The North Unitarian Universalist Congregation Newsletter

January 2011

Page 4

Call to Action!

Thanks for Helping! Holiday Family Project a Huge Success As you may recall, your Social Action Committee decided to act locally this year, and we are excited to report that our Holiday Family project benefiting the People In Need agency (PIN) in Delaware was a huge success! Your generous donations of cash and gift items as well as the proceeds of our November and December “Loose Change” offerings were delivered in time for PIN’s distribution to its families on December 12. A special thanks for Lyn Herron for coordinating this year’s efforts on behalf of NUUC. For more information about PIN, go to www.delawarepeopleinneed.org. Red Lake Nation Project Begins Last August many of you may remember our guest speaker Donna Hrabcakova who spoke of her work on the Red Lake Nation Reservation. Donna told the story of life on the reservation and her work with The International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers www.grandmotherscouncil.com. Donna is one of 30 students from around the world doing Doctoral work in San Francisco at The Center for Sacred Studies studying Indigenous Spirituality, Therapy, Ritual along with Alternative and Plant Medicine. Donna is a registered art therapist who applied to the reservation after the fatal shooting where in 2005, ten youth and adults where killed by a student on Red Lake Reservation. This shooting was the second worst in the United States outside of Columbine. Donna applied during a National and Canadian search for trauma response therapists to the reservation to deal with this devastating grief and loss. Donna got the job and moved to the reservation which is a closed Sovereign Ojibwa Reservation. Donna is one of only a few Caucasian people living in this North region on the border of Canada. She has been there for five years and has been working with Middle and High School students and their families doing triage, post traumatic stress work and helping develop safety and empowerment to all teenage girls, who often drop out of school due to the high pregnancy rate. Like me, I know that many of those in the congregation that day were extremely moved by Donna’s story. After the service I asked Donna what we might be able to do as individuals and as a congregation to help. Donna and I have been corresponding since then and I have presented this project to the Social Action Committee. Through the church and the SAC we will start on a journey to help those on the reservation. As Donna says “there are so many needs on the reservation so numerous, so encompassing it is hard to fine tune it.” So, we are going to start with two projects: We will be collecting nice journals to send to Donna for her to distribute to her students. She likes to give journals to the girls at the beginning of the year so they can have a safe place to vent their feelings. Donna can see over 100 to 150 girls per year so whatever we can do here to help would be appreciated. The kids always need clothes, underwear, bras etc. Donna has students who won’t come to school because they do not have the right bra size. We will collect gift cards to either Wal-Mart or Target as those are the two stores that are in town where Donna takes the girls shopping. As far as the journals and gift cards go, there will be a box in fellowship hall marked Red Lake Nation Project where you can place your items starting in January. If you prefer to help by making a cash donation you can do that as well. Just make your check out to NUUC and put “Red Lake Nation Project” in the memo line. You can drop it in the offering basket on any Sunday or mail to the church (NUUC, Attn: JGD, P. O. Box 541, Lewis Center, OH 43035). We will collect the money and put it towards the two projects mentioned above. Diane Mattox (dimattox@gmail.com) and I will be the contacts for this project so if you have any questions we are available to help. I will end this article as Donna ends her e-mails: Remember: We are all representatives of our families and our beliefs. Let your life shine. Yvonne Clippinger yclippin@columbus.rr.com Remember the “Share” Project Colder weather is upon us…so please remember this project the next time you clean out your linen, bathroom or clothes closets… Sleeping Bag Project: If you have used (but stain-free) towels and washcloths that you would like to get rid of, please consider donating them to "Share” for their use in making sleeping bags for the homeless.  (Other items that are needed are fabric, blankets, and men's ties.) Donation is easy—just give to Lynn Foreman at service any Sunday morning. (If you can’t find her, you may leave the items on the white desk in the corner of Fellowship Hall with a note marked “for Share project.”) Right now there is an urgent need to make more sleeping bags—see the website below for info about how to help with the assembly. Personal Care and Clothing: “Share” has also sent out appeals for help with toiletry and personal care items and warm men’s clothes in good, clean condition. Toiletry items especially needed are: new or gently used washcloths/towels; toothpaste/brushes; *men’s deodorant; disposable razors; *men’s socks; safety pins; sewing kits (Dollar Tree has great name brand health items!). There is also a great need for Men's jeans, long johns and sweat pants.   They need fleeces and sweat shirts too.....heavy winter coats are always needed.* (* Please note women on the streets usually wear men's clothing because it's warmer, and will use men’s toiletry items, but men won’t use women’s) If you can help in any way......clean your closets and drawers and ask friends! Place items in labeled box on desk in Fellowship Hall any time. We recently received a note from our local Share Coordinator which said, “Thank you SO very much! All that toothpaste too!! What a blessing.  Please know that what you gave will be much needed and appreciated! ...” For more information about either of the above projects, www.Shareyourbest.us or contact NUUC Coordinator Lynn Foreman sbgmacb@hotmail.com or 740-513-4876.

