Anvil header

Newsletter of 2nd Unitarian Church of Chicago
November 1, 2015
In This Issue...
Worship at 2U

Sunday, November 8
Service at 10:30
Preacher: Rev. Rudra Dundzila
Music: Marianne Parker and Albert Yan

Sunday, November 15
Service at 10:30
Preacher: Myra Epping
Music: 2U Choir

Sunday, November 22
Ingathering Service at 10:30
Preacher: Rev. Emmy Lou Belcher
Music: Audrey Shadle and Marianne Parker

Sunday, November 29
Intergenerational Service at 10:30
Preacher: Rev. Emmy Lou Belcher
_____________________
Children & Youth Faith Development Schedule
 
Child care for infants and toddlers is available every Sunday in the Green Caterpillar room.

Sunday, November 8
Spirit Play
UU Explorers

Sunday,November 15
Spirit Play
UU Explorers

Sunday, November 22
Spirit Play
UU Explorers

Sunday, November 29
Intergenerational service: no classes
______________________
_________________
Church Office Information & Staff

 Sabbatical Minister
773-549-0260, ext. 15
Office Hours:
Wednesday afternoons and evenings; Sunday afternoons
Other days & times by appointment
 
Dir. of Faith Development
773-549-0260, ext. 12
Office Hours:
Sun 9:00-3:00
Other days & times by appointment

Congregational Administrator
773-549-0260, ext. 10
Office Hours: 
Mon-Thurs 10:00-4:00
 
Community Minister
773-593-7500
 
Community Minister
773-592-2809
 
Music Director
                                  
2U Ministry Leaders

Board of Trustees

Adult Faith Dev.

Bookstore

Buddhist Fellowship

Building & Grounds
Open

Committee on Ministry

Covenant of Earth & Sky

Fellowship Committee

Finance Committee

Green Sanctuary

Hospitality 

Library

Lifespan Faith Dev.

Membership

Music

Newsletter

Night Ministry Outreach

Nominating Committee

Pastoral Care

Safe Congregations 

Senior Potluck Lunch

Small Group Ministry

Social Justice

Sunday Services

Transylvania Church

Webmaster

Young Adult Group
David Dyer
Stephanie Bens
_____________________
Board of Trustees 
 

 





                                  
From the Sabbatical Minister
Calendar items are beginning to pop up for the winter holidays. With an upcoming Thanksgiving Dinner, cookie sale, a quilt raffle, Evergreen Festival and Christmas Eve, we are rockin'! Have you  heard about all these? We will be hosting a Thanksgiving Dinner on November 26 at 12:30pm. The cookie sale is on December 13, the same day as the all-music service. Look for an article soon on how this is done. The quilt raffle will offer an opportunity to have in your home (or as a gift) a quilt made by our own members. The description sounds lovely. It will be hung soon in the Palmer Room so everyone can ooh and aah and purchase raffle tickets. The winning ticket will be drawn at the Evergreen Festival on December 5.
  
You haven't heard yet about the Evergreen Festival? The Evergreen Festival is this year's biggest fundraising event, so you won't want to miss it! The event takes place on Saturday, December 5. (Save that date!) A big party is planned for that evening with music, dancing, hearty foods, tasty desserts - schmoozing and noshing! The rooms will be decorated with candles, evergreens, etc. You will receive an invitation soon - look for a mailing from the church in mid-November. So put on your sparkles and a sprig of holly in your hair or your best Christmas shirt and dancing shoes and come join in the fun! At this event, the quilt raffle and the silent auctions of 2U community dinners and other items will take place. You may offer a dinner - a chance to host your fellow UUs - or bid to attend an event at a member's home during the winter and spring. It's a great way to get to know people better and to make friends.  Volunteer forms are available in the Palmer Room on Sundays; I'll be hanging greens and decorating tables. See you there!

-Emmy Lou
Thanksgiving Pot-Luck Dinner
Thanksgiving Pot-Luck Dinner
Thursday, November 26, 2015
12:30 PM

2U will be hosting a Thanksgiving pot-luck dinner, coordinated by Myra Epping and Jim Redlich. The bird will be provided; those who wish to attend should plan to bring their favorite dish to share.

Sign up on the Welcome Table to let us know you're coming, what dish you'll bring, and to volunteer to help out.

Please email Myra and Jim at [email protected] with any questions or call them at (773) 338-4086.
Contribute to the Fundraising Auction!
Our annual auction is an important part of our fundraising and a great way to get more connected at Second Unitarian. It consists of members and friends offering items and events for sale and others buying them with the money going to the church's operating budget. We are looking for donations of items (art, gift certificates, tickets, etc) and events (parties, outings, dinners, etc.) You can submit your items here [https://tinyurl.com/okvsx3v] and your events here [https://tinyurl.com/p97tfkx]. The auction will take place on December 5.

