The WUUC Auction is ON!, Please plan to join us on Gilligan’s Island for the live auction and party Saturday, Nov. 20 7-9 p.m. Start planning your auction items, events, and attire.
The event will be Zoomcast and/or in person, depending… Stay tuned for email announcements coming soon!
Gilligan, the Skipper, and crew guarantee a fun time for all!
My name is Silvia. I retired from gainful employment in the Healthcare field shortly after leaving my marriage several years ago. Divorce felt devastating.
After regaining some sense of “normalcy,” I began volunteer work co-facilitating a support group for women in Domestic Violence situations. The focus was on “self-empowerment” which actually helped my own healing process.
However, I never accomplished practicing enough detachment when listening to the women’s often tragic accounts of their turbulent relationships. Their despair became infectious and I grew weary and discouraged. I needed to look for volunteer work that was not draining and instead would be energizing and lift me up.
I found two such opportunities:
A friend at the Redmond Senior Center, who also grew up in Europe needed help teaching ESL, as her class had grown beyond her capacity to handle it alone. We taught for two years until the pandemic forced us to quit.
What I took with me from that experience was the appreciation and love we received from our students. Several of them brought gifts upon returning from trips to their respective countries. I won’t forget how the diversity in our group taught me not only to better understand other cultures but, more importantly, how similar we are in our common experience of simply being human. Two of the women, one from China, the other from Russia became naturalized U.S. citizens during that period.
For some time now I have been volunteering at the little “Discovery Thrift Shop” in Redmond. All work is done by volunteers. The money made off donations goes to benefit cancer research. We sell almost anything donated that is in good condition, from clothing, jewelry, hardware and books to items initially hard to identify. Not infrequently, once we do figure out what we are pricing it makes us chuckle. Additionally, I really value the mindset of recycling. Sometimes we come across rare items of significant value and spend extra time researching their origins.
I especially enjoy cashiering. People from all walks of life stand in line with their “treasures.” A personal benefit is that I get to practice Spanish with many of the Hispanic shoppers. It is a language I spoke until age 7 before my family moved back to Germany from Bolivia where they had spent the years during World War II and beyond. I was born there.
I thrive in multi-cultural environments because I feel a certain kinship with people who are immigrants to this country. As some shoppers struggle with language and we communicate with hand signals I smile with them when they finally feel understood.
In summary, I have experienced several fun ways to make a difference. With the barrage of domestic and global bad news unloaded on us every day it’s easy to become cynical. My volunteer work helps to keep me balanced. It has become easier to acknowledge the dichotomy between good and evil about being human in this, our world.
For many years, WUUC has participated in the Totes To Go program. What is that? It’s a system through which schools in our general area identify students who are at risk of missing meals over weekends, when school breakfast and lunch programs aren’t available. We provide a variety of food items that are placed in a backpack for each of those students to take home with them each Friday. They are mostly single serving items as the living situations of the students may be unstable.
The WUUC program started up again with the new school year. We packed bags for each student after the Sept. 1 service and our first delivery was made on Sept. 5. Deadline for collection of October supplies is Oct. 2. Here’s the link to what we need: inventory
This year we are supporting 15 students in two Bothell schools. We’ve had a strong response from our congregation and are so grateful for your participation! Those 15 students send a big ‘Thank You!’
Please remember the ‘Totes’ program when you get your groceries. Everything goes more smoothly when we don’t need last minute calls for still-needed items. We are making a difference!
By Linda Sherry
Based on Soul Matters Materials
Relationships are not just about people. We have relationship with many aspects of our lives. While this month’s theme primarily focuses on connections with people, might I suggest we also consider our relationships to what nourishes us, and what stresses us, and how we cultivate the garden that is our lives.
As the seasons change, we cultivate the soil; we choose what to plant we carefully feed and water; we delight in the first sight of a new green sprout; we cull the garden to allow space for healthy growth; we pull weeds; we relish the flowers that delight; and eagerly enjoy the fruits of each. Each season of our life is a little different.
What do you want and need in your garden at this time of your life?
***
ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS WITH PEOPLE
The precious people in our lives know we love, appreciate and adore them, but there’s something about giving voice to the reasons for our love that makes that love tangible. When we identify the specific ways our lives are enriched by another, saying it out loud breathes life Into our connections.
***
What relationship in your life needs to be restored? What connection have you ignored for too long?
Is it time to stop cultivating a relationship and instead walk away from it?
