Ushers are needed for 9:30 and 11:15 a.m. services beginning September 8! Sign up for a monthly shift or to be on the call list to volunteer as your schedule allows. Consider volunteering with a family member or two! 

The usher team greets people as they arrive at the sanctuary, distributes orders of service, counts attendance and circulates baskets for the offering. It's not a big time commitment and it's a rewarding way to extend hospitality to all who attend Sunday services. Interested? Please contact Karen at karen.tischler.larson@gmail.com or sign up at the Information desk in the Social Hall.

Muska's photography was revolutionary for its time. In 1970s America, being identified as a lesbian could cause a woman to lose her job, children, and housing. Because Muska's photographs could have exposed her subjects to these risks, she developed her own film in a basement darkroom for decades. The extraordinary photographic record she produced as a part of the "women's land" movement in both Minnesota and Oregon, as well as her work as a labor and women's rights activist, illuminates a new and vital chapter in American history.

Muska was born in St. Paul and raised in Roseville, Minnesota. She came out as a lesbian at age 20 and found support in feminist circles. After earning her BFA at Ohio University, she used photography to record her community of "beautiful, strong women, full of love and joy." After losing her job as a photojournalist due to anti-LGBTQ employment practices, Muska retrained and became a master electrician. She later founded Minnesota Women in the Trades, a labor organization devoted to racial and gender equity. Now retired, Muska donated her archive to the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Donations of school supplies, backpacks, and new or gently-used, clean, teen- appropriate clothing may be dropped off beginning Sunday, Aug. 25.  Bring items to the Info Center in the Social Hall on Sunday or leave on the shelves for AFA near the 34th St. entrance.

Desired items include: backpacks; spiral notebooks, pens, pencils, and pocket folders; men and women's underwear, socks, fall jackets, hoodies, jeans and tops (all sizes including L and XL).

Augsburg Fairview Academy (AFA) is a public charter high school which serves a diverse student body; most come from low income backgrounds and many have been homeless or marginally housed. AFA is a long-standing First Universalist community partner; we stock the Hope Clothing and Food Closets to provide support to these determined students. AFA is our neighbor, located on 25th and Columbus Ave. South, just two miles from Church.