The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Corvallis
December is a busy month, with a wide variety of services and gatherings. You can begin to plan ahead now – more details will come soon.
Annual Holiday Fair – Saturday Dec. 7, 9 am – 3 PM
Sunday Services: Dec. 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 – 10 AM
Blue Holidays Vespers – Monday, Dec. 16, 6 PM
Winter Solstice Service Dec. 20 – 7 PM
Christmas Eve Services – Tuesday, Dec. 24 5:30 PM Family Centered Service
9 PM Meditative Service
Fail Fest 2024 – Friday, Dec. 27 6 PM
Christmas Sing-a-Long – date TBD
Giving Tuesday is a global generosity movement. It was created in 2012 as counterpoint to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, days of immense commercialism. Its founding and guiding idea is simple: a day that encourages people to do good.
On Tuesday December 3 we ask you to consider making a donation, large or small, to the UUFC. Giving Tuesday donation will specifically be used to help the Perla family with citizenship application- related legal fees. The UUFC has supported the Perla family since their arrival in March 2021 (during the height of the pandemic) from El Salvador. As you may have heard, we were successful recently in helping the family once again obtain affordable housing in Corvallis. We are now looking for additional funds to help them obtain legal status. Nancy Kyle has been and continues to be the Perla’s UUFC sponsor and guardian angel. Nancy or other members of the UUFC Immigrant and Refuge Support Team can give you more information about the Perlas.
To donate, click on the button below. When the form opens click on the arrow next to “Give to …” and select “Give to Giving Tuesday” from the drop-down menu. Enter your donation amount, whether the gift is recurring or one-time, and then choose debit/credit or ACH payment.
Alternatively, you can mail a check to the UUFC (2945 NW Circle Blvd, Corvallis OR 97330) or drop a check in the Sunday collection basket. Please write “Giving Tuesday” on the memo line of all checks. Your gift can make a real difference in the lives of the Perla family and their immigrant success story – which it truly has been over time – in the US.
Please ponder this affirmation we make each Sunday – together we can do more than any of us can accomplish alone – and give generously.
After-service sale of live Holiday Trees and runs from Sun 24 Nov through Sun 9 Dec. Trees will also be available during the Holiday Fair on Sat 7 Dec. Trees are $20 each, and we’re offering Grand Fir, Willamette Valley Ponderosa Pine, Doug Fir, and Sitka Spruce, all in #2 pots. i.e. Table-top size. After the holidays, you can plant your tree yourself, or return it for us to plant. We’ll accept returns on Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings in January.
You can reserve a tree by clicking the button below:
Drop-in purchases also welcome.
Join “Aging Successfully in Community” team members & friends to enjoy tea, coffee, cookies & snacks in the social hall 2-4 pm, 12/11.
Bring a plate of cookies or other snacks to share, if you like.
Meet Saturday, Nov. 30 at 9:45 am at the Midge Cramer trailhead to Bald Hill at the west end of the Fairgrounds parking lot. We’ll start hiking at 10:00 am. This will be a “lollipop” trail with different ability options. Join us for all or part of the journey. We’ll head west on the paved path, then north to the barn, and around the west trail to the top of the hill. Then we’ll make our way back downhill to the barn via whatever trail is less like a mudslide. Then back to the parking lot via the paved path. This is an easy to moderate hike of about 4 miles with about 300 ft. elevation gain. Dress for the weather, bring water, shoes with traction, poles if you like, but NO DOGS PLEASE.
This week a letter from the UUA General Assembly Office included this reflection, below. It is a beautifully compact and eloquent statement of the coming holiday weekend, so I share it here with you, to help us enter in:
“A Thanksgiving Reflection: Honoring Connection, Gratitude, and Responsibility
As we approach Thanksgiving, we pause to reflect on the complexity of this holiday and its varied meanings. For many, it is a time to gather in gratitude with loved ones. For others, it is a somber reminder of the painful history and ongoing impact of colonization on Indigenous peoples and their lands.
This season invites us to hold these truths together: the need for gratitude and connection, and the imperative to honor justice and repair. We encourage you to take time to learn about the histories and cultures of the Indigenous peoples who stewarded the lands we now call home. Consider how your gratitude can inspire actions that support equity, solidarity, and healing.”
May we enter into this week, and our plans, with consideration. With openness to learning, with willingness to understand ourselves, our ancestors, and our abilities to contribute to needed justice and repair, in our own homes, families and communities.
See you Sunday!
Thank you so much to everyone who contributed winter accessories, hothands, and cash to support our children and youth service project of creating winter care kits. Having some small action to take when you see a need is one way that we can overcome feelings of hopelessness, and put our shared values of generosity, interdependence, and love into action!
Thanks to your generous donations, everyone in Spirit Play and YRUU created a winter care kit to keep in their car to offer when they cross paths with someone in need. Each kit contained a warm hat, gloves, and 2 ten-hour hothands pouches, along with a note of love and encouragement in a waterproof bag. Some of them also included scarves and artwork from the children. In all, 21 kits were made and a few leftover items were given to the Corvallis Daytime Drop-in Center.
We couldn’t have pulled this off without the support of our amazing community of adults, so thank you!
We’ve got an addition to the Inquirers Series! The Chalice Circle team will now offer an entire session on their special format for small group ministry as the fifth session in the series. That means, if you’ve attended the whole series, you’ve got something fresh to check out!
If you’re one of our participants who has your eye on completing the series and getting your very own home chalice, don’t fret! The old sessions count toward your progress. We hope that you’ll consider attending this new offering as you are able because chalice circles are a distinctly UU way to build deep connections here at the Fellowship, and we want everyone to know how to get plugged in.
If you are interested in checking out the new session, their first offering is scheduled for December 1st at 11:45 in room 8.
The Inquirers Series is an ongoing series of sessions that you may attend in any order, as you are available. Whenever there is a 5th Sunday in a month, Skyla King-Christison will offer UU Roots, which is a deeper dive into UU History.
The updated rotation flyer has been posted beside the welcome desk, but here’s a preview!
The Secure Housing and Food for All Justice Team will meet Sunday Nov. 17 at 11:45a in the UUFC Library. We’ll share information about Corvallis Daytime Drop-In Center, the Social Concerns collection of this month.
CDDC needs to move before March of 2025.
For more information about the CDDC, visit the CDDC website. Also update on the Perla’s new home at ‘Rivergreen’.
Roberta Smith, Roz Keeney, Mike Jager
Friday Nov 22nd at 5:00 p.m. we will meet for our FINAL Sip & Snack Connect Up activity for the year. This Connect Up activity will need a new leader next April. Please think about whether you can serve the UU in this way.
The Tasting room is located in the Old World Deli building. It’s a snug room and seating is on a first come, first serve basis so we should aim to be there at 5 on the dot. Given the small space, bring ONLY small bites to share (no cutting or scooping). Napkins will be available.
Those with a wine passport get a free flight of wine. After enjoying some wine, feel free to get dinner at the Old World Deli on your own. (We cannot bring wine out into the Deli, and there is no room for a basket of food from the Deli into the tasting room. Be forewarned.) There is no carpool – just meet at the location.
Please contact Heather E prior to Wednesday 11/20 so she has a head count. Hope to see you there.