October Services

October 1 – “Love As Spaciousness” with Rev. Jill McAllister. A new generation of UUs suggests articulating our values in new ways, beginning with Love at the Center  

October 8  – “Not So Like-Minded After All” with Rev. Jill McAllister. We’re learning a lot about the real differences in how brains work – neurodiversity. Turns out we’re more different than we imagine.

October 15  – “What is Transformation?” with Rev. Jill McAllister. Have you ever experienced transformation? How is it part of religious and spiritual growth?

October 22  – “God Is Not One, Neither are We” with Rev. Jill McAllister. One of the unique characteristics of our religious movement is pluralism – the willingness to be different and be  together at the same time.

October 29  – Wheel of the Year – All Ages – Samhain / Halloween

There is no way to include everything we’ve done together, but I want to begin a list here.  And perhaps a better way to describe it is who we’ve been together….

We renewed the mission of the Fellowship – Explore, Love, Act — and birthed the Council structure from the mission. The Justice Council took form, we began to work collaboratively, and our impacts increased.  Stewardship increased.  We professionalized more of our staff.  We renewed our pastoral care structures and created the Fellowship Care and Support Team. We divested from fossil fuels and invested in local solar energy projects. We continued a partnership with Unitarians in Transylvania and increased our global connections to the Philippines and Burundi. We welcomed and supported refugees from Burundi and El Salvador.  We became a Sanctuary Church.  We created the Justice Outreach Fund to make grants, and leveraged one of those grants to help create Unity Shelter.  We created an Emergency Aid Fund.  We invited and enjoyed UU singer-songwriters.  We welcomed Kirtan as a form of worship at the Fellowship, and later Dance Planet.  We collaborated with a local Zen Buddhist sangha, then sold them the house next door and became neighbors and partners.

We re-started project to renovate and expand our buildings; in a successful capital campaign we raised more than 2 million dollars. We allowed ourselves to change course in the building project several times, for good reasons, and finally we have completed the renovation of our classroom wing.  The Grounds Stewards program increased creativity and participation on our grounds and began a process of strategic planning.   WE SURVIVED THE PANDEMIC.  We became much more technologically diverse.  We made commitments to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and sought training to learn more skills toward anti-racism and multi-culturalism. We became more intentional about strengthening inter-generational connections. Together we learned new ways to tend to grief, and depression.  In worship we focused on annual themes including Faithfulness, Courage, Deepening, World Religions, and more.  We created connect-up activities and groups. We welcomed new members.  We gathered to share the sadness of deaths among us.  We weathered conflicts and learned to focus on right relations.  We created a disruptive behavior policy, a Right Relations Team, and a new Covenant of Right Relations. We partnered with the Mid-Willamette Valley Trans Network.   We looked forward to, and appreciated, our Sunday music and musicians, weekly flower arrangements, and the ministry of our coffee crews. We reviewed what worship means to us…….   And so much more.  What do you remember and appreciate?

Folk Dancing, 7/13

Come try some Dabkeh folk dancing after the service on Sunday, July 13. Adriel Molk will be teaching Palestinian folk dances to all who join. Everybody who can walk, balance on one foot, and is willing to try footwork can join in the dances! This gathering is an opportunity to experience some Palestinian (and neighboring) cultures.

Contact Adriel Molk with questions.

UUFC Garden Work Parties, 7/14, 7/26

Good news from the Fellowship Grounds Team!  We have been awarded a “Jerry Paul Native Pollinator Conservation Grant” from Benton County Soil and Water Conservation District* and it will be used for a new pollinator garden along our East Boundary. 

We have already begun planting native trees and shrubs in this area where the cedar trees were removed.  The grant will provide funds for adding a bounty of flowering perennials – along with expert advice on how best to support our native bees.

There is much work to be done over the summer, planning the new garden and preparing the site for planting in the fall and winter.  Please come to one of the work days we have scheduled and help this new garden take shape.  Our goal is to create a place of beauty that will not only support our native pollinators, but will inspire us with ideas we can use in our own gardens.  Garden Work parties at the UU on:   

  • Friday, July 11   8-10am
  • Monday, July 14   8-10am
  • Saturday July 26  8-10am   

If you would like to help bring this new garden to life but can’t make any of these scheduled work parties, please email me of your interest and availability and we will figure out a way to include you. Thank you!

Joyce Federiuk
Grounds Stewards Team Leader 

Another Way to Give to the UUFC – Consignment at Beekman Place

As you are doing your early summer house cleaning and find items you no longer need that have higher value and/or are antique in nature, please considering taking them to Beekman Place Antique Mall (601 SW Western Blvd, Corvallis, OR 97333) for consignment sale under the UUFC account. Once an item sells, the UUFC gets the money, minus a small consignment fee. We made over $1,000 in the past year on the sale of a piece of antique Native American jewelry donated by a UUFC member!

