UUCUC Coffeehouse: Spring Variety Show

Come join us, won't you?

What: Music, Dance, Laughter, Stories, & Fun

When: Friday, May 20, 2016 at 7:00 p.m.

Where: The Fellowship Hall

Questions? Email: coffeehouse@uucuc.org

It'll be a whole lot of FUUN!

Bridging Ceremony at UUCUC on Sunday

Come join, us, dear people, this Sunday for our Bridging Ceremony from our YRUU group to our Young Adults. As part of our service, three of our youth members will bridge from the youth group into young adults in our congregation.

This ceremony will be part of our service this Sunday, May 15, at 10:15 a.m. We'd be glad to see you. Peace and best regards,

Erich Adickes,
Acting Membership Coordinator

Childcare: Do UU Dare?

Our Religious Education (RE) program is searching for a Childcare Worker who is 21 or over who can work alternate Sundays to assist our youth in providing care for our littlest members. It can really be fun! You never know what they might do. It might be crawling through a tunnel, loving a doll and giving you one too, asking you to read a story, or playing trains.

This is a paid position on Sunday mornings from 9:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. every other Sunday or so, depending on the schedule. This position may also include some weekdays when childcare is needed for special gatherings. Contact the Director of RE Cindy Wakeland at re-director@uucuc.org if you are interested.

Give Big, Bid Big

Don’t miss this years’ Service Auction – our church’s biggest (and most fun) fundraiser – taking place on Saturday, April 23.

Stop by the Hub table in Fellowship Hall on Sunday to make a donation for the silent or live auctions, to purchase tickets for the event, or to volunteer to assist. You can also use the online Service Auction Donation Form here. Early submissions are MUCH appreciated and will be listed in the auction program. Donations may be made after Sunday, April 17, but will not be printed in the auction program

One, Two, Three Two-Year Initiatives

The Social Action Committee has received three different proposals for our church's next two-year initiative. These proposals are:

1. Injustice in the Criminal Justice System (proposed by Ron Szoke and David Sutton)

1. Food and Water Security: Environmental Social Justice and Fundamental Human Rights for Seven Billion People (proposed by Carolyn Knox)

1. In Solidarity with Black Lives Matter: Examining White Privilege and Dismantling White Supremacy (proposed by Kristina Kahn with support from Kathleen Robbins and Millie Davis)

Please read over and think about these proposals. The congregation will vote at the annual meeting on which proposal to commit to over the next two year period. Your vote will help set the Social Action agenda of our church! Click here to read brief summaries of these three proposals.

Articulation on Our Office Administration

Greetings from your Office Administrator!

This is my first personal blog. It is also my last. You see, on Tuesday, March 22, I formally resigned from this position. My last day will be Friday, April 15.

There – that’s the bad news. I’ve given it before you even knew it was coming in the hope it is more palatable that way. Now, we can focus on the good news!

I have confirmed enrollment in University of Maryland’s Master of Arts in English Literature program. I hope to specialize in Digital Humanities, a new certificate that launches my first semester in Fall 2016. This emerging area of study seems the perfect intersection of my educational and professional backgrounds with my personal interests. Remember: I worked at Sylvan Learning, a nationwide tutoring service, and Deep Silver Volition, makers of the Saints Row video game series, before joining the UUCUC staff.

This process started long ago, in July, when I began studying for the GRE, and came to fruition Monday night when my partner accepted an offer of employment as gameplay programmer at makers of video game series World of Tanks’ Wargaming Chicago-Baltimore – the Baltimore location, obviously. It’s been difficult keeping it a secret from you, many of whom have become my friends – a source of support beyond the professional scope.

