3/22/15 Doug Kerr 

 3/29/15 Jim Gronvold

 4/5/15 June Fesler

 4/12/15 Wisdom/Humor Potluck

WE are celebrating Gratitude and Commitment with pony rides, pie eating contest, family games, BBQ (meat and vegan) - April 11th noon to 3pm.

March 29, after service: Easter hat making - Bring a hat to decorate, supplies you want to share. We have a dozen kid's straw fedoras to share and feathers and ribbon, etc.

Also bring a dozen hard boiled eggs for coloring during March 29 service- all ages welcome - in preparation for Easter and Flower Communion Sunday April 5th.  We expect Peter Rabbit will return to lead the children in an egg hunt after service.*Warning* there will be candy on April 5th.

Please welcome Susan Britton as our new Nursery Care Provider. (Please see her note of hello/bio below.)

Mother's Day Service, May 10th - Children and Youth will be involved in preparing and presenting in our Mother's Day service . It will be darling cute!!

Jeffrey Melcher, M.Div.

(415) 479-4131 ext. 104,   DRE@uuMarin.org

I am thrilled to be part of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Marin family as your Nursery Care Provider! I am also a Special Para-educator for the County of Marin, since 1999.  I taught preschool for 12 years. My experience as a caregiver for children from infancy to toddlers spans 43 years. I love to plan art projects, play games and create new activities for children. Of course creative "snacks" are a must! I taught a preschool and enrichment after-school program. I love to read books to children and get them involved in "storytelling" as we read. Each week I will come up with new ideas for the children to participate in. Endless possibilities. I look forward to meeting all the families. I am open to suggestions and easy to talk to! See you Sundays! ~ Susan

The Spring Round-up on the Prairie is a miraculous ride of twisting and turning of horses and cowpokes to align the herd and keep them headed for the home corral.  And so it is the same at UUCM as we herd our financial resources to fund next year's program.  As you have heard from others, both younger and older alike, our UUCM corral holds such an important place in their lives: To come home where they feel vital among others whose acceptance and respect for differences abounds within a stimulating environment of free thinkers and explorers.

So for all you stragglers still moseying in the draws and canyons of everyday life, we are calling you to join the others.  Together we are indeed stronger.  And for those who have already "Ponied up" we thank you for your amazing contributions.  From the call to increase last year's pledges by 10%, we have a 62% return of increased pledges for an average 15.9% increase! Yippee kay ye!

With less than two weeks left in our Gratitude and Commitment Campaign, we are looking at our celebratory BBQ on April 11th.  So dust off those cowpoke hats and your pie baking skills and plan to join us for an all family gathering of fun, food and frolic.  We already have the live ponies lined up and are looking for pie judges among us.  Anyone interested?  Talk with "Lefty" (aka Lisa Wiggins).

Lefty

(Lisa Wiggins, Head Wrangler of our Round-up)

Come one, come all: April 11th (High noon to 3PM) to celebrate the success of our pledge drive.  The BBQ fires and ice cream making machines will be going. Your homemade pies will be lining up for tasting while the kids will be lining up for live pony rides.  And as a special treat we are going to leave the beef and pork live on the hoof in the fields and focus on vegetarian and vegan entrees, with an option of chicken for those omnivores. Think mouth-watering grilled Portobello mushrooms, grilled vegan delights with honey lime and chipotle sauce, roasted garlic corn and creamy dill potato salad.  And there will be a special contest category prize for the best vegan pie along with the others. 

Come meet two more REMARKABLE UU personalities.  Bev Munyon will share about what you know (and may not know) about how she has come to share her gifts in teaching and music with us and others. And you can learn more about our ever-ready, omnicompetent congregational Administrator (aka Chief Herder of UU Cats), Janette Morrow.  Sharing life stories renews us all.

Thursday March 19 at 7:30 pm in the Fireside Room.

Come understand the Exodus story in a contemporary light.

Our ongoing series of conversations with Reverend Robert (Bob) Drake, Reverend Chip Wright and Rev. Lisa Wiggins continues on March 22.  

March 22: The Exodus, with Rev. Lisa Wiggins
April 12: Genesis 1 and 2 (What? Two Creation Accounts?!) with Rev. Robert Drake

April 26: Adam and Eve and the Garden, with Rev. Robert Drake
May 24: Babel: What Tower? with Rev. Robert Drake

Really fun childcare provided, RSVP for childcare to Ilana Trumbull ilanala@comcast.net today, Thurs March 19th.

Bring your own bag lunch or loaves and fishes (if no other lunch is being offered by any UUCM group that Sunday). Beverages will be provided.  Sessions will be in the Clara Barton Room from "after the service" (approx. 12 noon) until 1:30 pm.

You may come to just one or all sessions; no prior commitment required. 

More info

To come to the shelter or to bring your dish to UUCM on Sunday morning, contact -  415-595-6221 figleafjoan@comcast.net 

Some of the helpers from a previous week.

Our own UUCM member, Geri Randall, came from a poor family. Her own education (she is an attorney) marked a "sea change" in her circumstances, and led to her desire to make advancement through education available to others.

At a San Francisco UU Sunday service, she became aware of ANSWER, a program founded and run by a UU which provides educational opportunities as an exit from caste and poverty in Nepal. She has already sponsored six  kids, and has even gone to Nepal to experience the program first hand.

Reminding us that ANSWER embodies the Chinese proverb: "If you give a man a fish you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish you feed him for a lifetime," she invites us all to attend the Social Justice Committee's educational luncheon on March 29. 12:30 Fellowship Hall.

Suggested food Donation $8 (or bring a dish to share.) Nobody turned away. If you want childcare for the luncheon contact  figleafjoan@comcast.net 415-595-622.

The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Marin (uumarin.org) is now accepting proposals for a UU Young Adult organizer at UUCM. We are looking to hire someone for about five hrs per week to do a startup for us. Knowledge of UUYAN required. 

Please contact Jef Melcher, Director of Religious Education: DRE@uuMarin.org

It takes a village to support shared ministry.  Some people are exemplars and inspirations to others, sometimes they work behind the scenes; however, without them the shared ministries could not happen.   This is the time to lift those people up high, to be celebrated and thanked.  Please see specifications for the Awards below.

All nominations must be received no later than April 3, 2015. Please send Nominations to:awards@pcd-uua.org

To register, go to: http://www.pcd-uua.org and follow the DA2015 link.