UCE UCE, Author at UC Evanston

The Shift to Masks Recommended (rather than Required) Beginning October 2nd – We would like to hear from you!

Given that most places in our community have made masks optional, and given the fact that there are readily available vaccines, boosters, tests, and effective treatments with available bed space in hospitals when needed, The Covid Task Force has made the decision to move from masks required to mask recommended throughout our building beginning October 2^nd, 2022.

We recognize that this may feel like a big shift for some members. We are not suggesting Covid is over or that we no longer need to consider mitigations. We still are a pro-vaccination community. We still encourage you to wear a mask if you feel uncomfortable for as long as you need to and as long as feels right to you. We still expect all of us to abide by our covenant of care for one another. If you are ill or may have been exposed to someone with Covid, please don’t come to church. Test yourself and see your doctor. Follow the CDC’s isolation guidelines.

Before this change takes place, we’d like to hear your questions and concerns. You can reach out to the ministers directly via email to share your thoughts. You can also take this quick poll to let the Covid Task Force know how you feel about this shift. Here are the new building use guidelines posted to our website.

Thank you for continuing the practice of Beloved Community, for listening and sharing your thoughts.

Rev. Eileen, Rev. Susan, and The Covid Task Force

The Shift to Masks Recommended (rather than Required) Beginning October 2nd – We would like to hear from you!UCE UCE2022-09-16T16:40:51+00:00

September 11, 2022

Healing Waters

What did you do this summer? Some of us traveled to places near and far after a long time homebound. Some of us stuck around and enjoyed the outdoors right here. All of us can recognize the preciousness of water and need to protect it as much as we receive its healing powers. We celebrate our annual Ingathering Service this Sunday with our water communion. Bring a bottle of water to symbolize whatever your summer adventures or restorative practices may have been. We will also have a quick (hopefully) evacuation drill after the service and then enjoy a potluck picnic on the lawn. Please bring a dish to share.

We will host an in-person and virtual worship service on Sunday, September 11th at 10:30 am.

Please submit your Joys and Sorrows through this online form. If you submit a message by 9 am, we will try to read it that Sunday. Thank you for your patience as we are adapting to best serve you all! Note there will only be one service time so that we can gather together as a whole community of faith. You can still give to the shared offering through “text to give,” mail a check to the office with “shared offering” in the memo line, or go to our website and hit “give” on the upper right or click here. This Sunday’s shared offering recipient is the Interfaith Action of Evanston.

September 11, 2022UCE UCE2022-09-06T19:57:08+00:00

September 11, 2022

Healing Waters

We will host an in-person and virtual worship service on Sunday, September 11th at 10:30 am.

Please submit your Joys and Sorrows through this online form. If you submit a message by 9 am, we will try to read it that Sunday. Thank you for your patience as we are adapting to best serve you all! Note there will only be one service time so that we can gather together as a whole community of faith. You can still give to the shared offering through “text to give,” mail a check to the office with “shared offering” in the memo line, or go to our website and hit “give” on the upper right or click here. This Sunday’s shared offering recipient is the Interfaith Action of Evanston.

September 11, 2022UCE UCE2022-09-06T15:27:23+00:00

Where’s the off ramp?

I drove downtown this week to spend time with Meadville Lombard seminarians during their ingathering week. I exited Lake Shore Drive, following my GPS directions but I missed the off ramp from Lower Wacker Drive to get to Michigan Ave where I needed to be. I was stuck in the underworld of Lower Wacker, the street below the street, my GPS unable to detect that I was in the wrong place because from the satellite view above me, I was in the right place. I couldn’t figure out how to get out, back to the street directly above me where my destination was.

Where is the off ramp?! I whined to myself, until I figured out I could turn left and then left again to emerge into the daylight.

I’ve been holding this question, “Where is the off ramp?,” raised in a very different context, for the last 10 days. The Covid Task Force met for the first time since last spring. In May, we decided to continue the mask requirement for larger indoor gatherings including Sunday mornings. Given the large number of cases, we thought it better to hold steady with the extra precaution. When we met last Wednesday, lowering the mask requirement was the main focus of discussion. The question was raised, “Where is the off ramp?” meaning, what are the circumstances in which it would make sense to move from a requirement to a recommendation? If The CDC, Illinois Department of Public Health and the Evanston Health Department have all removed the mask mandate and public spaces all around us are without this requirement, does it make sense for us to keep this requirement in place?

Throughout the pandemic, we have been more cautious than the health agencies we have been turning to for guidance, and there is still strong evidence that masks effectively lessen the risks of catching Covid. However, given that nearly every place in our public lives – schools, stores, airplanes, buses, trains, and entertainment venues – have made masks optional, and given the fact that there are readily available vaccines, boosters (and soon, even better boosters), tests, and effective treatments, and given that a very large majority have already gotten Covid and recovered, it feel as though this might be the time to make mask wearing up to the individual.

