Weekly E-News, August 20, 2020

This Week's Service

Sunday, August 23, 10:30 AM

Why a Movement?

with Guest Speaker, Holly Brown

Join Zoom Meeting Sunday at 10:30am

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

This service brought to you by:

Holly Brown, Guest Speaker

Suellen Kipp, Director of Music

Gary Robbins, Worship Associate

Peter Golbitz, Musician

Lesley Peterson, Tech Team Member

Mark Brandon, Tech Team Member

Walter Peterson, Tech Team Member

Jill Carville, Tech Team Member

August Sharing

Literacy Council Gulf Coast (LCGC) has provided literacy services for students across SW Florida for more than 30 years. We strive to create a welcoming environment that encourages learning, while working with each individual to help them reach their objectives through our numerous programs. These programs encompass multiple classes and include both group and individual tutoring opportunities.

UUCFM Members and Friends,

We want YOU to submit your thoughts, memories, and words of wisdom from your time in the military serving your country. Or, you might speak about one of your favorite veterans in your family. You can shoot the video from your phone and submit to Jill via church email at [email protected]. The fabulous UUCFM Tech Team will be creating a tribute to our veteran's for a November service.

Please submit your Veteran Videos from now up and until October 15th.

Please title your email video submission "Veteran Video" to help Jill keep track of all submissions.

Thank you for your help!

Suellen Kipp

Director of Music

Report from the Board

Transparency Builds Trust

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. The Board is currently in a process of

reviewing its current organizational structure and will be sharing the results as they’re decided.

First up for review was the Finance Council. As approved by the Board of Trustees, this council now consists of the following four committees:

Stewardship Committee – chaired by Dave Hutchins ([email protected]). This committee plans and implements the annual stewardship (canvass) campaign. Activity is just getting underway for the fiscal year that begins on April 1, 2021. Please contact Dave if you’re interested in working on this committee.

Finance Committee – chaired by Pati Maier ([email protected]); members are Len Cohen, Dave Hutchins, Bill Petrarca, and Jen Smith. This committee manages the financial operations of the church, controls the disbursement of money, and keeps financial accounting records.

Ways and Means Committee – This committee plans and implements non-pledge fundraising activities. This committee hasn’t been active lately, has no chair, and several of our usual fundraising activities are currently without a leader. Please contact Pati Maier ([email protected]) if you’d like to be involved in reactivating this important part of church financing.

Banking Committee – The members of this new committee are Pati Maier, Lesley Peterson, Bill Petrarca, and Jen Smith; one member will be elected as chair when the committee convenes. This committee manages and has check signing authority for all church banking and investment accounts except the Endowment Fund, and makes recommendations to the Board of Trustees regarding banking policies, bank accounts, and other money management issues.

Please contact Pati Maier ([email protected]) if you have any questions or concerns about

the financial structure or activities of UUCFM.

Congregational Update: Campus Sharing

With the overwhelming approval by the congregation for the capital improvement loan from the Endowment Fund, we are beginning several projects: campus building weatherization and painting, new Hobart A/C’s, and Hobart re-flooring. Scheduling with the various contractors is in process. (We are still getting assessments regarding the repairs needed for the septic system, which may happen later this year or early next.) Funds from a recent bequest will help reduce the size of the loan.

Over the course of the past few weeks, Operations Council volunteers have worked to re-organize and clear out our storage areas in Hobart, the Admin building, and the classrooms. We have also been working with staff to consolidate office space, freeing-up what were the offices at the north side of the Admin building for additional meeting and/or rental space.

A small group composed of representatives from UUCFM and the Symphony (GCS) have been meeting to plan and coordinate the improvements for the Sanctuary: new theatrical ceiling lighting, upgraded digital audio system, and robotic cameras with a new video streaming control center behind the A/V room. We have also upgraded security in several areas of the campus.

Dealing with the pandemic is the great unknown in our plans. We have looked to the CDC guidelines for recommendations, evaluating phased strategies and constraints to assure campus safety when the Board of Trustees decides the timing for opening the campus. Until then, we will be exploring technological alternatives in carrying out church functions.

Operations Council

Transition Team

UUCFM Online Classes & Groups

New Writer's Group!

An informal Writer's Group will take place on Zoom every Friday at 1:00 PM. If you are a new diarist/journaler, newsletter columnist, fiction/non-fiction, or poetry writer, this group is for you! We will read a sample of our writing each week, offer positive reinforcement, and participate in a short writing exercise. To sign up, contact Jill Carville at [email protected]

Caloosahatchee Mindfulness

The book group is starting White Fragility: Why It's So Hard For White People to Talk About Racism.

“A valuable guide . . . While especially helpful for those new to the critical analysis of whiteness, this work also offers a useful refresher to anyone committed to the ongoing process of self-assessment and anti-oppression work.”

—Library Journal

We are now meeting on Wednesday from 1-2:30 p.m. on Zoom (of course). For more information and to join, contact Helen Leddy at [email protected]

The UUCFM Book Club

The UUCFM Book group will start reading SEPARATED by Jacob Soboroff on our next Zoom meeting August 19th. Read through Chapter Two. We meet on Zoom Wednesdays 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.

Social Justice

South Fort Myers Food Pantry

The board and volunteers at the Food Pantry say thank you for the food that you have dropped off during these very difficult months.

The best times to drop off food 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.

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, 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 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.

Literacy Buddy Program

Each school year, the Early Learning Coalition sponsors the Literacy Buddy Program which provides children with books to take home and share with their families. The program also encourages them to express themselves through correspondence with their adult buddy. Children come to school better prepared to learn when they interact with adults who regularly read, write and talk with them. You can become a Literacy Buddy!