Pulpit Host Refresher and Training Session

Want to help serve UUCH with your time and your voice? 

Come learn how to be a Pulpit Host for one of our Worship Services. Anyone willing to read a script and speak into a microphone can do this role, and we'd love to add more people to our list of hosts. This training is open to anyone interested in learning how this works, and all current pulpit hosts are highly encouraged to attend and brush up on the basics with us. Meet Rev. Jaimie in the front of the Sanctuary at 10:00 AM on Sunday, November 9th!

Share the Plate with Huntsville Utilities Project Share

During the fourth quarter of 2025, UUCH is sharing our plate proceeds with the Huntsville Utilities Project Share. All plate proceeds received from the Thursday before the first Sunday through the Saturday after the first Sunday will be split with Project Share. In November, this includes plate donations received from October 30th through November 8th.

Those in our community who are elderly, have disabilities, and are also low-income need our help to get through the winter. Project Share was launched in December 1988 to help these customers pay utility bills during the winter. One hundred percent of funds contributed to Project Share go directly to those in need.

During January, February, and March of 2025, Project Share assisted 811 families with paying their utility bills. During this time frame, a total of $193,436.50 was awarded to help these families with the gas and electric portions of their bills, averaging $238.52 per family.

In addition, thirty percent of Project Share Program donations go toward home improvements to create long-term energy savings. These funds, combined with grant awards and TVA contributions, make a significant impact in our community. Participants in energy improvement programs are qualified under HUD criteria for very low-income residents of Madison County.

For more information or to set up an automatic payment for your household, please visit their website here.

Please consider giving generously to this important local organization.

Sound, Camera, Action! Online Sunday Service By Khoe Tran

The Tech Committee operates the soundboard and camera every Sunday to produce the online service on YouTube. About 10 to 20 people attend online because of mobility or hearing issues, or convenience (can wear pajamas while attending).

I did not know anything about working the camera before I met Bryan Walls, Techie and Chair. He’s shown me how to push buttons on a laptop to control the camera movements. I’m now a proud camera operator, but not a Techie, as I’d have to go to school for that.

The soundboard has several levers for controlling the sound volumes of different microphones. There is a mic for each area, including the pulpit, piano, vocal, storytelling, choir, and congregation. Moving the levers up or down increases or decreases the sound.   

Come join the Tech Committee to operate sound or camera (email technology.committee@uuch.org for more info). Bryan will teach you. Above all, the remote church attendees need you.  

TEMP$ Winterization on November 1st

UUCH members have participated in the Taking Energy Measures Personally = $avings (TEMP$) program for many years. This year, we will be working on three homes of elderly, low-income residents in northwest Huntsville on Saturday, November 1st, and your help is needed!

The Taking Energy Measures Personally = $avings (TEMP$) program is an annual one-day event in which teams of Enable Madison County volunteers weatherize clients' homes by putting plastic on windows, insulating pipes, caulking breaches, installing smoke detectors, replacing storm doors, and performing other minor repairs. Enable provides the supplies, and we just need to provide volunteers and tools.

We will meet at UUCH at 8:30 AM on Saturday, November 1st, divide up into teams, and go out to the homes. We usually are finished by noon.

Visit the Enable Madison County website here for more information. Please contact social.justice@uuch.org if you have any questions or are interested in helping out.

Grief Support Group— First Wednesday

UUCH grief support group meets on the first Wednesday of the month. For November, we will meet on November 5th at 6:00 PM in the adult RE room. Everyone is welcome.  

2025 Be a SUPER HERO Fundraising Auction November 8th

Our UUCH annual fundraiser auction is coming on November 8th! Our theme is “Be a SUPER HERO!” We’ll have music, food, and friendly bidding for great items, events, and more. Will our heroes top last year’s amount of $10,000? We’ll definitely have FUN trying! Come for the fellowship and food, and stay for the door prizes and games.  

The event is FREE! However, we kindly request that you register here by Sunday, November 2nd. Plus, register by November 2nd and earn a door prize! Childcare for children under 12 is available with registration by November 2nd.  

Now is the time to donate. Please consider donating new or gently used items for our catalog. We particularly love donations of services, arts classes, or dinner parties. Please donate now through November 2nd using our online page. If you have difficulty with the site, feel free to email the donation information to service.auction@uuch.org. Please include contact information, description, value, starting bid and a photo. UUCH link for Auctria here.

Seek donations from your favorite local business. We’ll publish advertisements for the business in our catalog, and their donations are tax-deductible! Just show them our letter, available here . A hard copy is also available at the church.

Bring your donation items to the church during office hours and our work hours, starting Sunday, November 2nd, and ending Saturday, November 8th, at 10:00AM. Items will be stored in the Music Room.

More ways to give. See Zena Tucker or email stewardship@uuch.org to be a part of the SUPER HERO team!! Sign up here.

Work dates and times are:

Tuesday, November 4th 10:00 AM to Noon

Thursday, November 6th 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM

Saturday, November 8th 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM

Saturday, November 8th 4:30 PM to 10:00 PM

Final step— bidding! 

