Nourish your spirit. Celebrate life. Cherish the connectedness of all things.

IN THIS WEEK'S ENEWS-- TO SEE IT ALL, CLICK ON "VIEW ENTIRE MESSAGE" AT THE BOTTOM

• Minister's Message
• UUA Support for recovery from hurricane Helene
• Halloween Party for the Whole Church - October 26th
• Invitation to The Annual Assembly of The UU's Of Greater Pittsburgh
• Help Needed- Tree removal
• Thanks from our OWL participants
• UUTHE VOTE, SUPERMAJORITY, AND UUTHEVOTE PAHE VOTE PA
• Connections Announcement - Classes in Unitarian Universalism
• Systemic Change - Creating Change
• OUR WHOLE LIVES (OWL) Classes Starting Soon
• Capital Campaign Update
• UUCNH Children's Library - Adopt A Book Program
• UUA Central East Region - Opportunities for Connection
• Joys and Sorrows
• Upcoming Meetings and Events

Minister's Message

In case you missed the minister's message for October, you can click on the button below to view it.

UUA Support Recovery From Hurricane Helene

The scale of destruction in the wake of Hurricane Helene has been utterly devastating to many communities in the southeastern United States. Some Unitarian Universalist congregations have been seriously impacted and others are still trying to assess the damage. You can help support Unitarian Universalists and their communities as they recover from this storm by giving generously to the UUA’s Disaster Relief Fund.



Halloween Party for the Whole Church - October 26th

The UUCNH youth group cordially invites to our Annual Intergenerational Halloween Party.

WHO: All ages!! from our youngest to our oldest!

When: October 26th 6-8:30pm

Where: Friendship Hall and West Room

What will happen: Come dressed in costume! The West Room will be converted into a dance floor. In friendship hall, there will be pumpkin painting and snacks. The youth group will be selling Italian Sodas to raise funds for a charity.

We hope to see you all there.

Invitation to The Annual Assembly of The UU's Of Greater Pittsburgh

You are invited to the Annual Assembly of the UUs of Greater Pittsburgh being held at UUCNH

Join fellow Unitarian Universalists for a day of camaraderie, connection, and collaboration at the 11th Annual Assembly of the UUs of Greater Pittsburgh! The theme this year is Promoting Peacemaking in our World. This event is being held at UUCNH Saturday, November 16^th, 9 am – 3 pm. Follow this link to learn more information and register.

We are also looking for volunteers to help us serving dinner Thursday the 14^th for the choir rehearsal and a light breakfast and lunch on the 16^th. Your help is appreciated to make us shine as the host site! A sign up sheet is posted here.

If you have any questions or want to contact me directly to volunteer I can be reached at jodyclark@uucnh.org

Help Needed: Tree Removal

Able bodied folk required to remove a dead tree from the Celebration garden. Please Contact Peggy Trevanion or Ellen Kuntz if you can assist.

Thanks From The OWL Particpants

Many thanks to everyone who helped in big and small ways to make the OWL training last weekend a huge success! We had many compliments on the food, everyone felt well cared for, and we couldn't have done it without you!

Abby Vaughn

Barb Draa

Charlotte Moore

Chuck Berry

Dennis Doubleday

Don Nelson

Diana Hull

Ellen Kuntz

Judy McAuley

Marsha Albright

Pete Lundquist

Peggy Trevanion

Robyn Travers

Violet Murphy

Mystery cupcake baker - they were delicious!



UUTHE VOTE, SUPERMAJORITY, AND UUTHE VOTE PA

Our National Partners, UUtheVote and SuperMajority, along with UUJusticePA, are sponsoring another national phone bank with Unitarian Universalists across the country ~on Tuesday, October 15.

Training and script will be provided. 

Let’s get PA voters engaged in the democratic process!!

SIGN UP

Tuesday, October 15

We are tracking all GOTV actions

(registering voters, postcard and letter writing, door knocking, etc)

taken on the part of UU congregations/congregants.

