Weekly E-News, July 16, 2020

Inspired by love, we transform ourselves and serve others.

Sunday, July 19th

Please join us on Zoom this Sunday, July 19th at 10:30 AM. Our sermon is titled Moment to Moment: Following our Hearts, and will be given by guest speaker , Joe Donatone. The service this week is brought to you by:

Joe Donatone , Guest Speaker

Suellen Kipp , Director of Music

Jenn Blosser , Director of Religious Education

Peter Golbitz , Musician

Mary Cline Golbitz , Musician

Jess Huetterman , Director of Music, Bell Street Chapel Unitarian Universalist Church, Providence, RI

Jennifer Grant , Worship Associate

Leslie Gatto, Chalice Lighter

Tech Team-

Lesley Peterson

Mark Brandon

Walter Peterson

Holley Rauen

Jenn Blosser

Krista Hopper

Allie Carville

Jill Carville

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89150482747

Meeting ID: 891 5048 2747

Password: chalice

or, follow the link on our webpage for audio only : uucfm.org

If you would like to make a pledge or donation to UUCFM at any time, you may mail a check to UUCFM, 13411 Shire Lane, Fort Myers, FL 33912 or visit our paypa l. Search for Unitarian Universalist Church of Fort Myers, then type in your donation and in the notes section, please add either for UUCFM or Community Sharing, or how much to split between both.

July's Community Sharing Partner

The Pachamama Alliance of SW Florida formed in October 2016 after a group of local leaders took the Game Changer Intensive together.

Our Three-fold Mission:

Collaborate with and support existing Game Changing movements and the establishment of organizations to inspire, educate, and engage.

Originate programs, develop and disseminate communications, and facilitate training designed to enlighten, energize, and empower pro-activists, giving them the Pachamama Alliance tools and resources needed for transformation to a thriving, just, sustainable human presence on this planet.

Integrate indegenous wisdom and promote the participation of indigenous peoples.

Before COVID, we met monthly for Game Changer Gatherings at the church. These gatherings featured well-known and respected community leaders. Our regular newsletter reaches over 350 Pachamama people who have participated in our programs.

This last year, we partnered with many organizations by tabling, offering workshops and inviting Climate Change Ambassadors to speak at many events.

Chat After Service

The UUCFM Tech Team is planning a Virtual Coffee Hour on Sundays after the service. Look for it this Sunday! Just stay on the Zoom session and we will open up the mics and the chat box and have our conversation when the service ends.

Report from the Board

In this time of COVID-19, when we can’t see each other face-to-face, the Board of Trustees wants to maintain as much transparency as possible. So, as required by our by-laws, we are sharing this quarterly report on “the status of income and expense as related to the currently approved budget.”

The “Actual” column shows revenue and expenses from April 1 through July 12, which is just over 25% of our fiscal year; the “Budget” column is the budget for the fiscal year adopted by the congregation at our May annual meeting; and the “% of Budget” column compares the other two columns.

As you can see, our operating budget is about $60,000 overspent. However, the Reserves Transfers and Endowment Grants, plus the Paycheck Protection Program grant we received, will offset more than $50,000 of that deficit.

The Board of Trustees is confident that, with your continued support and generosity, UUCFM will be able to complete the fiscal year within the parameters of the adopted budget. Please send any questions or comments to Pati Maier, Treasurer, at [email protected] .

UUCFM Classes & Groups

Caloosahatchee Mindfulness

The Caloosahatchee Mindfulness & UUCFM Book Study Group has resumed and is meeting on Zoom every Wednesday at 10:00 AM. We are reading The Wise Heart by Jack Kornfield. Please join us.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84952609369

Meeting ID: 849 5260 9369

Password: My1heart

The UUCFM Book Club

The UUCFM Book Club now meets online. Our current book is the highly recommended White Fragility (Why it's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism) by Robin Diangelo . If you can find a hard copy, great. Amazon is sold out but they have the Kindle book. Read through chapter one. We will next meet on zoom Wednesday at 1:00 PM. For those who will be joining us for the first time, please email Mary Studer at

[email protected] and she will send you the link to Zoom.

