
We were able to share some of these accomplishments this last fall with other congregations at a workshop put on by Faith in Place, a religious environmental advocacy group based locally and in Chicago. It was good to hear from other local congregations about their efforts.
Future projects might include: stewardship gardens with Faith in Place, bike for kids workshop or rodeo, adult RE class on our sense of place, and battery recycling (which will hopefully be able to re-use the pennies for peace jars). The UUA has a challenge of having 20% of its congregations certified by 2012. We feel that this is a good goal for our congregation too.
Many of these projects are done in close cooperation with other committees. When we are brainstorming, you will hear the names of people in RE, Property, Membership, and Social Action. We would like to give appreciation and thanks to all the members and volunteers that have helped. The GreenUUs can help you or your committee with your own Green projects.
I would like to leave everyone with the task of doing their one simple thing. Perhaps that’s doing something financial like switching to buy your electricity from a renewable source or purchasing a carbon offset for your home from a company like Sterling Planet. Or maybe that’s just taking the time this weekend to stop and enjoy the weather and appreciate how much this beautiful Earth means to you and your family. Whether we are gardeners of this earth, or part of the garden, we have a responsibility and the evolutionarily granted ability to treat it with kindness and respect. I was always taught to leave a campsite in better condition than I found it and I hope we all can do the same. Thank you.
Find out more about the Green UUs at our website: http://uucuc.org/green-uus
Or check out and join our Google group email list: https://groups.google.com/a/uucuc.org/group/greenuus/topics?hl=en.

Emmy Award Winning Phil Gulley to Speak at May 8th Sunday Service

Pastor Gulley is scheduled to speak at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Urbana IL on Sunday, May 8th at both services - 9:30 and 11:15 am. Please join us in welcoming him. His sermon title is "So We Must Think Anew". It is about the importance of religious and spiritual institutions moving society in a new direction rather than following "the quiet dogmas" of the past. It is based on a speech Abraham Lincoln gave to Congress a month before the Emancipation Proclamation was made.

Philip Gulley is currently the pastor at Fairfield Friends Meeting near Indianapolis. His theological works include "If Grace Is True" and "If God Is Love", both of which were coauthored with James Mulholland, and his current endeavor, "If the Church Were Christian". He is also a well-known author for the acclaimed "Harmony" series of novels chronicling life in the eccentric Quaker community of Harmony, Indiana, and the best-selling "Porch Talk" series of inspirational and humorous stories. He currently writes a monthly column for Indianapolis Monthly magazine.

Pastor Gulley has received two Emmy Awards for his Indiana PBS affiliate television program and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from his alma mater, Christian Theological Seminary. Prior to receiving his Master of Divinity degree in 1992 from the seminary, he attended Marian College in Indianapolis.

Click here for more information about Pastor Gulley.

Search for a Director of Religious Education

We are seeking a new DRE!! Our dynamic and growing church is looking for a new leader of our education program for curious UUs of all ages. This is an 11 month full time position, to start in August 2011. For more information: http://uucuc.org/dresearch. Questions can be sent to Cindy Loui, Search Committee chair at: dresearch@uucuc.org.

Third Sunday Outings with UU Families!

Keep these dates open for fun and adventure with other UUs in the Community. Each 3rd Sunday of the month some families from the church are planning to get together and do fun things. The following are tentative plans through the middle of the summer. If you would like to know more, please contact Sylvia McDermott at 398-1948 or email her at evdrew@aol.com.

March 20 at 2:00--
Krannert Art Museum--meet in the lobby entered from Fourth Street

April 17 at 1:00:
Meadowbrook Park in Urbana--picnic, play, and walking

May 15 after church: Kickapoo Park in Oakwood, IL:
picnic, boating, fishing, hiking--probably best to caravan fron the church & find a picnic site. Anyone who wishes to join us there can phone me ahead of time to get my cell phone number (Sylvia McDermott)

June 24-June 26 (Friday through the Fourth Sunday in June) Is anyone interested in camping at Moraine View State Park? Please call Sylvia (398-1948) or email (Evdrew@aol.com) to let her know if you plan to come.


Join us!