Being Called: Actions that Transform Movements

There are moments that transform movements and movements that transform the moment. There are people who have risked everything to uphold their values and have paid the ultimate price. In this moment, when so much is calling to us, with urgency and in crisis, how are we called to respond? What is ours to do? Rev. Eileen leads the service with Andy Fisher as Worship Associate. Henry Pleas is our guest vocalist with Gregory Shifrin on piano.

Children & youth will remain in the worship service.

Pledge Drive Potluck during Kinship - bring your favorite dish to share!

If you turn your pledge form in by February 29th you are automatically entered into our drawing for a fabulous potluck themed prize.

This is not to be missed!

Our UCE World Made Whole Casserole is bubbling with deliciousness as we enter the final stage of the annual pledge drive! We are 12% or $77,477 away from our pledge drive goal of $642,000, with 192 households submitting their pledge form as of February 29th. 

If you did not receive the email with your personalized pledge packet, and it did not land in your spam or junk box, please contact the pledge team by calling 847-864-1330, Ext. 111, or emailing pledgeinfo@ucevanston.org.

Don't forget, there will be two Budget Town Halls in March to answer your questions about the proposed 2024-2025 Operating Budget:

Tuesday, March 12 at 7:00 pm CT via ZOOM (click here for link)

Sunday, March 24 at 12:30 pm CT in the sanctuary after kinship time.

MARCH MEMBERSHIP CLASSES

Our Journey of Belonging Series is a 3-part class for visitors and members. Get to know folks in our UCE community as we delve into our UU history, sources, and values. This series is great for all members and highly recommended for visitors and new members. 

Join Rev. Susan and the Membership Team Membership Team for our next Journey of Belonging series on March 5, 12, and 26 from 7:00-8:00 pm via Zoom. Register here.

REALM TRAINING!

Join Adam Gough on Sunday, March 10, from 12:00-1:00 pm in Room 12 for a REALM training to increase your capacity to use this communication tool. Learn how to use the Membership Directory, put the Realm app on your phone, email your team, and more. Register here - or just show up.

Beloved Community Equity Impact Assessment - It's Ready!

We are thrilled to announce that the Beloved Community Equity Impact Assessment is now available for use by the entire congregation. This is a powerful tool that will help us become more inclusive and equitable as we plan our events at UCE. The UCE Anti-Oppression Task Force has worked hard to make this document user friendly and comprehensive. It includes questions to consider about how a proposal, program or activity could affect different groups of people, especially those who are marginalized or oppressed. By using this document in your planning, you will be contributing to the UCE vision of dismantling white supremacy and making justice a reality in our community.

The new Equity Impact Assessment will be emailed to all committees and groups so you can review it and share it with your fellow members. You can also access it online by visiting https://ucevanston.org/resources/ and clicking on “Equity Impact Assessment.” You can also access it here.

If you have any questions or feedback, please contact: Reverend Susan Frances, sfrances@ucevanston.org

We hope you will find this document useful and inspiring for your work. Thank you for your commitment to building the beloved community at UCE!

Here at UCE, leaders draw upon our mission and spiritual grounding, two guideposts all of us can call upon as part of our living tradition. In this five-part series, learn more about the components of the UCE Leadership Model and how to assess the skills you have and want to improve. Whether you are in a formally designated leadership role or someone who leads through your participation, the Leadership Model offers something for you. Reach out via Realm to any members of the UCE Leadership Development Team: Carolyn Laughlin (chair), Janelle Brittain, Jim Dibble, Joyce Lofstrom, and Kathy Monk.

2. Build Relationships: Fostering Connection

At the heart of effective leadership lies the ability to nurture meaningful relationships. Leaders at UCE prioritize building trust, demonstrating humility, and fostering an inclusive environment where every member feels valued. For example, they organize social gatherings and small group discussions to create opportunities for members to get to know each other more deeply. Leaders strengthen connections by actively listening, showing genuine care, and making a sense of belonging for all. They empower each member to contribute their unique gifts and perspectives through mutual respect and support, fostering a strong sense of community.

View pages 2-8 of the UCE Leadership Model Resource Guide for resources on fostering connection.

Take the self-assessment to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of your leadership skills based on the Leadership Model. 

The REAL Team Annotated Booklist is now online! 

Volunteers from the Racial Equity Action and Leadership (REAL) Lending Library Team have created an annotated booklist, both fiction and non-fiction, for those of you who want to understand more about race in America. So many books about race a published everyday that it is not possible to have all the books printed on racism and oppression, but we have an array of wonderful books you might explore. The listing categorizes books by author, title, genre, date of publication, and numbers of pages. It also provides a short description to further help you choose what to read.

This resource is available to on the UCE website under Members and Friends, Members & Friends Resources and clicking on "REAL Team Annotated Book List.".  Or click the buttons below!

Latest Endowment Fund Grants Approved by the Board of Trustees

The Endowment Committee and Board of Trustees completed review of the Jan. 31, 2024 submission of grant applications. A total of nine additional grants were approved. Here is a brief description of just the Community Project Grants that were approved:

1. Food and Shelter Team (FAST) submission: 2nd Baptist Church offers a weekly Lunch Soup Kitchen and requested sponsorship from Interfaith Action churches. A grant of $3,150 was made to cover one lunch per month, March through December.

2. REAL Team submission: YoFresh Café Lawn Party (with 2nd Baptist Church): An annual event to share hospitality and build relationships with the community beyond our walls, this $1,328 grant provides the refreshments and entertainment for this multi-generational event. The REAL Team partners with YoFresh Café, a black-owned Evanston family business, for the frozen yogurt sundaes. Watch the newsletter for the summer event and plan to attend!

3. Immigrant Solidarity Team: A $2,000 grant was approved to underwrite an educational event sponsored by the Evanston Interfaith Clergy and Leaders (EICL) on the origins and history of the Palestinian and Israeli conflict in order to build greater understanding. An upcoming second event is an interfaith book discussion of Apeirogon, an historical fiction by Colum McCann, scheduled for Sunday, March 24th. (The book is also the March selection for the UCE Fiction Book Club, to be held March 15. Contact Margaret Shaklee, mshaklee4417 at gmail dot com, for more information.)

Look for information about January 31 Endowment grants in the other two categories in upcoming newsletters!

Get ready! Plans are already underway for the 2024 Rummage Sale.

As winter winds down and spring-cleaning approaches, please set aside items for donating to this year’s sale and encourage friends and neighbors to do the same!

Key dates to mark on your calendar:

2024 Sale Dates: Fri 5/3/24 – Sat 5/4/24

2024 Donation Dates: Sun 4/28/24 – Mon 4/29/24

2024 Setup Dates: Sun 4/28/24 – Thurs 5/2/24

What items are being accepted? As we have in the last two years, we will soon publish the 2024 Donation Tip Sheet.

Beginning in mid-March, the rummage sale planning committee will sponsor an informational table on Sundays at the back of the sanctuary. Likewise, we will post announcements to this newsletter.

Thank you for your past support of the sale. We look forward to your participation once again!

Email rummage@ucevanston.org with questions,

comments or suggestions.

Calling All Adults! As we consider future faith formation programs, please take 3-5 minutes to complete this short survey to help guide us in our choices. Thanks for helping us!

Young Adult Gathering at Sketchbook in Skokie – Friday March 1st at 6:30pm

All young adults (18-35yo) are invited to meet at Sketchbook Brewing for some games, beverages, and a taco truck. Feel free to bring a game or snack to share.

Volunteer Meet-Up March 10, 12-1pm in Room 3

All of our wonderful volunteers in the faith formation program are invited to a gathering to share our joys as well as the insights we get from our young people in this shared ministry. Light snacks and childcare provided.

Family Friday – March 15 at 6-7:30pm



Families are invited to gather for some Day-After-Pi-Day Potluck fun! Bring a dish to share that is shaped in a circle or a family favorite food.

Summer Camp Info –

Registration for summer camps for kids, youth, and families has begun! Check out a list of some UU camps around the country.

Guest Essay in Evanston Roundtable: Evanston Clergy Denounce Hate. READ MORE.

Six of us from the Unitarian Church of Evanston met with IL Senator Laura Fine and her assistant on February 27 to urge action on items identified by the UCE Legislative Advocacy Team.

Click Here for her responses to our requests.

Election Judges & Polling Place Technicians Needed!

Apply to be a Cook County Election Judge or Polling Place Technician with the Cook County Clerk's Office. 

UCE will be a polling place for the March 19th primaries. If you apply and would specifically like to be placed at UCE on voting day, also email Rev. Susan at sfrances@ucevanston.org as soon as you apply but no later than March 1, 2024. She will submit your name to the Board of Elections. There is no guarantee, but their office will try to get you placed at UCE.

Abortion Access Team Update

Our Abortion Access Team (AAT) is on hiatus for the remainder of this congregational year. Jean Butzen and Jon Siegel continue to be the co-chairs. The AAT has not been disbanded, which means that we are still a team to be called upon when a moment arises. This means that anyone may reach out to Jean, Jon, or Rev. Susan to bring something to the entire team, such as inviting members to participate in an event, sharing plans to organize a program, or putting information in the newsletter. 

For some context, we want to share with you that organizing and volunteerism within UCE is following a national trend of shifting away from the traditional monthly meeting model to being a model in which like-focused people are connected and able to come together as needed to accomplish something. It is a model that tends to reduce burnout and ultimately lead to involvement by a greater number of people. That is the model the AAT is following and we’re looking forward to seeing where it takes us. If you have any questions about the way the AAT is moving forward, please contact Rev. Susan at sfrances@ucevanston.org.

As we move into an election year, the Abortion Access Team cannot stress enough the importance of the intersection between preserving our democracy and regaining widespread abortion access. It is vital that all of us do what we can to encourage folks in Illinois and other states to vote for candidates who support bodily autonomy.

Postcarding is back! Sunday, March 10th,

UCE launches our 2024 UU the Vote campaign to protect democracy and champion our UU values! This enthusiastic celebration during Kinship Time, complete with treats, will include introducing how to get involved in our two major 2024 election related projects:

 We are continuing our partnership with Reclaim Our Vote (program of Center for Common Ground) to send thousands of postcards to disenfranchised voters in southern states. We’ll encourage them to get to the polls and provide essential information to enable them to vote their values in this year's primary and general elections. Postcarding! Greg Grabowski is our postcard coordinator. Wisconsin Voter Registration! Shirley Adams is our WI voter registration coordinator.

Read on to learn more or stop by the UUtheVote Program Table after the service on March 10th!