This will be a live auction event. Bidding must be done in person or via in-person proxy during the event. Pre-event bidding for the silent auction items is available until the day before the event. Raffle tickets may also be purchased online before the event. Final bids for all items will be taken by the auction team at the event. 

Those who wish to bid but cannot attend in person are encouraged to use a proxy bidder. See Zena or email service.auction@uuch.org for assistance with a proxy bidder. Also, most items will have a “Buy It Now” price.

In summary, join us on November 8th at 5:30 PM at UUCH for a lively evening of music, food, fellowship, and friendly bidding to raise money for our beloved community. 

Care of Our New Fairy Village

The patch beside the RE wing entrance sidewalk and behind the mailbox, which previously would not grow grass but did grow scraggly weeds, has been replaced by a pad of pebbles that now holds an enchanting fairy village. It includes the homes of the pink, yellow, blue, and turquoise fairies, as well as the community garden with a glass greenhouse and the town hall with a clock tower. The pink fairy even has her pink crinoline petticoat hanging out to dry. Please feast your eyes on the fun details of this creative contribution donated by Melodie Brier. But do not touch or pick up the pieces. To help it withstand the wind and weather, the parts are all glued together with E-600 glue. It is a flexible, waterproof glue. If you break those glue bonds, the wind will damage our fairy village. While this is not a permanent display, we do want to keep it looking good as long as we can.

Adult RE "Learn & Share"

Interested in knowing the discussion topic for Adult RE? Can't remember whether ARE is before or after service this week? Want to share a book/video/meditation/discussion that you felt was meaningful spiritually, but don't know how to?

The ARE team has a SignUpGenius page to answer all of those questions! Just go to: https://tinyurl.com/uuchLearnAndShare.  

If you want to share a topic, feel free to select a facilitator slot and enter the topic you want to lead a 10-15 talk on. An ARE team member will be happy to help co-facilitate.

AHA Holiday Gifts and Groceries

Every December since we moved to Broadmor, we have partnered with the Alabama Hispanic Association (AHA) to provide gifts and a dinner for local low-income Hispanic families. However, this year we will be doing it a little differently.

Due to the Trump administration’s harassment of immigrants, the AHA has requested that we not hold a dinner this year. Instead, we will be distributing groceries and gifts to these families in need on December 13th. A detailed list of needed groceries will be available soon.

You can get involved in 3 ways:

• Make a financial donation for teen gifts: You can donate online or with a check. If you give via a check, please enter “AHA Gift” in the memo line. You can donate online by following these steps:
• Click this link
• Enter your gift amount in the “AL Hispanic Association” line
• If you have an Engage account, select “Continue with Login”
• If you do not have an Engage account and want to proceed as a guest, select “Continue as Guest”
• Donate a stuffed animal for children: We are collecting stuffed animals to give to the children. You can bring new or like-new stuffed animals to church and put them in the boxes in the Foyer or the Fellowship Hall.
• Donate food: In addition to financial donations, you may help by providing groceries for the families. A list of needed groceries will be available soon.

Please contact social.justice@uuch.org if you have any questions.

Upcoming Social Justice Events

Your participation is needed! Below is a list of local social justice events sponsored by groups that UUCH and/or our members support.

• November 1st: Enable TEMP$ Winterization Program. Meet at UUCH at 8:30AM. (see Brad Korb for details)
• November 8th: Huntsville Green Team Tree Planting at Calvary Hill Community Center at 10:00AM (Learn more here.)
• November 10th: UUA’s Side with Love “The Gathering” at 7:00PM via Zoom (Sign up here.)
• November 12th: SURJ Action Hour at 7:00PM via Zoom (Sign up here.)
• November 19th: UUA’s Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting at 6:00PM via Zoom (Sign up here.)
• December 8th: UUA’s Side with Love “The Gathering” at 7:00PM via Zoom (Sign up here.)

Here are some standing opportunities to get engaged with local organizations:

• First Stop:

1. Provide a meal for unhoused people (https://firststoporg.galaxydigital.com/)
2. Donate urgently needed items (https://firststop.org/category/needs-list/)
3. Other volunteer opportunities (https://firststop.org/ways-to-volunteer/)

• ShowerUp (showers for unhoused people): https://app.initlive.com/web-admin/app/#/join-party?k=aagp6mlprpk46k
• Land Trust of North Alabama: https://landtrustnal.org/support/volunteer/

For more information about a particular event or to list an event, please email social.justice@uuch.org.

Circle of Candles

Theresa lit a candle of Sorrow: "For my oldest sister, Romey, who is being treated for advanced heart failure."

Geri lit candles of Joy & Sorrow: "Joy— Visiting my daughter, son, and grandkids in Phoenix. Sorrow— Several illnesses and deaths in my inner circle."

The Congregation lit a candle of Joy: "Since the spring of this year, on the last Sunday of the month, it has been our practice to light a candle of joy to honor a fellow Unitarian Universalist Church in our Southern region. On this last Sunday of October, we joyfully light a candle for our friends at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Oxford, Mississippi. We send them our positive thoughts and good wishes, and are grateful for their presence in our wider UU community of faith, hope, friendship, and love."