However, it is largely because of my time at UUCUC that I have found the courage and strength to leave the Midwest (my home for all of my 26 years) and my extended family to pursue this dream on the East Coast. This college campus, where I work surrounded by intelligent folks conducting research of their own and sharing said passion with peers, has proven an infectious environment. Which is all to say…

Thank you truly for the opportunity to serve you these past two and half years. I have been changed – for good, and for better – by Unitarian Universalism, and am eternally grateful to this friendly church at the corner of Green and Birch for being my introduction to its values and principles. I’ve especially enjoyed the opportunities to work with the Communications Committee and support local outreach, and I’ve learned much about how to be a good supervisor as well as communicate with persons of various backgrounds to achieve various goals – all of which I will take with me throughout the next stage of my journey.

This is an exciting time to be a part of UUCUC and it is sad to leave. Until I am able to visit again in the future, however, know I’ll listen to podcasts of our excellent services and check the Members and Friends Facebook group for updates. And so, instead of goodbye, I’ll end with “until next time.”

With wishes of continued and even greater success…

Next Two-Year Initiative: Call for Proposals

In 2011, the church took on a congregation-wide social action initiative to address the problem of hunger in our Community. After a successful two-year effort on hunger, the congregation supported a two-year Immigration Justice initiative beginning in 2014. Many members of the congregation have been involved in various facets of these initiatives. Energizing the congregation to work together on a particular social action theme has been extremely powerful and gratifying, and a great deal of good work has been done.

The Social Action Committee (SAC) is now soliciting proposals for the next two-year initiative from church committees, groups, and individual members using a simple one-page form. Complete the form online here. Please note responses are due by Sunday, March 13. The SAC will vet the proposals for feasibility, relevance, and accordance with UU principles and church goals. The proposals that have passed the vetting process will be communicated to the congregation through the eUniter, E-News, Social Action table handouts, and other means, to ensure that everyone has a chance to read them. If more than two proposals are submitted, we will have a preliminary vote to winnow the list of initiatives down to the top two. These top two will be presented and discussed at the annual meeting in May and a vote taken to select one topic for our initiative.

After the initiative has been chosen, SAC will work with the Director of Religious Education (RE), RE Committee, Minister, and Membership Coordinator to appoint a task force, separate from the SAC, to implement the two-year initiative. Work on the initiative will begin in September 2016 and end in May 2018. We look forward to reading about all of your ideas! 

The Search Is On!

A Search for Committee Members, To Search for Our Minister

It is time for our congregation to select the people who will lead the search for our next minister as our Settled Minister Search Committee. During the last week of January, your Board of Trustees will be reaching out to all church members, either in person or by phone, to ask you whom you trust to take on this incredibly important task. We will use the feedback we receive to create the pool of candidates. So, if you get a call from the 217 area code one of these evenings, please answer!

Calling All Pledgers

The fiscal year is half over, and we are running a little behind our usual pace on pledge payments. If you have been meaning to send in your pledge payment, now would be a GREAT time to do it. You can pay by check or by electronic funds transfer by clicking here.

It’s Pen Pal Time

All ages, male and female, are welcome to sign up. Plan to join the fun!

Sign up to be a pen pal within the next two weeks. Just fill out the form and you will be given a secret identify of a famous UU person as well a secret name of the person to whom you will be writing. You will sign all your letters with your secret name and write to your secret pen pal using his or her secret name. Children or youth delivering letters will find the name of your pen pals upstairs in Fellowship Hall on the bulletin board by the Library or on the railing of the steps in the back of the room. You can pick up your mail downstairs as the envelopes will be on door and wall. Adults delivering letters will find their recipients’ envelopes downstairs and may pick up mail from the bulletin board by the Library. Everyone will have five weeks to write to your pal. If you want a letter sent during the week, just put a note in the envelope with the name “Cindy Wakeland” and she will see that it gets sent.

Our Pizza Reveal Party will be Sunday, March 6 from 11:40 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. When you are given your mystery name, you will also be given the name of a canned veggie or fruit to bring to the party. Match your can with another and you will have found your pal! All cans will be given to the food pantry.

If you have any questions, please contact Cindy Wakeland at re-director@uucuc.org.