UU’S in Action-Habitat for Humanity home built August 3, 2013

We’re proud to help Habitat for Humanity in their mission to provide decent, affordable homes to families in need. UU’s will be helping build another Habitat home October 5th. It’s a great way to meet fellow UU’s and help a good cause at the same time. Interested in participating? See the Social Action table after Sunday services to sign up, or email SAC chair Nancy Dietrich at nancydietrich01@gmail.com to sign up or for more information.

Help Build a Habitat for Humanity House

The Social Action Committee invites you to help build a Habitat for Humanity house this summer. This is a fun way to get to know fellow UU’s and help a good cause at the same time! We are staffing work crews for August 3rd and October 5th, each from about 8:00am to 3:00pm with lunch provided. You don't need any knowledge of building construction nor do you need to be particularly strong. There are always tasks to do for people of all skill levels! If you are 16 or 17, you are welcome to participate if your parent or legal guardian signs up to work with you. Sign up or get more information at the Social Action table. We have plenty of spaces, so please consider participating!

August Shared Offering: Don Moyers Boys and Girls Club

The Don Moyer Boys & Girls Club is the recipient of our shared offering for August. This Club has operated in Champaign-Urbana since 1968 and provides recreation, mentoring, and education services to youth ages 6-18. Their nationally acclaimed SMART MOVES program helps children move toward good health, fitness and improved self esteem and steers them away from alcohol, tobacco, other drug use, and premature sex. A state of the art TEEN COMPUTER CENTER provides members with essential technology skills. One of their busiest programs is POWER HOUR. Youngsters receive mentoring and support from volunteers from the University of Illinois to address their homework assignments. TORCH CLUBS are small-group leadership and service clubs for ages 11-13. Members work together to plan and implement activities in several areas: service to Club, community, education, health and fitness and social recreation. KEYSTONE CLUBS are chartered leadership and service clubs for ages14-18 and are the most dynamic teen program of the Boys & Girls Club's Movement. Keystoners plan and implement activities in six areas: service to Club and community, leadership development, education and career exploration, unity, free enterprise, and social recreation. JOB READY! Provides club members with specific skills to be successful in the world of work. Teens learn to identify job opportunities, write effective resumes, perform well in interviews, dress appropriately, develop good work habits, and get along well with others. In addition, the Boys and Girls Club offers chances for youth to attend special activities such as university theatre productions, sporting events, museums, zoos, and youth conferences.

Summer Travel Reminder

On August 25, we will have our traditional Ingathering Service, which will again include a Water and Stone Communion. Please remember to bring a small vial of water or a stone, which you collect in the course of your summer, ­ and ­which you can share during the service.

Volunteers Needed for Habitat for Humanity Build

Join other UUs in helping build a Habitat for Humanity house this summer. We are staffing work crews for August 3rd from about 8:00am to 3:00pm with lunch provided. You don't need any knowledge of building construction nor do you need to be particularly strong. There are always tasks to do for people of all skill levels! If you are 16 or 17 years old you are welcome to participate as long as your legal guardian is on the build site with you. This is a great way to meet fellow UU's and help a good cause at the same time! If interested please contact Nancy Dietrich (nancydietrich01@gmail.com) to sign up or look for the sign-up sheets in Fellowship Hall after the Sunday morning Service.



 
(Photo is of 2012 Habitat for Humanity Build)

June Shared Offering: Compassion & Choices

During the month of June, we will share our offertory collection with Compassion & Choices. Half of all cash and any designated checks collected during the Sunday service will go to this nonprofit organization that supports individuals and families facing important end-of-life decisions. Compassion & Choices educates the public, health care professionals, lawmakers and the media on end-of-life issues, and advocates for compassionate end-of-life care in legislatures, courtrooms and at bedsides. Compassion & Choices spearheads initiatives across the country to secure rights to make important end-of-life decisions based on individual values and views. Their state and national litigation solidifies rights to excellent end-of-life care including aggressive pain and symptom management and palliative sedation. Compassion & Choices asserts your right to choose aid in dying under constitutional protections. The Compassion & Choices Action Network fights for aid-in-dying laws for terminally ill, mentally competent adults; builds coalitions to defeat bills that would force patients to endure feeding tubes against their wishes; strengthens advance directives; and mandates pain and palliative care training for health care providers. Compassion & Choices has supported the Death-with Dignity Laws that have been enacted in Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Vermont. More information about Compassion & Choices can be found at their website: www.compassionandchoices.org. After the Sunday service on June 30, Jana Edge, who is a nurse in Bloomington, IL and a volunteer with Compassion & Choices, will be at church to talk with us about the organization, the importance of having advance directives, and the need to know your rights and responsibilities when dealing with doctors and hospitals concerning end-of-life issues. If you are interested, we hope you will join us on the 30th. We will have a light lunch, and can provide childcare if needed. Karen Retzer & Nancy Dietrich

May Shared Offering: Prairie Rivers Network

During the month of May, half of all cash and designated checks collected at the Sunday offering will go to Prairie Rivers Network, a non-profit organization based in Champaign that advocates for clean water and healthy rivers in Illinois. Prairie Rivers Network champions clean, healthy rivers and safe drinking water to benefit the people and wildlife of Illinois. Drawing upon sound science and working cooperatively with others, we advocate public policies and cultural values that sustain the health and diversity of Illinois’ water resources. Started in 1967 as the Committee on Allerton Park to stop a dam that would have flooded the beloved park, Prairie Rivers Network has a 45-year record of making a difference in Illinois. Prairie Rivers Network is an Illinois’ registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and the independent Illinois affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation. Prairie Rivers Network aims to address the most pressing clean water issues: industrial pollution, polluted runoff from cropland, and the unwise destruction of wetlands and other riverside natural areas that slow floodwaters and provide homes for wildlife and plants. One of PRN’s local projects is to press for responsible closure of the Vermilion Power Plant, an aging coal-fired power plant that was recently retired. The land will likely end up in the hands of the state, enlarging the oasis of natural areas along the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River that is anchored by Kickapoo State Park and Kennekuk County Park. So that taxpayers aren’t left with a mess on our hands, Prairie Rivers Network is asking state regulators to require a thorough cleanup of the site, especially of toxic coal ash dumps in the Middle Fork’s floodplain. This is our state’s only National Scenic River! We must do this right and set a standard for responsible coal plant retirement for the rest of Illinois. From helping to organize the first Boneyard Creek clean-up in Champaign-Urbana, to restoration efforts along the great Mississippi River, to working on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to protect the Great Lakes from Asian carp - Prairie Rivers Network is making Illinois a better place to live. For more information about Prairie Rivers Network, check out their website at prairierivers.org.