***
ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS AND THE COVID PANDEMIC
***
ABOUT RELATIONSHIP WITH OUR BELOVED COMMUNITY
Building community is to the collective as spiritual practice is to the individual. Grace Lee Boggs
We are like aspen trees – who have mistakenly thought that since we look like many trees that we are separate beings – but under the ground, our root system is one – we are fully alive when we are connected because we are, we were always, part of one another. Rev. Hilary Krivchenia
What do we live for if it is not to make life less difficult for each other? George Eliot
***
ABOUT CONFLICT IN RELATIONSHIP
How Do You NOT Cultivate Relationship? It’s counterintuitive but true: arguing well can strengthen relationships unlike almost anything else. Those skilled at navigating the tense waters of a fight know that it’s not the fight itself but the way one fights that tears the threads of relationship. To have had a fight with someone that “fights fair” is to know that you can trust them when things get rough again. It leaves one clear that what matters most to the other is not winning but the relationship itself. Here’s the good news: we can all get better at arguing well, at fighting fairly! And a great place to start is with recognizing the ways in which you don’t fight fairly.
Each month WUUC embraces a theme that we carry into our Worship, some of our small groups, and hopefully into our quiet conversations and personal reflections. These themes are offered and supported by the UUA’s Soul Matters program.
Find the Soul Matters packet for October here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1l0k_5gd9BBBXLfbk509PZnBWSlOp9bQE/view?usp=sharing
Hello WUUC!
Below is a summary of the programs that we are planning on offering for the children and youth this year at WUUC. If you have any questions or would like more information on any of these offerings, please let me know.
Elementary and Preschool Programs:
Mini-worship: Mini-worship is an online 15-minute worship service geared toward children that takes place at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday mornings prior to the large WUUC worship service.
Twice monthly in-person (outdoor, masked) events: These events will feature a main project as well as other options for the kids. They will primarily be a chance for the kids to connect with other kids and families, and will not utilize a specific curriculum.
PNWD Collaborative Online RE: The leaders from several churches in the PNWD are collaborating to offer a weekly online RE class for students in Kindergarten – Fifth grade. This will offer our children a chance to be in class with more than just one or two students. And we will be able to take advantage of resources from several congregations. The elementary class will explore UU values and identity through stories and discussion while building caring community with one another.
Middle School Programs:
1. Monthly in-person (outdoor, masked) events: These events will primarily be a chance for the youth to connect with one another, and will not utilize a specific curriculum. The youth may choose to do some fundraising events, social justice projects or other community projects, or they may just want to get together to have fun.
2. Crossing Paths: WUUC is offering a year long class on Sunday evenings called “Crossing Paths.” Crossing Paths was designed for middle school students, but we will open enrollment to all members of the congregation ranging from Middle School to Adult. We will learn about nine faith traditions: Unitarian Universalism, Judaism, Catholicism, Protestant Christianity, Evangelical Christianity, the Quaker tradition, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. Each section is made up of four weekly classes and will include a visit (virtual or in person) to another faith community and/or a discussion with a faith leader from that tradition.
3. PNWD Collaborative Online Junior Youth Group: The leaders from several churches in the PNWD are collaborating to offer a weekly online middle school youth group. This will offer the youth a chance to be in a youth group with more than just a few students. They will get a chance to know UU Youth from other congregations around the region and form connections. During our time together, our focus will be on building community and having fun together while deepening our understanding of how we live our values in the world and how we answer the “big questions” for ourselves.
High School Programs:
1. Monthly in-person (outdoor, masked) events: These events will primarily be a chance for the youth to connect with one another, and will not utilize a specific curriculum. The youth may choose to do some fundraising events, social justice projects or other community projects, or they may just want to get together to have fun.
2. Crossing Paths: WUUC is offering a year long class on Sunday evenings called “Crossing Paths”. Crossing Paths was designed for middle school students, but we will open enrollment to all members of the congregation ranging from Middle School to Adult. We will learn about 9 faith traditions: Unitarian Universalism, Judaism, Catholicism, Protestant Christianity, Evangelical Christianity, the Quaker tradition, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. Each section is made up of 4 weekly classes and will include a visit (virtual or in person) to another faith community and/or a discussion with a faith leader from that tradition.
3. PNWD Collaborative Online Youth Group: The leaders from several churches in the PNWD are collaborating to offer a weekly online youth group. This will offer the youth a chance to be in a youth group with more than just a few students. They will get a chance to know UU Youth from other congregations around the region and form connections. The first few sessions will focus on getting to know one another and exploring meaning making and our beliefs. Youth will have the opportunity to choose what they would like to explore for the remainder of the year after the first couple of months.
4. Trip to GA in Portland in June: The youth will have the opportunity to travel together to Portland, OR in June for the Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly. Fundraising and preparation meetings for that trip will also happen throughout the church year.