Connections Announcement - Classes in Unitarian Universalism

UUCNH, through the Connections Team, will be offering a series of classes exploring various aspects of Unitarian Universalism. This is an opportunity to learn more about Unitarian Universalism and the class is one of two required to become a member of UUCNH.  

The Introduction to UU is one based on a class developed by the UUA - the Unitarian Universalist Association. This class is presented in 3 parts, each one consisting of 2 sections from the UUA's "Tapestry of Faith Program for Adults". The dates for this class are October 13th, and November 3rd. We will meet after coffee hour each of the 3 Sunday's and lunch will be provided. You can expect to be involved for 2 - 2 1/2 hours each day.

If you are interested in becoming a member of UUCNH or just want to know more about the UU faith, please send an email to connections@uucnh.org. Also, if you need child care let us know that as well so that we can make those arrangements.



Systemic Change- Creating Change

GENERAL ELECTION IMPORTANT DATES    

 10/21/24 Last day to register.     

10/29/24  Deadline to apply for a mail-in-ballot/absentee ballot.

11/5/24  ELECTION DAY - Polls open 7am-8pm, Completed mail ballots must be received by 8 pm. 

Go to VOTE411.org to find your personal ballot information ahead of the election.

GREAT NEWS!  UUCNH GETS OUT THE VOTE

50 congregants and friends prepared 1,180 letters to PA & MI voters. TY to all of our volunteers for working together to GOTV. Anyone can still obtain Vote Forward letters at votefwd.org to write and mail by 10/29.                                   

CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING OPPORTUNITIES TO REGISTER VOTERS 

The next SCT Mtg. is Mon, Nov. 11 @ 7:30 pm. For the Zoom link, please contact Co-Chair Diana Hull.

OUR WHOLE LIVES (OWL) Classes Starting Soon

The CYFD team is excited to be facilitating OWL classes starting in late October and early November.

Our Whole Lives (OWL) is a comprehensive, lifespan sexuality education curricula for use in both secular settings and faith communities.

Classes this year will be for grades:

K-1

8th - 9th

11th-12th

More details of dates and times will be coming soon. Also look out for opportunities to support the OWL facilitators team even if you do not have a child or youth in the program.

Capital Campaign Update

October Capital Campaign (CC)’22 Status Summary: The monthly CC Status Summary

Spreadsheet shows the prioritized project list, our initial estimated cost of each project, actual contractor quotes we have received for the work and much more.

This is the first CC’22 Status Summary since March 2024. We have had much difficulty with the Air Conditioning (AC) project. We lost the mechanical engineer we were working with, but have finally found a new one and had a meeting with him on Friday October 4, 2024. The AC project is the largest cost project in the CC. We have been wary of moving forward with other projects until we have a handle on the AC, hence there has not been much spending of CC funds recently.

Perhaps the biggest CC news is an influx of additional money.

Here’s the deal: A recent bequest to UUCNH has allowed substantial funds (over $50,000) to be set aside in a Building Reserve Fund. This fund will be used for large building/facility maintenance issues that are needed periodically – such as a roof replacement, or masonry repairs, etc. UUCNH’s previous Building Reserve Fund was drained completely to fund the roof repairs completed in early 2021. That roof project was also funded in part by operating budget surpluses from as far back as 2010 and a loan from the Children’s Memorial Fund (CMF). Discussions between the Board of Trustees, the minister and the Finance Committee reached the decision to release the CC from having to reimburse a majority of the monies used for the roof in 2021. Of the $87,000 carried in the CC Summary Spreadsheet to pay for previous roof

repairs, only the amount of $3,797 borrowed from the CMF will be repaid. That will infuse the CC with an additional $83,202, which has all been earmarked for the AC project.

Please click this link to review the latest CC Status Summary Spreadsheet update.

