Elders Thriving in Community (ETC) will present suggested exercises that support mobility, balance and flexibility as we age. Plan to practice activities that can be done both sitting on or holding onto a chair, as well as options for standing or floor activities. Wear comfortable clothing & suitable shoes. Join us in the Sanctuary on Wednesday, April 8, 3-4:30 PM.
Childcare is available!
Free childcare can usually be arranged for any Fellowship event by using this link 1-2 weeks prior to the event.
The Religious Exploration Council is made up of the team leads from each RE Council team. We gather twice a year (usually in September and February) to coordinate the ongoing, behind-the-scenes work that keeps our programs running smoothly. Our meetings are open to anyone curious about the inner workings of the RE Council.
And because even administrative work deserves a little joy, we’ve embraced the unicorn as our council mascot. We show up in sparkly horns, committed to bringing a bit of magic into the life of the Fellowship. After all, a group of unicorns is called a blessing, and that feels just about right.
Got a spark? A dream to try? A question deep, a wondering why? A way to help our spirits grow, Or seeds of faith you’d love to sow?
Come join us—bring your hopeful schemes, We’re here to help you grow your dreams. With hearts (and maybe unicorn flair), We’ll build something meaningful together there.
This newly forming group aims to serve college students from around Linn and Benton counties with food, fellowship, and spiritual community rooted in UU values. Our regular meeting time is still being sorted out. If you’re keen to join, you can weigh in HERE. Team contact information coming soon. For now, reach out to the Director of Religious Exploration and OSU Spiritual Life liaison, Skyla, at dre@uucorvallis.org for the latest information.
Inquirers Series
This is a 9-session learning series offered at 11:45 AM every Sunday in Room 7, for the purpose of helping visitors and newcomers feel oriented and answer the most common questions people have while they are deciding whether UUFC is right for them. This series is offered in partnership with the Membership Team and is facilitated by a variety of leaders from a cross-section of Fellowship life. Sessions can be taken in any order, and sessions 1 (or 9), 2, and 8 are encouraged before signing the membership book. Bring your questions and your coffee and join us!
Family Breakfast
Our monthly breakfast gathering for families with children is on the second Sunday of each month at 8:50 AM, one hour before the 10:00 AM service in the social hall. We —a family of 4—cook a hot breakfast (yes—there’s bacon!), and serve coffee and pancakes. Families may bring a dish to share or simply come as they are. While adults enjoy conversation, kids can spend time together getting to know one another in a welcoming environment. All families with children are warmly welcome! Registration is appreciated HERE.
ETC!
Elders Thriving in Community provides resources, information, and social connections to help us thrive as we get older and our needs and abilities are likely to change. We bring in speakers from our congregation and the community to present topics such as home safety, brain health, local senior services, and internet scams, and coordinate social events to bring older people together. Team leads are Alison Meyers and Gerri Buckles.
Neurodiversity Support Group
The Neurodivergence and Mental Health Support Group is a safe, welcoming space for discussions regarding neurodivergence. It discusses topics such as mental health, connection, and sensitivity to name a few. The group meets every second and fourth Sunday of the month at 8:30 AM in room nine upstairs at the Fellowship. For more information, contact neurodiv@uucorvallis.org.
Parent Connection Dinner
The Parent Connection Monthly Dinner is held on the 2nd Thursday of each month @ 6:30-8:00 PM. Parents meet in room 3 of the classroom wing, and free childcare is provided in room 4 or 6C.
All families are welcome to join us for a free light dinner with facilitated conversation and mutual support among the parents, and a child-friendly movie night and play time with background-checked childcare providers for the kids in a nearby space. Please bring your own place settings, as we do not have a dishwashing team for this gathering.
Registering HERE one time will place you on the reminder list, and clicking the RSVP button in the reminder will help us determine how much food to prepare.
Library
The Rita McDonald Library is a treasure trove of books and resources that you can’t find anywhere else. And some you can, but how convenient is it that they’re already right here? This project has been kept alive for decades by a series of dedicated volunteers, the most recent of whom have been Holley and Eric Lantz, with support from RE staff. We need more team members to keep this project alive. If your flavor of volunteering involves quiet, solo work and tending in a peaceful space that smells like old paper and is bathed in slanted sunlight, this is the role for you! Join the team by emailing Skyla at dre@uucorvallis.org.
