or Contact our "Chat Line" for Support (2 PM-10 PM):
1-800-705-8158
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REV. FLORENCE CAPLOW
This week many from our congregation participated in the Black Lives Matter peaceful march in downtown Champaign. Rev. Susan Frederick Gray, the President of the UUA, has offered powerful words for this time, as have black UU clergy. Come hear stories of struggle, inspiration, sorrow and hope in this service, originally planned as our annual Flower Communion/Celebration. We must remember that the Unitarian Flower Communion was developed by Norbert and Maja Čapek, Czech Unitarian ministers, and Norbert Čapek died in Dachau for his Unitarian faith and his solidarity with the oppressed. So we will also honor his legacy and tradition.
Please send a picture of yourself with a flower to
pictures@uucuc.org
to share for our online service. Pictures will be accepted until 5 pm Friday.
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SPECIAL OUTDOOR FLOWER COMMUNION
After this Sunday's service, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m., you are invited to bring a vase or container with a flower or bouquet to the outside of the church for an "Outdoor Flower Communion" . The vase should be one you are OK with not getting back. Please wear a mask and have hand sanitizer with you. Volunteers will be guiding cars in the parking lot one at a time and showing you where to place your vase. We will also have some vases available for your flowers, pre-filled with water. I will be there to greet you - masked, of course! The bouquets will be shared with the families in our community being served by the Red Herring Bucket Brigade. If you have small to medium size cardboard boxes we could use for transporting flowers and vases, please drop them by the church near our recycling cans this week.
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY!
Your contributions and support allow us to continue to respond with love and resources to the needs in our congregation and the wider community. We couldn’t do it without your support and we are grateful to each of you.
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CANCELLED: ONLINE FELLOWSHIP HOUR
Please note, because of the special outdoor flower communion after the service, online fellowship hour is cancelled this Sunday.
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REV. FLORENCE CAPLOW
“Compassion” is the Soul Matters theme for June. In this time of great challenge, we can cultivate and express compassion for those around us and the world in ways that can bring healing and restoration, to others and ourselves. Teachings from Buddhism and Christianity can help us understand compassion as a sacred practice. The UUCUC will be offering a virtual choir performance, and Dana Lyons will be back as a guest singer.
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UPCOMING MEETINGS, CLASSES & EVENTS
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The Board of Trustees has set the annual meeting date for Sunday, June 14 from 1:00 p.m. through 3:00 p.m. The meeting will be held virtually using Zoom. For the call letter and agenda, please
refer to the annual meeting packet
(sent to all UUCUC members prior to or on Thursday, June 4th). Logistical details are being developed by an Annual Meeting Planning Group and our goal is to provide the opportunity for participation for all members. Stay tuned for further detailed information next week about how to access the meeting.
Please note: If you filled out the congregational
Needs and Resources Survey
and expressed interest in learning about Zoom, that information will be used to assist you in the coming week. An effort is underway to provide technical assistance to members to connect to the Annual Meeting by computer or phone.
For questions or further information, please contact Randy Locke at
chair@uucuc.org
.
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Remember pre-COVID-19 March? That was when the Dream Team unveiled a Mission/Vision Mandala and nine Vision themes to support our Mission. After two information meetings for members, we made slight revisions to the Visions. The next step is to set goals for UUCUC to act on. AND, we want your vote of approval of our Mission and Visions before we work on goals. That vote will happen at the annual meeting on June 14th.
Read more...
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10-week class on Thursdays at noon. Starting the week of June 18 through the week of August 20th. Classes are one hour except for the 1st class on June 18th, which will end at 1:15. New and experienced meditators are welcome!
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We invite you to join Zenshin Florence Caplow for an interactive monthly study group based on
The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty Five Centuries of Awakened Women
co-edited by Florence Caplow and Susan Moon. We focus on individual stories as a mirror for our lives and practice.
