Community Discussion Group Topics*
October 3 - "Consumer Safety." Food, cars, texting, cleaning products, medical procedures - you name it. Are we being overwhelmed by unnecessary warnings or are cautionary reports a good thing? Moderator: Open Forum
October 10 - "Should We Get out of Afghanistan as Soon as Possible? Yes or No?" Moderator: Open Forum
*This adult group meets every Sunday at 9:30 a.m. in the Founders' Room for fellowship and thought-provoking discussions led by member volunteers. For a more detailed listing of topics, please see the Sunday bulletin.
St. Vincent de Paul 2nd Saturday Lunch*
October 9 Menu: Chicken (BBQ or fried), mac and cheese, green beans, fruit salad, 2% milk or 100% juice
*All items must be delivered heated and ready to serve 15-20 people. Donations should be taken to 120 W. Apple St. by 10:30 a.m. Sign up in the Gathering Space.
Daytime Book Club Title*
October 20 - Mistakes Were Made (but not by me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions and Hurtful Acts, by Carol Tarvis & Elliot Aronson
November 17 - Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout
December 15 - Seven Stories of Christmas Love, by Leo Buscaglia & Tom Newsom
--This our holiday potluck meeting at Carol's house!
January TBD - Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery & Alison Anderson
*We meet one Wednesday a month, at 10:30 a.m., in the Fellowship Library. We then go out for lunch together. All are welcome!
Evening Book Club
Please join us at 7:00 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the month at Christopher's Restaurant (2318 Dorothy Ln., Kettering). For more information, contact Ann Snively.
October 12 - The Blessings of the Animals, by Katrina Kittle
November 9 - The Girl Who Fell from the Sky, by Heidi W. Durrow
December 14 - The Last Song, by Nicholas Sparks
January 11 - Oil on the Brain, by Lisa Margonelli
February 8 - Lush Life, by Richard Price
Nominating Committee
The Nominating Committee is charged with providing a slate of candidates to fill the positions on the MVUUF Board and Program Council. The slate of candidates is voted on by the congregation at the semi-annual Congregational meeting held in January. We are in the process of reviewing all positions and are soliciting your comments, interest and recommendations for leadership positions. Please contact any of the members of the committee with your suggestions by November 5.
~ Members of the Nominating Committee: Kriss Gang, Genevieve Harvey, Jim Faulconer, Priscilla Mutter & Jamie McQuinn
Congregational Discussion on Endowment Fund
At the June Congregational meeting, four recommendations were proposed regarding the MVUUF Endowment Fund. After a period of insightful discussion, the decision was made by the Congregation not to accept three of the recommendations. The consensus was that we needed to have more broader discussions about the MVUUF Endowment Fund-why we have it, how we can grow it, and for what purpose. On Sun. October 24, we will have that discussion immediately following the service in the Sanctuary. This meeting will be facilitated by Kriss Gang (who has worked with other congregations on endowment funds and other stewardship issues) along with MVUUF Endowment committee members, John Bierman, Dan Enterline and Antonia Harter. If you want to know more about the MVUUF Endowment Fund and participate in a discussion about how and why we should work to grow and manage the use of the funds, please join us on October 24.
Planned Parenthood Book Loft
The P.P. book loft is in desperate need of volunteers. If you can donate a few hours to help price books, sort books, etc., please contact Lynn Haven at 426-1434.
Congregational Retreat & Campout
Don't miss this year's retreat! It's being held on October 23 at 12:30 p.m. at the scenic John Bryan State Park in Yellow Springs. The cost is $5.00/adult and a donation to go towards pizza. Please bring a snack to share, or a salad or dessert to share with our pizza dinner. Beer and wine are allowed inside the lodge only. You can also stay overnight if you wish. Call John Bryan at 866-644-6727 to rent a campsite. Rates are $17/night for non-electric and $21/night for an electric site. Please sign up in the Gathering Space - we'll have lots of fun roasting marshmallows, singing songs & enjoying the woods!
