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Building a New Way
A Gathering of Our Social Justice Ministries
Saturday, October 3rd 3pm-5pm at the Fellowship
Facilitated by Rev. Allison Farnum, Sabbatical Support Minister, register HERE.
The world is asking hard questions of us right now — and we believe our congregation has something powerful to offer in response.
Join us for Building a New Way, a conversation and community-planning gathering where we come together not to return to what didn't serve us, but to imagine — and start building — what comes next. This is a space to dream boldly about our shared work for justice, to talk honestly about the crises unfolding around us, and to ask: how do we want to show up? Not just for ourselves, but alongside our community partners and, most importantly, alongside those most impacted by systemic oppression in our own backyard. Come with your questions. Come with your hopes. Come ready to listen, to imagine, and to help chart the path forward.
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Thriving Together: Community Fun Night & Auction
The Fellowship is excited to offer both an online and in-person auction in November. Help us reach our goal of $25,000 by either donating items to the auction or attending the in-person auction.
The deadline for donations has been extended! Donations are now being accepted through October 11th. Looking for ideas on what to donate? Do you have a special skill? How about a vacation home? Would you like to donate a basket for a coffee lover, date night, or spa day? This year the Fellowship Auction team has a goal of 75 basket or silent auction items with an average value of $150-$200. The team will combine items in order to create fun and interesting baskets or groups of items.
Please use this link to donate items. Submissions must be completed online. We plan to host a laptop station to help anyone submit their items in person.
Note: We are not ready to collect and store items at the Fellowship at this time. Someone from the Auction Team will contact donors when it is time to drop off items at the Fellowship.
The online auction site will be live starting October 31st at 3:00 pm and will close on November 7 at 7:50 pm. Get ready to bid on items. The in-person auction items will also be available for preview.
The in-person auction will be on Saturday, November 7th, 3:00 - 8:30 pm. Ticket sales are happening now. Purchase tickets HERE. The community fun night and auction will include carnival games provided by TCT Concessions with Christman Amusements, food from Osorio's Latin Cuisine and desserts from Sweet Jules Bakes, Music by Nicholas Raymond. More information will be coming, so please watch the newsletter or check the Auction Page of our website for details.
Please contact Angie Miller at auction@fvuuf.org with questions.
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Sunday, October 4
Old Water, Fresh Wells
by Rev. Allison Farnum, Sabbatical Support Minister
• 9:00 am informal coffeehouse-style service with conversation
• 11:00 am traditional service with sermon, livestream available
(all times are Central Time)
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Middle Hour 10:00 – 10:50 am
Sunday, October 4
Adult Offerings:
- Pluralism Practice: Middle School & Adults
- Overview of Major Religions
- UU Connection Path: How things work @ the Fellowship
- Hallway Table: Thriving Together Auction
- UU the Vote Postcard Writing
Nursery Care
Parents: Bring kids 4-10 to the RE Launchpad, and sign in
- Chalice Kids - 4K to 1st grade
- Spirit Explorers - 2nd to 5th grade
Parents: After Middle Hour, sign kids out in their classrooms
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Music Ministry
If you are interested in participating in music ministry on Sunday mornings, please contact Tam Masters, our music coordinator, at tam@fvuuf.org.
For information about music at the Fellowship, click the button:
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Volunteer Roles Open!
We need your help... Share your skills with us!
Please let Seth know if you are interested in any of these roles... We will connect you with the leader of the group to discuss and see if it's a good fit for you! (seth@fvuuf.org)
- Fun Team, seeking 1-2 more members - Help us plan fun events for our Fellowship Community!
- Children & Youth RE Team, seeking 1 more member - Help us coordinate an amazing program for our children & youth! Must be organized and have some knowledge or skill with children & youth educational practices.
- Adult Faith Formation Team, seeking 1-2 more members - Help us recruit, coordinate, and support adult Middle Hour, camps, and events. Must have good communication and follow-through skills.
- Membership Team, seeking 1 more member - Help us welcome newcomers, support people new to membership, and stay connected with existing members. Must be a Fellowship member for at least 1 year and have a willingness to connect by email, phone, or in-person with people.
- Audit Committee, seeking 1 more member - Help us ensure our financial records and other resources are all as they should be. Need to pass a background check and have financial or accounting background.