If you need ideas for events here are some suggestions:
- Group trip to a museum on a free day
- Dinner party
- Craft night
- Tour of your neighborhood

If you have questions please contact Laura McKee or Molly Rossow. 
Lay-Led Service in November: Day of the Dead
Sunday, November 15, 2015
10:30 AM

2U will be observing its own Day of the Dead on Sunday, November 15. After the funeral, after the cards and letters and the easing of jars to the heart  - then what? What do we do then? The Day of the Dead service will be a time for recognizing and acknowledging our dead. There will be a table in the sanctuary for displaying any photographs we might like to share.

The service will be led by Myra Epping, who finds her own dead accumulating as she gets older - just like her mother said. Myra has been a Unitarian-Universalist since she joined 2U over thirty years ago. After a couple decades downstate, Myra and her husband Jim Redlich are back at 2U and glad to be here - where, if they're very very lucky, they get to connect with their wonderful daughter Margaret now and then.
Welcome our newest members!
Julie Carlson moved to Chicago from Champaign in January. She had attended some UU services while at the University of Illinois, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in Geography and Natural Resource Conservation. She lives down the street from 2U and noticed the church, so began attending services. Julie works for the Urban Alliance, a non-profit that matches high school seniors from the Chicago Public Schools with professional paid internships. Prior to that, she was an Americorps volunteer and worked with homeless youth. She is interested in getting involved with the Social Justice Council and the Night Ministry.

Grad school brought Ivan Hernandez from Florida to Illinois, and a post doc appointment in organizational behavior brought him to Chicago. Ivan has a PhD in Industrial Organization Psychology from the University of Illinois and is working at Northwestern on research projects to understand the factors that lead to teams performing better. He had UU friends in grad school, and went to some services while in school. Moving here in January, he was curious about 2U since it is close to his home. He is interested in getting involved with the Social Justice Council.

Jacqueline (Jackie) and William (Bill) Morice are long time UU's who have attended 2U since moving to Chicago in April. They met in high school at Syosset, N.Y. and will celebrate their 54th wedding anniversary in November. Originally, Bill was a heavy equipment operator and Jackie was a secretary and homemaker. However, both wanted to pursue careers in psychology after working with Liberal Religious Youth (LRY) groups at their UU fellowship in N.Y. They started their academic careers in their late twenties, and studied in the United States and London. Both earned Ph.D.s in clinical psychology. While in England, they studied and worked with individuals suffering from schizophrenia and other psychosis. After moving to Indianapolis in 1976, they worked first with those suffering severe mental illness and then began working with cancer patients and their families. They were the first "psycho-oncologists" in Indiana and retired after thirty years of practice in 2011. Bill and Jackie have two adult children, a daughter in Chicago and a son in Rochester, Minnesota. They have five grandchildren ranging in age from nine to twenty-one. The younger ones live in Chicago, so the Windy City beat Rochester as a place to downsize. Jackie and Bill say they are happy to find a UU community that fits them.

Ben Polson moved to Chicago in early September from Philadelphia, where they were very active in the UU Church of the Restoration and Joseph Priestly District cons. A recent graduate of Hampshire College with a BA in Liberal Studies (emphases of math and theater), Ben wanted to find a big city where they could build an independent life. They chose Chicago because of its great theater scene. Ben is currently temping; they're looking for a job in computer science and Ben wants to pick up freelance work as a multimedia and theater artist. They are also a math tutor and have a website/blog: benpolson.weebly.com. At 2U, they want to get involved with the Social Justice Council, LGBTQ issues, and the con community.

David St. John wanted his daughter, Ruby, to grow up in a faith community, and so began attending 2U with her a little over a year ago. He joined because he wanted to make a commitment toward identifying as a UU. David is a math professor at Malcolm X College. He grew up in Southern California, moving to Chicago in 1999 to go to Loyola. He is interested in meditation and spiritual traditions focused on mindfulness. David is married.
Exciting 2U Night Ministry Outreach Program Changes Coming in 2016 for Second Unitarian!!
The Night Ministry organization is making changes to their feeding programs in the Lakeview Area. These changes are in accordance with their own organizational mission and are necessary based on the need to identify those locations where the critical needs of the community are best served. In conversations I have had with leaders within the Night Ministry organization, we have been asked to make some minor changes to how we provide services today. The Night Ministry organization has requested effective immediately:

1) Second Unitarian will continue to provide a meal on the street (Belmont & Halsted), however, for the remainder of 2015 we will only provide one more meal on November 5th, 2015. Starting in 2016, we will continue to provide this service every other month starting February 4th, 2016. Our day for providing this service will now be on Thursdays, rather than Tuesdays.

2) Second Unitarian will start to participate in the Night Ministry's Meal Group program the alternate months of 2016 where we are not serving on the street. This new program will have us provide a meal for the Youth Outreach Program on site at "The Crib" (located in Lakeview on West Addison Road) on the first Sunday of each month we participate. This meal will consist of a simple hot entr�e, bread, side dish (vegetable or salad) and a simple dessert. The meal will be served family style and the volunteers who serve will dine with the young people attending.