RE Safe Congregation Support Team
We bolster the safety of all who engage in Religious Exploration environments by supporting uniform policy and procedure implementation and creating consistent processes to invite registered families, RE lay leaders, and RE staff back into covenant when Safe Congregation policies are violated within RE spaces.
This newly forming group aims to serve college students from around Linn and Benton counties with food, fellowship, and spiritual community rooted in UU values. Our regular meeting time is still being sorted out. If you’re keen to join, you can weigh in HERE. Team contact information coming soon. For now, reach out to the Director of Religious Exploration and OSU Spiritual Life liaison, Skyla, at dre@uucorvallis.org for the latest information.
Beginning this Sunday, Mach 8th, the 3rd session of the Inquirers Series, formerly the Liturgical Year session, will be a session focused on interim ministry and our upcoming search for a settled minister. Sheryl Stuart and Robin Lancaster, members of our transitions team, will be on hand to share some of the basics and answer your questions about this unique time congregational life. If you have already taken session three, you are still most welcome to come and have your questions answered. These sessions are open to all interested participants!
Elders Thriving in Community with Ann Marchant on Wednesday, March 11, at 3 PM in the Sanctuary.
Every elder carries stories no one else can tell.
In this interactive workshop with Ann Marchant, we’ll explore the value of sharing simple, true stories across generations. Storytelling is how we pass along humor, resilience, wisdom, and the values that shape who we are.
Ann will begin by telling a brief story of her own, then guide you step-by-step in shaping one small story from your life—something you could share with a child, a friend, or another member of your community. No writing experience needed.
You’ll leave with a simple story outline, practical tools for meaningful connection, and renewed confidence in the gift of your lived experience.
Because one of the most powerful things we can offer one another is story—and only you can tell yours.
Childcare is available!
Free childcare can usually be arranged for any Fellowship event by using this link 1-2 weeks prior to the event.
All Fellowship friends and members are invited to request a library card and start using our digital checkout system. Of course, you can still use the notebook, located on the shelf to the left of the window, but by using your very own digital library card, you help reduce the administrative overhead involved in keeping the library up and running.
It’s easy! Let me show you how!
Apply for a card at THIS LINK. Your card will arrive via email within 3 business days.
Search the catalog HERE or use the QR code on the bulletin board just inside the library door. Or, you can just browse the old-fashioned way. The resources have now been sorted into general categories. If you find something in the electronic catalog that you want to check out, you can find it on the shelf in the section indicated by the red tag. The example below is a book that can be found in the Unitarian Universalism and Congregational Life section! Please note that tags may only show up in the desktop version of the libib catalog on some devices.
Once you’ve found the book you want to take home, you could sign it out in the check out binder OR you could use your handy dandy new library card at the kiosk! If the iPad has gone to sleep (it probably has), simply press the button at the bottom to wake it up. Then you’ll find the libib kiosk app and tap it to open.
You’ll immediately be at the checkout screen. There are directions on the screen. Let’s walk through them together!
The first thing you’ll do is tap the blue SCAN button. This will open the camera on the back of the iPad to scan the QR code on the back of your book.
Simply lower your book (or movie or card deck) behind the iPad so that the QR code shows up on the screen.
As soon as it scans the code, it will say Success! and then your item will appear listed on the screen. You can scan until your heart is content. I mean, let’s be reasonable, but yeah. Take all the things you plan to read in the next little while.
When you’re all done, you’re ready click the CHECKOUT button in the bottom corner. Sometimes it’s green. Sometimes it’s blue. Life is a mystery!
Finally! The moment you’ve waited for! The chance to use your super cool Fellowship Library Card! You could enter your patron ID in manually, but that’s so boring when you could tap the QR code and then just scan your card like you did the book.
As soon as it has registered your patron QR code, you’ll be greeted with another friendly Success! message and you’re ready to go tell your friends how easy and fun that was.
When you’re done with your items, please return them to the “returns” basket located on the shelf to the left of the window. One of your friendly neighborhood library volunteers will check it back in and reshelve it for you!
