First Unitarian Universalist RVA- March 6, 2020
We GROW in search of wisdom,
we CARE in support of community, we ACT in service of justice.
WELCOME
All are invited to join us for services!
In this newsletter:
  • This Sunday at First UU: March 8th
  • Sermon
  • Religious Education News
  • Volunteer/Social Justice Opportunities\
  • News from Abbie
  • RISC Article
  • This week's schedule link
  • Adult Formation Announcements
  • Daytimers Meeting
  • Plant-based Interest Group
  • UU Earth Ministry News
  • Harriet Tubman Performance
  • Drepung Gomang Buddhist Monks
  • UU Quuilters Show
  • Living the Pledge News

Please note-- this index is NOT linked! That kind of ability is not possible for our email host.
Your "MONTHLY INFO DROP" contains: the theme, blog updates, monthly care team information, and bookkeeper news like share the plate.
New to UU? Check out some of our small groups at the button here!
MARCH SHARE THE PLATE NEWS

Disaster Relief Fund

Share the Plate this month is dedicated to a new Disaster Relief Fund being set up at First UU. When we are faced with sudden needs because of severe natural or man-made disasters anywhere we need to intervene – devastating hurricanes, earthquakes, etc. – it has been a challenge to collect money quickly and expedite it to where the need is. This will provide a reserve that we can dispense quickly to the UU organization (or other worthy recipient) offering needed relief. Please be generous!

Our plan is to make a new Share the Plate campaign soon after the fund is used so that it may be replenished for the inevitable next need.
This Sunday at First UU: March 8th
Sunday Services at
9:00 am and 11:00 am

coffee hour
10:00 am-11:00 am
"It's Not Just Black & White"
Rev. Sherman Z. Logan,
Executive Minister

The hard work of creating an inclusive, multicultural faith community is central to who we are as Unitarian Universalists. This work is about shifting the culture of our congregation. How can we create a faith community where all people are made to feel welcome, diversity is celebrated, and cultural identities are represented in all aspects of church life?
Celebrate Spring
at FUUN Night!
Sat., Mar. 14, 5-7 pm

A FUUN Night for all ages! Bring family, friends, a sense of humor, and a generous dish to share* for this evening in UU community!
Our time begins with a potluck dinner, followed by seasonal games and activities. This month, we'll paint bird houses in addition to other festivities. The focus is our Seventh UU Principle.
We close our time together with a short meditation.

*No nuts or nut products, please.
Religious Education News

Please contact Rhonda Wingfield
The Nursery  is open during services to welcome those up to three and one half years old. They are engaged in gentle play, and a snack of Cheerios is offered. Please provide your child's snack, if you have allergy concerns. A listening room is adjacent to the Nursery for those who want to hear the worship service while tending to their child.
Religious Education Classes Meet at 11:00

PreK-K: Block Sunday-Building a Community. Children explore the idea of creating a community through conversation and story. They learn First UU is a faith community actively built by group participation. Based on group decisions, they will then build a block community of their own. 

Gr. 1-2: Purim-A Time to Celebrate Victory over Discrimination. Children will learn the story behind Purim, which has been described as the most festive of Jewish holidays, celebrating through drama, merry-making and feasting.

Gr. 3-4: Honor All Life. The life and work of Beatrix Potter, artist, author, and Unitarian, is the vehicle through which students will consider the breath of the UU Seventh Principle.

Gr. 5-6: Our Whole Lives human sexuality class begins for currently registered members only.  Topic: Sexuality and Values. Class meets 11-12:15 in Conference Room, Upper Level.

Gr. 7-8: Our Whole Lives. Topic: Sexually Transmitted Infections. Class meets 11-12:30, for currently registered members only.