Update on House Bill 176 House Bill 176 did not make it to the Senate floor this past year.   So now the process has to start all over again.  Because the State of Ohio will not address the issue, individual communities across Ohio are passing their own amendments.  An example is the success “ONE Bowling Green” had in Bowling Green.  However, their success was not theirs alone.  Volunteers from across Ohio and from other states helped make it happen. Kim Welter of Equality Ohio is asking us to help Mass Equality in Rhode Island run a phone bank to help Rhode Island pass their Marriage Campaign.  Kim has stated that the one thing she has learned from the ONE Bowling Green experience is that if you help others they will in return help you.  One Bowling Green has signed up to help Mass Equality. Kim is asking if our congregation would be willing to organize a group of volunteers, too.  Also, if anyone belongs to a group or organization that you think would be interested in volunteering, please feel free to contact Kim Welter at Equality Ohio, kim@equalityohio.org or 614-224-0400.  (Individuals within our congregation, please contact Tracy Steinbrenner at tracystein@att.net .)  The goal is that Mass Equality will help us with our new campaign on HSB 176 for the year 2011. Tracy Steinbrenner, Chair Social Action Committee Group Read Invitation from UUA The Unitarian Universalist Association has asked all of us to read Margaret Regan’s powerful book on the human cost of immigration policy, The Death of Josseline. After service on March 27, Rev. Ritchie will gather all who have read the book together in discussion at 11:45am at the front of the sanctuary. During worship on April 10 she will present the themes of greatest concern arising from that conversation. Open Invitation from Social Action Committee The NUUC Social Action Committee typically meets the first Sunday of the month, after service, in Nielsen House. For more information please feel free to attend a committee meeting or talk to any member of your Social Action Committee. Contact Chair Tracy Steinbrenner at tracystein@att.net for questions and to confirm the next meeting date.  Won’t you join us? Loose Change Project Update Your Social Action Committee will continue its “Loose Change” project in 2011 by collecting your loose coins during the worship service on Sunday, January 9, as it has on the second Sunday of each month throughout the past several years. The Loose Change collection for January will benefit the Red Lake Nation project (see more information elsewhere in this month’s newsletter). February and March’s collections will benefit the annual “Guest At Your Table” project; watch for more details in the coming weeks. Additional deserving recipients of our monthly Loose Change collections are always under discussion. For questions regarding the “Loose Change” project or to suggest a recipient, contact Chair Tracy Steinbrenner at tracystein@att.net or any member of your Social Action Committee. 2010 Loose Change Collection Recap Month Collected $ Amount Donated to: Total January $112.25 Delaware Co. People In Need February $114.72 “ “ $226.97 March $ 92.47 UUSC/UUA Joint Relief April $106.70 Effort—Haiti $199.17 May $ 99.28 Heifer Int’l. June $ 75.00 Heifer Int’l. $174.28 July $ 98.32 Delaware Co. Juvenile Probation August $194.33 Department $292.65 September $111.70 UU Ministry for Earth (UUMFE) $111.70 October $110.12 CROP Walk $110.12 November $156.65 Delaware Co. December $107.33 People In Need $263.98 Total Donated 2010 $1,378.87 Refreshment Help Requested One NUUC tradition that carries on week to week is coffee, cookies, and conversation after services.  In an effort to share in the set up and clean up of this after-service treat, a monthly sign-up schedule has been designed. A very special thank you to all of you who have taken a turn at this task this year. If you have not already done so, could you spare a bit of time some Sunday to help?  The process is easy--all you have to do is follow instructions that are already posted in the kitchen on where everything is and how to make coffee (if you don't know how). And then clean up after and put things back. Everything is provided for you.  (But, of course, if you want to try a new cookie recipe or have dessert left from a meeting or family function, you are more than welcome to share it!) This is the perfect opportunity to work as a couple, or grab a friend to help.  If everyone took a turn, no one would have to do it every week.  And it's fun!   We are currently scheduling through February—see the sign-up sheet on the bulletin board for available dates, or please contact Teri Cornell at tericornell@ymail.com or 614-891-5935.  Organizer Needed for NUUC 2011 Blood Drive Have you been looking for a place to serve within the NUUC congregation? Want to put your good organizing skills to work in a meaningful way? The Social Action Committee is in need of a volunteer to organize this year’s American Red Cross Blood Drive.  A date of June 6th from 2-8pm has been set for the Blood Drive.  Yvonne Clippinger, who has organized the event for the last couple of years, states that the Red Cross does most of the work and that they just need a point person within the NUUC congregation.  If interested, please contact Tracy Steinbrenner (tracystein@att.net ) or Yvonne Clippinger (yclippin@columbus.rr.com )for more information. Workshop on Faith and Race On January 24 & 25 the Ohio Ministries Convocation will be presenting a two day workshop entitled “Faith and Race:  New Opportunities.” The Convocation will be devoted mainly to small group conversation, where we will ask ourselves and each other such questions as:  Does race continue to matter and, if so, how?  How can we engage race constructively in diverse settings?  In homogeneous settings?  How can we make sense of race from a perspective of faith? The aim is to have participants always involved in dialogue.  For more information on the conference please go to this website www.ohcouncilchs.org Joan Van Becelaere, District Executive, OMD NUUC Bumper Stickers The Communications Committee still has some of the new NUUC bumper stickers. Our “Many beliefs. One faith” stickers are an eye-catching bright yellow with black print and are available for purchase for just $4.00. See the bulletin board in Fellowship Hall to get yours. For more information, contact Kristin Grimshaw at 614-840-1950 or grimshaw@wowway.com Go to: Page 1 Page 2 Page 3