Update from Rev. Susan, 11/7/2025

Hi, Friends,

 

I had so much fun at our SOLARbration! I loved singing along with the live music, meeting the speakers, and especially the ribbon cutting. Mary Beth Roth took the photo of me immediately following the cutting of the green ribbon with the giant scissors to celebrate the installation of our solar panels.

Each week I am grateful to be part of this faith community that values finding ways to celebrate and restore one’s spirit alongside the social engagement needed in this moment to continue to seek accountability for the ongoing abuse of power within our federal government systems. You inspire me.

Our Catalyst for Democracy Team has joined our Social Justice Council and is launching a Love Resists: Engaging in Noncooperation campaign. The focus areas of the Love Resists campaign are:

· Action

· Building Community

· Training geared toward engagement

Catalyst team members will be organizing within these areas and sharing ways to engage through the newsletter and through our UCE Local Response Network. Right now, there are many ways to get engaged. Please remember that you don’t have to do or attend all the things. That if each of us is engaged when and how we can be, then we are able to take turns and continue to make a difference. The vital part is that we all are participating, which includes reaching out for support when we need it, making time to rest when we need it, and then doing the one next thing that we can do.

The hard work of social change includes the laughter and joy of community building. I encourage you to reach out to each other, to your friends and families, to your neighbors and colleagues and talk with them about what it is that you are able to do together.

Here are four ways to support Building Community through Mutual Aid:

· Sunday, November 23, 2025. Bring a gift card of any kind and any denomination along with your loaf of bread to our Bread Communion service on November 23rd. We will be giving the collected gift cards to Interfaith Action of Evanston to distribute through their Hospitality Center run out of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church from 7-11 am, Monday – Friday.

· Thursday, November 27, 2025. Volunteer on Thanksgiving Day at the Annual Thanksgiving Dinner for our Interfaith Action Soup Kitchen Guests. You may sign-up to donate food to be delivered between 12:00-12:30 pm. You may sign-up to volunteer at the dinner between 12:00-4:30 pm.

· Fill up the UCE Giving House located in our lobby. We are collecting pasta, rice, grains, beans, cereal, soups, canned fish, and canned meat to donate to C&W Market Foundation in Evanston.

· Support the Evanston Community Fridges. You may contribute funds online or donate food at one of the three locations.

If you could benefit from some material, emotional, or spiritual support, please connect with Rev. Eileen, ewiviott@ucevanston.org, Rev. Elizabeth, eharding@ucevanston.org, or myself, sfrances@ucevanston.org, or complete our Request for Care form. You are not alone.

Here are four Actions in the Chicagoland area in which UUs are organizing to attend together:

· Tuesday, November 11th, 11 am – 1 pm, join a coalition supporting Vets Say No! at the Chicago Vietnam Veterans Memorial along the Chicago Riverwalk at 24 E. Wacker Drive. All are welcome.

· Friday, November 14th, 9 – 10 am, join a coalition of faith leaders at the Broadview Detention Center with this cry, “God Demands Freedom! Faith Leaders Say No More Abductions!” NOTE: It is anticipated that there will be a large police presence and recent history suggests that the police may act aggressively towards demonstrators, so interested persons are encouraged to proceed with caution.

· Sunday, November 16th, join a statewide coalition including the Unitarian Universalist Advocacy Network of Illinois (UUANI) at protests across Illinois in front of your local AT&T store to demand that AT&T cancel its contract providing communication services and equipment to ICE. Gather outside the Evanston AT&T store located at 1620 Chicago Avenue from 1:30-2:30 pm. All are welcome.

· Every Thursday join our Beacons of Light gathering at Dempster & Ridge. The time has changed and we now meet from 4:00-4:30 pm so drivers are able to read our signs before the sun sets. All are welcome.

Details of these events will be sent out through our UCE Local Response Network (LRN). If you would like to be added to this email list to receive details about these and future events, please click here to submit the form to request being added to the LRN. If you would like to join the organizing work within our congregation, which assists in determining what is shared through the LRN, please contact one of these team leaders with the Catalyst for Democracy Team: Mary Dudek, Shirley Adams, Mary Ellen McGoey, or Michael Skilton.

Our values of interdependence, equity, transformation, pluralism, generosity, and justice, grounded in love, lead us to nonviolent action, lead us to care for each other, and lead us to be involved in shaping our future. Knowing that there are many months of engagement ahead, it is important to continue making time to rest and enjoy the things and the people who fill you up so you can continue being involved.

 

Yours in shaping our future,

Rev. Susan