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.