Nick Hall, Ph.D. is a medical scientist and professional speaker, who for over 20 years has conducted groundbreaking studies linking the mind and body. This research has been published in over 150 periodicals and featured by the national and international media, including CBS' 60 Minutes, the BBC's Nova series, and the Emmy Award-winning program Healing and the Mind, aired by PBS. He also has been the recipient of two prestigious Research Scientist Development Awards, which the National Institutes of Health grants only to the top scientists in the United States. Nick is no stranger, as well, to the more pragmatic aspects of dealing with change and with making difficult choices. After earning his way through college wrestling alligators and milking rattlesnakes, he worked as an intelligence-operative for the U.S. Government. He also led a National Geographic-sponsored expedition to the West Indies, where he studied mass-stranding behavior in whales. While working in the islands, he endured the Marxist revolution in Grenada and the La Soufriere volcano eruption in St. Vincent. His practical insights for coping with change and adversity have been shaped over a span of nearly four decades. For example, in 1968, he became the first person to complete the grueling Baja 1,000 mile off-road race on a bicycle, while in 2006, he completed WaterTribe's Ultimate Florida Challenge in a sea-kayak. This 1200 mile nautical race, which included a 40 mile portage, has been described by The London Times as, "the most dangerous small boat race in the world." At his Saddlebrook Resort headquarters in Florida, Dr. Hall presents highly successful workshops and motivational programs for some of America's leading corporations.

 

From the Desk of the President
by Mary Francis
It's a wrap!  Thank you to everyone who has been helpful and so supportive during this past year as President of the Board of Trustees.  The year has flown by, and really, I have enjoyed it.   It has been an honor to serve on the Board of Trustees for the past six years and as the President this past year. 

During the time I was on the Board, so much has happened!  Rev Sara started as our settled minister the same day I started on the Board.  Shortly after I came onto the Board, we added the gazebo.  Then we had a capital campaign and built a new building that we now call the Multi-purpose Building.  There were many improvements to the grounds. We added some sidewalks and more parking. The highway department cut down a lot of trees along I75. The memorial area got a pergola.  It just doesn't look the same as it did six years ago. 

Yet, it still feels the same.  The same feel.  The same warmth.  The same welcoming - often referred to as the feeling of 'coming home'.  You know what I mean.

So again, thank you for allowing me to share these past six years on your Board of Trustees.  I will continue to see you on Sundays!

A morning session, for the entire congregation:

• A brief overview of the process of how ministers are settled
• Some attention to the interim process and what to expect/what can be done with a 2 year interim period
• Congregational time line
• Strengths and challenges inventory
• Power and authority

Watch for more details in the September Domelight!