If you happen to run into snags, come find or email me. Skyla! I’m happy to help you until we find a new librarian. Or, you know, you could use the binder and move on with your day. That said, I’d really appreciate knowing your experience, what’s working and what’s not, as we learn this new system.
In the earliest stages of our rollout, there may still be books that have fallen through the cracks and haven’t been stickered, or they have an old sticker, and the kiosk doesn’t recognize it. All of these details are things we want to know about! Please, if you have the time, don’t just stick the books back on the shelf if you find an anomaly that isn’t in the system correctly. Let me know so I can fix it!
Thanks for being a Fellowship library patron! You rock!
“Let your life be a counter-friction to stop the machine. What I have to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn.” ― Henry David
Thoreau Greetings, Families! The shortest month with the longest shadows has arrived, and our hearts are tender from all we’ve been holding. Let us re-center love this month, not in the glittery, greeting-card way, but in the steady, courageous way that shows up when the world needs us most. And because everything is easier as a village, I invite you to pull out your calendars and make note of these opportunities to gather in love and learning!
UPCOMING EVENTS: 2/8 Family Breakfast @ 8:45 (register HERE and bring a dish if you are able) 2/8 Eliot Family Camp Q&A session after RE pickup in the sanctuary 2/12 Parent Connection Dinner @ 6:30 (register HERE, one time only, to get reminders)
PLAN AHEAD4/17-19 Youth Coast Retreat (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.
Big news! Our Endowment team has money to give as scholarships to get families to Eliot Institute’s Family Camp! We’re excited to use these funds in service of getting more families to this formative and inspiring gathering, so please don’t hesitate to apply! To help you decide if Eliot would be right for you (spoiler, it would be!), Linda Hardison will be showing an informational video and answering all your burning Eliot questions after you pickup your children from RE on February 8th. Please consider attending if you’re at all curious about family camping opportunities in a UUI context!
The annual Youth Coast Retreat is around the corner, and you don’t want to miss the fun! Your early registration will give us time get a rental van reservation if we need one again this year, so please check your calendars and register promptly if you are able. Youth will be staying at our usual place in Waldport, with a back door that opens right onto the beach. This is a relaxed, 2-night bonding weekend, where the youth will play collaborative games, cook together, spend time in nature, and co-create their own worship experience before coming home. I have it on Edna’s good authority that it’s the best thing they do all year. More details are in the registration link!
These are tricky times for everyone, but perhaps especially for parents who are navigating how much to shield and/or engage with our children about the things that are going on in the world. For that reason, I’ve added a page to our Family Faith Formation Toolkit with resources for parents during these challenging times. I hope you find some useful ideas there. If you have found resources useful that you’d like me to add to the list, please let me know! We’re all in this together!
In January, we spent time exploring ways we feel safe and loved, and ways to help others feel cared for. Our Spirit Play kiddos each got their own box to sit inside of, with a light and a welcome mat, and they decorated the insides with things that make them feel safe and loved, and were invited to take them home as a place to hang out whenever they want to be surrounded by things that give them the warm-fuzzies. Both our Spirit Play and Seeker Space groups built a “community of care” using our giant tinker toys. They had to come up with things that help people feel seen and cared for, and label each of the supports with one of those attributes to build a home for their community of care. If they needed more support, they had to come up with more attributes of a caring community. I read things like love, time, money, and family, among many other things that go into creating a community of care. The Seeker Space structure is still intact on the mezzanine, so pop upstairs, climb inside, and see what kind of things our kids decided are necessary for a welcoming community. It’s sure to give you a case of the heart-swells!
Occasionally, I become aware that there is a young person who really wants to attend a thing and it got scheduled for a date that they already have an obligation, or a weekend that they’re at their other parent’s house, and it really stinks! Some parents have offered me copies of their kids’ sports schedules, performance dates, and custody rhythms, and I refer to them every single time I plan an event like a service project or a retreat. It’s also great to have because we want to show up for our kids and cheer them on when they have a special event! So consider this an invitation to share, only to the extent that feels right for your family, any blackout dates on your child’s calendar (We’ve already paid for camp that week!) or events that they’d enjoy some extra support for (They would love some more fans at the basketball tournament!) and I’ll share them with the adults who directly support them in their RE spaces and refer to them before selecting dates for major events. I can’t always accommodate everyone’s schedule, but I use what I’m given to choose dates that work for as many kids as possible.
