Rev. Addae Kraba's office hours
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Rev. Addae keeps the following office hours at the Fellowship when she is in town. 10 AM to 2 PM, Tuesday through Friday, or by appointment if necessary.
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| Children's Religious Education Update |
Our Children's Religious Education (CRE) program is divided into two groups by age. In CRE, which meets each Sunday at 11 AM, we challenge our children with interactive studies about religion and science.
The nursery group topics change according to individuals who attend and cannot be listed in advance, but they fall under the curriculum Celebrating Me and My World.
During April, the elementary students will be learning about science.
Apr. 17: Earth's Natural Wonders - Living Wonders
Apr. 24: Making North America - In the Beginning
Lesson plans are subject to change, but this is the plan.
Contact: Wes Phillips and Sarah Brown
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"Some of our strongest communication does not include words. When we hug, our hearts connect and we know we are not separate beings. Hugging with mindfulness and concentration can bring reconciliation, healing, understanding, and much happiness." Thich Nhat Hanh,
The Art of Communicating.
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 Here is a link to a Texas Observer article about Amarillo and refugees. Many of our book drive books will be going to refugee families. Our literacy program this July will also be an excellent opportunity to help these kids, as well as others with reading and writing problems. The article discusses some positive programs in my school, Wills Elementary, and the things AUUF friend Jacob Breeden does to support and help our global neighbors.
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 The AUUF Social Action Committee has produced a survey to determine our fellowship's interest in social-justice issues and projects for Fiscal Year 2016-2017. Printed copies were passed out this past Sunday, April 3, and it is available online. (The printed copy IS easier to fill out.) If you have not received one and prefer not to access it online, contact April in the office at 355-9351, and she can snail-mail you one, or you can pick one up this coming Sunday, April 10. They can be returned signed or anonymously. The committee has a deadline of April 17 for them to be returned so the info can be tallied and returned to the board. We NEED your input!
For more info, contact Mary Kay Wells (e-mail or phone--381-8109) or Janda Raker (e-mail, or phone--352-0589).
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Snack Pak 4 Kids Needs Sponsors
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 Snack Pak 4 Kids is getting ready to battle summer hunger in the area, but said they need sponsors to help.
"We know kids dread the last week of school not because they're not going on vacation, but because they're wondering 'what am I going to eat over the summer?" Snack Pak 4 Kids founder Dyron Howell said.
Snack Pak 4 Kids said they're in need of sponsors to help keep kids fed. "We have about 500 kids sponsored now and we need 1000 kids sponsored to continue this effort," Howell said.
Maverick Boys and Girls Club Director Alice Dixon said more than 80 percent of the kids at the club use the Snack Pak program, and she's seen the children's hunger first hand. "We see it when they come in on Monday morning. They're ready for breakfast and ask 'can I have 2 or 3?' That's a sign they don't have much food in their stomach from the weekend," Dixon said.
The organization says $40 can sponsor a child for the summer.
"Hunger doesn't take the summer off and neither will we," Howell said.
Snack Pak 4 Kids also say they are partnered with several local churches and the Boys and Girls Maverick Club who help pack and distribute snack bags to kids. To donate and help feed a child, click HERE.
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Newsletter and Website Submissions
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As always, we are eager to publish information regarding committees, boards, Adult RE, CRE, events, and services, but we need your help. The website and Facebook page can be updated daily, but the newsletter cannot. New information needs to be submitted (submissions@uuamarillo.org) by noon Wednesday if you want it to appear in the Friday morning newsletter. If you need an event placed on the website calendar, you may submit that request with description, image (or we can provide one), starting and approximate ending time, specific location, date (or dates for a recurring event), and name of contact person. Help us help you get your message out in a timely manner.
PLEASE, EVERYONE CAN MAKE ALL THESE COMMUNICATIONS MORE EFFECTIVE BY READING THEM EACH WEEK--ESPECIALLY THE WEBSITE AND NEWSLETTER!
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In addition to the events described in this newsletter, you can find a complete listing by clicking on the Calendar icon above.
Want more detail? Check both the News and the Events sections of our website, uuamarillo.orgAlso on our website, you can learn more about our Fellowship and our faith, Unitarian Universalism.
All events are held at the Fellowship, 4901 Cornell St., unless otherwise noted.
If you are unsure how to reach any of the individuals named as contacts, please email the AUUF office or call our Office Administrator, April Myers, at 806.355.9351 and leave a message. She will return your call during her office hours, which are Tuesday - Friday from 9 AM to noon.
