The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Corvallis
The theme of the 2024 Women’s Retreat at the UUFC was Resilience. More than 40 women participated in large and small group learning and workshops designed to expand our capacity for resilience in our selves, in our relationships, and in our community. Catering by Forks & Corks and a clothing exchange added to the joy of our connectedness. No woman who wishes to attend our retreats is turned away; scholarships are always available.
Buy treats from a local UU-owned goody stand to support Linn-Benton Food Share (LBFS)! Holley Lantz, Donn Zellet and Nora Cohen operate a goody stand selling homemade jams, old-fashioned fudge, and scrumptious chewy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. This is the 17th year they have sold treats to benefit the food bank. They donate all proceeds to LBFS, and last year raised $1,024! Your purchases of jam, fudge, and cookies make a difference! LBFS is filling a critical need feeding more and more people who can’t stretch dollars far enough.
The goody stand is at 2921 NW Ashwood Drive – a small “C”-shaped street halfway between Circle and Walnut west off 29th – at the top of the driveway. It’s always open! Goodies are sold on the honor system. Leave cash or check (made out to LeoNora Cohen) in an envelope in the upper right cubbie. Take change if you need it.
Fudge and cookies cost $1 per piece, 6 for $5. Jam is $7 for one jar, or $6 per jar for multiples.
The fudge is made by Holley Lantz from a 1946 recipe. It is grainy like your grandma used to make and is deep, dark chocolatey goodness! Donn makes the most delicious, large chewy oatmeal cookies full or chocolate bits, cranberries and raisins. Cookies and fudge will be available June 8 or earlier. The jam is made in small batches by Nora Cohen in her kitchen. There are multiple flavors available:
Strawberry Mango (Shuksan U-pick strawberries, frozen mango)
Italian Plum (from Nora’s trees)
Apricot
Fig (from Nora’s tree) with toasted walnuts, honey, fresh ginger and cinnamon
Sweet Cherry and Mango
Strawberry-Red Currant
Blueberry
The selling season ends August 15!
And thank you for returning jars and rings.
A giant THANK YOU! to all who have already volunteered painting time or signed up to do so on June 13, 14, or 20.
We have completed Phase One of interior painting, and 2/3 of the exterior siding staining. Everything looks clean and fresh!
Commercial painters will paint the new Fire Suppressant Sprinkler System pipes starting (tentatively) July 7. After that 3 – 4 day job, they will also paint the remaining 1/3 of the exterior siding in areas unsafe for volunteers.
We are re-scheduling the planned Move-Back-In weekend from June 28 – 29 to July 19 – 20. Requests and sign-up sheets will start in early July.
Painting Help
Phase Two Painting starts Friday June 13 and Saturday June 14 9 AM – 12 PM and 1 – 4 PM, and Saturday June 20 9 AM – 12 PM and 1 – 4 PM.
We especially need 2-3 people on the 14th 9 – 12 shift, and more help on June 20 both shifts.
(Please sign up on sheets on foyer table or contact Wolfgang)
General Help needed (time TBD)
Tasks include installing many shelves in the mezzanine storage room; installing blinds in windows in all the rooms; installing bulletin boards, fire extinguishers, signs, cabinets.
Contact Wolfgang Dengler in Breeze with questions.
With gratitude and hope, we share food with one another at our last LEGATO potluck on June 11 at 5:45 (arrive at 5:30 if you can help set up). Hope to see you there.
Bring a tapas (hor d’oeuvre) dish to share (please identify all ingredients) and your beverage of choice. We’ll aim to sit on the patio.
This is a Connect Up Event with the purpose of building community within the UUFC congregation.
I’m grateful that this week we are once again hosting my colleague and friend Rev. Mwibutsawineza F. Ndagijimanayburundi. Rev. Mwibutsa lives in Ottawa, ON, where he settled after going to Canada as a refugee from his homeland, Burundi, in East Africa. It was in Burundi that Mwibutsa, then studying to become a Dominican priest, heard about Unitarian Universalism, and eventually established the first UU congregation in East Africa, becoming a UU minister along the way. I have shared in that process with him – a beautiful international form of shared ministry. He has continually been an inspiration and a guide for me, especially in my learning that Unitarian Universalism is not just a “casual faith” but can be a lifesaving force. These are days in which we need to lean into and learn more about that aspect of who we are, and who we can be.
Some of you will recognize that Mwibutsa is a new name for the person you originally met as Fulgence Ndagijimana. There are reasons for this – having to do with the legacies of colonialism, a need to understand oneself in changed circumstances, and more. Mwibutsa will tell some of this story in his sermon on Sunday morning.
