UUFC August Hike, 8/24

The August Fellowship hike will be to Cone Peak, near Tombstone Summit east of Sweet Home on Saturday, Aug 24, 2024. It is shifted from its normal last Saturday due to the popular Rummage Sale on the last Saturday this month.

Contact Jim Wagner for more information.

UUFC Parking Lot Pop-up Rummage Sale, 8/31

10:00 AM -1:00 PM in the UUFC Parking Lot


You surely have unwanted items in your closets, drawers, cupboards, or garage that have been languishing there for too long. Put them to use by selling them at our annual UUFC parking lot rummage sale. Someone will be happy to have your unwanted items and the Fellowship will benefit from your donations.

Get ready for the bargains at the UUFC PARKING LOT POP-UP RUMMAGE SALE – Saturday, August 31: 10:00 am – 1:00 pm. Public welcome.
• Reduce, Recycle, Reuse. Gather items that you no longer need or want.
• Price items and bring to our parking lot on 8/31 by 9:40 am.
• Display and “sell” your items.
• Send buyers with their purchases to central cashiers. All sales benefit UUFC.
• At 1:00 take any unsold items back with you.

It’s fun! It’s social! You will de-clutter your house and earn money for the Fellowship.

Questions: Contact Bonnie Morihara

Tuna Roast & Picnic

Join us for the UUFC Tuna Roast and Picnic in the Park at Avery Park’s Lion Shelter on Labor Day afternoon! 

This family-friendly, annual social event will begin at 4:00pm with games and conversation. The marinated, grilled, fresh tuna and corn on the cob will be served beginning around 5:00pm. Plan to bring along your own plate, utensils, and drink ware, and a dish to share with others. Seating is limited so camping chairs are also encouraged. Near the Lions Shelter are a small play structure, swings, a train engine for climbing and exploring, the dinosaur bones, and plenty of space to run or roll down hills. 

Contact Rich Brainerd with questions.

“Making the Invisible Visible” – 8/11/24

Our UUFC mission statement begins with “We gather as an inclusive religious community…” And we do our best to be welcoming to all who come. And, we still have lots to learn about what broad inclusion really means, and needs, and looks like. We’re at the beginning of a new collaboration with ARC of Benton County, and look forward to learning more today from ARC staff member Misha Marie and Board President John Gottchall, about the work of ARC, serving and supporting people with Developmental Disabilities.

Please join us. The service will be indoors today. Following the Sunday Service, at 2 PM, please join in the Celebration of Life for Louise Ferrell. Those wishing to join online may do so by using the regular Sunday Service link.

Music Sharing Night THIS WEEK!!! 8,7

Music Sharing Night is coming up!! Come see people from the Fellowship sharing their music!

We still have room for more performers, so please sign up! Do you play an instrument, or have a song you want to sing? We want to hear you your music!!!

Not ready for the big stage? No problem! This is not the big stage. These are your friends at the Fellowship. Just do it!

We’ve had people make their performance debut right here at UUFC. Perform as a solo act, or form a group. Original music is welcome and encouraged. Each act will have 10 minutes to perform.

To sign up, please fill out a form:

Music Sharing Night Participation Form

David Servias

UUFC Director of Music

I am so grateful for all the time and effort that has gone into making these Weekly Announcements what they are today – integrated into the website, easily readable on phones and other hand-held devices, convenient for folks who first simply need to know what, when and where. These have been beautiful updates, and have received lots of compliments And, I’ve heard from some of you that you miss a “newsletter” which you could read all the way through, which includes a broad look at the life of the Fellowship and UUism in general. I think we can have both, and should.

I’ve had conversations with a few people about a monthly publication which is more like a journal than a newsletter. Instead of including announcements about events, which the Weekly Announcements do very well, this journal would focus on ideas – our theologies, our philosophies of religion and religious exploration, our newly articulated shared values, our stories, our local and international partners, our own religious and spiritual commitments, and more.

I’m ready and willing to start this publication this month. I’d be happy to hear from any of you who might like to help – as writers, editors, planners, etc. I’d be happy to know if you have ideas for a name for such a publication. Please connect with me if you do.

Meanwhile, here in the depth of summertime, I encourage you to stop and be amazed by the bounty of our Willamette Valley home, if you aren’t already doing that every day. Amidst the swirling of politics and cultures, the changing Earth and climate, the too many details and the too few deep connections, help yourself pause to rest and see or feel or consider a larger view, a Life which is so much more than our own thoughts and experience. And in that pause, count a few blessings, and send blessings on to others.

See you Sunday — Jill

Chalice Circle Sampler Series This September

Registration is now open for the Fall Chalice Circle Sampler Series, starting this September. For details and dates and to sign up, please see the Chalice Circle Sampler Series Sign-Up Form.

Chalice Circles are an opportunity to deepen your ties to others in this community. We do this by meeting on a regular basis with the same small group of people to share how we each navigate the journey of being human. This is done via thoughtfully designed “topics” that offer ideas and questions for reflection. Through authentic sharing and listening, we learn how to voice what deeply matters to us.

Never been in a chalice group? “Test the waters” by signing up for the sampler series which will meet 4 times (once a week for the first 3 weeks plus a final session 2 weeks later). You’re under NO obligation to come to more than these sessions but our hope is that if this experience is something you find of value, you’ll continue with a longer term group that will meet twice monthly for the year.

Any questions? Read our FAQ.

Contact us at chalicecircles@uucorvallis.org, via phone or in person after a Sunday service.

Shikha Ghosh Gottfried and Nancy Sowdon

UUFC History Project – Who’s Interested?

Are you interested in stories about the Fellowship? About who first gathered, who built our buildings, how RE and justice work and music have been part of this congregation’s life? Do you ever try to imagine folks who came here before you – what brought them, what commitments they made, how they were supported in times of challenge and change? Do you know some of these stories because you are in them? Because the Fellowship has been part of your life, and you part of its life, for many years?

Rev. Jill McAllister is looking for a few people who’d like to help with a UUFC history project in the coming year. Please contact her if you are interested in helping collect and edit some of the stories of the Fellowship. We have many stories to tell and to save, to pass on for those who come after us. We are making stories now, for the future.
The project may include recording oral histories, interviewing folks, writing down memories, creating a journal, and more.

Our theme for the coming year will be about past, present and future – ancestors, descendants and us. It will give us a chance to know more about our connectedness – what holds us together, what nurtures and strengthens us. In the midst of the stories of our lives, being created every day, it may inspire us to know more about where we come from and where we aim to be going.