dre@uucorvallis.org

May RE Newsletter

by

Greetings, Families!

This month’s newsletter contains some important information for parents about RE in the month and year ahead, so please read carefully! 

UPCOMING EVENTS for FAMILIES

5/4  Summer Camp Registration Deadline, more info and registration HERE.

5/11  Final Family Breakfast of the year, Mother’s Day Edition, pre-register HERE.

5/15  Final Parent Peer Support Group of the year, 6:30-8PM

4/25 Parent Feedback and Q&A session, noon on back patio

5/1 River of Life Sunday with Stepping Stone Ceremony

UPCOMING EVENTS for YOUTH

5/11 and 5/25  4:30-7 OWL regular workshops 

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. 

At the Fellowship, it’s our cherished tradition to celebrate children and youth as they move into new age groups with a special Stepping Stone Ceremony. Each child will receive a gift, words of affirmation, and be honored by the congregation as they journey forward in the river of life.

This year’s celebration will be especially joyful! We’re adding a new age group to our Sunday programs, renaming some of our spaces, and—wonderfully—we have more children to honor than in recent years.

If your child is entering kindergarten, 5th, or 6th grade (or their equivalents), please complete this form to register them for the ceremony. We look forward to marking this milestone together in community.

May will be our last family breakfast of the year before we break for summer. It also happens to fall on Mother’s Day! Rather than moving the date, our gracious hosts, the Polinder family, plan to make it a extra special to honor all the moms. Please plan to join us for this beloved gathering, and help with our planning by registering HERE at least a few days before. 

Family breakfast will resume in the fall!

We are excited for our children to explore our shared values through puppetry and folk tales with accomplished professional puppeteer, Linda Zittel! The last day to register for camp is May 4th and registration, as well as more detailed information, can be found HERE!

There are a lot of changes on the horizon, y’all! As we prepare to return to intergenerational services for the summer, and envision our return to the classroom wing in the fall, lots of decisions need to be made, and that means I want to hear from YOU about what has been working and what hasn’t, and what your dreams and concerns are for the return to normal Sunday morning RE, AND I want to answer your questions about our plans for room use, curriculum, and the general wellbeing of your children when they are in our care.

You are invited to bring your drinks and snacks to the benches on the back patio on Sunday, May 25th to spend coffee hour asking and sharing for the mutual benefit of all who are invested in our RE programs for children and youth. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas!

Last month was loaded with fun! Our youth went to the Hult Center to experience Hamilton live on stage and their excitement was absolutely contagious! And between our JETPIG Easter and Beltane Maypole, I can honestly say we made the most of the beautiful spring sunshine and blossoms! If you have ideas for enriching activities you’d like to see take place over the summer, I want to hear them!

Everything we are able to provide in RE is only possible because volunteers generously give their time to bring these events to life for others! Our values-driven Easter experience would not have been possible without the help of Priscilla Galasso, Anya Ballinger, and Adriel Molk, all committing to help out in the weeks leading up to the event. And then, on the day-of, our fabulous young people, Sabina Giordono and Kezi Hirsch, stepped in to fill a need to talk to kids about justice and Love.

Thank you to all of our volunteers who fill roles big and small. You are the beating heart of Fellowship life!

Thanks to the tireless efforts of our Fellowship librarians, Holley Lantz and Christine Robbins, and volunteer Eric Lantz, the children’s collection in the Rita McDonald Memorial Library has been digitally cataloged and is ready for check outs!

Children (and adults who read children’s books) can now apply for a library card with this form, and use our new digital checkout kiosk. Please allow 3 days for new accounts to be set up prior to attempting to check out. 

We have many faith-specific adult books that cannot be found at the county library and we’d love to see more people making use of this resource. Feedback about the usability of the adult collection is most welcome!

Thanks so much for being part of what makes our Fellowship shine! Happy May, Y’all!

More Resources for Whole Church RE and Post-Curricular Faith Formation!

by

In case you read the monthly journal, and you’re thinking Hey! I want to know more about these emerging trends in RE, I’ve got some resources for you! If you haven’t read the monthly journal yet, go check your inbox!

