Eat, Drink, and Be Merry for a Good Cause

Mark your calendars: Saturday, October 18th at 5:30 p.m. is the annual Partner Church Committee's (PCC) fundraising dinner for our partner churches in Transylvania, Romania, and the Khasi Hills in India. Our theme this year will be a dinner/film combination honoring the Transylvanian region of Romania. Enjoy a light dinner consisting of sour cherry soup, artisan rolls, a selection of sandwiches, and German strudel with ice cream for dessert. The dinner will cost $15 per person, with larger donations welcome, to support our partner churches.

Contact Brigitte Pieke at brigittepieke@hotmail.com if you need a ticket.

PCC Members: Anne Sharpe, Barb Strauss, Christine Cahill, Gail Hueting, Libby Tyler, Peri Ceperley, Sally Babbitt, and Brigitte Pieke (chair).

Happy Hour is the Best Hour

Join us at the next Happy Hour this Thursday, September 18th as we try the bar at the new Hyatt Place Hotel, located at the corner of Neil and Church in downtown Champaign. Join us anytime between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. to get together, chat, and relax.  For more information contact Russ Rybicki at russadr@fastmail.fm. Hope to see you there!

Help Us Get To Know One Another Better:

Sign Up to be in our Photo Directory

Please plan to be a part of our photo directory project this fall. We would like photos of everyone who is involved in our church to appear in this book. Three photographers will be here from Tuesday, October 7th through Saturday, October 11th to take the pictures of members and friends of the church. 

To say thanks for participating, you will receive a copy of the finished directory AND a free 8 x 10 photo or set of 9 wallets. You will also have the opportunity to buy additional portraits if you so choose. Lots of folks like to buy holiday cards at this time of year, and you will get your photos in time for the holidays. Others don't like to buy photos, and that's okay, too – but we really want you to be in the directory, so please sign up and get your professional portrait done.

Stop by the Membership Committee’s new Connections Hub in Fellowship Hall after services to sign up or sign up online by clicking here.

September’s Shared Offering: Immigration Forum

This month’s Shared Offering Recipient is the Immigration Forum (IF). Immigration Forum is a local not-for-profit organization open to all residents in our community. Participants include immigrants, students, clergy, service providers, labor union representatives, residents, and community organizations concerned about the progress and plight of immigrants in the Champaign County community. In addition to activities promoting comprehensive and humane immigration reform, the Forum and its Allies of Faith working group has organized an October Immigrant Justice Month for the past three years, a collaborative effort among local faith communities (including the Unitarian Universalist Church of Urbana-Champaign) to highlight the plight and promise of immigrant communities in Champaign County.

This summer, the group again had an informational table twice a month at Farmer’s Market in the Square. The Forum also works as direct service providers assisting undocumented immigrants and their children to apply for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA, which allows students who qualify to get work permits and drivers licenses. In addition to DACA, we are assisting immigrants in applying for Drivers License for All, a recently passed piece of legislation in Illinois that provides undocumented Illinois residents the opportunity to qualify for a driver’s license and purchase auto insurance.

The IF’s most recent initiative centers around making CU a welcoming, friendly community to immigrants of all ethnic backgrounds and will be holding a forum in Fellowship Hall on Tuesday, September 16^th from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on the very current issue, “Central American Children at the Border: What Can We in Champaign-Urbana Do?” The UUCUC has actively supported activities of the CU-Immigration Forum/Allies of Faith since the group’s beginnings some three years ago. Indeed, the Allies of Faith often have their monthly meetings at our church and various working groups of the IF are currently meeting at Channing Murray. Our minister, the Rev. Axel Gehrmann, has been an active supporter of immigration reform as a moral issue and, on a national level, the UUA is definitely a supporter of comprehensive, humane immigration reform. In brief, the many and varied activities of the IF provide an opportunity for UUs to continue to be involved locally in immigration justice efforts and our new two-year Immigration Justice and Advocacy Initiative.