As a Task Force, we are also considering the social, emotional, and spiritual well-being of people of all ages as well as accessibility for those who have trouble hearing. We recognize that this may feel like a big shift for some members. We are not suggesting that this means Covid is over and we no longer need to consider mitigations. We still expect all of us to abide by our covenant of care for one another. If you are ill or may have been exposed to someone with Covid, please don’t come to church. Test yourself and see your doctor. Follow the CDC’s isolation guidelines. If you feel uncomfortable being around large groups without a mask, please know that you are encouraged to wear a mask as long as you need to and as long as feels right to you.

We acknowledge that not everyone is in the same place with this. Please know that you are invited to share your questions or concerns with the ministers. You can reach out to me directly via email to share your thoughts. You can also take this quick poll to let the Covid Task Force know how you feel about this shift. Here are the new building use guidelines that will soon be posted to our website.

Absent a compelling reason to continue the requirement, we plan to move from masks required to masks encouraged on Sunday mornings beginning October 2nd. We continue to hold one another in care and love as we navigate the complexities of building Beloved Community.

Yours in faith,

Eileen

Where’s the off ramp?UCE UCE2022-09-16T16:41:49+00:00

WE WANT YOU!

Thank you for considering this volunteer opportunity! Here are a few details to consider:

· The young people will be in the first half of the worship service and will go to their groups after joys and sorrows, around 11a, and end by noon.

· Preschool/Kindergarten – led by Ann Gadzikowski

· Elementary Ages – grades 1-6 – led by Kathy Underwood and Sue Larson

· Youth Group – grades 7-12 – led by Linda Herried

· All materials are prepared for you ahead of time – you only need to read through the lesson plan and be ready to help and have fun!

· You are guaranteed to learn more about UUism, the world, and yourself. Bonus: you’ll get to form relationships with our awesome kids and youth!

· You can volunteer for one of the “blocks” of time, or you can spread out your commitment over the year.

· All volunteers will have a background screening done confidentially.

If this still interests you, contact Kathy Underwood today!

WE WANT YOU!UCE UCE2022-09-01T19:22:12+00:00

September 4, 2022

The Sacredness of Choice

Our bodily autonomy and ability to choose what happens to our bodies is being eroded in dramatic ways. What does it mean to uphold and hold sacred our ability to choose, while recognizing our accountability to community? Rev. Eileen leads the service with Robb Geiger as the Worship Associate.

We will host an in-person and virtual worship service on Sunday, September 4th at 10:30 am.

Please submit your Joys and Sorrows through this online form. If you submit a message by 9 am, we will try to read it that Sunday. Thank you for your patience as we are adapting to best serve you all! Note there will only be one service time so that we can gather together as a whole community of faith. You can still give to the shared offering through “text to give,” mail a check to the office with “shared offering” in the memo line, or go to our website and hit “give” on the upper right or click here. This Sunday’s shared offering recipient is the Interfaith Action of Evanston.

September 4, 2022UCE UCE2022-09-01T18:09:44+00:00

September 4, 2022

We will host an in-person and virtual worship service on Sunday, September 4th at 10:30 am.

Please submit your Joys and Sorrows through this online form. If you submit a message by 9 am, we will try to read it that Sunday. Thank you for your patience as we are adapting to best serve you all! Note there will only be one service time so that we can gather together as a whole community of faith. You can still give to the shared offering through “text to give,” mail a check to the office with “shared offering” in the memo line, or go to our website and hit “give” on the upper right or click here. This Sunday’s shared offering recipient is the Interfaith Action of Evanston.

September 4, 2022UCE UCE2022-08-31T20:12:21+00:00

Endowment Task Force Update

As you are probably aware, the Endowment Task Force has been meeting for well over a year. The Endowment Task Force consists of Susan Comstock, Margaret Schatz, Jane Kenamore, Alice Swann, Tom Ticknor, Rob Wingader, Eileen Wiviott, and Joe Romeo. We sought input from the Endowment Committee and the congregation at the beginning of our work to determine what concerns people had. We were able to use those concerns to develop proposals which fit into eight categories: Communication, Distribution, Endowment Committee Processes, Investments, Bylaws, Endowment Committee Structure, Processing of Grant Applications, and Board/Endowment Relationships.

We have a couple steps before we are ready to present our recommendations to the congregation. Currently, we are working to finalize the language for each proposal. Once we believe the language is clear, we will get feedback from the Endowment Committee and the Board of Trustees. At that point, we will hold townhall meetings to explain the recommendations and to get feedback from the congregation. We plan to have these steps completed this autumn.

Finally, it will be up to the Endowment Committee and the Board of Trustees to put the recommendations into practice. It is most important, we believe, that we continue to work deliberately to be sure that all the proposals are clear, understood and supported by the congregation.