Alicia Montes:
I lived in New York City for several years with my family before moving to Tampa where I graduated from the University of Tampa. My career choices have provided me with an opportunity to collaborate with many dedicated professionals within local museums, the telecommunications industry, and currently for a global trade association of pharmaceutical manufacturing professionals. Although my inherited faith was Catholicism, I attended Tampa Unity for a few years and later found A Course in Miracles and have actively strived to implement its tenets of forgiveness and shared interests for over eleven years.
Melissa Nicholson:
I was born and raised in Oklahoma and moved to the Tampa Bay area in the early eighties.  There were stops in Tennessee, Alabama, and the Florida panhandle on my journey here.  Currently I reside in Zephyrhills, FL.
I have been married to Steve since July 7, 2007.  I have three children, two girls and a boy. Steve has three children so between the two of us we have six!  We have been blessed with six  grandchildren--four boys and two girls, ages three to ten.
For the last seven years, I have been the Payroll Manager for Saddle Creek Corporation in Lakeland.  I have also worked at USF, Florida Hospital Zephyrhills, and the New York Yankees.
I am on the board of ABWIG (Apollo Beach Waterway Improvement Group) a not for profit group raising funds to dredge the channels in Apollo Beach. We also are working on a joint project with Hillsborough County to reestablish the beach in Apollo Beach.
Steve and I are members of the Tampa Sailing Squadron in Apollo Beach and enjoy sailing and being out on the water.  I enjoy most all "crafty" hobbies but particularly enjoy sewing and gardening.  I recently took a class in painting with acrylics at HCC.  I can say that the teacher was very patient with an accountant who had to step out of her box and use the other part of her brain!
Steve Nicholson:
I was born in Allen, TX and lived in Denton, TX until 2000.  I graduated from the University of North Texas in 1970 with a BBA in Marketing.
My first job out of college was as a sales representative for Nabisco in Dallas, Texas.  This was a great job for a guy who loves cookies!  I moved on to insurance sales with Allstate Insurance.  I decided that selling insurance was not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I applied for and got a job as a high school teacher in Brownsboro, TX.  In the early eighties, I decided to open my own business.  After sixteen years, I decided to sell the business and retire.  I figured out pretty quickly that I couldn't retire and sit around and do nothing, so I went to work for Delta airlines in their reservations department.  This began my journey from Texas to Florida.  I was transferred from Dallas to Savannah, GA, then to Jacksonville, FL with a final move to Tampa in 2004.  I currently work as a contractor for the US Postal Service in Brandon, FL.
I currently reside in Zephyrhills, Florida, with my wife, Melissa.  I have three adult children, two daughters and a son.  The girls are still in Texas.  My son has also migrated to Florida and lives in the Jacksonville area.  I have been married to Melissa since July 7, 2007.  We have six grandchildren.
I own a sailboat and truly enjoy being out on the water under sail. I belong to the Tampa Sailing Squadron in Apollo Beach.  My dream is to spend several months cruising the Bahamian islands.  I enjoy woodworking.  I have recently begun taking guitar lessons, again!
Denise Seeber is from a small town in northern Illinois about an hour from Chicago. She was raised in a Pentecostal congregation, but began at an early age questioning the limited role of women in the church and the home. When studying Sociology of Religion as an adult, she discovered a group of women who identified themselves as Christian Feminists. These women helped her incorporate her personal experiences, reason and science into her spiritual journey.
In 2006, she discovered the UU faith by searching on the internet for religions outside the Christian faith that more closely aligned with her beliefs. She found the local UU church and has been a UU since then. Over the last five years, Denise and Jerry have participated in the Covenant Group Program with UU Clearwater and it has been very meaningful to them. They were excited to learn that UUCT was starting a covenant group program and signed up immediately.
Denise began her professional career in her late 30s and has worked to empower at-risk families by coordinating services for health care, housing, education and financial independence both in the Chicago area and in Florida after relocating here.
In addition to four grown children, Denise and Jerry have a large extended family all around the country whom they visit often. They also like to travel to experience new places, people, and cultures. In 2011, they had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Turkey and stay in the homes of two Muslim families where they learned a bit about their culture and their everyday lives.
Denise and Jerry are in the process of relocating to Temple Terrace and learning more about UUCT. They are scheduled to close on their new home in mid-July and look forward to getting settled here.
Jerry Seeber is a new resident of Temple Terrace, moving over recently from Safety Harbor in Pinellas County.  He and his wife Denise have been attending a UU church off and on for about 7 years, first in Orlando and more recently, at the Unitarian Universalists of Clearwater.
Jerry was raised in the Roman Catholic tradition with 8 years at a parish school outside Philadelphia, and then 4 years in a Jesuit high school in Philadelphia and 4 years at a Jesuit university in Milwaukee.  His quest for knowledge and his early training in the sciences kindled doubts about the rote memorization from the Baltimore Catechism and the dogmatic precepts handed down to the parishioners on Sunday mornings.  His Jesuit training helped him to question and to seek answers.
The principles of the UU tradition appeal to Jerry's sense of reason and values; the absence of judgmental communication and the encouragement of exploration of truth and of wisdom appeal to the humanist within.  Jerry has particularly enjoyed the interaction with people in the covenant group where he has been active for the past 5 years.  Besides developing closer friendships with people of like mind, the exploration of truth has proven invigorating.
Jerry and Denise have made a practice of visiting UU churches wherever they travel and they count 13 in the States and in Canada on their UU passports thus far.  They have four grown children living in Colorado, Illinois and Florida.  Jerry has enjoyed his ongoing career in public management, stretching back to the mid-70's.

 
Welcome all!

Good Book

 

 

Three professionals will share their wisdom, experience and emotions in living with pets and in dealing with hard, end of life decisions that face all pet owners.  All attending the conference will have similar opportunities in small group discussions.

Dr. Dani McVety

Nikki McQueen

Brock Leach

 

Dr. Dani McVety, the founder of Lap of Love Veterinary Hospice (www.lapoflove.com), will provide the keynote address on "What We Can Learn About Life From The Death Of A Pet." 

 

Nikki McQueen, the vice president of Anderson-McQueen Funeral Homes & Cremation Tribute Center (www.andersonmcqueen.com), will describe the common grief shared by pet owners and families in dealing with the death of loved ones-both human and animal. 

 

Brock Leach, Vice President of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, (www.uusc.org) will share his perspectives, as a pet owner, chaplain and international business executive. He previously served as president and CEO of Frito-Lay's North America and Tropicana divisions and later Chief Innovation Officer for parent company, PepsiCo, Inc. 

 

Conference Details

Stetson College of Law Center

 

The conference begins at 10 a.m.  Refreshments and small group discussions will follow the morning presentations.

 

Tickets may be purchased online at www.emersonforum.tix.com for $25 before August 7 and  $35 if purchased after that date.

 

Remembering Your Pet(s)

Those who purchase tickets by August 7 will be invited to send a picture of their pet(s) for inclusion in a music video presentation, to be shown at the conference.

 

SOUTHERN REGION OF UUA NEWS:

Unitarian Universalists have been very generous in the face of severe need, as usual.  We have received more than $66,000 in gifts, which will be used principally for immigrant relief following the tragic storm.  Thank you very much.  Most online contributions have been sent to First UU Church, Oklahoma City; the remainder will be sent this week. 

