Sunday Service January 19, 2025 at 10:30am 

Social Action Project, February 7th, 6-8:30pm

Our project is for a local animal shelter, C.A.R.E.

We're collecting old adult-sized t-shirts to make tug toys for dogs. Add toys to the labeled bin next to the Giving House in the lobby. 

We’ll also be making scratch pads for cats.

Bring a snack to share and adult-sized scissors for cutting fabric.

Meeting Our Interfaith Neighbors

We will gather on January 21st at 7p at UCE to share our experiences from visiting the Midwest Buddhist Temple.

You can register here to be included on future emails.

Create Your Own Elevator Speech

January 29, 7-8:3pm

Have you ever been caught tongue-tied when asked about Unitarian Universalism? Then this program is for you! Create Your Own Elevator Speech guides participants through developing an elevator speech about their UU faith. It is called an “elevator speech” because, on an elevator ride when someone asks you “what is Unitarian Universalism?” you only have a short time to make a meaningful statement. Register here!

UPDATES FROM REV. EILEEN WIVIOTT

Less than two weeks ago, in our fire communion service, I read from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book about the Shkitagen: The People of the Seventh Fire, and about her father’s teachings of different types of fires. We used fire in our ritual of burning away the dried and brittle brush of our spirits, that which is no longer serving us, to make room for what might bloom. And then four fires emerged in the Los Angeles area, fed by the Santa Anna winds and whipped into the most destructive fires the state has ever experienced. The devastation feels unimaginable, overpowering and overwhelming. For those who have loved ones there you are fearing for or helping to get out of harm’s way, I send you prayers and wishes for well-being. Most of us can only watch from a distance and imagine the agony of losing everything we own, our whole community, a sense of place and history.

• 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!

Dave Woods Celebration of Life

On Saturday, February 1 at 1 pm, we will celebrate the life of our much beloved Dave Woods. Two Margarets (Shaklee & Talmage) are organizing hospitality. If it would please you to take on a small role or bring a favorite food to honor Dave click HERE, make your selection and click SignUP!

If you want to opt out of the technology, email Margaret Shaklee (mshaklee4417 at gmail dot com) with your offer to help.

The service will also be streamed live HERE.

Many thanks!

THE CARING TEAM NEEDS MORE VOLUNTEERS FOR

MEALS AND RIDES

In case you didn't hear Jean Butzen's moving testimonial in church, she spoke in gratitude about receiving meals at her home after her second hip replacement. Other members have received rides to doctor's appointments and church.

The Caring Team invites you to join the list of folks who can bring meals or provide rides. This does not obligate you to do anything; it just allows you to know when there is a need. 

Please consider letting Ellie Feddersen (elliefeddersen@gmail.com or 847-452-3142) know if you would like to be added to the list. Just let us know if it is for meals or rides or both.

 Winter Friendship Meals Seeking Hosts



The Congregational Connections Team is seeking 1-2 more hosts for the Winter Session Friendship Meals, which will be held March 7th-16th. We are so grateful to those who have already offered to host!

Contact Margaret Koreman (Margaret.Koreman@gmail.com) ASAP if you would enjoy hosting, have questions, or are interested in future hosting. Winter session hosts must be secured by Feb 3rd and will have until Feb 10th to button down their details (date, time, venue/menu notes).

Hosts generously open their homes for guests to share a potluck brunch, lunch or dinner, or they organize a “split-the-bill” restaurant gathering within a mobility-accessible venue.

Friendship Meals are a great way for members and friends to make and strengthen relationships. Meal attendance sign ups begin 2/14/2025. Stay tuned to attend!!

Learn about UCE's South Rain Garden Renovation!



More than a decade ago UCE installed our South Rain Garden. It has been researched by Northwestern University students. Now it is time to renovate this garden as it has become overrun with invasive plants. The Garden Team will be sharing what we learned from NU’s research and how we’ll be renovating the South Rain Garden at one more public meeting, before sending a proposal to Endowment for this important project. The meeting will be in on Sunday, Jan 19^th at 12:00 after church service in Room 6. Come learn about why we need rain gardens and how ours is going to be beautifully biodiverse again.

UCE Young Adult Group

Third Friday Faith Formation & Game Nights

Our next gathering is tonight! 7-9pm



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.

St Luke's Episcopal Church has challenged us to see who can get more walkers in the Walk for Warmth on January 20th! We accept their challenge! Let's see which congregation can raise the most money in the Walk for Warmth. This year participants can choose to walk 2 miles, or a shorter distance in case the day is really cold as it was last year. 

Join us for this important event!

The People’s Inauguration: The Sounds of Freedom

2025 Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Faith in Action Assembly 

Monday, January 20, 2025  1:00 PM - 2:30 PM

• Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, 2233 S Martin Luther King Dr., Chicago
• Please register here!
• Several of us will take CTA to the Assembly. 
• Contact Shirley Adams if you want more information.

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.  

Zoning, Housing and Faith Communities

A presentation by Connections for the Homeless

At UCE on Wednesday, February 5th at 7pm

What does zoning have to do with the high cost of housing or people experiencing homelessness? Plenty, actually, but it’s complicated.

The City of Evanston is rewriting its zoning code during its Envision Evanston 2045 process. The last time the zoning code was rewritten was in 1993, which means many of our laws are outdated and actually reinforce some of the inequities in our community. Evanston’s bad zoning laws limit our ability to find housing we can afford, live near transportation, and access essential community resources and businesses. We need zoning that works for us, not against us. 

To talk about the impact, what the City is doing about it, why faith communities should care, and what you can do to make a difference,  join us on February 5th at 7pm at the Unitarian Church of Evanston.

Read the Evanston Clergy and Leaders letter to the Zoning Commission here

Please help spread the word, thanks!

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 C&W Market Foundation, whose mission is to enrich the Evanston community by providing essential grocery access to those facing food insecurity and fostering career skills in the food and culinary industry.

Applications for Community Partners Grants Due January 31

Applications for the Endowment Fund Community Partners Grants are due January 31, 2025. Applications must be submitted by a team or group within UCE. If you are involved with an organization which has at least a three-year relationship with UCE, please talk with someone on a social justice team about applying. For information about who to contact or if you have questions, please be in touch with Sandy Danforth, Social Justice Council Community Partners Grants Coordinator, at danforthsc@mac.com.

The next meeting of the UCE Fiction Book Group

is tonight, January 17th by ZOOM, 7-8pm

using our Recurring Zoom link

The UCE Fiction Book Group is reading

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