New Special Book Group

Waking Up White by Debby Irving is "engaging, challenging, and action-oriented” (Moore, Eddie Jr.). The author tells a personal story about racial tensions in her personal and work relationships. In 2009, after wondering why her diversity efforts were unsuccessful, she begins her own discovery adventure that changed her life.

Join Albie Johnson and Helen Leddy on your own discovery journey with Debby Irving’s book. It may change your life, too.

This new weekly book group meets Thursdays from 4 to 5:30 p.m. It will take place online using Zoom. For more information and to sign up, please contact either Helen [email protected] or Albie [email protected] .

UUCFM News

From Our Caring Network

If you or another member of the Congregation needs some extra attention during this time, your Pastoral Care Committee is here to help as much as we can while keeping us all safe and protected.

Our Committee members include Mary Faegre, Joan Hickok, Deborah Lewis, Mary Alice Pierce, Mary Tracy-Sigman, Patricia Vivier-Naidl, Holley Rauen and Suzanne Ziemer. If any members of the Congregation are available to help during this crisis, please contact Mary Golbitz.

We have been holding weekly calls as a check in at the beginning of this crisis. Since the need for these calls seems to have dwindled, we will not be holding these calls any longer. If you feel strongly that you would like these calls to continue please contact Mary Golbitz. Thanks to all who participated and supported one another.

We can connect with you individually by phone if you are feeling isolated and offer other assistance. Please contact Mary Golbitz for information or assistance at [email protected] 207 479-4082 (phone or text) or Holley Rauen at [email protected] or 239 464-6556.

Social Justice

South Fort Myers Food Pantry Coalition

The Board and volunteers at the Food Pantry say thank you for the food that some of you have dropped off during these very difficult weeks. Thanks to all of you that have been able to do this. For those of you who might just be getting out now that some restrictions have been lifted, please consider dropping off some food at the pantry.

The best times are 9 AM or 4 PM on Monday at the pantry itself, located at 8260 Cypress Lake Drive, Fort Myers in the back of the Cypress Lake Presbyterian Church. Any size donation will be accepted. Most needed foods are peanut butter & jelly, cereal, breakfast bars, canned fruits and vegetables, pasta and tomato sauce, protein rich soups and beans. Please, no glass containers. Here is the latest newsletter from the Pantry:

1st Quarter 2020

We served 1939 individual clients

Totaling 6080 family members fed

We distributed approximately 141,939 pounds of food

2nd Quarter 2020

We served 2053 individual clients

Totaling 7860 family members fed

We distributed approximately 125,959 pounds of food

(This represents the food received from Harry Chapin Food Bank as well as any food that we purchase from local retailers.

This does not include products from food drives or weekly baked goods donated from Publix at Gladiolus Gateway & the Bagel Factory)

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UPDATE

We would like to take this opportunity to provide an update on how the pantry has been functioning during the COVID pandemic:

Since the later part of March instead of having clients shop inside the pantry we have been serving them in their cars. For the foreseeable future, in order to protect our clients and our volunteers, we will continue to serve on a drive-through basis. We believe that our clients are being well cared for. Although clients don’t have the ability to shop for themselves we have tried to be sure that we provide them with a diverse supply of food. Early-on we were unable to get our usual supply from the Harry Chapin Food Bank due to the extreme shortage and greater demand on suppliers across the country. This shortage has eased a bit. We do continue to shop at local suppliers to supplement our food bank order and so that we may provide a wider variety of items.

The financial support that we have received has been overwhelming.

Many of our members and partners have held food drives and we are so appreciative!

We can’t begin to thank each and every one of you for your kindness and generosity to the food pantry. You make our job so easy and it is a pleasure to serve alongside you.