UU 101
UU 101 is a two-session class offered quarterly that covers some basics about Unitarian Universalist History, Theology, and Polity. What is polity, you ask? Come to UU 101 and find out!
The next UU 101 dates are:
Session 1: Saturday, May 14, 1-3:30 p.m. (Hybrid: Zoom and in-person at WUUC)
Session 2: Saturday, May 28, 1-3:30 p.m. (Hybrid: Zoom and in-person at WUUC)
Please register by filling out this form: https://forms.gle/RZuJaCfms9F1gY3s7
By Leslie Morton
The Rummage Sale will be on Friday and Saturday, June 3-4 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The main set up and donation day is right after services on Sunday, May 29. This is unfortunately Memorial Day weekend (if you have ever tried to schedule something at church you will understand!).
On that Sunday we will take everything out of the sanctuary, set up tables for the sale and start setting up donated items. We will need lots of volunteers that day and every day that week and on the sale days. If you haven’t volunteered before, have no worries; the job isn’t complicated and there are plenty of people around to help you. We will also need volunteers for after the sale to put the church back together in time for Sunday services on June 5.
What do we take for the Rummage Sale? Almost anything: clothing, shoes, books, crafts, toys, holiday, household, bikes, yard, and of course Boutique items (higher-end everything). This year I really want to encourage people to bring as much “soft goods” as possible; clothing, linens, shoes, purses and accessories.
If you have any questions, please reach out to one of the Rummage Sale team members: Dewey Millar, Linda McCrystal, Johnna Ebanks, Tevina Flood and Leslie Morton (mortonmarler@hotmail.com, 425-891-4285).
We need this to be successful for the church coffers and for our garages/basements/closets!
Thank you in advance!
Thank you to all who pledged in this spring’s 2022-2023 WUUC Pledge Drive.
With $335,239 pledged to date, we have exceeded all past WUUC pledge drives.
Stats:
We are Re-Emerging ready for renewal and growth as we return to in person services events, and activities.
While we did not reach our goal of $345K, there is still time to pledge or increase your financial support to ensure the continuity and growth of our programs.
To pledge or increase your pledge go to: https://forms.gle/jZ6V1bZmGKcCyPQN6
Questions? Contact Jo Raymond, Stewardship Treasurer, jozray@gmail.com or me.
With gratitude for your support,
Kathy Fosnaugh
Chair, Stewardship Committee
Soul Matters offers UU congregations an opportunity to explore a theme each month. WUUC uses these themes in our Worship services, our small group discussions, and any time we just feel like talking about something other than the weather or the woes of the world. Join in, consider this month’s theme, Nurturing Beauty.
Submitted by Linda Sherry
Nurturing Beauty
What is Beauty saying to you?
Beauty.
We appreciate it.
How could we not?
We wonder at it.
Get absorbed in it.
Analyze it, if it’s got a frame around it.
We make it.
Grow it.
Point at it.
Collect it.
Share it.
Save it.
But how often do we listen to it?
How often do we ask, “What is it trying to get me to hear?”
Rather than, “Do I like it or not?”
It’s just so hard to step outside
our mangled view of the world
that sees everything in the light of consumption.
Not everything is here for our possession.
Not everything is here to entertain us.
Not everything is meant to be put to use, even you.
We must find our way back,
to those questions that were once alive
but now are buried deep:
“What if beauty is here to make us wise?”
“What if beauty is the way the sacred speaks?”
Yes! Yes! It does so much more than decorate.
It demands. It calls. It asks for commitment.
It doesn’t just say “Love and appreciate me.”
It says “Protect me! Fight for me!”
It steps out in front of us and points to a precious world
that needs our help.
It paints a picture of new ways of living
and declares, “Follow me there!”
It says, “Even in hell holes I find a way to grow.”
It sings, “This world was made for more than work.”
It whispers, “Use me to heal.”
It pleads, “Nurture a new relationship with me. One that allows me to talk!”
So what is Beauty saying to you?
Reprinted from Soul Matters May 2022 Small Group materials, author was not credited.
Find the May Soul Matters packet here.
Totes to Go is a program to provide weekend food for students who may be food insecure over weekends when school meals aren’t available. We are partnered with Maywood Hills Elementary (see photo) and support 15 students.
The school year is coming to an end and we’re working on our last collection for this school year. Donations are due by Sunday, May 29th for our June delivery. At this writing, I can’t tell what exactly will be needed, so please check the on-line spreadsheet after May 3rd. Here’s the link: Totes to Go inventory – Google Sheets
When I was a child, I was introduced to what was called then “therapeutic horsemanship” through my 4-H club. I volunteered for years, and even taught lessons. Adaptive horseback riding makes horseback riding accessible to all!
As an adult I discovered occupational therapy. While going to school at UW, I volunteered at Little Bit Therapeutic Riding Center, eventually leading the therapy department during our move from Woodinville to Redmond.
At the same time I was working at Little Bit using “hippotherapy” for my mainly pediatric patients, I was deepening my understanding of occupational therapy working in other areas with a wider range of people at skilled nursing facilities, schools and private pediatric clinics. Currently, I work at Little Bit, using hippotherapy to help kids learn skills to fully participate in play, self-care and school, and at Evergreen Home Health to support older adults to be as independent and safe as possible. Both jobs are a lot of fun and personally rewarding when you feel you are making a positive impact.
I have been an occupational therapist for 13 years and enjoy the perspective it gives me on life! I have come to understand the importance of little things, like being able to brush your hair, write your name and play a game of tag. But sometimes I also get to be part of the big things, such as first words and first steps.
I remember a 6 year old client who was non-ambulatory due to a genetic disorder. She had been introduced a few months prior to me meeting her to a unique walker that had a seat and way for her to initiate movement by stepping, but she was not able to use it. After a couple of sessions of occupational therapy on the horse, she was on her way to learning how to walk and it just took the unique movement of the horse to move her hips in a similar way to walking for those hardwired neural pathways to be rebooted.
Another moment that I will always remember is when I was teaching horseback riding lessons to people with disabilities in Japan. I was not an OT yet, but I did have my adaptive riding certification. I had a young boy with autism on a horse that I was lunging (going around a circle on a long line) and I was teaching him how to post at the trot (go up and down with the movement). He was doing really well! I looked over at his mom who was watching closely and I saw tears in her eyes and I realized that, for this non-verbal boy with autism with real difficulty regulating most of the time, this instance of being calm, focused and in tune with the horse, was significant. I didn’t fully comprehend what an accomplishment this was until I saw his mother’s tears.
I am excited about the profession, and feel inclusion is being recognized more and more as the best model, because we all benefit when people with disabilities are able to engage and participate in life’s activities as they would like.