Gr. 9-12: Nerds and Geeks: Looking at How Biases Shift. Students will consider the use of language and shifts in language over time. How might this affect our biases? Class meets 11-12:30.
YOUTH PANCAKE BREAKFAST
Sunday, Mar. 29
$20 family/ $8 Individual (cash or check only)
Serving 10-10:30 and 12-12:30
Join us for this annual delicious, sticky-fun, fund-raiser for our youth!
This Coming Week
In an effort to save room for announcements, special event details, and social justice/volunteer opportunities, we encourage you to view the online calendar at our website for this week's meetings schedule.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES &
SOCIAL JUSTICE WORK
Notes from Abbie ... 

Simple Supper – 
Abbie will be making Simple Super on Wednesday, March 4th and March 18th. She is also available to cater your group meeting. If you are interested in having her cook for you, please email her at HandsOffAbbie@gmail.com 

Spanish Tutoring Sessions – 
Starting in February, Abbie will be giving both group and private lessons in Spanish. Lessons will be held on Mondays from 10:00AM – 11:30AM, and from 1:00PM – 2:30PM. They are $20 per person in a group setting, or $40 per person for individual lessons. If you are interested, email Abbie at spanishwithAbbie@richmonduu.org and let her know which session you would like to sign up for and a little bit about how much Spanish you already know.

Movie Showing with Abbie:
Femicide, Part 1: Honduras and 
Honduras' Murdered Women 
Two extraordinary films from one of the most dangerous countries in the world, Honduras, where a murder is committed almost every hour. But when the former Miss Honduras was shot last year, the number of women victims made international headlines. 

Date: Sunday, March 8th; Time: 12:30PM in the Great Hall 

Snacks will be available. Suggested donation is $5.00 - $15.00 Please sign in so that we can put you on an email list about this and all other future events with Abbie. 

Sign in Address: http://eepurl.com/gMCwzb

Security Volunteers needed!

First UU members, along with members of local Quaker congregations and community volunteers, have been able to provide Abbie with 24x7 companionship since she was forced to enter Sanctuary almost two years ago. Having a volunteer here at all times has provided her with an important extra layer of security, and the sense that she is not alone. 

However, we need more volunteers! Security shifts are very flexible, with some volunteers choosing to fill the same shift on a weekly basis, and others filling in an hour or two at a time as they are able - we will work with your schedule. 

Join the community of Sanctuary volunteers who are helping Abbie and her family to feel welcome and secure – contact handsoffabbie@gmail.com to arrange training.
Forgiveness and RISC
This month’s theme is forgiveness. So let’s explore why it is important to RISC's work.

Personally, I am often really upset, even angry, with our civic leaders, our politicians. I can fill the pages with the stories about politicians and other civic leaders that I am unhappy with, but I won't! Because the essence of forgiveness is a commitment to stay in a relationship.  

To forgive is to fight to be in a mutual, respectful and accountable relationship. It means that we must do whatever we can to get there and not walk away. For us this means fighting for a just approach to housing, to gun violence to education our youth, to getting jobs ....
To hold our leaders accountable, we need to stay in that relationship so that they are answerable for fair, effective policies and practices that promote the well-being of all people, especially the impoverished and oppressed.

What forgiveness can accomplish - Issue Update:
HOUSING & EVICTIONS
There are 40,000 households in the Richmond metro area that rent and are making less than $25,000 annually. For every 100 of these households, there are only 33 available and affordable units. This puts the need at more than 26,000 units of affordable housing – right now , for just this population making under $25,0000.

RISC has succeeded in getting the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund funded, with yearly allocations since 2015. However, what is needed in a significantly greater amount of funded, that is automatically allocated yearly. So, this year, we will be asking our city leaders to amend the ordinance and create a yearly dedicated stream of revenue for the trust fund.

GUN VIOLENCE
In 2019, there were 60 murders by gun in the city of Richmond. In 2013, the number was 32 – which means that the number of lives we’re losing yearly has doubled.

60 lives lost is a tragedy , and this violence must stop! The Gun Violence Committee is investigating a proven intervention program out of John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, called Group Violence Intervention (GVI). GVI has been implemented in numerous cities nationwide; in its best cases, where the implementation was performed with fidelity, GVI has reduced homicides by 60%. For us – that would be 36 lives saved!

At this year’s Action, we will be asking our city leaders to take the first step in getting GVI to Richmond, so we can save lives.

-- Steve Saltzberg, RISC coordinator at stevesaltzberg@gmail.com
Adult Formation News
First UU Leadership/Group Facilitators Meeting

Saturday, March 21st
9:00-11:00am
The March 11th meeting for the DayTimers will be an off-site event.

The group will gather at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture for a 12:30 tour of " Determined,The 400 Year Struggle for Black Equality." Lunch will precede the tour, taking place at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
  
Additional program details, directions, parking, etc. will follow in a separate communication for members at a later date. 
Sunday 3/8 coffee hour will include plant-based milks and creamers provided by member Danielle Wroblewski to kick off the creation of a Plant Based Interest Group. Stop by Danielle's "Ask A Vegan" stand in the lobby from 10-11 and 12-12:30 to sign up for the interest group and/or ask any question about vegan/plant-based eating. The group's first meeting will be 3/17 at 6pm at the church. You can also email Danielle at  DNWroblewski@gmail.com  to sign up for the group.
UU Earth Ministry:

Meeting schedule  - We will have standing meetings on the following dates and times so please mark your calendars. We will meet in the library, and I will make zoom available too, so you may dial in if you'd prefer:   https://zoom.us/s/7065429963
  • Monthly Environmental Justice subcommittee meeting - 1st Thursdays, 5 pm (next meeting March 5)
  • Monthly Sustainability Care and Healing Practices subcommittee meeting - 1st Saturdays, noon (next meeting March 7)
  • Monthly Earth Ministry meeting - 3rd Sundays, 12 PM (next meeting March 15)
Environmental justice mailing list  - To receive email notifications about Earth advocacy opportunities, please email  Susanna@familyandcommunityhealing.org  to be added to the mailing list.
From Araminta to Harriet: Journey to Freedom
March 15th, 2020
1:00-1:45pm

Did you see the recent movie  Harriet ? Have you read Ta-Nehesi Coates' new book  The Water Dancer ? They tell the facts of Harriet Tubman's life, but there's more to her story and her spirituality. Come see living history interpreter and dynamic performer Yemima Davis return to First UU to embody this legacy—as only she can.

Friends, family, and community members are invited to join us before the show for a light lunch from 12:30-1. The show will be from 1-1:45 with time for Q&A following. A donation of $5-$10 per person is requested to cover the speaker's fee, but lunch is free. Children are encouraged to attend.
Optical Illusions Challenge 
QUUilters of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Richmond 
Displayed in the President's Hall

We had a spirited discussion about this year’s quilt challenge. Our conversation flowed to the various types of illusion that can be created with fabric and color on a flat surface. Techniques of paper piecing were discussed as well as our various stashes of patterns to be tackled one day. 

Optical Illusions Challenge has been a creative experience for all of us and met the criteria we strive for in our annual challenge. 

Our group has been together since the early ‘90s. We enjoy sharing ideas, discussing projects, working together on quilts for church members and other organizations.
When: March 28th and April 4th
Where: Richmond Hill, RVA
Cost: $55 (includes lunch both days)

Sign up at the link below!
AND...
The Richmond Pledge Steering Committee Invites You …

… to a community discussion focusing on understanding and dismantling racism in our fair city.   The Rev. Dr. Jim Somerville, Pastor at First Baptist Church, and David Bailey, founder of Arrabon, a non-profit focusing on racial reconciliation, are co-hosting a panel discussion on Monday evening, March 2, 7 pm, at First Baptist Church, 2709 Monument Avenue .

The conversation will center around Robin DiAngelo’s book, “ White Fragility:   Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism .”   The book is available at most bookstores or your local library.  It is not necessary to have read it prior to this community discussion, which is free and open to the public.

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First Unitarian Universalist Church of Richmond | 804-355-0777
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