LIFT Greater Dayton
The Community Organizing Action Group invites members and friends of the Fellowship to come to the Founding Meeting of LIFT Greater Dayton on October 10, at 3:00 pm at Temple Israel,130 Riverside Dr. (Dayton). We expect over 500 people from congregations all over the Dayton area to come together to launch this new community organization committed to bringing positive change to the region. LIFT Greater Dayton is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, interfaith effort, including inner city and suburban churches, synagogues and mosques and other civic organizations, expressing a strong citizen voice on matters of real importance for the Dayton area. You will hear updated reports on our work to address unemployment, education and training, and youth development as well as LIFT's support for the Human Services Levy which will be on the ballot in November. Local and state leaders have been invited to attend and give their support to our work. We hope you will attend and lend your support to the Community Organizing Action Group as we participate in this important initiative.
Women's Group Series
To our friends with feminine energy - we are going to begin our year with a series on body image. Join us! During this series, we will create a life-size woman on paper. Bring magazines with pictures to cut out and add to the collage.
October 3 - Cindi Remm will lead a discussion called, "Are we still laughing?" Feel free to bring a photo that strikes a chord about your body image.
October 10 - Sarah Hewitt will lead the discussion.
October 17 - Maureen O'Meara will lead the discussion based on the classic, Our Bodies, Ourselves.
Children's Halloween Party
Join us on Sun. October 31 for our Halloween party! We encourage all children and youth to don their costumes to help celebrate Halloween, All Hallows Eve and Dia de los Muertos (additional costumes and masks will be available through YRE.) The costumery will be paraded through the Fellowship hall during service. We ask parents and adults to donate treats for the trick-or-treating tour following service. There will be activities and games for children of all ages! Treats can be delivered to the YRE prep room anytime before service on October 31. If you have questions, please contact Jesse Gaither.
Smart Choices
Smart Choices will be touring the Greater Cincinnati Mosque on I-75 and carpooling from MVUUF on October 18 at 10:30 a.m. We will be eating lunch afterwards.
MVUUF Holiday Bazaar!
Join us at the Fellowship on Sat. October 30, 10a.m. - 3 p.m.! We'll have fabulous vendors, great door prizes and, as always, a delicious breakfast and lunch - so bring your wallet and get your Christmas shopping done early...and buy a little something for yourself, too! In order to make this day run smoothly, we need YOUR help. Can you:
Help out setting up for the Bazaar? (setting up tables, pricing white elephant items)
Help out the day of the Bazaar? (Work as a cashier, cook breakfast, count money)
Donate items? (Nice white elephant sale items, juice for breakfast, pop & snacks for lunch, baked goodies, a basket of fun for the raffle)
Set up a booth with your wares? (We need vendors!)
Buy raffle tickets? (Only $1/each or $5/6 and we have GREAT prizes! Purchase today in the Gathering Space after service.)
If you can do any of the above, please contact Rita Schindel or Debbie Cooper. Vendors, please contact Trena Swanke. If you have other questions, don't hesitate to call/email Kristin in the office.
YRE Food Drive
During October, YRE will be holding a food drive. The children in our workshop rotations will collect the food in bins marked "Food Donations" in the Gathering Space. We'll also ask families to deliver the food to a local pantry, extending the idea of our second principle, "Be kind in all you do." Please bring your non-perishables and support our youth and our greater community.
Blessing of the Animals
Rev. Amy Russell will hold a blessing of the animals on October 16, 11 a.m. at Indian Riffle Park, Shelter #3. This event is part of the Howl-O-Ween Walk fundraiser held by the Miami Valley Pet Therapy Association. It's lots of fun and people and pets alike are costumed! If you want to register for the fundraiser, go to www.mvpta.com or contact Iris Carter.
Where We Stand - Our Best Foot Forward: Long Range Planning Needs You
Many people have wondered when they would get to have input into the Fellowship's Long Range Planning discussion. The time has come! Please come to the Fellowship either on Sat., October 16, from 9:30-11:30, or on Sun., November 7, from 1:00-3:00. Each of these gatherings will be a chance for you to take part in the Appreciative Inquiry process. This is the process we described in the service on August 15.