Joy Berry, the UUA’s children and families faith development specialist, has a nice post about whole-church RE that will get you started. After attending several of her discussion sessions, I was compelled to use her WCRE map template in planning for next year’s RE. If you look closely, you’ll spot things you’ve never seen before at UUFC!

If any of those stars spark your interest and you want to help, let me know! Mary Jo Wood and Joyce Standing are already helping with plans for our Jr. worship associates and Angel Swanson is gearing up to bring the Mosaic antiracism curriculum to adults and children. If everyone takes a small piece of the plan, our whole church connections will really shine!

This article on de-centering curriculum focuses on post-curriculum approach as a response to the wildly fluctuating Sunday attendance. Maybe you’ve noticed that some Sundays we have 5 kids at Time for All Ages and others we have 30. These are wild times! Luckily, we’re making it work and our congregation is one of the few for whom loose curriculum in Sunday morning spaces is still working (see more on that below), but we’re not out of the woods. It’s useful to take note of some of the massive cultural shifts that show up in the ways we gather. These changes will continue to shape how we show up in community and require that we have adaptive spirits if we’re in this for the long haul.

This article about how some churches are still finding success with curriculum highlights some of the reasons we’re doing so well. A major factor is financial support for staffing. Our volunteers are soul-weary and cannot commit to doing their own planning and prep. So thanks, all you pledging members! You’re making it possible for us to continue to provide structured exploration spaces in this current landscape of burnout and stress. We have been able to pivot to using curriculum with stand-alone lessons so that no one is lost when they join only sporadically. We have integrated much more social time and lightened the amount of curriculum-driven elements are in each Sunday session to keep our children’s spaces low-stakes and high nurture. We are so eager to get back into the classroom wing where we have dedicated spaces that are conducive to focused exploration as well as meaningful social connection. We’re getting a little itchy in the social hall, especially as we continue to grow.

I’m excited to hear your thoughts and ideas about whole church RE. Come talk to me about your ideas!

Easter Sunday Values Egg-stravaganza 4/20

by

WHAT: UU Values Egg Hunt

WHEN: 4/20 at 11:45

WHERE: Fellowship Lawn, rain or shine!

WHO: children and youth, toddler through 18 year

Friends, hundreds of plastic eggs were found when we moved out of the classroom wing, and we’re excited to put them to good use with a UU Values Egg-stravaganza on Easter Sunday. This is a cooperative rather than competitive hunt, so our youngest kiddos will not risk being overtaken by longer legs. Parents are most welcome to help, as well.

Bring your baskets or use our paper bags. I will give instructions all at once at 11:55 — because this isn’t your ordinary egg hunt! — and set them free to gather and eggs-change on the dot at noon. The hunt will take place, rain or shine, so please dress your children accordingly!

I could still use a couple more volunteers to staff tables and monitor eggs-changes, so if you’ve got some time to give after the service, please contact me at dre@uucorvallis.org! I will set up market tents for volunteers, so don’t let the rain keep you from helping!

RE Newsletter for April

by

Happy April, Families!

 I hope you all had a fabulous Spring Break and are looking forward to joining us for all of the cool things we’ve got planned for you in RE in April!

UPCOMING EVENTS for FAMILIES

4/6 Seeds of Generosity Pitch Party register HERE 

4/10 Soldiers of Conscience Film Screening (for parents) 6:30m register HERE

4/13  Family Breakfast, 8:45-9:45, pre-register HERE by 4/5

4/17 Parent Peer Support Group, 6:30-8PM

4/20 post-service Easter egg hunt

4/24 Nuts and Bolts of Conscientious Objection Q&A (parents and older children)

UPCOMING EVENTS for YOUTH

4/5 Hamilton in Eugene

4/6 Safehaven Humane Society Service @ 9:45 (wear your Earth Month Shirts!)

4/12-13 OWL overnight

4/24 Nuts and Bolts of Conscientious Objection @6:30, pre-register HERE

4/27 OWL 4:30-7

5/8 Conscientious Objection Workshop @6:30, pre-register HERE

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. 