These changes will: allow Second Unitarian Church the ability to stay active within the Night Ministry program, allow us to break up the monotony of our current soup and sandwich menu, and allow us to provide new exciting volunteer opportunities all while continuing to support the critical needs of the GLBT youth in our community and staying within the guidelines of our current fiscal year budget.

I am very excited about what is in store for all of us in the 2U Night Ministry Outreach Program for 2016 and I hope that this announcement piques not only the interest of our regular volunteers, but perhaps intrigues some of the 2U congregation that may have volunteered in the past and/or are looking for a different type of volunteer opportunity.

If you are interested in learning more about the programs we participate in or how you might get involved, please send me an email at [email protected] or add your name to the sign-up sheet located in the Palmer Room.

Kerry Marchetti-Knarr
2U Night Ministry Outreach Program Coordinator
2U Hosts ONE Northside Fall Fundraiser
On Thursday, October 22, Second Unitarian hosted the ONE Northside annual fall fundraiser. The gala has been previously held in a private home, but this year with over one hundred attendees, a larger venue was needed. Not only did 2U host the event, but the ceremonies were led by ONE Northside activists who are also members of 2U.
 
Karen Goldner spoke of the accomplishments of ONE Northside and how these activities mesh into the social justice framework here at Second Unitarian. Curtis Smith introduced the speaker of the evening Ai-jen Poo, the director of the National Workers Alliance.  
 
Ai-jen spoke of the efforts to organize home care workers who are paid an average o $13,000 a year for their essential work. She told how the nation is increasingly falling into a racial and generational divide as the mostly white baby boomers continue to retire at an increasing rate at the same time the nation as a whole is becoming majority non-white.
From Social Justice
Please click here to view the latest report from Social Justice!
Update on Plate-Sharing Application Deadline
Organizations to receive plate-sharing dollars, 50% of the plate of a designated month, are selected by the Social Justice Council (SJC). Members of 2U who are active with an organization involved in social justice/social service work may secure an application form and submit it through the church office. Applicants are provided an opportunity to meet face-to-face with the SJC, which meets after services the first Sunday of each month, for approximately 20 minutes. Applications for January-March, 2016 will be DUE ON SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22nd! SJC's December 6th meeting will provide an opportunity for face-to-face meetings with the applicants. If you are considering applying, please feel free to approach Norm Groetzinger, who is coordinating the plate-sharing program on behalf of SJC. Electronic submissions are preferred, so that we can distribute them to the entire SJC in advance of the meeting. Norm can be reached at [email protected] or 773-525-4262.
Thank You Spot!
 
  • Thank you to whoever weeded and cleared and tidied 2U's front yard, making our building more cheerful and our city
    more spiffy.
  • Thank you to whoever does the kitchen laundry - keeping us supplied with clean towels and dishcloths and wipe-up rags.
  • Thank you to whoever puts the inserts in the Sunday programs - so we can know what the heck is going on during the service.
This space is for the many many things around 2U that we'd like to thank someone for, but we don't know who. Do you have a thank you you'd like to share? Please email it to [email protected].
Choir Corner
The 2U choir rehearses in the sanctuary on Tuesday evenings from 7:15 to 8:30. All voices are welcome! Sopranos and tenors are especially welcome! Share notes and vibratos with your fellow congregants - join the choir! For more information, please our Music Director, Marianne Parker, at [email protected].
Money Matters
The weekly cost of running 2U is $6,321!

2U's annual budget for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2016 is $328,672.

For the Year to Date period July 1 to September 30, 2015:
Actual Pledges + Collection Plate =
$64,761
Budgeted Pledges + Collection Plate =
$60,153
     Surplus or (Deficit)
$4,608

ActualBudgeted
Total Revenues Year-to-Date =$112,731*
$87,359
Total Expenses Year-to-Date =$74,902
$77,818
     Total Surplus or (Deficit)$37,829
$9,541

In September, we raised $581.58 towards the collection plate sharing recipient, ONE Northside.

*Includes $20,000 transfer from Fleishman Fund to Operating Account; will indicate transfer from Operating Account back to Fleishman Fund in near future.

Thank you so much for helping to make 2U possible!
Stay Connected
Did you know that the UUA and MidAmerica Region UUA have their own respective newsletters?

Click here for more information about the UUA and click here to sign up for their newsletter, UU World.

Click here for more information about the MidAmerica Region UUA and click here to sign up for their newsletter.
Submission Deadlines
Have a message to put in the next Anvil or Orders of Service? Plan ahead! 

Please have all submissions for the next newsletter submitted by noon on Wednesday, November 11.

Please have all submissions for the Orders of Service submitted by noon on Wednesday prior to the Sunday you'd like the announcement to appear.

Second Unitarian Church of Chicago
656 West Barry Avenue
Chicago, IL 60657

Phone: (773) 549-0260