The family that serves together… builds beloved community! The Curry-Grant household is loaded with cheerful volunteers! Both Kevin and Molly serve on separate weeks in our Seeker Space. They bring calm, kind, and steadying energy to a group that can be more than a little boisterous! And Edna? She’s quick to volunteer in formal roles, when asked, but what stands out to me is the way I can always count on her to make new kids feel like they really belong. On more than one occasion, I’ve said, “Hey, Edna! We’re going to have a new kid today,” and she’s on it! I’ll see her giving a building tour, showing new kids where the snacks are, and introducing them to the other youth. Edna has the spiritual gift of hospitality! Big thanks to this family that oozes with volunteerism! We are so grateful for all you bring to our community!
There’s been so much goodness in RE in the last month, it’s hard to capture it all in pictures! One thing I want to make sure you notice, though, is that second picture. This is Pheobe, and she’s our newest childcare staff member, filling in primarily in Spirit Play when Niana is away at volleyball tournaments, but she’ll also be in the Rainbow Room from time to time when we need a sub. Phoebe has completed the child development class at the high school and is first aid and CPR certified. Most importantly, she’s got a heart for working with children! We’re lucky to have her on the team! While we’re talking about our amazing childcare providers, I want to remind all parents that we can often provide free childcare for UUFC events, given enough notice. Parents can fill out THIS FORM any time you need to request childcare for a Fellowship gathering, and I’ll do my best to assemble a care team from our fabulous pool of background-checked volunteers and youth childcare staff! I’m wishing you hope and love this month! And as always, if you need to chat, I’m just an email or a phone call away.
With all that is escalating in the world around us, I want to provide a few resources that families have found helpful as they navigate the highly personal decisions about how to talk to their children and youth about the terrible things happening in the world. If you have others to add that you feel would be useful to our Fellowship families, please send them to dre@uucorvallis.org
A primary skill we can all develop and use as our children’s first and primary spiritual leaders is developing our capacity for self-regulation. Whatever it is we need to talk to our children about, whether it’s the news or their chores, the potential for positive outcomes is higher when we enter into it with awareness of our own emotions and how they’re participating in the way we are showing up with our children. Without realizing it, the stress we carry in our own bodies can easily spill into our interactions, word choices, patience levels, and more. Dr. Amber Thornton has loads of resources on self-regulation for parents. Below is just one of her many offerings on the topic.
The Fred Rogers Institute has offered a great PDF about talking with children about difficult things in the news. You can access the full 2-page guide by clicking HERE.
“When children bring up something frightening, it’s helpful right away to ask them what they know about it. We often find that their fantasies are very different from the actual truth. What children probably need to hear most from us adults, is that they can talk with us about anything and that we will do all we can to keep them safe in any scary time.
For an at-a-glance list of things to keep in mind for developmentally appropriate conversations at every age and stage, check out this one-sheet from the Children’s Network and Early Risers.
And finally, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network has offered a guide to Talking to Children About the Shooting, which can be accessed HERE.
My door is always open if you find yourself in need of additional resources or thought partnership through this moment in history. I also encourage all of our parents to take advantage of the Parent Connection Dinner on the second Thursday of each month. Strengthening your connections to the village and having a designated place to talk about what’s hard with people who are fielding similar questions and facing similar challenges can make a world of difference!
This workshop has reached its max enrollment. If you’d like to be placed on the waitlist, please email Skyla at dre@uucorvallis.org.
WHEN: Thursdays from 3-4:30 from February 19th through March 26th
WHERE: Room 7
WHAT: Adult Coming of Age is a program designed to help each participant examine who they are at this unique moment in time, look back at the people and events that have shaped them in meaningful ways, and clarify the values, priorities, sacrifices, and gifts that will shape this season of life.