For more than ten years the Fellowship has supported Mwibutsa’s work to sustain and grow the UU presence in East Africa ( Burundi and Rwanda), through the NGO he created, Flaming Chalice International. Our support has made a difference not only in individual lives but in the survival of one of the newest UU communities in the world. It is my hope that this relationship with Flaming Chalice International will continue to be a part of the Fellowship’s dedication to outreach and justice for a long time to come. Please join us on Sunday to welcome Rev. Mwibutsa.
What kind of identity do we choose to embrace to meet the moments that life, events and circumstances throw at us? It is not just to know who we are but to decide who we need to be and become. A place where our chosen identity, fueled by our behaviour will lead to a world of our values. Come reflect with Rev. Mwibutsa
Greetings, Families!
We made it through another fabulous Fellowship year! 🙌 With some of your favorite RE activities on summer hiatus, you might be wondering what other opportunities are coming for children, youth, and families. Well, wonder no more!
Grab your calendars and get ready for summer goodness you won’t want to miss!
SUMMER EVENTS for FAMILIES
6/8 Family Hike at Lewisburg Saddle, 1-2PM, register here
6/23-27 Play to Your Values summer camp, 8:30 to 11:30 on the Fellowship Lawn
6/29 Corvallis Knights Game, 5-8ish at Goss Stadium, register here
7/6 Sunday Morning Kids’ Lemonade Stand, during and after the service
7/13 Family Hike at Fitton Green, 1-2PM, register here
8/3 Sunday Morning Sidewalk Chalk Values, during the service for kids
8/10 Family Hike and Splash at Mary’s River Natural Area, 1-3PM register here
8/16 Outdoor movie night and camping on the lawn, 9PM register here
8/24 Ice Cream Social, 7PM on Fellowship Lawn, register here
SUMMER EVENT for YOUTH
8/24 Youth kickoff river float, noon to whenever, 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.
The second Sunday of each month, June through August, we’ll be hosting a family hike. We ask that families preregister so that we know who to wait for at the trailhead, and hikes with fewer than 2 registered families will be canceled via text.
We’ll be starting with Lewisburg Saddle and a little visit to the spot my family calls Salamander Heaven because there are tons of salamanders to see. Then we’ll hit Fitton Green in July. We’ll wrap up the summer with a short walk followed by a splash in a bend in the river that has shallows for little humans and a deeper pool for our confident swimmers on the back side of Mary’s River Natural Area.
Exciting news! The youth will have a dedicated youth room in September and they’ve chosen a wild accent wall to paint themselves. We will begin painting this Sunday and continue on Sundays until the job is done. Please have youth arrive in clothes that can get paint on them.
On the first Sunday of each month, we will have a multiage activity for the kids. In July, we’ll prepare a lemonade stand again to raise money for the charitable organization that the children vote to give to. In August, we’ll spend some time on the playground talking about our shared values and what they mean to us, and then sidewalk chalk the heck out of firwood entrance with 6 word statements about our values.
If you’re nervous about having the kids in the sanctuary again, know that you’ll have relief on the first Sunday of each month!
In addition to hikes and during-service activities, we have a couple of night time activities that are open to the entire congregation, and geared specifically toward families.
On June 29th, we’ll have a ballpark night with the Knights. Buy a ticket and join us in section 2 so we can sing and cheer and eat junk together. Register for that event HERE.
And on August 16th, we’re going to show the classic My Girl on an outdoor movie screen and you’re invited to camp on the lawn and show up to the service in your jammies the next day. Registration for the movie night with camping is HERE. You do not have to camp to come enjoy the movie!
It’s been so much fun getting to know your children over the course of this last year. They are delightful in all the ways and it’s the biggest honor to get to spend time with them week after week and get to know their quirks and gifts.
Thank you for raising such amazing humans and for being committed to doing it in community!
Before you go, some parents have requested to be contacted about RE happenings via text. Our church management software allows for that, but only once you’ve opted in. If you are interested in receiving things like this newsletter via text, please use this form to opt into that service. And please communicate with me about how it’s going if you opt in. Breeze can be a bit fussy, so this will be a new experiment. I’ll be counting on your feedback!
And as always, if you’d like to stop receiving updates about Fellowship RE activities, email me and let me know.
Happy June, Y’all!
