We have now opened the Sanctuary to the congregation for upcoming services moving forward! To accommodate everyone's various comfort levels with social distancing, seating in the Sanctuary is currently limited to 60 people, so we encourage congregants to reserve their seating soon! Please use this link to reserve a seat for upcoming services: https://rsvp.church/r/iDQBXJDb.

There will be additional seating available in Fellowship Hall for those congregants without a reservation in the Sanctuary, or for those who would appreciate the flexibility and an added sense of social distancing. We will have a projector screen in place to provide a full visual and sound experience of our live streamed service, so together you can enjoy worship with other UUCUC members who also make this choice.

Please remember to come early to find your seat if you will be choosing a red lanyard and require social distancing for your comfort and safety. The doors to the building open at 9:30 am Sundays.

As we are inviting the congregation to return to in-person services, we want to be sensitive to everyone's comfort level when it comes to social distancing. Starting this Sunday and in the weeks to come we will be inviting each person who attends Sunday services to select their comfort level color lanyard to wear throughout the morning. Read More...

Please send your joys or sorrows to joysandsorrows@uucuc.org any time before the Joys and Sorrows portion of the service. They will be read aloud.

Join our online Zoom Fellowship Hour after the service on Sundays (around 11:30 am).

Join us at 11:30 (or immediately following the service) for an in-person fellowship with coffee and treats on the South Lawn. In case of cold temperatures (under 40 degrees) or inclement weather the Fellowship Hour will be moved indoors to Fellowship Hall with wonderful conversation as always  but no coffee or snacks so we remain able to honor our “masks in place” guidelines for the comfort and safety of everyone present.

As you exit the building each Sunday to join your beloved other UUCUCers you are welcome to remove your mask as Julie Pryde assured us “outside sans mask is A-ok!" We only ask that you please remember to slip yours back on when re entering the building. Anyone who would feel more comfortable still wearing theirs is, of course, welcome to continue to do so at any time. And, as always, we urged everyone to please remain mindful of the need to social distance from anyone wearing a red lanyard throughout the morning, whether inside or outside.

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.

Bookmark our UUCUC Events and UUCUC Calendar webpage for future reference.

A friendly reminder, that clocks move forward one hour at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, March 13th. Are you curious about the history behind Daylight Saving Time (DST)? Find out more about it here!

Our Consulting Director of Religious Exploration and Engagement, Adrienne Summerlot, also suggests that the transition to DST is a great time to change the batteries in your smoke detectors!

Look for further details in next week's issue of eNews about our monthly treasure hunt that will be starting in March. Winners of the treasure hunt each month will be treated to a beverage and snack at a local café of their choice by Rev Karen Bush (KB), in addition to conversation with KB for up to an hour. Stay tuned for details!

As of today, the Champaign Federation of Teachers (CFT) and Unit 4 Board of Education (BoE) are still deadlocked in their contract negotiations. If an agreement is not reached between CTF and BoE, news reports indicate a strike by teachers is likely to occur later this month. 

We wanted to offer our support to any families and teachers that may be impacted by this. If you are impacted, please feel free to reach out to Rev. Sally Fritsche at associate-minister@uucuc.org.

As you plan your holiday winter giving, please consider donating to the Little Free Pantries run by Julie Laut (in Urbana) and AJ Herzog (in Champaign), which they have maintained since March 2020. Their Amazon wish list has been updated to include unique winter items. All items off the wishlist will be delivered to Julie's house and shared between the two pantries. You are also welcome to drop off items in person at both locations. Questions? Contact Julie (jlaut@hushmail.com), or AJ (zogs92@gmail.com).

JOYS AND SORROWS sent to joysandsorrows@uucuc.org for last Sunday, March 6, 2022.

From Chuck & Jan Cooper: Suz is home in New York City. Thanks to the congregation for your prayers and support.

From Karen Folk: A joy for all those who have already increased their pledge and our generous community.

From Barbara Hudgings: My visit to Tampa to see Mindy, my daughter, who I hadn't seen in over 2 years, brought great joy. We vowed not to let another 2 years pass. Go away Covid! Margaret, my sister, had her 82nd birthday last week. Concern for her deteriorating dementia. She is in hospice care at her daughter's home in Tacoma, WA.

From Anne Newman: Joy, Joy, Joy....for Today!

From Umeeta Sadarangami: Two joys! 1) Being together in the sanctuary after two years. So grateful! 2) My parents will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary on March 8.

Please send your joys or sorrows to joysandsorrows@uucuc.org any time before the Joys and Sorrows portion of the service. They will be read aloud.

UUCUC Social Action Offering. Each month a selected organization is chosen to receive offerings from our congregation. You may donate to the social action offering for the month in one of the following ways:

WIN Recovery is a local nonprofit founded to support women and those who identify as women as they return to our community after experiencing incarceration. The number of women incarcerated in IL and nationwide has exploded in the past few decades, growing by 700%. Many of the women are sent to prison as part of sweeps of their drug-dealing boyfriends or husbands, even if they had no knowledge of the activity. Tragically, they often get longer sentences than the drug-dealing boyfriend as they do not have information to trade for a reduced sentence. Understandably, incarceration severely interrupts family lives for those who have children. Read more...

During the month of January, our shared offering was able to raise $2,285 that was donated to The Refugee Center.

The Refugee Center, who UJCUC supported for more than 35 years when they occupied our building. Over the years, the Refuge Center, formerly known as the East Central Illinois Refugee Mutual Assistance Center (ECIRMAC), expanded its services from helping resettle Vietnamese refugees to providing assistance to ALL immigrants; political asylees; and refugees, regardless of country of origin. For more information about The Refugee Center, please visit their website.

Read our policy on publications for details.

Please send your submittals to pubs@uucuc.org and not to the admin email.

Closed until further notice

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