Our communications coordinator feels valued here. And no wonder. Jessica Meis has so many skills that help us fulfill our mission — whether it’s publicizing and assisting at our pledge drive, creating a graphic for our Christmas Eve service, or putting together our newsletter. She adds your notices to our calendar and the orders of service, and can post notices to social media for you.

Jessica lived her early formative years in Texas. A graduate of Cornell College (Mount Vernon, Iowa), she completed a Bachelor of Special Studies in Art History and Latin American studies. Her research focused on feminist and Latinx art, as she felt they have been under-represented in recognized bodies of works. One of Jessica’s favorite painters is Frida Kahlo. Kahlo said of her work that she liked to paint her own reality. Jessica said depicting her reality might consist of collages depicting how she found UCE and how much she treasures the opportunity to contribute her ideas and develop her skills.

Jessica spends her off-work time playing tennis, watching her favorite TV shows, and capturing candid shots of people and images of doors with her camera. Doors, she says, have their own personalities.

This summer, Jessica is excited about attending the Renaissance Faire in Bristol, Wisconsin. Sometime in the future, she wants to visit Thailand, where she looks forward to indulging some of her favorite foods.

One senses Jessica Meis will always find new and exciting adventures to explore.

Forging Opportunities for Refugees in America (FORA) is a 501(c)(3) secular NGO that provides high dosage tutoring  (HDT) to formerly pre-literate refugee students, for ten hours per week (Mondays through Fridays, after school) per student with a 2-1 student-teacher ratio. We are now adding a weekend reflection, writing and storytelling component for 20 selected refugee students, where the students will be guided to write stories about their life experiences, big or small. Because refugees often have suffered trauma in the past, storytelling must be done in a professional way, with safeguards, that empowers instead of retraumatizing students. FORAs educators and child psychologist are teaming up with a top-notch nationally-recognized institute called The Telling Room in this effort. The Telling Room has deep expertise in helping immigrant and refugee students tell their own stories.

Over the course of the next year, FORA will conduct these seminars for our 20 selected students under the guidance of The Telling Room experts. On twelve Saturdays from 10 am to noon  in the fall of 2021, and then twelve more Saturdays again in the spring of 2022, we will conduct  these seminars.

We need EIGHT local facilitators to help lead these seminars — volunteers who can come each of the 24 Saturday mornings (with one or two missed Saturdays allowed, at most) at our FORA learning center at 6421 N California Ave. in the West Ridge area of Chicago (only about 15-20 minutes from Evanston and Skokie). If you are not an expert writer or storyteller, do not worry! There will be a mandatory three day training provided by  The Telling Room via Zoom on June 28, 29 and 3oth, 2021. Learn more here.

This should be a great experience for all involved. If you are interested in pursuing possibilities, please call Mike O’Connor at (312) 375-9689 or email him at michael@refugeefora.org. Reach out as soon as you are inspired to, but no later than June 3rd please.

The Anti-Oppression Task Force Planning Group has assisted the UCE Board with entering into a contract with YWCA Evanston/North Shore’s Equity Institute. As consultants, the YWCA will assist with the formation of our anti-oppression task force. Thank you to everyone who submitted an interest form for this task force. You will be hearing from Rev. Eileen Wiviott or Rev. Susan Frances shortly. 

The Planning Group has officially dissolved after setting the foundation for the newly forming anti-oppression task force to begin its job of dismantling white supremacy culture in our congregation and working with community partners. Thank you to everyone who was involved with the Planning Group over the past year: 

Rev. Eileen Wiviott
Rev. Karen Gustafson
Rev. Susan Frances
Jessica Tomell-Presto, UCE Board Chair
Martha Holman
Shannon Lang
Linda LaPlante
Carolyn Laughlin
Beth McDonald
Sally Parsons
Joe Romeo
Donna Schiller
Steve Serikaku
Gail Smith
Sarah Vanderwicken  

The consultants from the YWCA Evanston/North Shore’s Equity Institute working with UCE will be Tiffany McDowell, Equity Institute Director, and Eileen Heineman, Manager of Equity Institute Community Outreach. Members of their staff will provide supporting roles as needed. 

The task force will be forming over the summer and the next communication about its work, including its formal name, will be from the task force itself. Among its first tasks will be team building, formation of an operating structure or leadership model, and creating a work plan. As efforts get underway, the task force will be calling on congregants to assist in various tasks. Working to dismantle oppressions is a life-long endeavor and you are encouraged to share your reflections, creativity, and vision with the task force. 

