Newsletter of the
Unitarian Universalist
Fellowship
Of Waynesboro, VA
.
Join us
November 16
for the annual
UUFW
Service
Auction. It's a
great place to
bid on
dinners,
jewelry, bike
rides, baked
goods, trips,
and any
number of
other great
bargains.
Potluck lunch
before the fun
begins. Don't
miss it.
.
565 Pine Ave., Waynesboro, VA 22980 540-‐942-‐5507 www.uufw.org U Sunday
Services for November 2014
November 2, 11 am - Beyond Categorical Thinking with Amanda Schuber
and UUFW's Search Committee
Amanda Schuber, a UUA representative will be conducting our Sunday service
and afterwards facilitating a workshop entitled "Beyond Categorical Thinking".
The purpose of this workshop is to help congregations examine biases in our
thinking in our daily lives as well as when we choose and prepare for a new
minister. This will prove a stimulating workshop and we strongly encourage all
members and friends to attend.
November 9, 11 am - Sunday Services Committee Service On Humor and
Spirituality It is said that young children laugh as much as 100 to 200 times a day,
compared to a large majority of adults who only laugh a few times a day or not at
all. Yet laughter is good not only for the body but also for the soul and spirit. We will
explore humor through skits, readings, jokes from famous comedians, and song.
November 16, 11 am - "Our Sordid Lives" with RevAlex
Some of you may have gone down to Lynchburg this past summer to see the
Renaissance Theater production of Del Shores' play, "Sordid Lives". This dark
comedy about white trash is inspiration for today's service. Come to explore gifts to
be gleaned from appreciating our base humanity. Come, Come, Whatever You Are!
November 23, 11 am - "Thanksgiving" with Our Children, You, and RevAlex
It's an intergenerational Sunday of Improv Theater! We'll be re-telling the great
Thanksgiving Story of our Puritan Pilgrim ancestors and the great Wampanoag
Indian Tribe! While laughter is sure to abound, the greater hope is that we'll be
moved into poignant reflection about how our heritage might call us out to lives of
greater thanksgiving. Come to share in ThanksGiving!
November 30, 11 am - Pat Peason will be presenting our service today.
December 7, 11 am - "Framing Our Winter Holidays" with RevAlex
Contextual contemplation is so important during our culture's celebration of the
many winter holidays. On this 1st Sunday of December we'll engage in
congregational thoughtfulness about just what we might do to ramp up gladness
amongst us for the gifts of winter.
Come, Come to better know Gladness!
From the Interim Minister, Alex Richardson
Congregations doing well by themselves are continually
exploring what more they can do to grow in compassion and
generosity - the basics of being religious. Such was the case in
October when your Board, at its monthly meeting, voted
unanimously to commit our congregation to collaborative support of the Food
Bank of First Presbyterian Church, Waynesboro. The inspiration behind this
vote was for us to help build an interfaith effort towards meeting the needs of
the poor in our community.
The needs of the hungry poor in the Upper Shenandoah have reached the
point that the Food Bank of First Presbyterian Church, Waynesboro, has been
running out of food each month. Our Board, with my enthusiastic
encouragement, committed us to collect food here each and every week that
will be sent over to the Food Bank of First Presbyterian in the hope that they
don't continue to run out.
Our Board endorsed my request that this new and ongoing UUFW food
offering be an "all-congregation" effort - I'll be inviting every adult and child to
come each week to UUFW with a food item to contribute to the collection
boxes that you'll soon see in place. I know you to be a most compassionate
people. And I suspect that out of that compassion, you're going to enjoy
growing our congregational generosity in this new practice!
We'll begin this new offering on Sunday, November 16. I can't thank you
enough for what I know you're going to give in support of this new initiative. I
look forward to the conversations we're sure to have next Spring about how,
out of this new practice of giving, that unexpected gifts have come our way
too!
Thankful for all we do to grow generosity and compassion!
Thankful especially for the privilege of being your Interim.
Much heart,
RevAlex
"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest
appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."
~John Fitzgerald Kennedy
From the President, Sylvia Woodworth
"Goals in writing are dreams with deadlines".
Brian Tracy
The UUFW board of directors has written five goals to be met by the end of June.
1. We will have hired a new settled minister.
2. We will have increased our income.
3. We will have developed a proposal for a new governance structure.
4. We will have crafted a draft vision statement.
5. We will have addressed some “loose ends” related to personnel matters.
Goal setting is important because, in the words of Yogi Berra, “If you don't know where you are going,
you might wind up someplace else." We want to end up in the right place! Thank you to everyone for
helping us get there.
