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Unity Church of North Easton News
(Unitarian Universalist)
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"Welcoming people into community to grow in thought, spirit, and service to others."
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Volume 4, No. 11, February 13, 2015
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 "I'd love to help but I'm just not in a position to join a committee right now." Does this ring true with you? Well then I've got great news! There are lots of ways to contribute to our community without joining a committee.
Years ago when I first started coming to Unity I did just that. I came to church on Sundays. Church was a place to go. After a while I was asked to help with this or that and I became more involved. It was then that I really started to feel like part of the community. Church became something to do. Once I started to do church I really got the most out of it. If you're going to church but not doing church then you don't know what you're missing!
Back to the original problem. How can you do church if you can't join a committee? Committee members are critical to make decisions and steer the direction of the church. However, they need help getting things done. Every committee could use some doers - non-committee members willing to take on a short term, specific task. For example, the fundraising committee has some big plans to raise much needed funds but not enough people to pull it off. (See the fundraising article below.)
Involved, committed members make for a strong church and offer personal benefits that far exceed just going to church. I look forward to the day when every single voting member contributes to at least one project a year. There's something to do for everyone.
Please contact me or any committee member if you are ready to do church!
Jason Gold, President
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When the Weather Outside is Frightful (oh, it HAS been)
For the safety of our friends and members, in case of extreme weather conditions, please call the church office (508-238-6373) after 8:30 a.m. on the day of the Service or church event for a message about whether the Service or event has been canceled.
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Our Caring CommUnity
As a loving, spiritual community many of us feel the call to serve our members and friends who so graciously and gratefully receive it. Unity Church's Caring CommUnity seeks to serve the short term caring needs of members and friends of the church as best as possible.
To let us know how you might help with this service, or if you need a hand from us, please complete one or both of the forms below:
You can download and print the form and manually fill it in, or complete it electronically from your computer. Once you have completed it, please either:
- mail it to the church office, to the attention of Edie Marsden and the Caring Committee, or
- drop it in one of the Caring CommUnity boxes at the back of sanctuary or Parish Hall, or
- e-mail it to Edie Marsden.
In the meantime, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact Edie Mardsen or Marie Pires.
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Finance Committee Jingle
Dear Unity Folks,
The Finance Committee (Michael Achey and Anne Fredericks) would like to present the church members with a mid-year update and some thoughts for the future.
Last summer, the membership of Unity Church approved a deficit budget which anticipated a $22,000 loss that would be funded by using cash reserves. Members affirmed the importance of funding both the Ministerial and Religious Education components of our church while working to rebuild our pledge base through growth of membership.
The Good News
- We are current in collections relative to pledges. If this welcome trend continues through year end,
 the "budget reserve" will not be needed and our deficit will be reduced by $9,000.
- Expenses have run a bit lower than anticipated though the storm of January and February 2015 and may erase a bit of that below budget excitement!
The Bad News.... None to Report!
We are happy to see new faces in our pews and hope that this is an early sign of the growth which we seek.
Let me close by reminding us that the overarching goal which evolved from the financial meetings we held last year was our aspiration to return to supporting full-time ministry. Our ability to do so will require that we not only close the deficit we anticipated last year but substantially increase the church's revenue in the future.
A number of fundraising proposals are in the works, so stay tuned (see the article below) and stay warm!
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Fundraising Events - Your Help Needed!
We've been busy planning several exciting fundraising events to raise much needed funds and to reach out to our community. Several people are needed to help plan, organize, and execute them. There's no need to join the committee - just commit to one fundraiser. Here's what is in the works:
Paint Night
Just in the planning stages now - we are hoping to offer a Paint Night to the community sometime in April. Paint Nights are growing in popularity. An artist guides participants through each painting so that everyone comes up with their own unique masterpiece at the end of the night. Food and drink is often included too.
We will once again host them, April 24-26, 2015. Church members register to provide a bed and/or floor space, a shower, and a continental breakfast on Saturday and Sunday mornings for a nominal charge that goes directly to Unity Church. This was a wonderful success last year, generating good will and funds for our community. This is our fourth successful year. You can find more details about this event on the NEFFA page of the Unity web site under the Calendar & Events menu.
Casino Night Benefit
 Also just in the planning stages we are gearing up to hold a Casino Night open to the community sometime in July. Hosted jointly with UCAN, we will split our proceeds with a partner charity. A Casino Night is a big event where players are given a stack of fake money to use for the games. Prizes donated by sponsor companies are raffled off at the end of the night. This is a big one with the potential to raise thousands of dollars for both Unity and our parnter, so planning needs to start immediately.
Change for Unity
In the planning stages this would include a box similar to the Guest at your Table program only spare change would be added to the collection plate. If each family collected a $1 a week in spare change we could add 1 to 2% to our bottom line for the year!
Please contact Jason Gold or Anna Linzi to learn more or to pitch in. We need your help to get these great ideas off the ground!
The Fundraising Committee
Anna Linzi, Jenn Gold, and Melanie D'Aiello |
Do you shop on Amazon.com?
Be sure to visit Amazon through Unity's homepage first. Every time ANYONE uses the Amazon widget, Unity Church receives up to 8.5% of the transaction - at no cost. HOW COOL IS THAT?
How easy would it be for every family who uses Amazon to simply do so through the church's web site? And next could we get friends and other family members to do so? Do you work for a business which orders from Amazon? In order to get credit to Unity Church you MUST use the link on the church's website.
It's easy to make a short cut on your desktop to take you straight to our fundraising page or home page, both of which display the search widget on the right sidebar. Just open a new shortcut and insert
in the target box, then label it Unity-Amazon! Simple!
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Looking for Executive Committee and Church Meeting Minutes, or Member Contact information?
You can find it all on our web site under the Member Access menu, after you log in as a member.
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 New FUUdie Found!
As many of you already know, Unity Church is big on food! Pot lucks, social hours, holiday parties, impromptu meeting noshing, etc.
What you might not know is that if we ever have an event where we invite and offer food to the public that's made in our kitchen, we have to meet the Easton Board of Health (BOH) regulations to ensure everyone's safety.
Marie Pires has agreed to become ServSafe certified. She, along with Cathy Adler, who is also certified, will renew the Easton BOH kitchen certification, so that going forward we can continue to hold public events that include food prepared in our kitchen.
If anyone else is interested in becoming a Unity FUUdie, here's the ServSafe site where you can find more information. The online course and assessment takes about a 1 1/2 hours (at the most), and costs $15, for which you can get reimbursed by Unity.
Feel free to contact Cathy if you're interested in becoming an official "Unity FUUdie", or have any questions about taking the course.
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Saving the Grills!
Big thanks to the hearty group who moved our grills before the big snow: Ellen Dehm for organizing the move, and Jim Baker, Greg Wolfe, Adam Greenstein, and Lief Codianni for the heavy lifting.
Here's where they would have been if they hadn't been moved.
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New to Unity Church?
New to Unity Church or want to Join Our Mailing List?
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Photo/Graphics/Video Credits for this Issue of the Unity News
Cathy Adler, Cheryl Brigante, Ellen Dehm
Unity News Contact Info
For questions or comments regarding this message, please contact Cathy Adler, Unity News Managing Editor & Web Administrator,
at welcome2ucne@gmail.com . |
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