The annual UUFC Services Auction is a wonderful way to build community while giving back to UUFC! Donate an Item or a Service! Most popular items have been things like yard work, childcare, social dinners, learning lessons and things that bring people together.
Dance Planet, 4/6
This Saturday we’re having a special Dance Planet at the UU. From 7:30 to about 8:45 we’ll move, each in our own way, to a rhythmic flow of music from around the world and across the decades. The mix will include some sun/moon music in appreciation of the upcoming solar eclipse. But starting at 7 we’ll have a special treat: a 30-minute musical journey with world percussionist Dave Chiller. Dave will explore with his hangs and ngoni African harp to create an auditory space for movement, stretching, or just listening.
Admission to this family-friendly event is a suggested donation of $5—15. One hundred percent of the proceeds will be donated to local environmental organizations.
Services Auction: Make Your Donations This Week
Online Silent Auction – Wednesday, May 29 – June 5 at 5:00 pm
Live Auction with Silent Auction Tables – Saturday, June 8
- Doors open at 5:30 – Registration, pick up your dinner salad, strawberry desserts, and drinks
- Socialize and bid on silent auction items 5:30 – 7:00
- Live auction begins – with HOOPLA! 7:00 p.m.
We want EVERYONE to have a chance to enjoy the camaraderie and excitement of our annual Goods & Services Auction, whether or not you are able to attend on June 8. So, the 2024 Auction Planning Team has split the Auction into three parts:
- The Online Silent Auction – Wednesday, May 29, 8:00 am through
Wednesday, June 5, 5:00 pm. Can’t come to UUFC on June 8? You’ll still be
able to bid online for some fine items and services, and help fund our
Fellowship at the same time. - The Silent Auction Tables – Saturday, June 8, 5:30-7:00. A limited number
of items will be available to bid on and take home that night, especially
items such as cakes, pies, plants, bouquets, gift baskets, and arts and crafts. - The Live Auction – Saturday, June 8, 7:00-8:30 pm. Our Auctioneer John
Bailey will entice you to bid high on 30 spectacular service items. Raise your
paddles and let the fun begin!
Request Childcare: In an effort to make the Services Auction a family friendly event, we want to offer childcare during the Live Auction. However, we need to know how many children to plan for and get some additional information about those youngsters from you. Please complete the short Google form before May 19 to allow time to recruit the appropriate, back-ground checked people to watch over your small humans.
Volunteer to Help
The annual UUFC Services Auction is a wonderful way to build community while giving back to UUFC. Many people are needed to make this event a success! We have a variety of jobs, something for everyone!
Donate Services or Goods
Will you donate a popular service item that we can enjoy haggling over in the Live Auction? Or perhaps you will bake a cake or pie, bring a plant, bouquet, gift basket, an art/craft item that some lucky person will win at the Silent Auction table. Or maybe you have a new or like-new item that someone else would love. Some donations will be split between the Online Auction (May 29 – June 5) and the Silent Auction tables (June 8) so that everyone has a chance to participate.
Suggested Auction events and services
Here are some possible services or events. Mix and match and consider your special interests and you will come up with something unique. Please donate. It’s fun, we build community, get to know others, and our work benefits the UUFC.
ESCAPES: Time at your vacation beach house or cottage
WORK FOR HIRE: Yard work. Handy-person tasks. Architectural or landscape
design. Garden planning. Help in organizing kitchen, closets, garage. Car washing, car detailing, carpentry, gift baskets
OUTINGS: Winery/brewery visits. Boat/kayak/canoe trips. Bird watching. A day at the coast.
PARTIES WITH THEMES: Mystery dinner. Academy awards party. Las Vegas night.
GET-TOGETHERS: Tea or wine tasting. Poetry and snacks. Hikes with picnic. Sing-alongs. Karaoke night. Walking tour. Mexican train dominos.
SHARED MEALS: Ethnic dinners. Vegan, Paleo, Keto dinners. Fondue party. Meal and movie night. Salad sampler luncheon.
DELIVERED MEALS: Dinner for 2-4 delivered. Quart of soup for X months. Dessert per month for X months. Home-baked bread.
LESSONS: “Play with clay” day. Cake decorating. Greeting card making. Computer lessons. Music lessons. Dance lessons/party (tango, salsa, line dancing, belly dancing).
PERSONAL SERVICES: Shopping or “taxi” service. Massage. Astrology. Ancestry help. Made-to-order socks, scarf, mittens, hat, jewelry. Personalized song, poem, or limerick.
FAMILY FRIENDLY IDEAS: Children’s sewing project. Cooking class. Pizza or pasta making party. Tie dye party. Scavenger hunt. Child’s birthday party. Kid’s dress up party. Outdoor movie night. Math tutoring.
Climate Action Lunch, 4/20
Saturday, 4/20 at 1:00 PM in the Social Hall
Plant-based foods may be good for the planet, but they are also tasty and easy to prepare. Join members of the UUFC’s Climate Action Team to enjoy a delicious meal prepared by Ernest Cardona — and celebrate upcoming Earth Day.