Have you ever come by the Fellowship on a weekday or Saturday and
thought what a shame it is that our facilities are empty and quiet, rather than
alive and used? That is about to change somewhat.
The PRISM Learning Community, which includes some of our members, is
renting the buildings and grounds from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on 36 Tuesdays
and Thursdays between October 27 and May 21. Families will come together for
homeschooling activities. They will be doing their own opening, closing, and
cleaning.
Please welcome this group, and be thinking of other groups or individuals
that might want to rent our facilities. Rental income improves the financial health
of the Fellowship and makes good use of our attractive spaces.
From the Religious Education Director, Chris Rivera
Hello from RE! "Goddess willing and the creek don't rise", as you read this we will have finally
officially begun our children's RE program....hip hip hooray! We are so thankful to all the folks who
have put time and effort into the rehab of the RE House and are looking forward to beginning our
classes in our newly renovated spaces. Our Teaching Circle volunteers are rehashing our calendar
and I am adjusting our curriculum for each age group to accommodate the past month and a half of
missed classes. Look for a flurry of activity as we welcome back families, Youth and Young Adults
who have been awaiting the start of RE. Please say hello to these folks and give the kids a high five
or fist bump to let them know they were missed! We look forward to reporting our progress in the next
newsletter edition. Until then I remain,
YoUUrs in service,
Chris
Committee Reports
Ministerial Search Committee
The Search Committee has been very busy putting the final touches on all the information
needed to submit to the UUA website where searching ministers will check us out. We
thank everyone who has contributed to this effort. A special thank you to Kim and Geoff
Newton who are creating 2 videos for us to include. There will be a break of several
weeks before we learn about candidates who are interested in us. While we must keep
names confidential we will keep you updated on the process.
The results of the Congregational Survey and the Cottage meetings are now available for anyone to
see. There are hard copies at the back of the Fellowship Hall and they can also be viewed online at
www.uufw.org under the Search Committee link. Take a look at what you told us.
Finance Committee
Service Auction Time!!
Our annual Service Auction is November 16. Those new to UUFW might be
wondering what this is. It is a glorious Sunday of fun and frolic as we raise money
for our Fellowship. Anyone can offer something to donate to the auction such
as a dinner at your home, baked goods, dance lessons, trip to DC, bike ride,
cooking classes, mulch, jewelry, paintings, scarves, honey, and other endless
possibilities. There is a silent auction (where you write down your bids on a
piece of paper) and a live auction conducted by our own Bill Harouff. It's totally
easy to buy wonderful things. This auction is critical to our budget and every
dollar counts. The regular Sunday service and potluck lunch precede the auction
and then the fun begins. Please think of things to donate and send that information to Susan
Schmidt, [email protected] by November 9. If you have items to bring, Dixie
McClenahan has generously offered space in her new store, Twice as Nice at 326 W. Main St.
across from the Green Leaf Restaurant in Waynesboro. You can drop things off on Sundays from
1:00-5:00 pm or Monday - Saturday from 9:00-5:00. Leave a paper with your name, phone number,
name of the items, and a minimum bid if you have one (you don't have to). Alternatively you can
leave things at the Fellowship in the RE building after 11/2.. PLEASE GET ALL ITEMS TO TWICE
AS NICE OR UUFW NO LATER THAN NOVEMBER 13. Many hours of work go into making the
auction a success so let's help our volunteers by being prompt with the deadlines. Let's beat last
year's $14,000 raised!!!!!
Remember, if you are a Kroger customer they are changing their community support system which
gives us money every time you buy from them. If you haven't converted there are instructions at the
food card table every Sunday. Or call them at 1-800-5767-4311. If they ask, our organization
number is 82052.
Hospitality Committee: Coffee Hour has a new feature! In order to better welcome visitors,
new members, or anyone wanting a better connection to us, we now have special blue cups
specifically for their use at Coffee Hour. If you see someone with one of these cups please make a
special effort to welcome them and get to know them better. While our membership is growing we
want to preserve our feeling of “family” and this will be one way to accomplish this.
Social Action Committee, Sophia Cliffe
Augusta County Pipeline Issue: The November Special Collection will be for the Piedmont
Environmental Council (PEC) Shenandoah Valley Network for the purpose of providing public
education and outreach materials concerning the Augusta County Pipeline issue.
Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center (SVJC) immigrant teens from Central America and the
International Rescue Committee (IRC): On October 12, about $500 was received from the special
collection. Some of the donations will be used for UUFW to buy 7”x 12” zippered nylon bags, and
travel size toiletries plus pocket size games or booklets for the bags for immigrant teens leaving the
SVJC. Karen Reed and her team have delivered 30 travel bags to the SVJC for the immigrant teens
who leave the detention center each month to go to temporary foster homes. We plan to provide 30
more bags for a total of 60. The UU congregation in Harrisonburg has joined in the project and will
assemble about 15-20 more bags. At the current rate of about 8 or 9 immigrant kids leaving the
center each month, this will provide enough bags to last through the middle of June. The balance of
the money collected will be donated to the IRC who work worldwide to help refugees. Locally, the
IRC works out of Charlottesville in the area of refugee resettlement. For more information, you may
contact Karen Reed at [email protected] or call her at (540) 949-6691.
New Food Bank Project: UUFW received a request from the First Presbyterian Church of
Waynesboro asking us to help support their food bank. At their October Board Meeting, the UUFW
Board voted to accept this effort as a new ongoing Social Action project for participation by adult and
youth members, friends, and visitors who attend UUFW. You will find a box in the Fellowship Hall
where you may place non-perishable items to be delivered to the food bank.
Families of Veterans blankets and booties project: Knitters and Crochet folk needed. Donations of
yarn also needed. A project for families of veterans has been initiated by Pat Grabowski. Knitters
and those who crochet are invited to engage in their craft during the Fellowship service and
committee meetings. The SAC welcomes your finished items to be donated to families of Veterans.
Blankets, booties, and other items are most useful. If you do not knit or crochet, you may wish to
donate yarn for these projects. Please contact Pat Grabowski at (540) 942-1190 or email her at
[email protected] for more information, questions, or simple patterns.
What we're really talking about is a wonderful day set aside on the
fourth Thursday of November when no one diets. I mean, why else
would they call it Thanksgiving?
~Erma Bombeck, "No One Diets on Thanksgiving," 26 November
1981
The UUFW Caring Network consists of Fellowship members who have volunteered to
coordinate support for other members in times of special need. If you learn about or
are yourself facing such a circumstance, please contact Hinda Richards, coordinator at
887-7515 or [email protected] and RevAlex at [email protected] or 336-4715580.
Activities
•
The Old Time Music Jam meets every Tuesday at 7 pm in the RE building.
Both musicians and listeners are encouraged to attend. For more info contact Will
Reed, 949-6191or [email protected].
•
Brown Baggers are a group of women that meet purely for social reasons the third Wednesday of
every month at 11:30 am. The next meeting is November 19 at Lorain Harouff's home.
Please let Lorain know if you are coming - 885-3000 or [email protected]. For more
information about Brown Baggers contact Lee Patterson, [email protected].
• The UUFW Choir, also known as the Pine Nuts will meet Thursday November 20 and Monday
December 1 at 7 pm in the Fellowship Hall. They welcome any and all participants. For information
please contact Bill or Lorain Harouff at [email protected] or 885-3000.
•
TRUUVEL: The results are in! TRUUVEL is a hit. After two travel presentations, there seems to be
more than enough interest to continue this event as an ongoing series. We will declare the third
Friday of each month as TRUUVEL night, beginning in January as weather permits. In the meantime,
we will create a list of possible presenters. If you have a destination with pictures and stories you
would like to share, or if you know of someone you would enjoy hearing from, please email Lorain at
[email protected] any time to add to our list. Thanks!
•
Third Sunday Potluck Lunch: November 16th is a very important date in our
Fellowship year. Our regular THIRD SUNDAY POTLUCK will be followed by the yearly
SERVICE AUCTION, complete with our own in-house auctioneer, as well as a
SILENT AUCTION of enticing tangible objects laid out to peruse and bid on. Be
thinking of a service or activity or object to offer to the highest bidder. Ask anyone who
has attended in years past and they can give you lots of ideas for offerings. The auction is always a
lively, entertaining afternoon! It remains the main fundraising event of the year. Don't miss it!
The food theme this month is Hispanic. Please do not bring soups or other things that require extra
serving dishes or utensils since time will be more limited due to the auction. Let's keep it a "one
plate/one fork" meal. Please follow Food Plan C: A-G brings main dish, H-P brings dessert or bread,
Q-Z brings a vegetable or salad.