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"LITTLE FREE PANTRY" IN URBANA
A couple of opportunities for you to help out--- our own Julie Laut has set up a "Little Free Pantry" in front of her house at 505 W. Main, Urbana. She welcomes your donations of food & personal care products, in particular: pasta sauce, canned soup, tuna & beans. If she hasn't set out the shelving yet that morning you can leave things on the porch. Feel free to spread the word about this valuable neighborhood resource.
She's also looking for someone who might help construct a more stable/permanent structure so if you like to build things & are interested in helping, you can contact Julie at:
jlaut@hushmail.com
or 513-544-2682.
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GROCERY DELIVERY AVAILABLE
If it would be helpful to have someone deliver groceries for you, we have several folks who have volunteered to do this. Contact Julie Laut at:
jlaut@hushmail.com
or 513-544-2682 & she’ll put you in touch with a volunteer.
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UUCUC'S "WARM LINE"
If you find you could use some support or would like to talk with someone, please call the UUCUC “Warm Line” at 1-800-705-8158. One of the negative implications of “social distancing” is feeling isolated. There are volunteers from our church ready to talk with you, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You do not have to travel this road alone.
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UUCUC'S "BUDDY SYSTEM"
Staying connected while
UUCUC facilities are closed
During this time of social distancing, staying in touch and checking in with each other is going to be very important. We hope you will consider being part of our "Buddy System" so we can care for one another.
You can sign up here:
https://uucuc.breezechms.com/form/2184f1. Buddies will check in with each other regularly by phone to provide connection, companionship, and connections to help if needed. This is a great way to help each other.
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From Anonymous:
Good energies & protections for those of us who have to return to campus tomorrow - where there is NO plan for the inevitable outbreak that is coming. The decisions for assumption of risk are being made by those who will stay safe at home, at minimal risk, in their ivory towers of Zoom. We frontliners all know that essential means expendable
From Erin Dittmer:
Sorrow that our country is still not a safe place for black and brown people to live. Sorrow that, sometimes, there seems to be more outrage at the destruction of white property than black lives. Joy at the solidarity I see in my community and across the country. Hope that through protest, education, and hard conversations, we can build a better world.
From Karen Folk:
Please keep my daughter Anna and our family in your thoughts and prayers. She was admitted to a mental hospital on Friday for treatment of her depression.
From Scott Godlew:
Theresa led us in creating a Labrynth in our back yard in the middle of our peonies. 7 circuits soon to be 11. It is a soulful experience to explore its twists and turns and arrive at the altar in the middle.
From Scott Godlew and Theresa Benson:
This is a bit delayed, but a joy, Sierra Benson graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign with a BFA in New Media. We are so happy and proud to acknowledge her accomplishment.
From David Gross:
My brother-in-law passed away last week. We were the same age and high school classmates. He was married to my sister for 25 years. His final illness, sepis, was sudden and ran for only three days. In a pandemic, dying in the ICU is not a good experience for the patient or the family.
From Jim and Sandy Hannum:
A sorrow. Our brother-in-law, Mick, died last Sunday of COVID-19 and underlying health problems. Please keep Jim's sister, Judy, and her family in Madison, WI, in your thoughts.
From Amy Hassinger:
So much sorrow, so much sorrow. My heart is breaking with it, with the pain of all the loss, the livelihoods, the deaths, the lives of Breonna Taylor, Toni McDade, Ahmad Aubery, Geroge Floyd, and all the many others who have lost their lives due to racist police brutality. How can we hold it all?
From the Kaiser family:
Feeling joy as missing cat Smokey returned home Tuesday while Willow sat calling him home with her sweet Ukulele sounds.
From Sandra Locke:
Love and sunshine on your dreams as you graduate from schools at all levels, Lauren and Alli and all graduates. Opa and Oma
From Marie McEnroe:
My sister Amanda, and everyone living at the same nursing home, tested negative for COVID-19. I'm so glad the staff there are keeping my sister and other residents safe from the virus. Imperfect as they are, I am impressed. They are doing something very right to have zero cases in their building.
