by WUUC | Aug 29, 2022 | Uncategorized
The pop up blood drive is back this September! The pandemic has created lots of challenges for our community blood collection process. Please consider being a donor if you can. As of 8/23 we have 54 of 158 appointments booked.
Book a Donation Appointment
All donations are by appointment only. No walk ins, guests, or people under age 16 are permitted on site. Please check in with photo ID, and all donors and staff are required to wear face masks. There is no waiting period to donate blood if you recently received a covid vaccine/booster.
“After 10 months of blood and platelet infusions, tomorrow is my husband’s bone marrow transplant, the only true cure for his cancer. I have over a 100 donors to thank for getting us to this point. Thank you all for your selfless donations, it is truly appreciated.”
800-398-7888
schedule.bloodworksnw.org
by WUUC | Aug 29, 2022 | Uncategorized
Passage from Soul Matters September 2022 Theme
“Welcome to Belonging
You hardly knew
how hungry you were
to be gathered in,
to receive the welcome
that invited you to enter
entirely…
You began to breathe again…
You learned to sing.
But the deal with this blessing
is that it will not leave you alone,
will not let you linger…
this blessing
will ask you to leave,
not because it has tired of you
but because it desires for you
to become the sanctuary
that you have found…”
– Jan Richardson
Richardson begins with hunger. And so do we. Just saying the word “belonging” conjures it up: The primal hunger to be included; the longing to be let in. No one likes standing outside the circle. No one likes leaning against the locked door listening while everyone is laughing inside. From the time we are little, belonging is the thing we seek. It’s the hoped for Holy Grail. The promised resting place.
But Richardson will have none of that. Our own belonging is only the beginning. That’s what she wants us to know. One minute she’s wrapping us in comforting words about settling in and allowing ourselves to finally breathe. The next she’s shaking us awake and telling us to get up and go.
That shaking should tell us something.
In other words, this is no gentle invitation, friends. No sweet reminder to think of others. It’s a warning. A desperate hope that we will wake to the fact that there are two kinds of belonging: one that wants to bless us and another that wants to enlist us.
Deep down we know this. The hard part is to remember it. To use Richardson’s language, if we find ourselves being invited to linger rather than leave, alarm bells should go off. We need to be weary of those who welcome us with a club jacket and a soft couch. They may have let us in, but soon they will enlist us into the work of keeping others out. There will likely even be a part of us that wants to keep others out. After all, closed circles don’t just set us apart, they sit us above.
But they also keep us small. Maybe this is why Richardson’s blessing is so intent on not leaving us alone. It knows that we only grow when the circle does. Circles that keep others out also keep the air out. No one inside a closed circle truly sings; they only suffocate, slowly.
It’s all one big reminder that the true blessing of belonging is not that you get to come inside the circle; it’s that you get to participate in expanding it. Again, as the circle grows so do we.
Each month WUUC engages with a theme which is explored in our Worship, in small groups, and hopefully in the minds and hearts of our members and friends. These themes and groups have been developed as a program called Soul Matters, as a tool for congregational enrichment from the UUA. September’s theme is: Belonging
by WUUC | Aug 2, 2022 | Uncategorized
– Cora Goss-Grubbs
Each fall, the Advocates for Social Justice go through a lengthy process to choose organizations that will benefit from our monthly special collections, making it convenient for members and friends to meet their giving goals. During the service on August 21, the Advocates for Social Justice invite you to donate to JUUstice Washington, which strives to inspire, educate, empower, and nurture the capacity of Unitarian Universalists (UUs), as well as our community allies, to collaboratively advocate for and undertake social and environmental justice initiatives. They support legislative change that aligns with our UU values in Washington state and beyond.
June’s Special Collection raised $360 to benefit Lambert House, a nonprofit organization that empowers lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth through the development of leadership, social, and life skills. In May we collected $612 for NAMI Eastside. This East King County affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness is a community-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization committed to improving the quality of life for those impacted by mental illness through advocacy, education, and support.
The ASJ Committee thanks WUUC members and friends for their generous support of our monthly special collections, which take place during services on the third Sunday of every month. Instructions for giving are posted during the service, and you can also donate anytime the following week at https://onrealm.org/wuuc/-/give/now, or by sending a check to WUUC at P.O. Box 111, Woodinville, WA 98072. Please make checks out to WUUC and write “ASJ Special Collection” in the notes.
by May Killorin | Jul 29, 2022 | Uncategorized
WUUC’s ‘Totes to Go’ program is off to a great start for the 22 –23 school year! We had such a strong response for September that we covered quite a lot of October’s needs as well. Thanks so much to everyone who has supported this effort!
Just as a reminder, Totes to Go is a program that supports students who may be at risk of missing meals over weekends when school meals aren’t available. We support fifteen students at Maywood Hills Elementary in Bothell. We don’t actually know who they are. The school identifies the kids and distributes our food items. Each Friday, backpacks are filled with an assortment of the items we provide; some – like milk – every week, others – like peanut butter – once a month. We collect 12 different items and deliver them to the school at the beginning of the month.
We are now beginning to gather supplies for November. Please put your donations in the baskets across from the kitchen. The deadline is Sunday, October 30th. I will send out a reminder about mid-month, but you can check on our needs any time by going to this link.
Questions or concerns? Contact Grace Simons or John Hartman
by May Killorin | Jul 29, 2022 | Uncategorized
Hello WUUC Blood Drive Team,
Well WOW!!! The results at your pop up blood drives are always wonderful, but this week, the Woodinville community turned out in mass! You had 144 donors coming thru your doors to help save lives. Thank you so much for supporting our community and Pacific Northwest hospitals in this way.
We are set to be with you again November 28-30, and already you have an incredible 70 donors booked with appointments! November is a great month for gratitude and giving in so many different ways! If you hear from folks who want to join the party in November, please share this link, Book a November Blood Donation Appointment at WUUC so we can fill the rosters to capacity!
In support of Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month, take 10 minutes to listen to this story from our Bloodworks 101 Podcast, and know that with each day you open the doors at WUUC for blood donors, you are helping parents and patients! https://bloodworks101.buzzsprout.com/775991/11356312-in-the-names-of-their-children-christine-o-connell-s-cancer-moms-s4-e2?t=0
Have a Good Weekend,
Karen Chernotsky
Community Engagement Liaison
Bloodworks Northwest
by WUUC | Jun 30, 2022 | Uncategorized
At this years General Assembly we had WUUC representation both online and in person. Pictured are four of the in-person attendees Jan Radoslovich, Bridget Laflin, Jane Flood (delegate) and Rev. Dan Lillie. May Killorin (not pictured) also attended in-person.
Our remote attendees included:
Kermit Sprang (delegate), Carol Taylor and Pam Green. Linda Sherry was planning to attend in-person as a delegate, but was unable to attend due to illness.
More reflections of GA to come in our next newsletter from our WUUC representatives who attended GA both remotely and on site.
