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Pictures Needed!As we prepare for our annual celebration of Flower Communion on June 14, we are trying to find a way to celebrate at a physical distance. We will invite you to join the worship service by Zoom, and to bring a flower to show off at that virtual gathering. However, since the ritual of Flower Communion is symbolic and uses the flowers as a metaphor for our beautiful community, we will be creating a photo mosaic of our faces to make the image of a bouquet of flowers!
Before June 1, please email a picture of your face (not a far-away picture) in JPG format to photos@fvuuf.org. A selfie works great! If there are multiple people in your home, please send individual images of each person.
We will use an artist’s talents to compile the images into a collage of tiny faces to make the larger image of the flowers. We intend to use this photo mosaic throughout the summer and will also share it online. Please know that the individual faces will be small and hard to see, but if you are uncomfortable with your image or your child(ren)’s image being used, please do not send those to us. Submission of your pictures to the email address above will be considered as your authorization to use in the mosaic, printed publications or brochures, display at the Fellowship, and on the Fellowship’s website, and social media.
We hope this will be a beautiful reminder of our community, and of this weird but creative time in our history.
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 Click HERE for our mailing address and staff email addresses or call 920.731.0849.
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| A Note About Fellowship Activities and Staff
Though the Fellowship building remains closed, our virtual doors are open and accessible! Your ministers are available to provide pastoral care and support via phone, email, video conferencing, and social media. Program staff is working to deliver meaningful worship and creative opportunities to engage with the Fellowship community in a variety of ways.
Your administrative staff continues to provide support with limited office presence. All core staff will continue to monitor their voice and email messages and respond to you as promptly as they can.
We will continue to communicate any significant or urgent changes to the Fellowship’s operational status via all Fellowship emails. Normal (or new normal) offerings and activities will continue to be communicated via the Fellowship’s Weekly Scroll. Announcements and events will be posted on our Facebook page and all are welcome to share in our Facebook group.
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Upcoming Service
Sunday, May 17 at 10:00 am central
Link for Worship Service HERE
Call in: 312-626-6799 with meeting ID 176 319 484
Click HERE for the Order of Service.
Practicing Our 5th Principle by Rev. Christina Leone-Tracy
UU the Vote is a nationwide effort to encourage Unitarian Universalist congregations to engage in the democratic process in a nonpartisan way. Our Justice Action Ministry (JAM) faciliators have named UU the vote as one of our two focus areas for the coming year. As we continue our work of healing and wholeness, how might our 5th principle contribute to healing ourselves and the world?
Sunday Morning Connections for Children & Youth!
• Children’s Chapel (grades 4K-6) 9:00- 9:40 am
• Youth Connection (grades 7-12) 11:00-11:40 am
Registration is required to receive the Zoom link for children and youth connections. Register your child(ren) HERE. If you have questions, contact director of religious education, Kim Hartman, at kim@fvuuf.org.
May 24 Service
Finding a Way by Rev. Christina Leone-Tracy
The worship staff at the Fellowship decided that this summer, in light of the current pandemic and safer at home orders, we will have a theme to guide us through the summer. This Sunday we'll kick off the theme, "Finding a Way" by exploring what it means to find our way when the path seems so uncertain.
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Click HERE for more information on these offerings!
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Connect at a Distance: Adults
Thursday, May 14
Sunday, May 17
10:00 am Worship Service HERE
Monday, May 18
Wednesday, May 20
Thursday May 21
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| Religious Education - Children and Youth
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Connect at a Distance: Children and Youth We invite all young people to join us to share our time and hearts together!
Sunday Morning
• Children’s Chapel (grades 4K-6) 9:00- 9:40 am
• Youth Connection (grades 7-12) 11:00-11:40 am
Weekday Meetings
• Kid’s Connection- (grades 4K-6) Thursdays 4:00-4:30 pm
• Youth Connection- (grades 7-12) Wednesdays 4:30-5:00 pm and Fridays 6:00-6:30 pm
The Zoom link is the same for all children and youth gatherings. Registration acts as our directory for the year, so we ask everyone to register your child(ren) HERE.