Please call Beekman before dropping items off to assure that they are interested – their number is (541) 753-8250. Their hours are Tuesday – Saturday, 11 AM – 5 PM and Sunday 12 – 5 PM. When you drop something off, just tell the person at the counter that it is for sale under the UUFC account.

Please contact Russ Karow if you have questions.

Provide Welcome Info for Rev. Alex

Greetings, UU Fellowship of Corvallis! I have been preparing to move across the country and thinking ahead about settling in there. When I join you in August to begin the interim ministry time, we will have many activities and opportunities for getting to know each other — some more serious, some more fun. I welcome your wisdom about the local area. To gather some of your insights, I’ve made a list of questions, such as your recommendation for a local mechanic, an easy day trip from Corvallis, and your favorite event in the annual life of the congregation. If it would be fun for you, please use the survey form linked below to answer my questions. I look forward to learning more about you and Corvallis!

Rev. Alex McGee

Help wanted to clean up the Classroom Wing!

It’s “Clean-It-Up and Move-It-All-Back” time for the classroom wing! We need one more round of help! Now that volunteer painting is finished (thank you, everyone!) and the professional painters have completed their tasks, we need to plan the next steps:

Clean-It-Up Help Wanted

Volunteer to help with room-by-room cleaning on July 16, 17, 18, doing the following:

  • Remove and clean all window screens
  • Wash windows and window frames
  • Wash floor vents
  • Wash sinks and counters
  • Wash inside cupboards
  • Remove staples and paint flecks
  • Clean the floors

Each cleaning day has multiple 2-hour shifts:

  • Wednesday July 16
    • 10 AM – 12 PM
    • 1 – 3 PM
    • 3 – 5 PM
  • Thursday July 17
    • 10 AM – 12 PM
    • 1 – 3 PM
  • Friday July 18
    • 10 AM – 12 PM

We’d like to get four people per shift! Teams of 2 make for easier window removal!

Installation Help Wanted

Volunteer to help with various installation projects July 21 – 31. Projects include:

  • Window blinds
  • Attaching bulletin boards and signs
  • Mounting shelves
  • Mounting fire extinguishers
  • And more!

We will schedule when you are available !

Contact Wolfgang Dengler through Breeze to sign up, or sign up using the sheets on the table in the Foyer.

7/13/2025 A Celebration of Shared Ministry

We come to the end of a chapter in the life of the Fellowship – a chapter covering twelve years of ministry shared between us. Twelve years of immense change in the world, twelve years of leaning into it all together.  I have so much gratitude – it would be impossible to thank you enough, but I will aim in that direction.  Now we move toward the future  – two new chapters: the ongoing life and health of the Fellowship, and my transition into retirement.  We will move in different directions, but the connections we’ve made and the love we’ve shared will remain.  Let’s share blessings for each other as we take these new steps.   

With Rev. Jill McAllister

After the service, stay to dance! Adriel Molk will lead several easy folk dances. Room TBD, depending on temperatures….

Men’s Retreat, 10/3-5

Two things are brand new for the annual Men’s Retreat this fall – 1) it’s in a new location – Camp Harlow, just north of Eugene (barely an hour’s drive!); and 2) it’s earlier than in past years – OCTOBER 3-5. So mark your calendar now!

Our theme this year is “Sharing the Story of Your Life Journey.” Your story shapes you through your challenges, successes, regrets, and lessons learned. It affects how you look at yourself in the mirror, prepare for the day ahead, and engage in your community. Your story connects you with your deepest self and with others. It gives you meaning, purpose, and direction. At this year’s Men’s Retreat we will explore our stories, listen to one another, and consider what our stories teach us about ourselves, our life journeys, and our connections to the wider community.

Registration information will be available in August. For more information, contact one of the Retreat Planning Team: Alan Kirk, Jeff Martin, Nick Houtman, John Swanson, Mike Jager.

Another huge blow to the health and well-being of Americans – and others, and the Earth — this week.  With the approval in Congress of this terrible bill –  called ‘Beautiful’ as an indicator of cultural insanity — an era of cruelty,  greed, exclusion, vengeance, inequity and injustice is re-affirmed. These are clearly the values of those who dominate the power structure of our country right now.  But dominant values are not the only values, and never have been.  We must take some time to feel the pain and the fear, we must take time to grieve and lament, and then we must find our footing again and return to love.  

To return to love is to be ever more clear about our values of justice and compassion, inclusion and generosity, reason and wisdom and peace.  To examine our own lives ever more closely and deeply to discover our own contradictions, our own edges for growth.  To take risks for our values, to join voices with others for our values, to practice and teach and embody our values without ceasing. 

As a good next step, tomorrow, Monday July 7, you’re invited to join in a workshop on Creative Lament – a form of medicine for these times – offered by our Religious Exploration (RE) department.   Registration is required.  See This Week At UUFC for more information.