“Welcoming our sorrow eases the hardened places within us, allowing them to open and freeing us to once more feel our kinship with the living presence around us. This is deep activism, soul activism that actually encourages us to connect with the tears of the world. Grief keeps the heart flexible, fluid, and open to others… Our activism is directly connected to our heart’s ability to respond to the world. A congested heart, one burdened with unexpressed sorrow, cannot stay open to the world, and consequently, cannot be fully available for the healing work so needed at this time.” – Frances Weller, The Wild Edge of Sorrow:
WHEN: July 7th @ 6:00-8:00
WHERE: Social Hall
WHAT: Workshop to explore lamentation — the ancient practice of passionately expressing sorrow through language and art. Participants will engage with a formal structure for writing a personal lament and artistically express their grief in the format of a small zine. No artistic skills are needed, and all supplies will be provided.
This workshop was generously provided to religious professionals around the nation by Rev. JaKaren Bell and the UU College of Social Justice, with the invitation to teach this practice in our home congregations. It is our hope that this spiritual practice will provide spiritual sustenance to fuel your justice work.
All youth and adults are welcome.
Oregon’s homeless shelters face a potential funding crisis if timely action isn’t taken. With the state budget deadline approaching on June 18 (or June 29 if there is an emergency declaration), your advocacy is critical to ensure shelters can continue operating without interruption starting July 1.
As some of you may have seen in multiple news outlets, or from our social media, Unity Shelter is at a critical point. While we have been solidly funded for the past 2 years by the State of Oregon, changes in the federal funding landscape are likely to cause challenges to the State’s ability to maintain the level of funding we’ve had in previous years. Click below to read a note from our Executive Director about how we’re responding and the changes to Unity Shelter operations.
Click Here for a funding update
Oregon’s homeless shelters face a potential funding crisis if timely action isn’t taken. With the state budget deadline approaching on June 18 (or June 29 if there is an emergency declaration), your advocacy is critical to ensure shelters can continue operating without interruption starting July 1.
In Corvallis, if emergency shelter is closed, at least 160 individuals will be impacted by the closure of 3 Unity Shelter programs alone: Two congregate shelters and our emergency hoteling shelter.
Two bills are particularly important to Oregon’s shelter system:
HB 5011: This budget bill funds Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS), including essential shelter funding. Currently in Ways and Means Committee, this bill directly impacts whether shelters receive timely funding.
HB 3644: A policy bill directing OHCS to establish a coordinated shelter system by mid-2026. While this does have long-term implications, it’s not connected to our immediate funding concerns.
Follow the bill and see the full text here: HB5011 2025 Regular Session – Oregon Legislative Information System
Step 1: Contact Key Decision-Makers
The most effective action right now is contacting members of the Ways and Means Committee, particularly those on the Transportation and Economic Development Subcommittee who review the OHCS budget.
Who to Contact:
Step 2: Craft Your Message
When contacting legislators, emphasize these key points:
Step 3: Mobilize Your Network
Step 4: Follow the Process
Stay Informed
Remember: Your Advocacy Makes a Difference
Legislators need to understand the real-world consequences of funding decisions. Your specific examples of why this matters to you and how shelters impact our community are powerful tools for effective advocacy.
Subject: Urgent Support Needed for Shelter Funding in HB 5011
Dear Representative/Senator [Name],
I’m writing regarding HB 5011, which contains critical funding for Oregon’s homeless shelters through Oregon Housing and Community Services.
Our emergency shelter organization, Unity Shelter, serves over 1,200 unique individuals annually, providing essential safety and support. Without timely funding at the start of the fiscal year, we face the possibility of service closure beginning July 1.
This would mean [include something about the specific impact this would have on our community – like, 160 individuals, including families with children, would lose emergency housing options in our community, 40 employees will be laid off.]
I urge you to:
I appreciate your consideration and your care for our most vulnerable citizens.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Organization, if applicable]
[Contact Information]
The UUFC became an official UUA Welcoming Congregation more than 3 decades ago. The Gender and Sexuality Justice Team is ready to lead UUFC in updating our status as a Welcoming Congregation that includes non-binary and transgender folks.
An important first step is for members of UUFC to read and discuss the UUA Common Read book for 2024-25 – Authentic Selves: Celebrating Trans and Nonbinary People and their Families. Please read the book and join a four-part discussion workshop led by Anya Ballinger and Jema Patterson. The meetings will take place from 6:30-8:00 PM in the UUFC Sanctuary on 7/15, 7/29, 8/12 and 8/26. Tell us you plan to participate by registering here: https://uufc.breezechms.com/form/a93a00
Authentic Selves, is a sweeping compilation of life stories and portraits of trans and nonbinary people, as well as their partners, parents, children, siblings, and chosen family members. This important new book was developed in collaboration with PFLAG National and Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund.