SUNDAY PROGRAMS 10:30 Coffee & Community; 11:00 Service
September 16th- Being Human, Under One Roof – As we ramp up for the new church year, UUFA’s minister, Rev. Don Rollins, will offer a take on what it means to be unique human beings, doing their falling-down best to live in peace and do justice. In other words, what’s at the core of our congregation? (robocall Katie, service leader Rev. Don Rollins)
September 23rd- Equinox – Twice a year, when winter gives way to spring and summer to fall, daylight and darkness share the day equally—they are, for a fleeting moment, perfectly in balance. Our busy lives can often leave us feeling anything but! This Sunday, we’ll take our lesson from the turning wheel of the year and seek out ways to find and create moments of balance in our cruel, crazy, beautiful lives. (Roberta & Amber, robocall Roberta).
September 30th- Food Insecurity: Locally and Globally – According to the Food Aid Foundation, 795 million people worldwide do not have enough food to lead a healthy active life, that is 1 in 9 people. What is being done to deal with food insecurity locally and globally? Come to the UUFA service on Sunday, September 30, 2018, to learn more about how you can help feed the hungry here in Athens County and abroad. Presented by Charlie Barman. (robocall Katie, service leader Wenda)
Charlie Barman, Professor Emeritus from Indiana University now residing in Athens County, has served on the Board of Directors and volunteered for the Athens County Food Pantry for the past 7 years. By working with this organization and meeting the grateful recipients each week, he has become knowledgeable about the need in this area and committed to providing assistance.
October 7th- Animal Blessing- Join us as we celebrate and bless our furry, scaly or feathery friends. You are invited to bring your friends with you as long as they are are on a leash or safely contained and can handle new people, a new place and other animals. We’ll hold service in the outdoor sanctuary, weather permitting. Coffee and community at 10:30 am, service at 11:00 am. (service leader Katie)
UUFA BOARD MEETING
All are welcome to attend our next UUFA Board Meeting on Sunday September 16th at 9:30am (lower level) when Rev Don Rollins is with us.
RELIGIOUS EXPLORATIONS (RE) PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN
Sunday, September 23rd: The children will meet downstairs, enjoy a few stories about religions and drumming, finish decorating their drums, and begin planning for the guest what? The “Drums & Masks: All Hallows Eve” service that children and adults from the RE program will present to the entire fellowship on October 21st.
Special RE Unit by Natalie Barman: Sundays: September 23, 30, & Oct 7: Helping Others Have Enough Food The children will be introduced to the needs of people around the world and how the donations to the CROP Hunger Walk help support them. We will also restart the local collection of canned and packages food to be given to the Athens County Food Pantry.
Stay tuned….we’ll be focusing on Natalie Barman in next week’s “Focus on Members” column. Please help spread the word about this three-week special unit for children that dovetails with both the September 30th Food Insecurity service for adults, and the October 7th Crop Hunger Walk for families.
CROP HUNGER WALK 2018 – October 7th, 2pm
CROP Hunger Walks are community-wide events sponsored by Church World Service and organized by religious groups, businesses, schools and others to raise funds to end hunger in the U.S. and around the world. UUFA has been involved in the CROP Hunger Walk for a number of years. We hope that families will join the walk together. You may walk as far or little as you want. Kids, of all ages, can ride bikes, scooters or roller skate. More details to come, or see https://www.crophungerwalk.org/athensoh
JOYS AND SORROWS
We share sorrow with UUFA member Marsha Nagy, whose husband passed away suddenly last Thursday. John Nagy’s obituary is here. Thank you to Roberta, Barb, Jessie, and others for sharing time with Marsha.
MONTHLY MORNING MEDITATIONS
Starting September 30th, join us every final Sunday of the month for a morning meditation before service from 10:00 am – 10:30 am. Newcomers welcome. Many thanks to Katie Evans for spearheading this offering.