Adam Gough is truly a Renaissance Man. He operates, manages, and maintains the technical tools that keep our programs and worship services humming. In his role as Congregational Life Assistant, he assists senior staff, freeing them from tasks such as chasing down copyrights to music (critical but time-consuming), doing production for livestream events, and making our virtual choir recordings come alive in a rich and seamless way. For those who wish to join a covenant group, he finds one with openings. He manages the new member process as point person before folks join as members. He also curates Realm. And he is a certified Operations Specialist who can handle most IT problems that pop up in the office. 

Adam is an accomplished bass trombone player, a composer of musical scores (as well as songs for an album he hopes to produce), creator of sound effects for games and videos, and photographer of toys he captures in arresting poses that he shares with fans on Instagram.  

Reverend Eileen says Adam’s work with the congregation is ministry through technology. Using his skills to deepen the healing and richness that music and images provide, Adam helps contributes to the pastoral care of the congregation. Responding to cries for support on technical issues, he is pleased to help and is often hailed for his patience, understanding, and ability to make people comfortable. As he often says, “I’m here to help. Call on me. It’s my job.” 

Find out more about Adam on the UCE website under the About tab, Who We Are, Ministers and Staff. Check out his music and sound effects at his website, adamgoughsound.com. 

It has been a year since Covid-19 impacted our community in a tragic way. We closed our doors on March 12th, held our first virtual service on March 15th, and we lost beloved UCE member, John LaPlante, on March 21st. At the time, it seemed unfathomable that we would still be gathering virtually for a full year. Throughout the year, the overwhelming sentiment has been gratitude for the virtual services. We have only recently started to hear questions about when we will return to the building.

It is encouraging that vaccinations are becoming more widely available and accessible. The news of a third vaccine approved and the expectation that enough will be available to vaccinate every adult in the country by the end of May is exciting. For your well-being and the well-being of others, we hope that you will get vaccinated as soon as possible.

Although vaccines are becoming more accessible, we are not considering in person worship services before September. By that time, the expectation is that the adult population will have access to the vaccine and there may be a large enough percentage of UCE members who are vaccinated to ensure relatively low risk gatherings. However, it is important to understand our return to in person gatherings will not be sudden, immediate, or feel ‘back to normal.’ We will continue to need to wear masks and maintain physical distance for some time. We will not have food after services, at least not to start and singing will remain high risk for a long time.

The Covid Task Force is meeting and will be learning more in the coming months, listening to the science, and talking with interfaith community partners to determine safe, accessible, and meaningful gatherings. If you have questions, concerns or creative ideas for gathering, please reach out to Rev. Eileen, or one of the members of the Covid task force: Cathy Deamant, Sarah Iles, Ben Kornfeld, Sandra Robinson, Joe Romeo, Jessica Tomell-Presto, Matthew Snowdon, or Bridget Wild.

Here is the link to the guidelines for in person gatherings which remain in effect for now: https://ucevanston.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Guidelines-for-UCE-Small-Groups-10.22.2020.pdf

Save the Date and Save Your Rummage!

We are planning a unique and festive day in our parking lot to replace the annual rummage sale normally held inside the church.

Save Saturday, May 22 or Saturday, May 29^th (rain date) for the first UCE POP-UP PARKING LOT SALE. Individuals, groups, and committees will be able to organize their own tables. There is a lot of enthusiasm around these plans. Staff and others have already expressed interest in having a table. So, we expect this to be the outdoor event of the year! We will, of course, require masks and abide by social distancing guidelines.

Similar to a flea market, church members will be asked to bring their rummage pre-sorted, pre-priced, and ready for sale. Tables will have a mix of items, so we won’t have “departments” as the rummage sale did.

We plan to have kid’s activities, a balloon man, an ice cream vendor, and food trucks. Our goal is to raise over $6000 which is what the 20/21 f/y net income budget line is for our rummage sale.

We need everyone’s help. It will be a fun day and a chance to make new friends, see old friends, enjoy a UCE group activity and make our budget for UCE.

More details to follow in the coming weeks including sign-up for table space, volunteer sign-up slots, and answers to your questions. So save the date and save your items to sell at the first ever UCE Parking Lot Pop Up Sale.

This is a reminder that the January 31 deadline for Endowment applications is coming up quickly.  Since January 31 falls on Sunday, the deadline is extended until midnight, February 1.  Endowment has expended its full distribution for this fiscal year; however, with the expected return of unspent funds from the Ministerial Search Committee, about $8,500 will likely be available for distribution through June 30.   

The spring deadline has been changed permanently to May 31, after the congregational vote to approve the Operations budget for 2021-22.  At that time Endowment will entertain proposals for projects in the next fiscal year.   

If you have questions, please contact Margaret Schatz or Jane Kenamore, co-chairs of the Endowment Committee.