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News & Events
September 8, 2015
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Worcester Pride has been working for equal rights for the LGBT community for 40 years. For the past several years, Worcester Pride has presented a Pride Week in September. This year's events feature a pageant, a flag raising, a youth dance and the Festival and Parade on Saturday, September 12. (2015 Worcester Pride Guide
First UU's will show support for Worcester Pride and LGBT persons in three ways:
1) March in the parade with the Reverend Sarah Stewart who will be carrying our banner,
2) Watch the Gay Pride Parade from our Main St. steps to cheer the parade. Last year there were 30 of us waving to the marchers from the church steps. This year we will be waving and also distributing water to the marchersm
3) Greet Festival goers at our booth/table on the Common.
The Parade will leave Humboldt St at 11:00 a.m. and proceed down Salisbury St. to Main St past our front doors, and to the Common, giving us an extraordinary opportunity to show ourselves as a welcoming congregation! PLEASE JOIN Sarah and other UU's in the parade or on our front steps to show our welcome and support as the parade passes. Better yet, plan to come and offer a ride to your circle members who would like to come with you.
This is a family friendly event, so bring the kids and come join us. Let's see if we can pack our steps with 50 supporters this year!
Can you give an hour or two to be at our table during the Festival between 12:00 and 6:00 p.m.? Please contact Jeannine Beratta (jberatta@gmail.com).
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Pledge Campaign
Kick-off Package Is in the Mail
In this week's mail, you will be receiving our pledge campaign kick-off letter from Rev. Stewart, along with the Pledge Day brochure, your pledge card, and a helpful Giving Guide. The brochure information and the Giving Guide are also posted on the Stewardship Blog http://firstunitarianstewardship.blogspot.com/. The brochure describes all the exciting and fun activities we have lined up for Pledge Day on Saturday, October 3.
New this year, you can pledge on line directly from the First Unitarian Church website. Check out the new "Pledge Now" link at http://www.firstunitarian.com/.
As a special thank you for pledging early, every pledge completed by Pledge Day will be entered into a raffle to win an Apple iPad Mini!
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Save the Date - Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015
Pledge Day
A day of festivities celebrating our commitment to First Unitarian
There will be plenty of food, games and entertainment
An added bonus:
Your completed pledge card gives you the opportunity to recycle all those unwanted electronics!
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Nominations for our
50-50 Donation Program
Again this year our Social Justice Committee is coordinating our 50-50 donation program, featuring a different local organization each month for 9 months, this October through next June. One Sunday each month, we will send half of our Sunday plate collection to the featured organization for that month. The Social Justice Committee is now soliciting nominations of local organizations to participate in our 50-50 donation program in the coming church year. If you would like to nominate a local charitable organization, please fill the online form found here, or fill out a paper form found at the Welcome Table and send the form to the church office, or hand it to Eileen McMahon or Peggy Middaugh or Paul Ropp.
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GARDEN FRIENDS Thanks to everyone who weeded and watered our gardens over the summer-from the colorful pots on the front porch, through the side gardens, and all the way up the hill to the tree line, everything looks alive and reasonably loved, cared for, and lived in. Many of our neighbors have reported enjoying our front porch and side gardens, and it's great to know we're providing greenery and respite to the local community too. Also thanks to everyone who hosted and attended this year's garden tours-these weekly Sunday afternoon events have become a great new traditional way to celebrate nature and share community in an amazing variety of beautiful settings. So thanks to all the many unsung but much appreciated heroes who have supported these gardening activities.
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Grounds Up-keep Day
Volunteers Needed
Please join us on Saturday, September 12th , 9 am to noon, for some grounds up-keep and to help get ready for the opening day of our regular church year on the 13th. Bring your ideas, gloves, and favorite trimming tools, and we'll provide some light refreshments. If you have suggestions or questions before that, please contact Mary McAlister maryalmc@gmail.com or Kate O'Dell odellkk@gmail.com, this year's Friends of the Gardens co-chairs. And thanks.
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UU Sisterhood
Monthly Potluck September 18th Summer is winding down and it's time to get back to our regular activities. Our Sisterhood in-gathering meeting is just around the corner. As we do every year, we will use this meeting to catch up with old friends, reminisce about our summer activities and most importantly get to the task of setting our calendar for the year. Many of you have probably sent ideas to Madeline already and she will let us know what those were. In addition, we will be rounding out the calendar with ideas from the floor. Please come to share your good ideas.
We will meet on Friday September 18th. People begin to gather around 6:00pm and dinner is served at 6:30pm. Please bring a dish to share. All women of the church are welcome to attend.
Click here to see program ideas that we have so far.
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HYGIENE KIT Project for
Pledge Day, October 2015
We at First Unitarian are planning a service project of making HYGIENE KITS for refugee children/families facing disaster or crisis. Each kit contains a toothbrush, a bar of soap, a hand towel and a fingernail clipper. The kits are packaged and distributed in a useful, double-drawstring cloth bag (11" x 16"). We will be sewing the bags and collecting the contents on Saturday, October 3, 2015 from 11 AM to 3 PM. They will be distributed by Mennonite Central Committee, a non-profit agency providing relief, service, and peace services to people facing disaster or crisis. Last year MCC distributed 45,167 hygiene kits to people in Jordan, Syria, Honduras, Lebanon, Haiti, Ukraine, Iraq, the U.S and other countries. See http://mcc.org/get-involved/kits There is still an urgent need for hygiene kits to offer comfort to families in crisis around the world. This is a great project to do with children!
Please bring kit contents (dark-colored hand towel, 1 toothbrush, 1 bar bath soap, 1 nail clipper, all in original packaging) to the Bancroft Room Kit Display Board anytime from now until October 3. Also bring lengths of material (unfinished size is 38" x 12 ½") for sewing the cloth bags on October 3rd. You may also bring $12, if you prefer, and we will shop for the kit contents. The Hygiene Kits are a tangible way to share God's love and compassion, reminding people that they are not forgotten.
Thank You!
Please contact Cindy Cordova (cgrnc2@yahoo.com) or Marjorie Ropp (508-752-8373) for more information
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Delightful Afternoon of Music in the Gardens
Will Sherwood's "Floral Symphony" Garden Tour with freshly picked melodies every half hour closed the summer series of visits to local gardens.
The event raised about $900 for the Encore Fund. We want to thank all those who contributed, and to the musicians, including our own Madeline Browning (flute), Jerry Bellows(recorder), and Sue Holcomb(violin). Replete with a small orchard, perennial gardens (with music!), and designed vegetable gardens, the event was enjoyed by all. Additional information and pictures at: www.SherwoodPhoto.com/gardens
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Important First U Links -
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