Sunday Service January 5, 2025 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

We’ll enjoy our potluck supper and begin games at 7p.

Come for the food or games or both!

UPDATES FROM DR. EMMA FARRELL

It has been a great honor and pleasure to serve as the ministerial intern at UCE since starting in September. Through this time, I’ve gotten to know many of you and gotten to see how the congregation functions as a whole. I see how members of the congregation come together to support one another in times of crisis and in times of celebration, and it is nourishing to my spirit to witness. I’ve witnessed laughs and tears. The lamentations post-election and the laughs of working together to come up with pledge drive ideas or working together to make food to serve. It truly is a vibrant community...

• 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!

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

UCE Young Adult Group

Third Friday Faith Formation & Game Nights

Our next gathering is January 17th! 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.

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

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.

Can you get on the bus for Climate Day at the Capitol?

The national political scene is bleak, but we’re focusing on what we can do here at home to protect the people and places we all hold dear. Luckily, there’s a lot we can do to protect Illinois from oil and gas corporations and other bad actors on the federal level. We need YOUR voice to urge state leaders to invest in electrification efforts that lower greenhouse gas emissions, make our communities healthier and safer, and ensure all Illinoisans thrive.

The IL Clean Jobs Coalition has reached out to let us know that Sen. Villivalem is asking for environmental advocates to show up at the Statehouse for a Lobby Day on January 7th during IL's Lame Duck Session for a Transportation focused Lobby Day.

Clean energy state officials are feeling pressure that if they don't show strong grassroots support for our climate and equity focused transportation bill (CETA) during lame duck session that we will lose out on funding for the most important climate and equity focused provisions such as the Clean and Reliable Grid Act, Clean and Equitable Transportation Act, and Clean and Healthy Buildings Act. (Read about CETA bill details here.)

We will have a bus leaving from the UCE parking lot and making a second stop in Naperville to make it as convenient as possible for the folks in our region to join.

Use this link to register or because registration is closed, just email Shirley Adams.



This event is sponsored by The Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition, Illinois Environmental Council, Faith in Place, UUANI, Third Act Illinois, and the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Submitted by the Green Team

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

will be 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