Here’s what’s coming up in our congregational life—opportunities to connect, learn, and participate in the weeks ahead

Sunday Service

May 24, 2026, at 10:30 a.m. 

Share Plans for 2026-2027

Please save the date of June 13^th from 9:30-10:30 a.m. for a Calendar Visioning meeting. If you are a leader or participant in one of UUCE's programs or groups, please plan to attend and share your visions and plans for 2026-2027. This meeting will happen on Zoom .

Children and youth will go to their faith formation programs after Joys and Sorrows

This Sunday…

Childcare (0-3 years) is available in room 11 from 10:15a.m.-12:15p.m.

Chalice Children (pre/k/1) in room 9 – The children will be hearing the story All the Water in the World and making water color pictures.

Heads, Hearts, and Hands (2nd-5th) in room 8 – In Curiosity and the Future, the young people will explore how curiosity leads to a more exciting world.

Youth Group (6th-9th) in room 10 – In A More Exciting Future, the youth will explore the connection between science and faith and how curiosity changes how we live.

Faith Formation Registration

Please register your young person, ages 1-18, here.

What’s in a Name?

On Sunday, May 17th, at our Annual Meeting, we voted to change the name of the Unitarian Church of Evanston to the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Evanston. I am so grateful for the thoughtful and respectful way we carried out this important work and for those who had courage to speak their mind, both for and against. We have wrestled with this decision in different ways for many years, and I admit to feeling a little like the dog who caught the car. “Golly! What do I do with THIS now?!”

Hats off to the Board of Trustees for ensuring the annual meeting was effective and efficient. You worked together to supply lunch so members could concentrate during the long meeting. You also led the congregation, throughout the year, in having meaningful conversations about changing our name. The discussions were thoughtful, respectful, and honest. The work was important and meaningful and I'm so proud to be a part of this congregation. Thank you to our Board Members: Hòa Voscott, Kera Beskin, Forrest Marie Peters Linsell, Ally Hunter, Sally Parsons, Michael Drennan, Kevin Barrow, Elaine Siegel, and Peg Boccard. Additional thanks to Dana Deane, Board Secretary; Joe Romeo, former Board President; and Linda Herried, of the Committee on Shared Ministry for your roles on the Name Change Task Force. With gratitude for your collective and faithful service to our community.

The Ordination of Dr. Emma Farrell

You are cordially invited to the ordination of our Ministerial Intern, Dr. Emma Farrell, at Unity Temple on June 13, 2:30p.m. We would love to see you there! Please RSVP here. 

Newsletter Information

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Friday, May 22nd:

• UUCE Movie Night, 7-9:30pm, Room 6

Saturday, May 23rd:

• Virtual Pilates, 9:30-10:30am, via Zoom
• Beginner Tai Chi, 9:45-10:45am, Sanctuary
• Intermediate Tai Chi, 11-12pm, Sanctuary

Sunday, May 24th:

• Chris Isley Cancer Support Group, 9-10:15am, Room 6 & Zoom
• Worship Service, 10:30am, Sanctuary
• Kinship Time, 11:30am-12:30pm, Back of the Sanctuary
• The Play's The Thing, 12-2:30pm, Room 3
• Non-Fiction Book Club, 2-3pm, via Zoom

Monday, May 25th: MEMORIAL DAY - UCE OFFICES CLOSED

• UUCE Addictions and Recovery, 6:45-7:45am, via Zoom

Tuesday, May 26th:

• Retired Women's Group, 5-7pm, Room 3

Wednesday, May 27th:

• Yoga, 9:30-10:30am, via Google Meet
• Staff Meeting, 11:00am, Room 2
• Hope Covenant Group, 7-9pm, Room 6
• UUA General Assembly Delegates Session, 7-8pm, via Zoom

Thursday, May 28th:

• Evanston Near South Proximity Group, 1-2pm, via Zoom
• Beacons of Light, 5-5:30pm, Dempster and Ridge
• Meditation Group, 5:30-6:30pm, via Zoom
• Choir Rehearsal, 7-9pm, Room 6
• UUA General Assembly Delegates Session, 7-9pm, via Zoom

Are you working on a Community Project that could use Financial Support?

