The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Corvallis
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The Women’s Retreat Planning Team is looking for women who would volunteer to lead a 50-minute workshop on a practice that brings them peace. Workshops will be offered at the UUFC on Saturday, October 18 at 11 am, 3pm, or 4pm. We hope to be able to offer a variety of different things, such as:
Spiritual practices – e.g. ritual, music, meditation
Body practices – e.g. breathwork, yoga, walking
Creativity practices – e.g. arts, words, crafts
Climate practices – e.g. sustainability in home & consumer habits, gardening & land work
Economic practices – e.g. data and dollar practices that support agency and peace
Relationship practices – e.g. healthy boundaries, generosity, interaction games
If you’ve got a proposal to offer our retreat community, please submit it before Sept. 21 by clicking the button below and filling out the form.
It’s summer time and the Greeter Team is ready for action! If you would like to join this up-beat team, please contact anyone at the Greeter desk, or contact the team lead via the button below. We can all use a helping hand.
Beyond the mechanics of opening the door or preparing a name tag, greeters provide a friendly face, a warm handshake, and a welcoming greeting. We may offer guidance to the sanctuary, distribute bulletins, answer questions, and help with any immediate needs.
Our Sunday Outreach offerings in July support DRUUMM – Diverse & Revolutionary UU Multicultural Ministries – which is a Unitarian Universalist People of Color Ministry and anti-racist collective. As an all-volunteer ministry, DRUUMM continues to lead efforts to fulfill the aims of becoming an anti-racist, anti oppressive, multicultural UUA, creating space for youth, young adult and our families of color to heal and work collectively, and steward an effective organization that develops new leadership and manages consistent communication with members. DRUUMM is a collective of people who identify as People of Color. Allies are welcome and organized as Allies for Racial Equity. Together we are open to all people. At the Fellowship, our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Justice Team works in partnership with DRUUMM.
We did it! The volunteer work of painting the interior of the classroom wing is complete!
A HUGE THANK YOU to the ~50 volunteers who helped paint the Classroom Wing – some multiple times! It looks great and you saved the UUFC a huge amount of money! Another thank you to those who lent equipment and materials for this work. Please pick up the items you lent from the counter in Room 6C. If something is broken or missing, contact Wolfgang.
Here’s the plan for upcoming activities: Professional painters the week of July 7 – 11 to paint the black fire-sprinkler pipes and external siding.
Deep cleaning every room July 12 – 18 Some cleaning by Felicia Torres, our custodian Other cleaning by volunteers (look for signup forms in July!)
July 19 Move stored items from rental space and Wolfgang’s shed to UUFC
July 20 Move stored items from private homes to UUFC
July 21-30 Restore blinds, bulletin boards, shelf units, cover plates
The preschool will move back into the classroom wing some time in August. Exact dates to be determined.
Part of being a safe and welcoming community for everyone who chooses to be in covenant with us is learning about how to be awesome with service animals when they are present. Curious about best practice when you encounter a service animal out and about? We’ve got you covered!
Notice when an animal is in a service vest, signaling that it is not a pet, but a working companion.
Ask the human how the service dog helps them and get permission before interacting with the service dog.
Speak directly to the human, not the service dog.
Give extra personal space to the service dog and its person.
Always assume the service dog is busy working, not off duty.
More information is available from Guide Dogs of America to deepen your understanding and skills. Thanks for helping us live our values of inclusivity!
Thank you to all who pledged to support the UUFC in 2025-26. That support enables our Fellowship to pursue its mission: Explore. Love. Act. We gather as an inclusive religious community to search for meaning, build deep connections, and inspire action toward a better world for all.
Fiscal Year 2025-26 begins on July 1st, and it is now time for Step 2 in the stewardship process: updating your contribution payment method and assigning it to Pledge ‘25-’26. If you authorized us -– the UUFC treasurer or business manager – to update your pledge payment in Breeze, that is being done.
If you chose to do the update yourself, please do so by July 1, but wait until after your final pledge payment for ’24-’25 has completed. Instructions on how to do the update can be viewed by clicking the button below, but if you need additional help, email <treasurer@uucorvallis.org> or <businessmgr@uucorvallis.org>.
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.
Try, once again, to let everything you do be done in love.
I am inspired by these words Rev. Jill uses to close our Sunday service. What would it be like to live this way? Sometimes I speak or act out of love, and that feels like happiness. But not everything I do or say comes from love, and when an alternative motivation (like ego, obligation, guilt, anger, etc etc) takes over, the results are often not so good.
How can we move closer to this lovely ideal? Buddhist nun and teacher Pema Chodron has a masterful way of explaining Buddhist wisdom in an accessible and compelling way. After reading “When Things Fall Apart” I was intrigued by the idea that in our incessant quest to avoid suffering, we often make a mess of things and cause a lot of suffering for ourselves and others. When I attended a weekend retreat with Pema and learned to meditate, I learned that it is possible to train in loving kindness. Meditation allowed me to take these ideas to heart and start to apply them to actual situations. I then gained a new level of appreciation of the power of Buddhist wisdom.
I’m planning a study group to read and discuss “Welcoming the Unwelcome: Wholehearted Living in a Brokenhearted World”. Here’s a blurb from the cover: In her first new book of spiritual teachings in over seven years, Pema Chodron offers fresh wisdom, heartfelt reflections and the signature humor and insight that have made her a beloved guide in turbulent times. In an increasingly polarized world, Pema offers us tools to find common ground, even when we disagree, so we can build a stronger and broader sense of community. Sharing never-before-told personal stories from her remarkable life, simple and powerful everyday practices, and directly relatable advice, Pema leads the way in showing us how to become triumphant bodhisattvas- compassionate beings- in even the most difficult of circumstances.
Well, reading and understanding is one thing. But taking the advice to heart and trying it out in our everyday encounters is what I’m hoping to achieve in this Adult RE offering. We will read, we will discuss, we will do guided meditations, and we will try out these ideas in real life.
This year’s adult religious exploration programs are centered on our congregational theme of the year: Ancestors, Descendants, and Us.
We will deepen our understanding of our UU religious ancestry, practice articulating our own religious beliefs and spiritual impulses, and explore ways to improve our relationships with ourselves and our fellow travelers in this river of life.
We very much appreciate you taking the time to pre-register so that we can arrive well-prepared to provide you with the best RE experience possible.
If you have a special interest and would like to facilitate an exploration opportunity for adults, email Skyla King-Christison at dre@uucorvallis.org. The RE Council loves when our members help co-create the gatherings they would like to see, and I’m happy to support you in launching your RE-related ideas.