As spiritual beings evolving in a physical world, we are never done becoming who we mean to be, and the Coming of Age program for adults honors that at every age, we are crossing thresholds, seeking clarity, and held by circles of support.
This year’s round of Adult Coming of Age is offered earlier in the day to accommodate those who cannot drive at night. Because this is a challenging time for many with full-time jobs, we will offer the next round in the evening.
“Dear world, I am excited to be alive in you, and I am thankful for another year.” ~Charlotte Eriksson
Greetings, Families!
I hope your winter holidays were warm and cozy! A new year is unfolding before us, and we’re starting off with a little ease after the holiday hustle. Don’t miss these sweet opportunities for connection and reflection in January!
UPCOMING EVENTS:
1/8 Parent Connection Dinner @ 6:30 (register HERE one time, to get reminders)
1/11 Family Breakfast @ 8:45 (register HERE and bring a dish if you are able)
1/25 Heartland Humane service project for OMG!
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.
The OMG! youth group will serve at the Heartland Humane Society on January 25th. Specific times and registration details have been emailed directly to parents. This is always a favorite activity each year, so be sure to register by 1/18! Youth without a permission slip will not be permitted to serve.
While there, the youth will assist with routine care of the animals and facility, and wrap up with some animal socialization time. Please make sure your child wears work clothes that can get dirty. The attending youth advisors will be Steve Ferrell and Mark Aron. Please send questions to Skyla.
Thanks to a dedicated group of moms, the Parent Connection Dinner, formerly known as the Parent Peer Support Group, is no longer a potluck! We have enough soups prepped to get us through the end of the year! Parents are invited to show up with their dishes and enjoy soup, bread, and desserts along with meaningful facilitated discussion on topics relevant to parenting and mutual support. You are invited to register one time, and then you’ll receive the automated reminder texts and emails each month. You can help us decide how much to prepare by clicking RSVP button on the reminder to let us know you’re coming. As always, free childcare will be provided in a nearby room.
Thank you for showing up and supporting our 4th-6th graders at the Holiday Fair! They successfully sold out of magnets, post cards, and paintings and raised a nice chunk of money to spend toward the many projects they’re hoping to do together this year.
It was amazing to have eight of our bold and creative young people perform in a Sunday service this year! The gratitude and awe keeps rolling in from all corners of Fellowship life, as so many were moved by the story and song that was shared.
Your offering of time and courage meant more than you might imagine to those in our community who were feeling alone during the winter holidays, or who have limited interactions with younger people. I can’t tell you how many people have said something along the lines of, “Their singing! It was so beautiful and so moving! Exactly what my soul needed!”
So thank you, parents and kids, for giving of yourselves and your time so generously. It was such a gift to share worship with you in that way!
Our amazing OMG! member, Elizabeth, reached out and asked if she could offer her talent for face painting at our annual Holiday Fair. She spent five hours sitting at the kids’ table painting faces for free, and connecting with people of all ages. I love that she knows her gifts, identified a place where she could share them, and reached out to make it happen!
Several times, I watched children who were bored from shopping with their parents light up when they saw that there was something for them, and then their parents light up when they saw that it was free!
Thank you, Elizabeth, for being exactly who you are and for sharing that with us!
If you or your child has a gift just waiting to be shared, let me know how we can support you in sharing it!
Y’all, 2025 was a wild ride in RE!
We spent the first half of the year without any classrooms to meet in, and still managed to pull off a one-room school house style Sunday morning offering for children in the social hall, a youth group in the library, and the first round of OWL (Our Whole Lives, comprehensive sex and sexuality class) since the pandemic. This would not have been possible without the tireless work of a dozen dedicated RE leaders who were willing to keep showing up in the most challenging of circumstances. And they were so, so challenging!
In the back half of the year we hosted a children’s summer camp, hired two more youth staff, moved back into the classroom wing, said goodbye to Rev. McAllister and welcomed Rev. McGee, added a 4th classroom and lots of new RE leaders to keep our classrooms thriving, and closed out the year with our Winter Solstice pageant!
I can’t think of a better way to have spent a year in community! I am so grateful to get to spend my time working with you and your children, and I’m excited for us to make 2026 a joyful and hope-filled time to be at the Fellowship together!