We want to hear stories about what excites and nurtures you here at the Fellowship. As we share our stories, we will all be reminded of our best selves and how the Fellowship calls each of us to be part of that best. We will be exploring several major areas of Fellowship life - our Worship and other spiritual experiences, Religious Education (for all ages), our Internal Community or how we relate to each other, and External Community or how we relate to the larger world.
Our goal with these meetings is twofold. First, we want to excite discussion among participants that we hope will be continued in many venues in coming weeks and months. Sharing these stories is a way for all of us to know each other in deeper ways. Second, we will be gathering information about the stories you tell so we can build from our strengths moving forward.
In order to keep these gatherings to a two-hour limit, we will break the planning process into several parts. After these initial gatherings, we will be working to collate the stories we hear and will hold further meetings to pull themes and insights from them. These meetings will be open to all who are interested, and those involved in specific areas will be particularly invited to the discussions of those sections.
Once these themes are collated, we will be developing specific recommendations to lead us into the future. We will be incorporating information gleaned from other research, such as demographic studies and best practices from other churches. We will again be looking for your suggestions at this "getting practical" stage of the process. Obviously, this is a large assignment and one that will still take several months to complete. The next important step is for you to come on either October 16 or November 7 to have your voice heard. For planning purposes, we are asking people to sign up in the Gathering Space or by letting Kristin know when you will attend. There will be childcare available if requested by the week before each meeting, and food will be available between service and our gathering on November 7.
Membership in MVUUF is a participatory sport - speaking our deep truths with each other is both our privilege and our responsibility. We hope you will come and be part of our next steps. We need and want to hear your story.
Deepening Non-Violent Communication
Beginning October 14, "graduates" of NVC are welcome to join us to keep practicing and deepening our practice of non-violent communication. Grads are those who attended the day-long workshop with Theresa Sapunar in 2009 and/or those who have been in study groups or studied on their own since then. We will start each session with a brief review and discussion of a chapter of the book Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg, then we will spend the majority of the time practicing, using our own "real life" difficult issues to practice the skills of NVC. We'll meet for three weeks in a row from 7-8:30, then decide whether to meet weekly or biweekly. The group will be facilitated by Bruce Howorth and Genevieve Harvey. You do not need to come to all sessions to benefit. If you have studied NVC, you can drop in. However, if you would please email or sign up on the half-round table in the gathering space so that we know how many people may be attending, that would be helpful.
Calling All Quilters and Non-Quilters Alike!
If you're interested in quilting or learning how to quilt, please contact Cindi Remm at 885-4190. We'd like to put together a quilt together starting in November!
Humanitarian Giving Action Group Collection
During October, the Humanitarian Action Group welcomes plate offerings for Daybreak. Daybreak is an emergency shelter for runaway and homeless teens. They operate the area's only 24 hour crisis hotline and have branched into outreach, prevention, transitional housing, life-skills training and other services.
Spiritual Awakening Study Group
Bill Hill will lead a study group that focuses on Conversations with God and other channeled materials. If you're interested, meetings will be held 12:30-1:30 p.m. on Sun. in the library, starting October 24.
The New UU: A Course for New & Prospective Adult Members
If you are a new member of the Fellowship, or thinking seriously about becoming a member, and want to learn more about what it means to be a Unitarian Universalist, this course is for you. If you've been around for a few months, or maybe a year or two and still are trying to make sense out of being a UU, this course might be of help.
The course begins Sunday morning, October 10, from 9:30 - 10:45 am, in the Fellowship library and continues for seven weeks, and will be led by Bob Lewis with assistance from Rev. Amy Russell. Childcare will be provided.
The course will focus on important themes in UU life: worship and theology, history, covenant and polity, faith development, social justice and membership. We will look at these from both a denominational and a congregational perspective. Personal sharing and dialogue will be encouraged.
Please sign up with Kristin by calling the church office: 436-3628 or Bob Lewis at 350-7763. A sign-up sheet will also be available in the Gathering Space on Sunday, Oct. 3.
