Greetings, Families!

It feels like spring has sprung and lots of fresh energy is popping up in Religious Exploration. Get your calendars ready, so you don’t miss any of the fun!

UPCOMING EVENTS for FAMILIES

3/9   Family Breakfast, 8:45-9:45, pre-register HERE by 3/5

3/20  Parent Peer Support Group, 6:30-8PM 

4/6 Seeds of Generosity Pitch Party, noon in the Foyer, pre-register HERE by 3/12

UPCOMING EVENTS for YOUTH

3/2, 3/16   OWL workshops

3/14-16 Youth Coast Retreat, pre-register HERE by 3/2

4/6 Youth Service at Heartland Humane 9:45 to noon, pre-register HERE by 3/28 

More information about our events can be found below, and info for all events  can be found at uucorvallis.org by clicking “News” in the menu bar and then selecting “RE Council” from the drop down menu.

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I genuinely hope that all of our families will choose to participate in this very cool program made possible by an endowment from the Bob Ozretich Memorial Fund. Children, youth, and families in any combination (teams, pairs, solo, whole family) will make a Shark-Tank style pitch for how they would spend $100 to generously benefit our local community, and then all partiers will vote on a winner, who will receive $100 cash to give in alignment with their pitch. Everyone who pitches will be entered into a drawing to win $50 in cash to give in a manner of their choosing, and everyone who attends will get a pizza and cake lunch in the social hall after the winners are announced. Please consider helping your child work on a pitch to make either as individuals or as a family, and then register each pitch they plan to make HERE so we know how much food to buy. You do not have to make pitch to participate.  Still use the registration link but indicate you will not be “pitching.”

In preparation for this event, Russ Karrow will be sharing with the children and youth during RE on March 2nd about his experience with the local Power of 100 program that does a larger scale version of our Seeds of Generosity program. 

We have the funds to offer three rounds of this pitch-party style giving program, so those who don’t win have two more chances, which we hope will foster the qualities of resilience and persistence in all who participate. Winners will be asked to share an account of their giving to inspire others to participate. 

On February 28th, the youth worked collaboratively to design this year’s Earth Month t-shirt. I will be putting in orders for shirt for all youth on March 5th, so please email me your youth’s t-shirt size preference. I will make an effort to order for everyone, and if I don’t hear back from you, I will make a guess at sizing for your youth and err on the larger side. 

On April 6th, youth should be dropped off at the Heartland Humane Society at 9:45 for a brief chalice lighting and service project. We will likely be doing some combination of cleaning, feeding, sorting donations of food, folding laundry, etc., and will end with socializing time, AKA playing with the pets! Youth will be delivered back to the Fellowship around 12:15. Please pre-register for this service project HERE by March 23rd.

It’s that time of year again! The youth will be heading to the beautiful Wavecatcher Beach House right on the beach in Waldport for 2 nights of community building and worship. Youth will cook together, play together, and write their own worship service collaboratively before being delivered back to the Fellowship as the service lets out (or as close to it as can be managed) on Sunday morning. 

Pre-registration is requested HERE no later than 3/2. If cost is an obstacle, please register anyway and we’ll cover the fee. This is the most anticipated and highly bonding gathering of the year, so we want everyone to be able to participate!

We’ve had a lot of fun opportunities in RE over the past month! Weather allowed the younger children to go outside most Sundays, and a lot of our Bluey lessons included activities with balloons as we explored friendship, caretaking, and patience. Balloons are ALWAYS a hit! 

Some of our youth traveled to Eugene for an overnight and participated in games, service and worship while we got to explore ways that other groups “do church.” And thanks to a generous gift from Joyce Marvel-Benoist, a small group of youth had a Splatter Party at SplatterBox in Albany and got super messy while making a piece of collaborative art for our new youth room when the classroom wing reopens. Thanks, Joyce!

I was so impressed by our very own Raya and Mirielle during the overnight trip to Eugene! These two spent a substantial amount of time in the kitchen cooking for the burrito bar dinner and washing breakfast dishes in a commercial kitchen. They also helped decorate the social hall for Valentines Day and participated in some technological troubleshooting when the movie set-up wasn’t cooperating. At every turn, they were exercising their skills in community building and service! It was a proud day for Corvallis to be represented so beautifully while visiting a neighboring congregations.

If you have any questions about what’s happening in RE, send them my way. And if, for some strange reason, you ever want to be removed from the monthly RE Newsletter list, let me know. Wishing you a joyful March!