- Care Team, seeking 1-2 more members - Support our ministry of care and listening to people when they're in a time of need. Need to pass a background check, have strong interpersonal skills, and maintain high standards of confidentiality and ethics.
- RE Volunteers for children & youth, seeking several new helpers both one-time-only, and ongoing roles for leaders and assistants. See RE article, below.
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| | Religious Exploration - Children & Youth
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Register Now for Religious Exploration!
Our 2026-27 program year is here, and our updated RE registration form is live! Every child or youth, ages 6 months to 18 years, should be registered regardless of which program(s) they plan to attend.
You will be prompted to log in to Church Center and then choose which children to complete the form for. If you have no children connected to your household, please add them first.
Step 1) CHILD & YOUTH ENGAGEMENT FORM: CLICK HERE to complete this information form for each child, which requests specific safety, behavior, and support needs.
Step 2) R.E. REGISTRATION FORM: CLICK HERE to register your child(ren) for the RE programs they will participate in this year. Fee is $30/ child, max $75/ family. If this cost is prohibitive, use the discount codes in the form.
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We need YOU to support our Religious Exploration progams!
As we plan our upcoming program year (beginning September 20!), we are still in need of several people to support our Sunday morning Children's Religious Exploration programs. Here are some details:
- Approximately once a month, flexible scheduling available.
- Very little prep work: the program structure will "frame" the activities which will be provided to you in advance.
- Most R.E. roles are now during Middle Hour (10:00-10:50 AM). Help our programs and you can still attend your service of choice!
- Connect with a great team of adults, learn from & have fun with our amazing kids.
- Learn more about our Fellowship and UU faith while supporting learning and connection for our young people.
- We also need people to support our UU in Action elementary program during the 2nd service: ONE TIME commitment to bring your knowledge or passion to our kids; we'll work with you to craft the lesson.
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Senior Wonders
Senior Wonders will meet on Tuesday, October 6 at noon at the fellowship. Bring lunch if you wish and whatever you think we need to discuss. Happy Fall. -Janet
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Soup Saturday - now on 2nd Saturday!
Second Saturday Soup Social - October 10, 5:00 pm
Join us for a low-key evening of fun, friends, conversation, and a potluck dinner. Soup is welcome! But feel free to bring whatever other potluck food you wish to share (including vegetarian, vegan, or gluten-free options), bread, sides, maybe dessert… and your appetite! Games to share are also welcome.
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Stone Soup Fall Weekend Camp
November 14 & 15
For details and to register for camp, visit fvuuf.org/weekend-camps (registration deadline is Oct. 26). Join us for a weekend (Saturday 9-4:00, Sunday 10:30-3:00) of learning, connection and fun! There's something for everyone!
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UU the Vote
Action is the Antidote to Despair. During Middle Hour, on Sunday, October 4th and October 11th, our UU the Vote team is asking UU members to personalize and send 1,000 post cards to voters in this area. In combination with other Wisconsin UU organizations, over 10,000 post cards will be sent to voters. Please be available during Middle Hour OR after the 11 AM Service to write post cards. You can even take post cards home to write. Mailing labels and stamps will already be on the cards-you just need to add your personal message on the card and we will provide suggested messages.
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The Wisconsin UU State Action Network (WUUSAN) and Minnesota UU Social Justice Alliance (MUUSJA) announce the Northland Solidarity Summit! This one-day event will bring together UU’s, faith leaders and community leaders for a day of relationship building and idea exchange so we can reimagine the democracy we live. We are all motivated to bring the election to a successful conclusion in November. But, rather than call it a day and go about our other business, WUUSAN and MUUSJA will be continuing to build relationships that can sustain through this election cycle and into the next several cycles.
The Solidarity Summit will be held on October 3, 2026 at the Our Savior Lutheran Church in Duluth, MN. Leading speakers will include Shenai Mattson, and Cultural and Art Organizer in northern Minnesota, and Matt Kendziera of Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice. The agenda also includes the Side With Love curriculum entitled “We Are Builders”, designed to help everyone gain more skills in building networks across cultural, political, economic, and ethnic boundaries.
There is no fee to attend and a light breakfast, lunch and snacks will be provided. Lodging information will be available soon. More details HERE.
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 | Click the image to view the Justice Hub
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Justice Hub
Check out the Justice Hub, an easy-to-use calendar! Each event on the calendar includes time, location, and program details to help you learn more about how to get engaged with our wider community.
Wider Community Justice Events
• October 18: ESTHER hosts a Hope & Justice Sing-a-Long with Sale of Chilli, Eggrolls, and Baked Goods, details HERE, 5:00- 6:30 pm at First Congregational UCC, Appleton
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Check out our events and news page to see what's coming up!
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Thank You
We want to extend a special thank you to our Fun Team: Denise Smits, Sarah Bender, Adam Havel, Angie Furger, and Gloria West for their extraordinary work in making our Fellowship Fun Day possible! Their time, energy, creativity, and enthusiasm made the day so much fun for everyone. We truly appreciate all the hard work that went into making it such a memorable event. If you see a member of the Fun Team, thank them!
If you are interested in joining in on the fun, we need a couple more people to help us make it happen! Please contact Seth at seth@fvuuf.org.
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"Show us What You've Got!"
We know there are so many skills, talents, hobbies, and interests among our Fellowship members & friends, and we would love for you to share them with us!
Do you write? Were you an accountant? Do you speak another language? Juggle? Mime? Trapeze? Can you do hairstyles? Or troubleshoot Excel? Are you a photographer? Librarian? Woodworker? Painter? Do you love to organize closets? Or talk about Star Wars? WE WANT TO KNOW.
This simple 4-question survey will help us know when we should invite you to the perfect Fellowship role or opportunity, but don’t worry, you can always decline. To show us what you've got, go to tinyurl.com/UUshowus.
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Check out Church Center, Our Fellowship Portal
We began the transition to our new Fellowship portal (online, or smartphone app), Church Center, in April and now it’s almost fully functional. We hope you will take advantage of everything it offers.
Profiles -
The “heart” of Church Center is your individual profiles. By making sure your own information is correct, everything associated with you at the Fellowship is correct, too. The staff already set up these profiles for you! You can change much of the information yourself, and we’ve created forms to gather information about how we can support you, as well as for your kids. This info will be shared only with the people who need to know it. “Giving” tracks your donations so you can see what you have committed and how much you have paid. If you think any info is incorrect in your profile, just let us know; it’s easy for us to fix. Important: You almost certainly already have a profile! To log in, enter the primary phone number or email address associated with you at the Fellowship. Using different logins or creating new accounts makes multiple versions of your profile which can be confusing.
Families -
Everyone in your home is linked in a “family.” Your kids and family most likely already have profiles too. Children whose parents are in two households are linked to both families. When you log into your profile, you can choose to complete forms for your kids, and it will not ask you for your address, email, phone, allergies, behavioral challenges, etc., every time because it’s already in their profile!
Groups & Teams -
Groups allows you to connect with others in your committee, team, class, or small group, and see what’s coming up for you! Teams allows us to seamlessly schedule you for your volunteer roles.
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Rev. Hannah Roberts Villnave's Sabbatical
Rev. Hannah is on sabbatical through November 14, 2026. Please click the button below for more information.
Don't forget to pick up a sabbatical BINGO card in the entry lobby (adults & kids) to play for a chance to win some great prizes. Click HERE to see the cards online.
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Care and Support
When you share your Joy or Concern, you can choose to share privately with the ministers or care team, request contact, or share with the wider congregation.
For pastoral emergencies, call 920-268-4512.
Thank you to Care Team chair, Megan McLachlan, for "staffing" the emergency line and supporting the Care Team from now until the end of November to support Rev. Christina during Rev. Hannah's sabbatical.
Did you know? An email is sent each week to subscribers to share about our congregation's joys and concerns. Fellowship members who want to be included on our weekly joys and concerns email list may contact Cyndi at cyndi@fvuuf.org.
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Fellowship Office Hours
Fellowship Office Hours:
8:00 am - 1:00 pm Sun., Mon., Tues., Thurs.
Office closed Wed., Fri., Sat.
If you have a group meeting or event that occurs outside of office hours, those will continue as scheduled.
To meet with individual staff members, please contact them directly to schedule an appointment. Contact information can be found at https://fvuuf.org/contact/.
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