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Sunday Worship - 9:30 and 11 AM
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Vivien Young speaks on Wildcat Bluff Nature Center: Earth Day and Beyond. We need nature and nature needs us.
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April 24, 2016
Linda Jackson speaks on Food Justice for the Planet. What we eat affects our own health, and the financial and physical well-being of billions of our fellow humans. Learn about wonderful alternatives to harmful eating. Help yourself and the planet.
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May 1, 2016
Rev. Keith Kron, Director of UUA's Transitions Department, Boston, speaks on The Van Gogh Café. Living our Unitarian Universalist values isn't always as easy as we would like it to be. Often what we strive for is not what actually happens. How can we improve the odds that we will lead with our best values inside and outside our congregation? This sermon will explore these issues as they pertain to your next minister and the ministerial search process. A time of questions and answers with Keith open to all congregants will follow the service.
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Friday, April 15, 6:30 PM
AUUF will have its next game night on Friday, April 15. Let's eat at about 6:30 and start playing at about 7 p.m. We'll have barbecued chopped beef sandwiches with all the fixings. A sign-up sheet will be on the bulletin board by the kitchen. Please sign up so we'll know how much barbecue to provide. Bring your favorite game, and we'll have a fun evening.
Contact: Janda Raker (e-mail or phone--352-0589).
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Saturday, April 16, 3:00 PM
The Amarillo Feminists group holds monthly meetings at AUUF.
Contact: Amy Taylor
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Sunday, April 17, 9:00 AM
The Women's Simply Salad & Soup Fellowship provides a delicious breakfast every third Sunday at the Fellowship. Help yourself before going to 9:30 AM worship service or to the Adult Religious Education class at 10 AM. Bon appetite!
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Adult Religious Education
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 Please join us at 10 AM each Sunday.
We are rotating three subjects. Each covers a different aspect of Adult Religious Education. All are welcome. No advance reading is necessary and no test will be given.
Apr. 17: My Favorite Universe #3 "On Being Dense" Apr. 24: Natural Law #12 "The Thomistic Synthesis"
Contact: John Gay
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 Tuesday, April 19, 7:00 PM
Kent Haruf's Our Souls at Night is the April selection. Haruf's last novel follows two lonely widowers in Colorado who find in each other a solace and ease from loneliness.
The Fiction Book Group meets on the third Tuesday of this month at the Fellowship to discuss a new novel or collection of stories chosen by retired English professor Dick Moseley, who also facilitates the conversation. All are welcome to attend, read the month's selection, and enjoy delving deeper into some of today's best new literature.
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Alternative Medicine Monthly Seminar
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Tuesday, April 19, 7 PM 
(Every Third Tuesday)
Open to the Public-Free Admission
This month's seminar topic is STRESS: What's in Your Tool Kit to Manage It?
Focusing on alternative health and wellness, this monthly seminar is led by Rolf Habersang, MD, Medical Director of the ICAM Institute of Amarillo, and Pia Habersang, EdD, CNS, MSN, APRN of the Pediatric Wellness Center of Amarillo.
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Thursday, May 5 at 7:00 PM 
A handful of us aging UU womenfolk have read the book Being Mortal by surgeon Atul Gawande and would like to invite any of you who are interested to attend an open discussion.
Dr. Gawande contends that our current medical model for dealing with people who are reaching the end of their lives is not adequate. He says doctors and the children of aging parents want aging people to be safe, and what aging people themselves want is usually autonomy, even at the risk of being unsafe.
He says the medical community has been asking the wrong questions, thus allowing very little autonomy on the part of the aging person. There is a new and better way emerging, in a doctor-patient relationship called "interpretive," which allows shared decision-making. The questions asked by interpretive doctors are, "What is important to you?" and "What are your worries?" If remaining in one's own home and having a cocktail with friends is more important than being safely in a managed-care facility, there are ways to make that happen.
For some time now, several of us have had dreams of a UU retirement community where we could continue our friendships, but live in closer proximity to each other where we could more easily keep an eye out for each other, and where obtaining certain services to assist us would become more convenient. How to make this happen has seemed like a pipe dream, but it might become closer to reality if a greater number of us are interested.
Let's begin a bigger conversation about how we want to live as we grow inevitably older and need more assistance. You do not have to read the book before this meeting, although you may want to afterward.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR NOW!