With the world as it is, many parents and youth are thinking about the future of military service and the possibility of being drafted. To help all interested families become more informed about the topic and their choices, the RE Council’s Conscientious Objection Team has planned a 3-part series of learning opportunities for April and May.

We will begin with a film screening of the documentary Soldiers of Conscience. This film is most definitely not for young children, as it contains graphic footage from active war zones. It offers a balanced look at military service from those currently and formerly serving, some who are proud to serve and some who became objectors while serving. This film will serve as a grounding for the following offerings.

Next, we will have a presentation that is primarily geared toward parents who are interested in learning what they can be doing now to to help safeguard their child’s option to file as a conscientious objector upon reaching adulthood, should they choose that for themselves. This presentation will not contain graphic imagery, but the very idea of military conscription is unsettling to some, so please gauge your child’s readiness. We believe this to be appropriate for middle and high school students who are old enough to articulate their personal values around military service, and any parents interested in learning more about the topic.

And finally, we will offer a practical workshop space for youth (with parental permission) and parents to work on a packed of documents that could be used in support of a CO claim, should they wish to file as an adult. 

Please help us plan by registering HERE for any of the events you would like to attend. 

It’s that time of year again when we try to figure out how the heck Easter can/does/should fit into our Unitarian Universalist lives. Last year, we went as sustainable as possible with wooden refillable eggs and an absence of random plastic landfill fodder. It was good! This year, however, we found a cache of a gazillion plastic eggs up in a previously undiscovered storage cabinet in the classroom as we packed up for the big move out.

What’s a DRE to do? A JETPIG Easter, of course!

Children are encouraged to bring their Easter baskets, if they have them, for a post-service hunt on the lawn. This hunt will happen rain or shine because, well, we don’t have the classroom wing to lean on this year. Each egg color will correspond with one of our shared values and be traded in for objects, treats, and experiences intended to help cement the meaning of our shared values. 

We hope to make this a memorable and explicitly UU way to celebrate a day that is part of our wider cultural narrative. And because we aim to always be inclusive, if your child has dietary restrictions, please send me a reminder so that we can be sure that everyone walks away feeling uplifted!

Kylee Polinder was caught in the act of service, reminding us all that you don’t have to be on an official team or wait to be asked to serve our community! I catch Kylee being helpful quite often in these parts, preparing for the Family Breakfast or entertaining younger children while their parents chat. But on this particular Sunday, she was helping Jerry and Roberta place hymnals throughout the sanctuary. It’s a backbreaking job when one person has to do it alone, so Kylee’s selfless offer to help was much appreciated by the house managers.

Thanks, Kylee, for being a shining example of joyful service! You are amazing!

I love that we are part of a religious tradition that embraces science! Last weekend the children experimented in teams to balance a random selection of food atop a water bottle by just a toothpick. It was harder than we were expecting, and took a lot of consensus seeking and problem solving, but by the end, both teams successfully found balance.

If you have any questions about what’s happening in RE, send them my way. I’m always happy to hear your thoughts, feedback, and ideas for the future of RE!

New Inquirers Series Finisher!

by

Congratulations to Kim D for completing all 9 Inquirers Series session! Kim asked to be presented with her finisher’s gift of a home chalice within the circle of her final Inquirers Series session rather than in front of the congregation. She attends services primarily online, and hopes to start helping with the Fellowship grounds. If you bump into her while she’s working on the property, be sure to introduce yourself.

As an introduction, Kim says:

“In 2025 I am going to continue growing and learning and finding myself after four plus decades with my husband in my life, 30 years of which he was very sick, and I was in a caregiver role.  My new life is both scary and exciting, but I am up to the challenge of finding the adventurous me I was in my 20’s, combined with decades of life experience and wisdom added on, which will equal the New Me!”

Welcome, Kim! We’re so glad that you found your way to our community!

CANCELLED: Event Series: Conscientious Objection 4/10, 4/24, 5/8

by

FILM SCREENING & DISCUSSION: Soldiers of Conscience, open to all adults, April 10th at6:30 PM in the sanctuary

Informational Session & Q&A: Nuts and Bolts Look at Conscientious Objection for Families, open to all, April 24th at 6:30PM in the sanctuary

YOUTH WORKSHOP: Open to parents and youth with parent’s permission, May 8th at 7 PM in the sanctuary

REGISTER HERE by 4/4!

Questions about conscientious objection, what it is, and what role it plays in Unitarian Universalism are bubbling up more often as the world feels increasingly destabilized. In an effort to address this interest and support our families during uncertain times, a small team has formed to offer resources. Our aim with these offerings is not to convince anyone that Unitarian Universalism has a definitive stance on military service (it does not!) but to help parents and young people collectively explore how their deeply held values and religious beliefs may inform their decisions in the future, and what steps they can take now to safeguard their right to choose should the time ever come when they are compelled into service.

The first 2 offerings in this series are open to any interested adults, with parents strongly encouraged to attend. The film contains graphic footage from war zones and is not suitable for young children. The presentation and Q&A does not contain graphic images or descriptions, but the very reality of having to register for selective service is one that many find disturbing, so please monitor your own and your child’s readiness for those conversations when making decisions about attendance. And finally, the third offering is a workshop to assist youth and their parents in the practical steps of documentation. This session is ONLY open to parents and/or youth who have the written consent of a parent to participate.

If you have any questions or are interested in joining the CO Awareness Team of the RE Council, please contact Skyla King-Christison at dre@uucorvallis.org.

Summer Camp at UUFC! Register by 5/5

by

Play to Your Values Summer Camp

June 23-27, 8:30-11:30, Fellowship Lawn

Join veteran professional puppeteer, Linda Zittel, for 5 days of using puppetry and folktales to explore our shared values. Children will create puppets, props and sets, learn performance skills, and put on an original puppet show at the end of the week.

Camp is for children in grades K-5. Space is limited.

Register HERE by May 5th.

Direct questions to Skyla King-Christison at dre@uucorvallis.org

Let’s go to camp! Scholarships until 3/31

by

Camp is a formative experience for UU youth, and we want as many young people to have the chance to go as possible! As such, the UUFC Endowment Fund has set aside funds to supplement the cost of camp. PLEASE take advantage of these funds! You do not need to prove need to apply. We just want to get you to camp! Very often, these scholarship funds go unutilized, and we deeply want to use them up to create memories and connections for our youth. 

$2,000 is available for Camp Blue Boat or Eliot camp attendance in 2025.  Four $500 scholarships are available but higher amounts of funding may be possible if the $2,000 is not allocated in $500 lots.  Please apply for UUFC scholarships HERE by March 31st, and know that additional scholarships are available from the regional organization HERE.

Early registration for Camp Blue Boat (rising 6th graders through seniors in high school) is open now, and the discount ends on March 17th. If we have youth attend, I will drive the group to Seattle to catch the bus with other youth to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, so please be sure to select that option unless your family plans to drive all the way to Coeur d’Alene.

Quilters Wanted!

by

Budgeting season means we’re looking ahead to next year’s RE programs and we’re dreaming big! A piece of our plan for the coming year involves a banner for each age group, on which they will write a word or phrase for what they learn each week, and we can enjoy watching the banner fill with new ideas and knowledge over the course of the year. If you have the skills and time to contribute to this dream, I would love to hear from you. I will supply the materials for willing quilters to piece together. If you can offer this gift of time to the RE program, call or email Skyla King-Christison for more information!

Elevator Speeches, 4/8

by

Do you trip over your words when someone asks you about your religion? Do you find it hard to articulate what UUs believe when you’re feeling on the spot? Well, struggle no more, my friend! There’s a workshop for that!

Join Skyla for a 3-part workshop to help you clarify your thoughts on what UUism means to you. By the end of our time together, you’ll have a short, meaningful elevator speech in your pocket for the next time someone says, “You’re a Unitarian Universalist? What does that even mean?”

April 8, 15, and 22nd from 6-7 PM in the social hall.

Register with this form: https://uufc.breezechms.com/form/3c115c6.

Thank you for preregistering by April 1st.