Please contact director of religious education Kim Hartman at kim@fvuuf.org or religious education assistant Eve Rosera at eve@fvuuf.org with questions or concerns.
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Teaching TeamsOur Religious Education program is one reasons that new families choose the Fellowship as their spiritual home. Have you been curious about volunteering in Religious Education and supporting the important work that we do? Maybe you like to participate in the classes your child attends? We are now setting up teams for our summer and fall programs, and are asking for volunteers to commit to helping one time per month.
If you are interested, please let us know by filling out our short form HERE.
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Bridging Ceremony June 14, 2020On June 14 we will honor our graduating high school seniors as they take the large step from childhood into adulthood during the Flower Ceremony service. This service will honor the growth and transition of our seniors and welcome them into our community as adults. We will hear from them about how they plan to carry their Unitarian Universalist values into the world and will end with a ritual to show our Fellowship’s support of these young people. Please contact Kim Hartman at kim@fvuuf.org by May 24 if your or your child would like to participate in the Bridging ceremony.
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Partner Church Virtual Plate Passing on Sunday May 17thFor the past 15 years, the Partner Church Committee has hosted a Spring plant sale. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 restrictions, our plant sale has been cancelled. Instead, we are having a virtual plate passing during the Sunday service to benefit our partner churches. By giving in this way, you will help our partner churches in Deva, Romania and Banaybanay, Philippines plant their own gardens to help grow and sustain their vital communities. Through your monetary gift, our partners will maintain their buildings, support their congregations, and welcome new visitors. Please consider giving to our virtual plate passing to benefit our partner church family and the wider world by following the link to the Fellowship’s online giving page HERE. Donations will be accepted for two weeks. If you prefer to send a check, please write it to FVUUF with Partner Church in the memo line and mail it to Fox Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 2600 Philip Lane, Appleton 54915. Thank you very much!
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Fellowship Read: Braiding Sweetgrass
Wednesday, May 27th, 6:00 pm
Zoom link: HERE password UU
Rev. Leah is halfway through this hopeful and fascinating read and invites you to join her by listening or reading along and then gathering to discuss. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants is a 2013 nonfiction book by Robin Wall Kimmerer about plants and botany as seen through Native American traditions and Western scientific traditions. It’s available wherever books can be bought or borrowed, including Hoopla, a resource from the Appleton Public Library.
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Click HERE for details about all these groups.
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| - Fellowship Community Journal
Ongoing, submit your work to leah@fvuuf.org
- Joyful Mind Zen Sangha
Saturdays, 7:00 am
- Men's Group
First Wednesdays and Third Tuesdays, 7:00-9:00 pm
- Music Conversations through the Fellowship
Wednesdays, 7-8:00 pm
- Smiling Dandelion Sangha
Sundays, 6-7:30 pm
- Spanish Charla
Saturdays, 10-11:00 am
- Spill it Sister
Second Thursday of the month, 6:30-8:00 pm
- Student Spanish Charla
Mondays, 4-5:00 pm
- Third Thursday Book Club
Third Thursday of the month, 2:00 pm
- UU Parenting Support Group
First Monday of the month, 6-7:30 pm
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Empty to Full Pan Dropoff Today!The Essentials JAM Team thanks all who picked up pans to provide meals to residents of Harbor House and Apricity (a residential treatment center for those dealing with substance abuse) through the E2F (Empty to Full) Pan program.
Return the E2F pan: TODAY! Thursday, May 14, 5:30-6:30 pm @ the Fellowship main entrance
If you need help getting your pan picked up, or if you have any questions please call Deb Muench 920.422.1852 or email debmuench@icloud.com.
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Bread for the World Annual Letter Writing Campaign to Help KidsOur Fellowship Justice Action Ministry encourages your participation. We join other Fox Valley faith communities in this campaign. Thank you for writing legislators urging more funding for childhood nutrition programs.
1. Urgent: Write an email to your legislators to increase Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). More information and link for your email HERE.
2. This week: Write 3 letters to your legislators. (sample letter HERE)
For us to track the number of letters submitted, please email Connie Kanitz at connie.kanitz@gmail.com to report how many letters you sent with “BFW letters” in subject line or with any questions.
Resources:
• Recording of Fox Valley webinar HERE. (minute marker 19:06 is background information, 31:49 is the summary of the specific request)
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Unitarian Universalist Association News
• HERE is a link to a short video narrated by Rev. Ashley Horan, Organizig Strategy Director for the UUA, reminding us to consider ways to share stimulus checks.
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Fellowship Donation for Harbor House and PillarsKnowing we will not be in the building for a while, and likely we won’t be able to serve coffee for even longer, we donated our surplus coffee, tea and, cookie supplies to Harbor House and Pillars. They were very appreciative of our donation!
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2020 Annual Congregational Survey – Reopened!Due to the unprecedented times we find ourselves in, the Fellowship Governing Board and Executive Team have reopened the 2020 annual congregational survey to allow those unable to participate during the last couple weeks of March the opportunity to complete the survey.
We invite all members and friends of the Fellowship who have not yet done so to participate in our annual congregational survey. The information gathered in this survey is of critical importance as we evaluate progress toward the Fellowship’s goals and identify areas in which we need to dedicate additional time and resources.
The survey includes 57 questions and may take around 15 minutes to complete. The questions are about Fellowship demographics, how we live, and our engagement with the Fellowship over the last 12 months. All responses are anonymous.
We will report on the survey results at the 2020 annual meeting. We administered the same survey last year and plan to continue asking the same questions every year so that we can track our progress over time.
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General Assembly: Now Virtual!
General Assembly, the annual national conference that gathers thousands of Unitarian Universalists, is a tradition beloved by many. It is a time of celebratory reunion, participatory governance, and leadership development. Going virtual will allow it to be accessible to a more diverse and global audience. It will also help reduce our carbon footprint, which aligns with our commitment to care for the earth and environment. Learn more and register HERE.
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New to Zoom?All of our online Sunday services and most of our activities will be happening via zoom. Go to http://zoom.us/test for guidance on how to connect and visit www.tinyurl.com/zoomUU for a tutorial video about how to use it. If you are still having problems, email Marie Luna at marie@fvuuf.org and she will find someone to talk you through it.
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Masks Available at Fellowship Little Free Library If you have need for a home-sewn mask, we are attempting to make them available in our little free library on Philip Lane in front of the Fellowship. People without masks are encouraged to get and wear them. People who sew or have extra are encouraged to offer them. Please use caution when visiting the library by using a wipe or plastic to touch the handle and/or using sanitizer directly after contact. Also make sure to wash anything you take. We are also accepting donations of cleaning supplies, non-perishable food items, and toilet paper. If masks have all been claimed when you get there, please email leah@fvuuf.org and we will try to get more. Please feel free to spread the word about this resource.
Need a sewing machine to make masks? Contact Marie Luna at marie@fvuuf.org.
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Blessing for Healthcare Workers
Click here for a special blessing from Rev. Leah for those who work in healthcare these days, or know someone who does.
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Your subscription to information at the Fellowship!The Weekly Scroll newsletter is the Fellowship’s main form of communication to connect with our members and friends. This newsletter email list is not only used for the weekly scroll, but also for other important all Fellowship emails and notifications, including annual meeting notices and more. To remain informed and connected, please do not unsubscribe from any communications from the Fellowship, or you will be removed from the list for the Scroll as well.
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Click the image to give online.
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Click here for the current financial report.
Click here for the May Governing Board meeting agenda.
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