•
LDS: For those who are new with us, LDS stands for Let's Do Subtitles. November 7th will be our
next LDS night out! The selection this time is EDGE OF HEAVEN, a Turkish-German movie with a
light soup and bread supper provided beforehand at 6:00 to set the cultural tone. The movie will start
by 7:00. Come, relax, and enjoy! BYOB
UUFW Calendar for November 2014
Sun
Mon
Tues
Wed
Thurs
Fri
Sat
1
2 "Beyond Categorical
Thinking Service and
Workshop, 11 am,
Amanda Schuber and
Search Committee
3
Search
Comm,
6:30
pm
4
5
Prism,
9:30
6
Prism, 9:30
7
Let's Do
Subtitles, 6
pm
8
13
Prism, 9:30
14
15
17
18
Search Prism,
Comm 9:30
6:30
Music
Jam 7
pm
19
20
Brown
Prism, 9:30
Baggers,
11 am
Choir
practice, 7
pm
21
22
Buildings
and
Grounds
Comm.
9 am
24
26
Music
Jam 7
pm
Finance Comm. 9 am
RE Comm. 9:30 am
9 "Humor and
Spirituality", 11 am
Social Action Comm.
12:40 pm
16 "Our Sordid Lives",
11 am, RevAlex
Potluck Lunch and
Service Auction, 12:30
23 "Thanksgiving", 11
am, RevAlex and our
children
30 Pat Peason will
present our sermon
10
11
12
Search Prism,
Comm 9:30
6:30
Music
Jam 7
pm
25
Music
Jam 7
pm
27
28
Thanksgiving
29
The Reverend Alex Richardson, Minister
E-mail: [email protected]. or [email protected]
Office phone: 540-942-5507, Cell phone: 336-471-5580
Office Hours: Monday through Wednesday by appointment
Christina Rivera, Director of Religious Education
Office hours: By appointment
Office: 540-942-5507 Cell phone: 540-290-5024 E-mail: [email protected]
Debora Hoard, Youth Leader
Phone: 540-456-6390 E-mail: [email protected]
Marilyn Nash, Administrative Assistant
E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 943-4202.
Contact Marilyn to schedule the use of our Fellowship buildings.
Board of Directors
President
Vice President
Secretary
Treasurer
Membership
Religious Ed
Bldgs/ Grounds
Sun. Programs
Social Action
Communication
Hospitality
Finance
Webmaster
Sylvia Woodworth 949-4407
Marsha Fuller
560-1044
Gillian Preston
943-5335
Violet Powers
252-639-8125
Barbara Wright
885-1315
Michele Freeman
434-996-5335
Joe Good
804-291-8277
Den/Nancy Frumen 885-1526
Sophia Cliffe
416-0974
Mike Drumheller 241-1131
Lorain Harouff
885-3000
Doug Woodworth 949-4407
Kim/Geoff Newton 448-3915
Additional Valued Assistants
Caring Network Hinda Richards
887-7515
Newsletter
Marilyn Nash
943-4202
Trustees
Suzy Huston
885-6458
Sylvia Woodworth 949-4407
Blake Clark
248-0228
Pianists
Custodian
Virginia Edwards 943-0091
Charlotte Shnaider 886-0517
Neil Van Name 447-0318
The deadline to submit information to the December newsletter is November 15. Send submissions to [email protected]. UU Fellowship of Waynesboro 565 Pine Ave. Waynesboro, VA 22980 "If you are truly thankful, what do you do? You share."
W. Clement Stone
The UUFW Caring Network
consists of Fellowship members who have volunteered to
coordinate support for other members in times of special need. If you learn about or are yourself
facing such a circumstance, please contact Hinda Richards, coordinator, at 887-7515 or
[email protected] and also RevAlex at [email protected] or 336-471-5580. The current
Network volunteers are listed below. We thank them for volunteering their hearts and time to this
very important job of caring for our Fellowship members.
CN Volunteer
Suzy Huston
Nancy Frumen
Diane/Braxton Nagle
Jerry Reese
Rebby Sharp
Lee Patterson
Debby Austin
Theresa Costello
Latane Long
Cynthia Thompson
Karen Hudson
Den Frumen
Robert Richards
Will Strickland
Laura Skally
Lorain Harouff
Hinda Richards
540-885-6458
540-885-1526
540-886-3023
540-946-8588
540-942-0140
540-885-4455
540-487-3378
919-605-1799
540-943-2632
540-887-8166
540-280-0890
540-885-1526
540-887-7515
540-241-0147
703-786-0221
540-885-3000
540-887-7515
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
Their CN Group
Allen-Becker
Belcher-Carlson
Chandler-Crowder
Curry-Faulkenberry
Ferguson-Grogan
Hackney-Hudson
Huston-Leary
Lianez-Mead-Armor
Moore-Glen Patterson
Ken Patterson-Reese
Richards-Schichtel
Schmidt-Stevens
Strickland-Yost
BACKUP
BACKUP
Assistant Coordinator
Coordinator