Your UCE Endowment has funds available to support Social Justice Community Projects. The next deadlines for grant application submissions are May 31 and October 31, 2026. The application forms are on our website here.

On this page, you can also see previous grants funded by your UCE Endowment. If you have questions or want advice or information, contact an Endowment trustee and we will help make the process as simple as possible.

Changes to UUCE Website

As we continue on our journey of refreshing the website, we have reached the moment in the refresh project when we are revising the drop down menus. When we are finished with this part of the refresh project, we will let you know and ask for feedback.

In the meantime, you may need to look around to find something you previously had bookmarked. If you cannot find something on the website that was there before:

1. First, please try using the search bar across the top of the website to look for it.

2. Second, if needed, contact Adam Gough at agough@ucevanston.org and ask him to let you know where it is.

Thank you for your patience as we continue to improve the user's experience of our website.

Retired women are invited to attend our meeting Tuesday, May 26, 5-7p.m. in Room 3. After our potluck, there will be a discussion of issues related to traveling, something that many of us love to do and, because of retirement, have time to do!

Annual Picnic June 7

Our Annual Picnic will be Sunday, June 7th, following our Flower Communion service. Please plan to bring a flower and a dish to share.

We are looking for three volunteers to help with set-up immediate following the worship service and three volunteers to help with clean-up from 12:30-2:00 p.m. If you are available to help, please click here into SignUp.com, go to Sun Jun 7th, and select the Annual Picnic Set-up or Annual Picnic Clean-up spot. It's going to be a fun day!

Child Dedication June 7



If you are a member of UUCE and would like to participate in our child dedication ceremony, please contact Kathy or Rev. Eileen. This ceremony is for children and youth of any age and will be held during the worship service.

The UCE Fiction Book Group is reading Vigil (January 2026) by George Saunders. At the bedside of an oil company CEO as he is ferried by a vibrant Jill “Doll” Blaine from this world into the next. Her job is to bring the charge to understand his impact in the world, before he leaves it. And our oil CEO has no regrets, even as the ghosts of the past in true Dickensian fashion visit him one by one on this his final evening. With George Saunders’ signature whimsy, wit, and dead-on (as it were) reckoning.

Meeting Friday, June 19, at 7p.m. by ZOOM

Movie Night at UUCE!

Consider relaxing and enjoying some snacks while watching this weeks movie night at UUCE in room 6 on Friday 5/22 at 7:30 pm! This month Carlos will be presenting Monty Python's Holy Grail for your viewing pleasure. The run time is 1 Hour 30 minutes, rated PG, is a silly movie depicting Knights of the round table. Bring your friends!

The Nonfiction Book Group will resume its normal schedule of discussions beginning in May, 2026.



We will meet on Sunday, May 24, 2026 at 2 p.m. using our recurring Zoom link to discuss Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. The authors define abundance as the state in which there is enough of what we need to create lives better than what we have had. They focus on the institutions and the people that must build and invent that future using the building blocks of housing transportation, energy and health. 

On June 28th we will discuss Undivided: The Quest for Racial Solidarity in an American Church by Hahrie Han.

Sign ups are open for Summer Friendship Meals! The online sign-up sheet (click here to access) contains meal details; browse the choices and select the one that works best. Ask questions or get sign-up help at the back of the sanctuary after worship on May 24th and 31st. Or contact Margaret Koreman (Margaret.Koreman at gmail dot com) or Mary Bell (marywbell53 at gmail dot com).