Contact: Minnie Venable
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Registration for General Assembly is in full swing. Rates increase on May 1, so you may want to register soon. You can register HERE. The theme of this year's GA is Heart Land: Where Faiths Connect. More information is available at UUA website.
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AUUF Literacy Book Drive Update
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 Our AUUF Children's Book Drive for Mesa Verde Elementary school is going very well. We have well over 100 books at this point. All books will be sorted, then delivered to Mesa Verde the first Week of May. Books will go to second graders to take home to their families. That means kids will get books not just for themselves, but for brothers and sisters, too. That's why we are accepting any children's books for ages newborn through 12.
If you have not contributed yet, or are just not sure of what is needed and wanted, have I got a deal for you! AUUF is now a member of First Book, a not for profit org that sells inexpensive books to groups like us who are helping out low income schools with books to go to the homes of students. If we order $75.00 or more worth of books, they will ship our book order for free. First Books has a whole list of books that cost $2.00 or less.
We will have a collection box this Sunday for First Books. If you contribute anything from $1.00- 10.00, we will easily be able to add a lot of lovely new books to our drive. Go to First Book to see what a good deal this is. No, you don't have to do the shopping yourself. Just contribute a dollar or two and our book drive will take care of the order.
Special thanks to all the people who have done a great job getting this project going with lots of really nice books for kids of all ages!
More thanks to the interested AUUF friends and members who have suggested other book donation organizations. All your suggestions are being looked into, and news about them will be forthcoming.
Contact: Linda Jackson
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 Rabbi Rami Shapiro, The Sacred Art of Lovingkindness: Preparing to Practice (Living a Spiritual Life). (2006)
This practical guidebook explores the Thirteen Attributes of Lovingkindness from the book of Exodus as the framework for cultivating a life of goodness. Shapiro translates these attributes into practices drawn from the teachings of a variety of faith traditions. With candor, wit, and honest, Shapiro shows you that by choosing to act out of love rather than fear, with kindness rather than anger, you can transform how you perceive the world and ultimately lead a more complete spiritual life. Roshi Joan Halifax, abbot of Upaya Zen Center, describes the book: "Powerful and rich . . . written so skillfully and accessibly that it will be read by peoples from all traditions. Opens for us the great beauty and necessity of kindness in the world today."
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 Over the last few months, Unitarian Universalists have been witnessing for climate justice from Paris to the Pacific Northwest to Washington, DC. Now people of faith and conscience have a chance to collectively take the momentum for climate justice to the next level, with the second Climate Justice Month!
From World Water Day (March 22) to Earth Day (April 22), we will build resistance to climate change and add our moral voices to the movement for climate justice, taking action in our families, communities, and congregations or faith groups.
How We Will Take Action
- Every week of Climate Justice Month Commit2Respond will showcase a featured resource for inspiration, a featured resource for education, and a featured action.
- In Week 1 we will act to advance the rights of frontlines communities by advocating for water rights. In Week 2 we will join the interfaith campaign to shift to a low carbon future and model for world leaders the strong action required from us all. And in Week 4 we will march, teach-in, and advocate for reclaiming our democracy from the likes of Big Oil and the Koch brothers, growing the movement for justice.
- On or around Earth Day, we will hold worship services, Earth fairs, advocacy days, and much more, working with community organizations and fellow religious groups to grow the climate justice movement.
What To Do Now
- RSVP for Climate Justice Month to receive extra inspiration and resources by email throughout the month.
Spread the word! Mobilize your congregation, faith group, secular group, family, or other groups you are a part of to take collective action together during Climate Justice Month (get mobilization resources).
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FireSongs Songwriter Series
 Wednesday, April 20, 6:30-8:30 PM
FireSongs Songwriter Series is a new, weekly series that is unique in Amarillo, in that each Wednesday night, a different area songwriter or combo will perform entirely original material---no covers. We have a wealth of creative energy here in the Panhandle and this series aims to celebrate those who express this energy through songwriting.
The shows are at Fire Slice Pizzeria (7301 SW 34th Space 10, Summit Shopping Center) on Wednesdays from 6:30 - 8:30 PM. It's a listening environment, so talking is discouraged in the concert room while the show is going on, but this makes it a much nicer environment, and of course Fire Slice has wonderful food which may be enjoyed throughout the show. There is no cover, but reservations are suggested to guarantee seating in the listening room. Call (806) 331-2232. The artist performing April 20 is our very own Brent Hillendahl.
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