Joe Romeo

Endowment Task Force UpdateUCE UCE2022-08-26T17:29:22+00:00

UCE UUtheVote 2022: The Time is Now, the Outcome is Critical

How about a trip up to Racine with Friends?

Help ‘Get Out The Vote’ by distributing information to voters in Racine. Training, snacks and drinks will be provided, no prior experience needed! Coordinated by Racine Interfaith Coalition. (Thanks to our friends at Olympia Brown UU for this connection!) A special opportunity this Saturday, August 27 but many more days available!
Use this link to get on their volunteer list and see dates when volunteers are needed each week. Then gather a couple of friends and help Wisconsin vote!

Reclaim Our Vote writes only to people of color who are generally not contacted by Democratic party operatives. They are traditionally the forgotten voters, particularly in rural communities.

ROV gets results!

In Petersburg Va in 2021 CFCG contacted black voters without phones with handwritten postcards, emphasizing issues in the community and encouraging them to vote. Voter turnout was 43% – great numbers for folks who don’t usually vote! In Onslow, NC in 2019, 23% of purged voters who received a postcard letting them know they were no longer on the voting rolls re-registered. Once folks re-register they likely vote! Pick up your post card pack at the back of the sanctuary Sunday, or contact Carolyn Laughlin (REALM or admin@ucevanston.org)

Support Democracy With a Trip to Milwaukee: Wisconsin voters will make critical decisions, impacting the entire country, this November. Folks sharing our UU values are working hard to register every voter aligned with us. Several DMV offices in Milwaukee are fabulous places to support these voters. Contact Greg Grabowski (REALM or admin@ucevanston.org) for simple, quick training and more info.

Keep Your Eye on the Illinois Supreme Court: Our Supreme Court has a direct impact on our criminal justice system. Help ensure these judges share our UU values. Sign up to write postcards to voters about the IL Supreme Court elections, https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScy1jg_4NHg6zCdiKYti0RLsT8zwryv80ZYjd_pVoY3YDpvcg/viewform

Finally, Share YOUR Work With Us!
All UCE member and friend work to get out the vote counts towards our our 40,000 Points of Love goal! Share your update with Greg Grabowski (REALM or admin@ucevanston.org)

UCE UUtheVote 2022: The Time is Now, the Outcome is CriticalUCE UCE2022-08-25T21:08:27+00:00

Greetings from Executive Operations Director Sandra Robinson

David Carling, our new Office Administrator began his work at UCE on August 15. He delved right into this work and is making great progress. Staff has been eager and helpful in making him feel at home and learn the job. He experienced his first staff meeting yesterday. Welcome David. We are so glad you are with us. Office Hours are now M-F 10:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

As you enter the UCE parking lot you will see many flowers in bloom and new plantings. Last week our Sanctuary Cooling Project Landscaping Plan came into fruition. Nature’s Perspective provided a creative solution to hiding our air conditioning condensers and bringing color and new life to the northwest side of our building. Today I ordered a new bench that will sit on the stones on the west side of the garden facing the parking lot. John LaPlante had envisioned a place where people could sit and wait for their ride. We have made that happen and will place a bench there in memory of him. Thank you to all who contributed to the Capital Campaign for making the cooling and landscaping project possible.

You will also see a new bench donated in memory of Raissa and Eleanor Landor. In 1993, Eleanor Landor and her daughter Raissa joined UCE. When Eleanor passed in 1999 her family planted a tree in the UCE garden and a bench was placed in Eleanor’s name. The bench has weathered over the years and the family has purchased a new one that will honor both Eleanor and Raissa, who passed in 2020. The new bench will be placed under the same tree. The Landor family hopes that this bench will be a place for calm, reflection and a spot to enjoy a great book. Becca and Sarah Landor express their deepest gratitude for the UCE community. We are proud and appreciative of this beautiful donation.

Please pass the word along to friends and colleagues in the area who may be interested in holding workshops or meetings at UCE. We have space available during the day and in the evening. Rooms 3 and 6 have state of the art dual platform equipment perfect for presentations and meetings of not-for-profit boards and agencies. Our sanctuary space is perfect for music performances, memorials and weddings. Contact me at srobinson@ucevanston.org or 847-864-1330 for more information. I am about to update our website with photos and testimonials so that everyone can see the many types of spaces and opportunities available at UCE. In September we welcome the return of Mothers of Multiples (MOMS) and in November, North Shore Choral Society.

Mark your calendars and plan to attend a Howard Levy Concert on Sunday, October 24 in our Sanctuary. Howard is beloved by our UCE community, and well known throughout Evanston, the City of Chicago and, in fact, the country. Tickets will go on sale late September for this music event not to be missed. Watch our newsletters and website for more information as the date nears.

Greetings from Executive Operations Director Sandra RobinsonUCE UCE2022-09-16T16:42:43+00:00

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