Summer Session meals are:

• Sun, June 28th, 2:00PM, Conversation, Pastries, and Tea at Common Cup
• Sun, June 28th, 5:30PM, In-home Italian pesto pasta dinner 
• Sat, July 11th, 11:00AM, In-home brunch Celebrating 250 Years
• Wed, July 15th, 6:00PM, Trivia Night at Sketchbook Brewing
• Sat, July 18th, 4:00PM, In-home Mediterranean dinner with a view
• Sat, July18th, 4:30PM, Five & Dime Rooftop Restaurant dinner
• Thurs, July 23rd, 5:45PM, All-ages outdoor concert at Millennium Park
• Thurs, August 13th, 6:30PM, All-ages In-home chicken verde enchiladas dinner
• Sun, August 16th, 5:30PM, In-home pasta primavera and salmon option dinner
• Sat, August 29th, 5:00PM, Ages 6+ In-home backyard barbeque dinner

UUCE is Going Camping!

UUCE is going camping May 29-31! Please click on this link to reserve a campsite. The top of the form includes links to reserve a site directly with ExploreMore IL, as well as a link to a table where you can see where other UCE campsites will be. If you have any questions or need help with reserving your site, email Grey Wiviott (greyleewivs at gmail dot com). Happy Camping!

VOLUNTEERING OUTSIDE OF UCE – FINAL CONVERSATION 

The Working Group’s final conversation on volunteering outside of UCE will take place Friday, June 5, 2026, in the garden of Jessica Tomell-Presto. This will be the last of the conversations begun in February on volunteering outside of UCE. We envision this gathering as an opportunity to share information about what you do, who benefits and what inspires you. This will also be a chance for you to learn about the different types of volunteer work in our community.     

We will meet in Jessica’s garden on Friday, June 5 at 6:00 p.m. Light refreshments will be served. Please R.S.V.P. to prestomgk at comcast dot net no later than Wednesday, June 3rd. Location information will be sent to those who respond. 

To access the “Social Justice Collaboration Tool” in which UCE congregants have listed their outside volunteer activities, please look at REALM group “UCE Members” and “files”. 

It’s Time to Meet the Moment

UUA General Assembly (GA)

June 14-21, 2026



• It supports our Justice work through connection and sharing with the broader UU community.
• We learn from other UUs about challenges and solutions relevant to UUCE.
• It helps us plan for the future by broadening our vision and providing resources for action.
• UUCE delegates co-create statements or positions that are aligned with our UUCE values and mission.
• It is an invitation to all of us to meet this moment as we collectively work for justice, liberation, and a world made whole

UUA’s study of Abolition, Transformation, Faith Formation will help us address how to replace theologies of retributive justice and violence; connect the many threads of our UCE social justice work in support of abolition; and transform ourselves and society through learning and action. 

Join the conversation! Read more about GA, Abolition, and Serving as a UUCE Delegate

Register for the 1946 Movie in REALM

Family Friday – June 5 at 6:30p.m.

Beach cleanup - Details coming soon!

June 8 at 6:30p.m. – Join us at Sketchbook in Skokie

A great place to meet up with games for kids

You can see what’s coming up on our evolving calendar here.

Summer Children's Faith Formation Program Begins June 14th

Adult and youth helpers are welcomed and needed – email Kathy for details.

UCE Young Adult Group

Third Friday Faith Formation & Game Nights



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@ucevanston.org) with any questions.

Childcare Pool

Do you love to hold babies or watch the imagination of a toddler unfold? If yes, then we want to add you to our childcare pool for occasional help in the nursery when staff need time off.

Email Kathy Underwood if interested.

Breaking the Chain: Transforming the Legacy of Enslavement to Justice and Liberation for All

How did we get here—and what is ours to do now?

Join UCE REAL, the Prison Ministry and Reparations Teams, Living Legacy Pilgrimage participants, and local advocates for a four-part, multi-platform learning and conversation series exploring the systems that connect enslavement, incarceration, and reparative justice.