 

We apologize for the delay in depositing some check contributions.  We expect to have the needed paperwork in place and approval from the Southwestern UU Conference bank soon and will deposit those checks as quickly as possible.  Please contact the Southern Region/Orlando office if you have questions or concerns about check contributions or anything else (uuasouthernregion@gmail.com or 407-894-2119).

 

The church in Oklahoma City has asked that all gifts henceforth be sent directly to the church's PayPal account, which you can FIND HERE.
 
***REPRINTED FROM THE: SOUTHERN REGION UUA E-NEWS JOURNAL

Fundraising Events 

 

There are many other fun ways to help us raise additional funds to support our mission at UUCT!  Coming up: 

 

Mixed Fiber Necklace Workshop : August 7th, 6:30 pm and August 31st  4 pm

(see article below or contact ttaudte@gmail.com)

  

Annual Spaghetti Dinner: September 7th, 5:30 pm

(sponsored by the REC)

Spaghetti dinner tickets will be available for advance purchase in mid-August! This event promises to be bigger and better than last year! Join us on September 7 for great food and fellowship!

 

Annual Auction: November 10th, 12 pm

 

Fall Festival November 16th, noon until 7:30 pm (see details above in separate article) 

 

Any questions or volunteers please contact Stacy Gilmore at fundraising@uutampa.org.

Mixed Fiber Necklace Workshop
at Silver Linings
10931 N. 56th Street
Temple Terrace
Wednesday, August 7, 2013    6:30 - 8:00  or
Saturday , August 31, 2013    4:00 - 5:30                                   

Use a variety of fibers and textures to created a unique necklace.
Tempe has a beautiful necklace that she made.  You can have one, too!
All supplies provided.

Enjoy a relaxing afternoon/evening with friends.
Cost - $20.00 ( $5.00 returns to UUCT ... so this is a fundraiser )

Refreshments served !

Class size limit -  10
Instructor - Laurie Walker

Please RSVP by August  5 for the August 7 workshop
                      by August  28 for the August 31 workshop

RSVP to :
Barbara Cloud-Weisman
Silver Linings
SilverLiningsFL@aol.com
813-293-2325

Interested in a wee bit of money for helping out with the wee ones?  If you would like to help with childcare, send your name, qualifications, and availability to bot@uutampa.org.  A background check will be done for all candidates before names are added to our approved list of compensated child care providers for services and other church activities.

On June 30th the local Tampa RESULTS team hosted a meeting with Ken Patterson, RESULTS National Grassroots Manager, as speaker.  Ken gave an interesting presentation and spoke about his personal experiences as a Peace Corps worker in Africa and the lasting impressions the people left on him.  He came away from the experience determined to work on poverty related issues and eventually found his way to RESULTS.  

Ken spoke about the mission of RESULTS: To create the political will to end hunger and the worst aspects of poverty and to empower individuals to have breakthroughs in exercising their personal and political power.   The fact is that all of the solutions to poverty already exist and yet 2.5 million children die of malnutrition each year and 165 million more are developmentally stunted because of poor nutrition.  Additionally, 1.3 million people die each year of treatable diseases like TB and 1.7 die of AIDS- also treatable in this day and age.  Worldwide, 57 million children are not going to school at all.  

The long term results of advocacy are that child deaths have dropped from 40,000 per day in the mid 1980s to less than 20,000 per day today.  There is much better access to AIDS drugs in Africa, and malaria deaths in poor nations are down considerably.

We learned about the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria.  RESULTS will be working on gaining support for reinvestment into the Global Fund by writing letters and meeting with Congress as well as writing op ed pieces, letters to the editor and commentaries to inform the public about these issues.

RESULTS trains volunteers to speak powerfully to their elected officials, the media and their local communities, urging members of Congress to be leaders in fighting poverty. RESULTS identifies sustainable solutions to the problems of hunger and poverty at home and abroad. They work to generate the public and political will and resources necessary to make such solutions succeed.  

The Tampa RESULTS team meets twice a month.  If you are interested in attending a meeting please see Gene Pizzo or email Ken or Linda Schatz at kenschatz42@gmail.com

We could never have guessed
We were already blessed where we are . . . .   - James Taylor

A woman found a folded sponge all dried and compressed, and tucked inside the hardened fold was a message she'd been seeking.  She carried the hardened sponge to the sea and, up to her waist in the deep, she watched it unfold and come to life in the water.  Magically, the secret of life became visible in the bubbles being released from the sponge, and to her amazement, a small fish, trapped in sleep in the hardened sponge, came alive and swam out to sea.  From that day on, no matter where she went, she felt the little fish swimming in the deep, and this -- the swimming of the little fish that had for so long been asleep -- gave her a satisfaction that was somewhere between peace and joy.

Whatever our path, whatever the color or grain of our days, whatever riddles we must solve to stay alive, the secret of life somehow always has to do with the awakening and freeing of what has been asleep.  Like that sponge, our very heart begs to unfold in the waters of our experience, and like that little fish, the soul is a tiny thing that brings us peace and joy when we let it swim.

Source:  The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo