SAVE THE DATE!!

What's going on in the District?!

Nevaeh’s Story

Nevaeh, Diné/Navajo, was born in Blanding, Utah, the fourth child of Lourdes Long. After Nevaeh’s birth at the small rural hospital near the Navajo Nation, the doctor gave Lourdes a pamphlet about Down syndrome and said other health care professionals would follow up.

When that support did not occur, Lourdes began doing her own research, learning about Down syndrome from both medical and cultural perspectives. Over the past 11 years, she has learned a great deal. Lourdes eventually moved to Grand Junction, Colorado, to be near pediatricians with experience with Down syndrome. She earned a university degree and now works as a social worker in Mesa County.

Nevaeh H, 11, will have her photo displayed in Times Square just before the Buddy Walk in Central Park on September 12. Sponsored by the National Down Syndrome Society, the event celebrates people with Down syndrome and their families and raises awareness of unique strengths of individuals like Nevaeh.



Her picture, taken by her mother Lourdes Long, was one of 500 selected from tens of thousands sent to NDSS to be shown on the Big Screen in Times Square that day. Photos of people with Down syndrome from all over the world were submitted. 

President:

Beth McCorkle

2534 Linda Vista Dr

Montrose, CO 81401

(720) 339-8290

beth.e.mccorkle@gmail.com

My fellow United Women in Faith,

I hope you have signed up for the 2026 Utah/Western Colorado District Annual Celebration, it is just a few days away now.  If you are attending, get ready for the big HOPPIPOLLA EVENT!

On Friday evening, we'll share dinner at CASA Village, where we'll learn about the residents, enjoy a meal together, and end our visit by sharing a bedtime story.

The fun continues Saturday with a special morning experience hosted by Friends of Youth and Nature. In the afternoon, we'll be inspired by a special guest from the Children's Museum.

Of course, we'll take a little time to conduct the business in our district, but don't worry, the celebration will remain the heart of the weekend. This is one Annual Celebration you won't want to miss!

Upcoming Events

• UT/Western CO Annual Celebration – September 18 & 19th, Montrose, CO
• Mountain Sky Conference Annual Gathering – October 1st to 3rd, Helena, MT

With gratitude and faith,

Beth McCorkle

President, UT/Western CO United Women in Faith

Treasurer:

Laura Albright

56372 High View Court

Olathe, CO 81425

(435) 720-1329

lalbri218@gmail.com

Secretary:

Lorraine Hesselbach

38 Ripple Court

Pagosa Springs, CO 81147

(720) 308-2457

lhesselbach@hotmail.com

We have finished revising and you have approved the 2026 Standing Rules! We are providing a link to the document for you all so you may have them for your records.

Coordinator for Program Resource:

Laura Lunsford

59 Knife Edge Place

Pagosa Springs, CO 81147

(970) 398-1183

lunsfordUWF@gmail.com

The New 2027 Reading Catalog has been released and is attached to this newsletter (see the link below)! There are a lot of exciting new books. Check them out and let me know if there are some you would like to see included on our monthly discussion list for 2027.

This Month's Book Discussion

Don't forget, Our Book Discussions are the Third Tuesday at 7:00pm! 

Tuesday, September 15, 2026

Social Justice for the Sensitive Soul

by Dorcas Cheng-Tozun

"Sensitive people and 'quiet souls' do have a place in social justice work. Find your way and avoid burnout with Social Justice for the Sensitive Soul."

Social justice work, we often assume, is raised voices and raised fists. But what does social justice work look like for those of us who don't feel comfortable battling in the trenches? Sustaining justice work can be especially challenging for the sensitive, and it requires a deep level of self-awareness, intentionality, and care to avoid overwhelm and burnout. However, those who consider themselves highly emotional, empathic, or introverted are wise, thoughtful, and conscientious. We need their contributions. Alongside inspiring, real-life examples of highly sensitive world-changers, author Dorcas Cheng-Tozun expands the possibilities of how to be a peacemaker and how to create a positive social impact, affirming the particular gifts and talents that sensitive souls offer to a hurting world.

Leadership Development (2026)

Future Book Discussions for October - December 2026

Tuesday, October 20, 2026

Trash: A Poor White Journey

by Cedar Monroe

Set in Grays Harbor county, Washington, a post-industrial timber area, Cedar Monroe explores how capitalism and colonialism have devastated working-class and rural communities. Topics include: how systems exploit workers in dangerous jobs; how 66 million poor white people are often manipulated to compete rather than join forces with people of color; and highlights grassroots leaders forging connections with the broader global movement to end poverty.

Education for Mission (2026)

Tuesday, November 17, 2026

Highway of Tears

by Jessica McDiarmid

For decades, Indigenous women and girls have gone missing or been found murdered along an isolated stretch of highway in northwestern British Columbia. The highway is known as the Highway of Tears, and it has come to symbolize a national crisis.

Journalist Jessica McDiarmid meticulously investigates the devastating effect these tragedies have had on the families of the victims and their communities, and how systemic racism and indifference has created a climate where Indigenous women and girls are over-policed, yet under-protected. Through interviews with those closest to the victims–mothers and fathers, siblings and friends–McDiarmid provides an intimate, first-hand account of their loss and unflagging fight for justice. Examining the historically fraught social and cultural tensions between settlers and Indigenous peoples in the region, McDiarmid links these cases to others across Canada–now estimated to number up to 4,000–contextualizing them within a broader examination of the undervaluing of Indigenous lives in the country.

Highway of Tears is a piercing exploration of our ongoing failure to provide justice for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, and testament to their families and communities’ unwavering determination to find it.

Social Action (2026)

Tuesday, December 15, 2026

In December we will read a selection of Children's Books on the book list. No pre-reading is required, but if you have one of the children's books and enjoyed it, feel free to bring it to share! This is a low key discussion for a busy time of year. Come join us!

Join us for our book discussions –

come to one or come to all! 

We would love to have you!

We meet at 7pm, the 3rd Tuesday of each month (unless otherwise noted)



A Zoom link is provided in The Chronicles, as well as in an email that is sent a few days before our discussion. 

Coordinator for Education of

Mercy and Justice:

Carol Phelps

555 East 5th St.

Delta, CO 81416

(970) 874-7310 (h)

(970) 596-0647 (c)

clphelps1@yahoo.com

I always enjoy receiving the Mission Today Reports from units sharing what they have done throughout the year.

Here are the highlights from the 2026 reports:

• Crossroads (Grand Jct, CO): have a Social Action Moment at every meeting to highlight a current issue.

• Delta (Delta, CO): helped put together disaster buckets to be used throughout the conference.

• 1^st Church Grand Junction (Grand Jct, CO): has a committee on Native Ministries and have provided university scholarships for Native American students.

• Glenwood Springs (Glenwood Spgs, CO): had a 911 program and reached out to First Responders with personal notes and goodies.

• Montrose (Montrose, CO): hosted the Conference Annual meeting.  They had a program on recycling which gave information and cleared up myths about recycling.

• Ogden 1^st Church (Marriott-Slatterville, UT): advocacy for the poor in Utah is expressed through presence at the State Capital in January

• Pagosa Springs (Pagosa Spgs, CO): hosted the District Annual Celebration using Native American food and culture and they took a Mission Trip to McCurdy School.

• Shepard of the Hills Church (St. George, UT): donate time to assist with the Backpack for Kids program with over 900 backpacks distributed in Washington County.

Take a Moment... Remembering Gloria

Gloria Steiman is one who asked us to tell our stories to make a difference. The following was taken from The History Today post:

“She died in her own home in New York City on Wednesday, September 2, 2026. She was 92 years old. And in the space of one lifetime, she rewrote what it legally meant to be a woman in

America.

Start with 1971, the year before everything changed. An American woman could not walk into a bank and open an account in her own name without complications. She could not apply for a credit card without a husband's signature co-signing the application, as if she were a minor rather than an adult citizen. If a boss cornered her in an office or a supervisor demanded favors for a promotion, there was no law to invoke, because the words "sexual harassment" had not

yet been written into any statute. The behavior existed everywhere. The legal language to name it, and to fight it, simply did not.

That was the world Gloria Steinem set out to dismantle. Not with speeches alone, but with institutions, laws, and a magazine that mainstream publishers said would never survive its first year.”

Gloria did not stop with one article but continued throughout her life to continue having women’s stories be heard and to have a seat at the table. She understood it was a continuous work in progress. But Gloria lived long enough to see some of her work and laws she helped create be undone.

“But here is the distinction that mattered most, in the end. A court can overturn a legal precedent. A school board can pull a book off a shelf. A legislature can rewrite a statute. None of those bodies can force an already working woman to forget how to apply for her own line of

credit. None of them can make an office suddenly nameless again, where an employee facing harassment has no word for what happened to her and no law to point to when she reports it.

The credit histories already exist. The subscription lists already exist. An entire generation of women who grew up assuming they could open a bank account in their own name already exists.

Steinem herself never described any of this as finished business. She said, more than once, that a movement doesn't succeed by winning an argument. It succeeds when the thing it fought for becomes so ordinary that the next generation has to be told it was ever in question at all. That may be the strangest part of her legacy: most American women under 40 have never lived a single day requiring a man's signature to open a bank account, and plenty of them have no

idea that fact was ever seriously in dispute.

Some people spend a lifetime asking for a seat at the table. She spent hers making sure the table itself could no longer stand without one.”

Annie Hauck

60836 Logan Lane

Montrose, CO 81403

(970) 275-2607

hauckannie@gmail.com

Glenna Kyker

2492 Park Vista St. Unit E

GJ, CO 81505

(970) 683-8756

kyker.brayton@gmail.com

Julie M Thomas

15291 Road 25

Dolores, CO 81323

(970) 394-0310

jmeethomas61@gmail.com

Karen Cole

1730 Stonebridge Drive, Unit 31

St. George, UT 84770

(925) 708-3655

karen.cole@att.net

Sandy McCormick

975 E Buddlea Drive

Sandy, UT 84094

(801) 523-3369

sandyjmcc@aol.com

Coordinator for Spiritual Nurture:

Traci Collins

1171 Mustang Lane

Delta, CO 81416

(303) 596-0335

tcollins9204@gmail.com

“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” 1 Peter 3:15

“Experiencing Emmanuel” is this year’s Mission u theme.  A session was held in Delta, CO a few weeks ago that I was able to attend. We studied several stories from the Bible about people who had experiences with Emmanuel, God with us. Some of these stories were Hagar, visited by an angel of God, Shiphrah and Puah, the midwives who respected God and rebelled against Pharoah’s command to kill all Hebrew male babies, and the woman at the well, who met Jesus in real life. There were many opportunities for us to share our own stories about our Emmanuel experiences. To me, it was wonderful hearing others’ witnesses of their encounters with God along with diving deeper into the Biblical stories. It brought a sense of community and connection as well as reminding that God was with the people in the past, is here with us in the present, and will always be with us in the future. 

If you are looking for a printable version of this month's edition of The Chronicles, please email smithelisamarie@gmail.com to request one. I would be happy to email you or mail you a copy if you need one!

Updated Directory!!

With the recent installation of new and returning district officers, I have included a new copy of the directory with updated contact information for the District Leadership Team.

If you have any changes to your unit's information, please let me know and I will continue to update the directory as needed.

• Book Discussions 7:00pm on the third Tuesday of each month via Zoom