Together, we will examine:

• the historical roots linking slavery and mass incarceration
• the economic forces that sustain systems of injustice
• the role faith communities can play in accountability, repair, and transformation
• how reparations work is unfolding in Evanston and beyond

Dates:

• June 24 – How Faith Communities Can Help Break the Chain
• August 26 – Reparations: In Evanston and Beyond

Our Shared Offering Program

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 something else) are shared equally between our operating budget and the current Shared Offering Program recipient.

This Sunday's offering will be shared with Children's Best Interest Project. The Children’s Best Interest Project educates Illinois families, organizations, and lawyers about the Children’s Best Interest Act, which requires Illinois courts to consider children’s needs in decisions about their parents. They help win dismissal or reduction of charges for parents to maintain family stability and enhance community safety. Parent-child separation causes lasting harm to children’s health and development, yet thousands of parents are unnecessarily removed from their families each year based on minor criminal charges. 

Shared Offering Program Nominations Open

Nominations for the 2026-2027 Shared Offering Program are now being accepted by the Social Justice Council. To nominate an organization, click here for the Shared Offering Program nomination Google Form. The deadline to submit nominations is July 14, 2026.

The UCE Shared Offering Program divides the undesignated funds we receive each Sunday equally between the congregation’s operating fund and an organization selected by the Social Justice Council. Click here for the Selection Process Description that the Social Justice Council uses to review nominations. If you have any questions about the Shared Offering Program, please contact Rev. Susan at sfrances@ucevanston.org.

We are looking for volunteers for the Evanston Interfaith Family Pride Fest on June 14th. Click here to volunteer at the UCE table at the Fest. Click here to volunteer with the organizers of the Fest.

TO VOLUNTEER SIGN UP HERE

Join the UCE Race Against Hate Team



Be a part of the Race Against Hate by joining the UCE Team on June 21, 2026. Every Father’s Day, the YWCA hosts a race to honor Ricky Byrdsong, who was murdered by a white supremacist in front of his children while walking near their Skokie home. You can run or walk 5k or 10k, and there are Kids Fun Runs. Proceeds from the event support the Evanston/North Shore YWCA racial equity programming. More information about the Race and Ricky Byrdsong is here.

Register by April 20 to receive early bird pricing. Register for the Race here.

If you can’t be with us in the Race, but want to join in spirit, support the Team through your donation. Be sure to apply your donation to the UCE Team.

Dana Deane is coordinating the UCE Team 2026. Please let her know if you have any questions. Dddeane847 at gmail dot com or 847-682-1045.

LOVE RESISTS

Springfield Lobby Days 

May 2026

You are invited to participate in this opportunity this May to lobby with our community partners in Springfield. 

* Saturday, May 30 *

Join Faith in Place (FIP) and the Illinois Environmental Council for the IL Environmental Advocacy Day in Springfield! A coalition of environmental organizations will be lobbying to protect Illinois' air, water, and communities. Illinois, like many states, is seeing rapid growth of data centers. How Illinois manages this growth will shape the health of our environment and communities for decades to come.

Register now to join FIP in Springfield on May 30th. UCE is a bus pick up and drop off location for this lobby day.

Wisconsin Voter Registration Training

Get trained to register voters in Wisconsin. Once trained, you will be invited to go to one of several Milwaukee DMVs to register voters as they wait for services.

All trainings are held via zoom and you only need to attend one training date:



• Tuesday, June 2 - 7:00 PM
• Thursday, June 11 - 3:00 PM

The training is one hour and presented by the Milwaukee Voter Project. For more information, please contact Laura Kushner with the Milwaukee Voter Project at laurakushnerx2@gmail.com or Rev. Susan Frances at sfrances@ucevanston.org. 

We are moving "Shine the Light" to 6-6:30p.m. starting in June. Updated flyer coming soon!

ONGOING UU CONNECTIONS

Unitarian Church of Evanston

1330 Ridge Ave. Evanston, IL 60201

847-864-1330