FOCUS ON MEMBERS – Katie Evans
Katie Evans grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. She and her husband moved to Athens in 2016 when Katie took a job in the developmental disability field. She has been a Unitarian Universalist since she joined the First Unitarian Church in Cincinnati. She’s contributed many hours to our UUFA congregation by doing the gardening, programming committee, and now serving on the board. Above is a photo of Katie donating produce from the UUFA garden to the donation station at the Athens Farmers Market.
UUFA CHOIR NEWS From Megan
I’m so happy to have heard from you all that you will be returning to sing with us and happy to announce we have an OU piano graduate student that will be accompanying us! SO much music…so little time!
Our first rehearsal will be Tuesday, 9/18/18. I would like to schedule to sing September 30 during the service and then again for the Samhain service, which is tentatively scheduled for 11/4/18. I’ve attached “I Do Not Sleep” for Samhain which we sang last year as well.So, please bring your calendars with you so we can make some plans.
Look forward to seeing you all soon! – Megan, Our UUFA Choir Director
SEPTEMBER 29th WORK DAY – OFTEN WITH PIZZA AND BEER!
Come join us whenever you can during our work day, starting at 11am and ending at 4pm or later. Every little bit helps. We’ll have work equipment, but of course if you have smallish tools for doing the following types of work, please bring them! Staple guns, weed wackers, buckets, rags, are especially useful. Possible projects: Reupholstering downstairs chairs. Wash sanctuary chairs. New straps for round table(s). Clean lower level and organize closets. Trim brush along parking lot retaining wall. Close and drain sanctuary fountain. Clean and paint cabinets in Ploghoft room. Weatherstrip entry doors by piano, under back stairs, and kitchen.
UUFA & THE WIDER COMMUNITY (A new column about how our efforts, our pledges, our building, and our donations support the wider community—submissions welcome!)
On Saturday, September 8th all of us UUFA folks enabled United Campus Ministry (UCM) board members, staff members, and interns to enjoy a day-long strategy retreat at our fellowship. UCM serves as a center for spiritual growth and social justice at Ohio University, and is a nonprofit organization guided by socially progressive and interfaith values. Our UUFA congregation has had a long history of involvement with UCM. One of our former ministers, Rev. Evan Young is the UCM minister. Our members Lois Whealey, Barbara Harrison, Vivian Dunbar (now in Oregon), and the late Wil Chander have won social justice awards from UCM. Wenda Sheard currently serves on the UCM board. Last December 23rd, eight of us UUFA members and friends prepared and served the weekly UCM Thursday free super. To learn more about UCM, visit http://www.ucmathens.org/
TODAY!!! EIGHTH ANNUAL 9/11 INTERFAITH PEACE WALK, 7pm
The walk begins at 7 p.m. on Tuesday 9/11/18 in front of the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd on University Terrace, then proceeds through College Green, up Court Street, and right at East State Street to pause for a reading at Hillel. The walk will then continue down Mill Street to Stewart Street, then down Stewart to end with a candlelight vigil and song at the Islamic Center of Athens.
TREASURER’S REPORT
Guess what? We need a treasurer. Many thanks to Barb Harrison and Roberta Roberson who have been pinch-hitting UUFA treasurer-like tasks. Any other volunteers? Contact Brian Richards at barinitials@gmail.com.
UUFA TRIVIA
Ever look at our curvy brickwork and wonder how that happened? It was a work of artist John Spofforth, who was one of many UUFA fellowship members who used their hands to build our building nearly 50 years ago. We are grateful to all of those generous souls who decided to build a building dedicated to UU principles and purposes. Thank you!
HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR THE GREENSHEET
Please email items to wendasheard@yahoo.com and put “Greensheet” in the subject line. New ideas, new columns, announcements, artwork, photographs, biographies, joys, sorrows, birthdays, anniversaries, and whatnot all welcome for possible inclusion in the Greensheet. Deadline for each week: noon on Tuesday. Thanks!
FROM OUR MAILBOX:
UUFA earned this award because 25-49% of our members donated to the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee to help with its efforts to advance human rights worldwide.
Random note: UUFA’s Wenda served as the Camp Unirondack Arts & Crafts Director in the summer of 1973. Ask her about The Big Skinny Dipping Goof of 1973.