Sunday Service December 22nd at 10:30am 

Meeting Our Interfaith Neighbors resumes!



We will be exploring Buddhism beginning January 7 and invite you to join us. You can register here to be included on future emails.

Game Night and Potluck for all ages on January 10, 6-8:30p

• PLEASE NOTE: Newsletter submissions should be sent to Newsletter@ucevanston.org by noon on Wednesdays.

• If you're viewing the newsletter in your email inbox, click on "View entire message" at the bottom of the email to read the full newsletter!

Understanding the revised UUA Article II

By Melanie Kitchner, Denominational Affairs Committee

The UUA Article II Study Commission was charged by the UUA Board to review Article II of the UUA Bylaws. This section of the bylaws is better known as the home of the Principles, Purposes, and Sources. Such a review occurs every fifteen (15) years as a practice of our living faith, to ensure that our guiding theological documents thoughtfully and clearly articulate the heart of Unitarian Universalism.

Endowment Committee Grant Writing Workshop

Please join the Endowment Committee for a workshop and learn how to apply for Endowment Funds for the coming year. The workshop will be held after church on Sunday, January 5th in Room 6. Applications are due January 31st. Participants will also be able to attend online via zoom. Our workshop will explain the different funds that will be available and how to effectively complete the applications. There will be grants available for Community Partner organizations, Community Projects, as well as, for Congregational Support. UCE Endowment grants can be used in the following ways:

1. Special church projects not anticipated in or provided for by the operating budget.

2. To support communities in which UCE resides and operates including spiritual, educational and economic needs.

3. To enhance, repair, supplement or improve UCE’s building and property, including both real and personal property.

4. To provide scholarships and grants to UCE members and staff for education and training.

5. To support the wider mission of Unitarian Universalism.

If you have questions please visit the Endowment Fund webpage and feel welcome to contact any endowment team member with questions: 

 https://ucevanston.org/endowment/

If you are planning to attend please take a moment and send an email confirmation to Topher Carrington at the following email address: christopher.carrington@gmail.com. 

We hope you will join us for the workshop on January 5th. For those attending via zoom, here is the Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9138894063

Submitted by the Endowment Committee

Put Some Stock in the Endowment Fund Stocking!

If you are feeling inspired to support UU values during this winter season, did you know that you can make an even larger impact by donating long-term appreciated securities, including stocks and mutual funds, to the UCE Endowment Fund?

Here is a brief explanation: 

Compared with donating cash, or selling your appreciated securities and contributing the after-tax proceeds, you may potentially increase your gift and save on capital gains taxes if you itemize deductions.

Donating securities that have been held for a year or more offers the potential for a double tax benefit—a full “fair market value” tax deduction and elimination of capital gains taxes. The Endowment Fund would receive the full appreciated value of the securities.

Give this some thought and do consult your tax advisor about your specific situation.



Submitted by the Endowment Team

UCE Young Adult Group

Third Friday Faith Formation & Game Nights

Our next gathering is TODAY, December 20th. Please bring a White Elephant gift of no more than $5.00.

The Young Adult Group at UCE is a group for young adults (18-35) interested in exploring spiritual deepening in community. We meet on every 3rd Friday from 7-9pm in room 3 to discuss monthly Soul Matters themes, check in with each other, eat snacks, and play games.

Contact Kiley Korey (kileyekorey at gmail dot com), Kevin Barrow (kbarrow13 at gmail dot com) or Kathy Underwood (kunderwood at ucevanston dot org) with any questions.

Calling campers of all ages!

A group of us are trying to revive a past UCE tradition: Group camping trips! If you are interested in joining us, please fill out this quick google form so we can take your needs and preferences into account. Please fill this form out before January 5th so that we can begin the process of reserving the best site for our group. Thank you! ~ Grey Wiviott

Interfaith Action of Evanston SNAPGap - January 2025

Please assist with the collection of items to bridge the gap for individuals and families. Your participation and generosity are greatly appreciated. In December we distributed items to more than 250 families.

For January we are collecting:

·      Garbage Bags (any brand with at least 45 bags)

·      Lotion (any brand, 14-18 oz.)

These items will be distributed at the Tues., January 14th Producemobile. Items can be purchased online at:

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/EU78AK7T6LVH/ref=nav_wishlist_lists_1

If you buy these items locally, you can drop them at: St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 1509 Ridge, Evanston, IL 60201.  Drop-off Hours are starting Fri. January 3^rd

·      Monday, Wednesday & Friday, 7:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

·       Sun. Jan. 12th, 12 am - 2 pm.  

The Evanston Running Club and the Unitarian Church are once again hosting a blood drive at the Unitarian Church of Evanston. Last year, we were able to collect 30 donations, and we're hoping to do even better this year. 

The blood drive will be on Saturday, January 11, 2025, from 10am - 4pm, at the Unitarian Church of Evanston, Room #3. Walk-ins are welcome, but it's best to register. 

You can register by using this link -- bit.ly/49emh5A

All donors will receive a coupon for a pint of Culver's ice cream. Also, donors will be entered into a drawing for a $75 gift card from Commonwealth Running.

Our Shared Offering Program is one of the ways that we live into our mission statement "for a world made whole." Each Sunday, the funds collected during our worship service either via text donations or in the collection bowls (and not otherwise designated for a pledge or something else) are shared equally between our operating budget and the current Shared Offering Recipient.

The current Shared Offering Recipient is the Restore Justice Foundation, whose mission is: to make Illinois a safer and more compassionate state by replacing the ineffective, extreme sentencing policies of the past with evidence-based laws that allow families and communities to heal. 

UCE Fiction Book Group

December 20 by ZOOM, 7-8pm

using our Recurring Zoom link

The UCE Fiction Book Group is reading Piranesi, by Susannah Clark.  A selection from the Guardian’s “The Ultimate Literary Comfort Reading List” for these trying times. 

For devotees of Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane and fans of Madeline Miller's Circe, Piranesi introduces an astonishing new world, an infinite labyrinth, full of startling images and surreal beauty, haunted by the tides and the clouds. But hidden in the labyrinthine house is a Great and Secret Knowledge, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.

Future reads:

January 17th:  Tommy Orange, There, There

This award-winning novel follows twelve characters from Native communities: all traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow, all connected to one another in ways they may not yet realize. They converge and collide on one fateful day at the Big Oakland Powwow and together this chorus of voices tells of the plight of the urban Native American—grappling with a complex and painful history, with an inheritance of beauty and spirituality, with communion and sacrifice and heroism.

February 21:  Geraldine Brooks, Horse 

Based on the remarkable true story of the record-breaking thoroughbred Lexington, Horse is a novel of art and science, love and obsession, and our unfinished reckoning with racism. Spanning a century and a half, the story begins with an enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal who forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South. 

ONGOING EVENTS:

(Click on the images to read more)

Unitarian Church of Evanston

1330 Ridge Ave. Evanston, IL 60201

847-864-1330