THE MENU
Appetizers
- Miso soup w/tofu
- Bruschetta with and without seaweed
Entrees
- Black bean, corn, and tomato casserole with cheese and vegan options
- Gandules (pigeon peas) and rice
- Mushroom sauce on pasta
Dessert
- Roasted plantains with coconut ice cream or sorbet
Childcare is available but must be requested by April 7.
Register by April 15 with Nick Houtman, nickhoutman8@aol.com or text to 541-829-3442 to reserve your place. We will cap registrations at 30.
Child Dedication Invitation, 5/12
In Unitarian Universalist congregations, the dedication and blessing of a child signifies the congregation’s willingness to nurture & love the child, & to support parents & caregivers in providing for their children’s spiritual development. It also celebrates the family’s desire to raise their children in a nurturing religious community.
Children are beloved members of the UUFC. Their growth and unfolding personalities are a source of joy to us all, and we are committed, as a congregation, to their spiritual welfare. Our child dedication service is an opportunity to recognize that commitment & to welcome the new children in our midst.
It is our custom to dedicate children on Christmas Eve and Mother’s Day, as well as any time a family makes the request. Participating families will be invited to come forward & introduce their children. Each child will be blessed with a touch of water, the gift of a flower, & words of commitment by the gathered community.
If you would like your child to be dedicated on Mother’s Day, please contact Skyla by Sunday, May 5th.
Your FOC and CAT Have Endorsed a Climate Chaos Report
Banking on Climate Chaos 2024: Fossil Fuel Finance Report Card is a joint effort of the Rainforest Action Network (RAN), BankTrack, Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), Oil Change International (OCI), Reclaim Finance, the Sierra Club, Urgewald and others to document the on-going support that banking and investment firms provide for the fossil fuel industry. It is hoped that by pointing out these direct ties, individuals, pension programs and other investors with money in the banks and investment firms providing the greatest fossil fuel industry support can ask their institutions to consider other investment opportunities. The group preparing these annual reports has asked others to endorse their effort. Your UUFC Financial Oversight Council (FOC) and Climate Action Team (CAT) are well aware of these concerns and trying to do what they can with UUFC monies to step away from fossil fuel industry support. The FOC And CAT have endorsed the report. This endorsement falls within UUFC endorsement guidelines of not endorsing a candidate; does not require a financial contribution or commitment nor work commitment. The endorsement supports the UUFC mission to inspire action for a better world for all and its commitment to divest from fossil fuels. If you have questions about this endorsement, please contact Michael Hughes, Board, CAT and FOC member, or Russ Karow, FOC Chair.
We Need One More Grass “Eater”
Your UUFC lawn mowing crew needs one more member for the front lawns team. This soul-refreshing task (outdoors; fresh air; focused work for which you get immediate gratification) will require no more than 90 minutes of your time, once every four weeks. We have a state-of-the-art electric lawn mowers so you can easily listen to your favorite podcast or music while “working.” If you have interest, please email Russ Karow and we can arrange to talk further about this opportunity to be a member of the UUFC’s volunteer corp. Thanks for your consideration!
“SO Much More to the Stories,” 3/31/24
Unitarian Universalists have wrestled with the Easter story for centuries. Should we focus on its pagan roots, its ample metaphors, its timeless insight into both human frailties and human strengths? Luckily there is not just one answer, because like all good stories, it opens so many possibilities. And, there is so much more to the story, especially in the history and evolution of its telling. What might we learn this year?
Rev. Jill McAllister
These Ancient Modern Stories
The Jewish and Christian traditions are foundational in the long evolution of stories which have shaped Unitarian Universalism. It is now the season for two of the most important of those stories: the exodus of the ancient Hebrew people from Egypt – the Passover story, and the death and resurrection of Jesus – the Easter story.
The Passover and Easter stories do not shy away from the hard realities of human suffering. They include graphic descriptions of plagues, armies, murder, brutality, loss, and devastation. They are stories which arise in times and places of oppression and violence, of the power of a state to use oppression and violence to sustain its greed. They are stories of people terrorized and killed and pushed to the edge of endurance, and they are stories of endurance and perseverance and un-extinguishable dedication to justice and love. Stories we can understand so well, because we live in these times too. The stories of Passover and Easter are stories for our time.
One thing I’ve learned from working with these stories for so many years is that I can’t fully understand what they mean on my own – I don’t meaning alone. I make meaning in relation to others – listening, hearing, considering. I need the perspectives of others, because there are so many pieces of truth. This is why we work together, why our justice and connections and learning work is led by teams.
I’ve also learned over and over again that the human story remains so much the same. Which is good, because the human story always includes new life, new ways, and the persistence of love and truth over and over again. What makes sense to me now has made sense to many others in the midst of times of devastation. Like so many others before us, in our lives now, we are called to let go of old ways and begin again. To be able and willing to accept new life as it comes, even if from the ashes of the old.
In April of 2020, just a few weeks into the world-wide pandemic shutdown, UU minister Kendyl Gibbons said this: “This Easter, as never before in many of our lifetimes, we are invited to seek the strength to let go of an old way of life, and discover what else might be possible.” May this be our aim this year as well.