From Catherine Ritchie:
My heart aches for Minneapolis, a wonderful city I love and in which I lived for over 15 years. But I also know it must, and will, heal and rebound.
From Kathy Robinson:
Kathy Robinson is happy that her two local grandchildren, Maya and Calvin, had routine tests for the virus and tested negative and are spending the day with her after 10 weeks of separation.
From Lara Breeze Troyer:
Thank you to Michele and Florence for creating a safe place on Saturday mornings where UUCUC parents can find community and support as we share the realness of parenting. Thank you to all the parents who show up to hold each other's stories during this time.
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UUCUC Shared Offering.
Each month a selected organization is chosen to receive half of our weekly Sunday plate collections. You may donate to the social action offering for the month in one of the following ways:
During the month of June, we will support
Uniting Pride of Champaign County. Uniting Pride (UP) was founded in 2009 as an organization to advocate for the equality, wellness, advocacy, and visibility of the LGBTQ+ communities in Champaign County. It is the only LGBTQ+ resource center in the greater east central Illinois region, so finds itself serving those beyond. UP does this through many support groups, community events, educational programming, guest speakers, referrals, and resources. They also host the annual Champaign-Urbana Pride Festival and Parade each September
.
Read more....
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BLACK LIVES MATTER SIGNS AVAILABLE
Rev. Caplow ordered 20 signs this week and she still has some left. They are $10 each, and don't have a wire holder.
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UUCUC'S FAITHIFY COMMUNITY RELIEF FUND
UUCUC's Faithify Community Relief Fund has already raised $12,000 in just a few weeks! Thank you to those who have contributed towards our goal of $30,000 to help ease the suffering and uncertainties of families in our community experiencing hardship because of the pandemic.
These funds will be distributed equally to three organizations whose outreach to families in our community are both reliable and effective:
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RECENT SHARED OFFERINGS
RACES is the only agency dedicated to serving the needs of survivors of sexual violence in Champaign, Ford, Piatt, and Douglas Counties. RACES provides counseling, court advocacy, medical advocacy, and runs a 24 hour Rape Crisis Hotline. The agency provides counseling and advocacy services to more than 225 survivors of sexual assault each year, including supporting more than 75 people annually during the hospital medical exam and evidence collection process.
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CHURCH CALENDAR
Dates are subject to change. For the most up-to-date information, visit our
UUCUC Calendar page
.
Note: Parenthesised meetings/events are outside rentals. Asterisk meetings/events are closed.
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Effective Monday, March 16, the UUCUC building closed as a preventative measure to minimize the spread of the COVID-19 virus in our community.. All upcoming scheduled meetings and events at UUCUC listed on
the calendar should be considered tentative. If you are planning on participating in a recurring meeting, please verify with the facilitator that the meeting or event is still scheduled to meet and is shifting to an online format. UUCUC leadership and staff are working to move all recurring meetings to an online format, but this may take some additional weeks. Stay tuned for more information!
At this time, we are strongly asking no groups to meet in person.
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UPCOMING PUBLICATIONS - MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
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Next eNews: June 11, 2020
Last day for content: Wednesday June 10 by Noon the latest.
Please do
not
send to admin@uucuc.org.
Don't forget to publicize your meeting/event!
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UUCUC CONTACT INFORMATION
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Regular Church Office Hours
Closed until further notice
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Church Office
(217) 384-8862
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Rev. Florence Caplow
Minister
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Kate Barton
Director of Facilities
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Sherry Bohlen
Director of Congregational Engagement
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Austin Cody
Choir Director
Brian Franklin
Director of Congregational Administration
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Matthew Gladden
Assistant Music Director
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Michele Townsend Grove
Interim Director of Religious Education
Kelsey Libert
Childcare Coordinator
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Emily McKown
Youth Coordinator
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Blake Preston
Religious Education Assistant
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Shornor Vineyard
Custodian and Building Caretaker
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