Several other projects have been hamstrung for various reasons and with better funding for the AC project we are moving forward with several of these projects. Projects with recent signed contracts include, the Memorial Walls in the Celebration Garden, Stormwater Improvements, additional Solar Panels and the Mechanical Engineer for design of the AC system. See this link for a more detailed discussion of our progress to date. We are trying to self-perform as much of the work as possible. Anyone with a desire to lend a hand is welcome to contact Joe Meier (see below). People with electrical wiring or carpentry skills would be especially welcome. Any questions or offers of help can be sent to Joe Meier at capitalcampaign@uucnh.org.



In January, librarians Julie Kant and Kathy Herrin began work on the library Children's Collection.  We have now weeded about half the picture book collection and entered the titles into an online database, LibraryThing. The Craft Group has given us a generous one-time grant to purchase about 20 new picture books for the library and a half dozen “board” books for the church Nursery. We are now inviting members of the congregation to "adopt" these books for a donation of $20 per picture book and $10 per board book. A book plate indicating the donor is included; you may also adopt the book "in honor of" or "in memory of" a loved one. We plan to use the new money to complete the updating of the picture book collection.

The Enews will highlight a selection of books up for adoption. The adoption day is Sunday, October 27th, before and after church. We want the Children's library collection to be used by the whole community and we are very grateful for your support in adding new materials. Please contact us at library@uucnh.org for more information.

Check Out What’s Going On in Our UU Central East Region - Read the October CER Newsletter

UUCNH Weekly Connection

Zoom with UUCNH Friends

This drop-in connection will be held every Tuesday at 3:30 - 4:30 pm and will be led by Michael Horwitz. Click the link below to join the Zoom meeting. Contact Michael Horwitz michaelhorwitz@uucnh.org for zoom details

A Sorrow from Allyson Zadnik Please keep the Zadnik family in your thoughts. Andy‘s father Rudy Zadnik passed away on Sunday, September 29. He was a beloved curmudgeon who will be dearly missed by his family.

A Sorrow from Peggy Fallon We are all so sorry for the devastation in the Asheville NC area. I have many ties with that area and some people I still haven’t heard from. That area will never be the same and we share our sorrow and hope for everyone there.

A Joy From Jeff and Diane Hutchins, who live in NC, A Joy: (via Randy Minnich & Susan Powers and Edith Ruiz)

We are among the few lucky ones. We self-evacuated using the only road in or out of Asheville, I-26 towards South Carolina. We drove to Chapel Hill, NC, where we are in a hotel. We plan to stay away until water and power are restored, which could be weeks. If you are a looter reading this, please leave our house alone. We appreciate everyone's messages, texts, emails, and calls of concern. For three days we had no power, no water, and no cell service. We could not get information except via radio, but local radio stations were off the air, so we got no local news. Helene wrought unbelievable devastation. We are lucky. We will return home and the community will rebuild, but it will take ages. The main interstate highway, 1-40, is destroyed. A huge chunk of it fell into the Catawba River east of Black Mountain. It will take months or years to rebuild. We are catching up with dozens of you who have tried to contact us. We thank you profusely for your concern, your love, and your support.!

A Joy from Randy Minnich and Susan Powers David and Alice Wells,  communicated that they are safe, along with their daughter, Sarah.

Note: There are times when you may not be able to share during service but want the Congregation to know what is on your heart. In that instance, just contact a member of the Lay Pastoral Care Team (LPCT) in person or submit your Joys & Sorrows electronically by clicking here. Once submitted, the form is sent to all LPCT members. (Chris Hill, Ruth Horwitz, Susan Powers, Lynne Herchenroether, Inga Burton-Smith, and Marsha Pedone). Please be sure to submit your item by NOON on Saturday at the latest, so we get it in time for Service. Also, LPCT emails are forwarded to all members of the team. We welcome your sharing and would be honored to carry forth your message.

UUCNH Policy for In-Person Gatherings

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UU Church of the North Hills

2359 West Ingomar Road

Pittsburgh, PA 15237

Phone: 412-366-0244