Weekly Communicator

Weekly Communicator

July 21, 2022

Sunday Service

We hope you can join us this Sunday July 24th for a special Service about Community. We are honored to have Mary Tracy Sigman who will remind us that we are all born into Community-both small and the broader interdependent web of life. We look forward to joining with you in Community on Sunday both in person and via Zoom.

Mary Tracy Sigman is Dharma Teacher/Leader of Rissho Kosei-kai Buddhist Group of Fort Myers. She and her group have been with UUCFM since September 2010. Mary Tracy also has been serving on the Pastoral Care Committee since its inception, and she volunteers with local organizations, such as HOPE Hospice, United Way, Calusa Waterkeepers, Citizens Climate Lobby, and RTCW. She believes we cannot heal others unless we first heal ourselves, so Self Compassion is important for us all.

Join us this Sunday at 10:30am in the Sanctuary or via Zoom

https://zoom.us/j/5264858673

or listen to audio only at UUCFM.org

Please send all newsletter articles by

12pm Wednesday for publication in Thursday's newsletter.

Send articles to newsletter@uucfm.org

**Please do not send requests to the office manager email**

Covid Protocol Update

The efficacy of vaccines and treatments has significantly reduced Covid’s danger for most of us. As a result, the protocols for campus events have been revised:

Masks will continue to be required in the sanctuary during worship services.
Masks are optional for coffee and other functions in Hobart Hall.
In the library, classrooms, and other small spaces, masks are required UNLESS everyone present agrees otherwise. We’ll continue to be respectful and protective of those of us whose immunity is impaired.
Worship services will continue to be available on Zoom.

Although the Covid risk level will continue to fluctuate, I’m sure all of us hope the worst of the pandemic is behind us. We’ll continue to monitor the risk and change the guidelines as needed to protect our congregation.

Please reach out to me with any questions at UUCFMPresident@UUCFM.org.

Namaste,

Mary Studer

President, Board of Trustees

Message from the Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees would like to share this report on the first quarter of the new fiscal year. As you can see, the operating budget appears to be in a bit more of a deficit than we projected, but $14,000 in maintenance expenses will be covered by other funding sources later in the year. The “real” budget shortfall is $5,200, only 40% of where we expected it to be at the end of the first quarter. Please contact Pati Maier, Treasurer, at treasurer@uucfm.org if you have any questions.

The Board greatly appreciates your continued support and generosity.

Board of Trustees monthly update

The Board met as scheduled on July 12th and covered a lot of business as usual. The biggest news you have already heard - we have found a wonderful part-time Minister candidate! We discussed her proposed contract, as well as some other important congregational topics. We continue to covenant with the local Quaker group to hopefully build a yurt on our property for all of us to utilize. We approved a much-needed Board Manual. And we discussed Congregational Security, always important, but particularly in these difficult days. Finally we decided on a Volunteer of the Month, Bonnie Jean Clancy!

Our Innovative Agreement with Rev. Sue

Many members and friends of UUCFM attended the meeting last Sunday to get more information about how Rev Sue Gabrielson will minister to this Congregation and to ask questions. The Ministerial Task Force is delighted that there was an atmosphere of hopefulness, a willingness to embark on this adventure, along with many thoughtful questions.

Volunteer Opportunities

There are multiple volunteer opportunities available. If you would like to help out, please reach out to one of the following people:

Sunday Social Hour Kitchen Help contact Dorothy Van Howe

Sunday Tech Team contact Walter Peterson

Brewer Family Gardens contact Bonnie Jean Clancy

Band/choir contact Suellen Kipp

DID YOU KNOW…

…that UUCFM has a Zoom account you can use for your committee meeting, book group, or any other UUCFM-affiliated virtual event? There are no time limits on the Zoom meetings, but only one meeting can happen at a time. Meetings are limited to 300 participants. Please contact Denise Greenwood at officemanager@uucfm.org or 239-561-2700 to learn more.

OPEN: Our Purpose, Exclude Nobody

Dear Friends,

We want to let you know we are here!

In April, the Board established a committee to engage in matters concerning diversity. We have renamed ourselves OPEN: Our Purpose, Exclude Nobody. Our discussions have included:

How to be more inclusive in all areas of our congregation –worship, music, membership, publicity, programs, etc.
How to communicate our support and partner with ongoing groups such as The Book Group, BLUU, the Grace Project, Coming to the Table, etc.
How to educate ourselves and our community.
How to connect with the community around us – LIFE and Voices for Racial Justice.
How to set goals and measure our success.

In addition, we have been creating our own charter. Our mission statement, which is one element of this charter states:

We aim to assist our members, staff, friends and visitors to greet with joy diverse perspectives and backgrounds. We will support this enquiring and open attitude by encouraging critical thinking, empathy, and a deeper appreciation of all, in harmony with our first principle, our belief in the worth and dignity of every person. By building on our traditions of outreach, we seek to become an ever more inclusive, equitable, and culturally dexterous community.

I can tell you that I “greet with joy” and with a renewed feeling of pride in this congregation that we are making this important step towards building the Beloved Community.

Marge Gonzalez, Chair of OPEN

Community Sharing for July

The Southwest Florida Gay & Lesbian Chorus was formed in 1993, at the initiative of Doug Gathers and a small group of founders, despite the problems that would undeniably come with his "coming out" publicly. Since our founding in 1993, we have been a LGBTQ-friendly and all-inclusive 5013c non-profit organization. This group participates in local, regional, and national performances.

Their mission is to provide educational, cultural, and social enrichment for our audience and ourselves through excellence in the choral arts.

The group's name was changed in 2019 from Southwest Florida Gay & Lesbian Chorus to Southwest Florida Voices, to be more inclusive to the LGBTQ-Community and Allies.

If you cannot attend in person, you can still donate by mailing a check to the office with "community sharing" in the subject line, or by using the "donate" button on the website and marking it "community sharing".

Volunteer of the Month

Long before officially becoming a member, Bonnie Jean Clancy has been donating her time, energy, and Master Gardener gifts to UUCFM. Part of our Ministry for Earth, Bonnie Jean has worked tirelessly to improve all of the grounds, from end-to-beautiful-bountiful-end. She took over the challenging (and often thankless) work of managing the Community Garden, and has organized several work days both with the Scouts and with the Guardians of the Gardens. You can find her out there in the heat and humidity nearly every day, often harvesting contributions for food banks and other charities. We are so very lucky to have Bonnie Jean Clancy in our congregational life!

Embracing the 8th Principle:

Actions That Dismantle Oppression

A series of conversations about oppression, from 4:00-5:30pm on Mondays, via Zoom, began on July 11, 2022. We are using the book Is Everyone Really Equal? by Oslem Sensoy & Robin DiAngelo as a basis for our discussions, with recommendations of other optional readings for those who wish to dive more deeply into each week’s topics. The next meeting is Monday, July 18, and new participants are welcome to join at this meeting.

We will identify our own social locations and explore their influence on power dynamics, work to develop shared understanding of intersectionality and of inclusive social justice vocabulary, including the terms “oppression” and “oppressions”, and move toward the richer and more complex comprehension of the meanings and effects of “racism and other oppressions” as we work to build a foundation for the actions addressed in the 8th Principle.

We hope that you will join us on this journey. Contact Cat Pivetti for information and links.

Poetry Circle

Come, come, Poets and Lovers of Poetry!

We read and discuss in detail a variety of poems, often related to our UU experience, usually centered around a weekly theme. Members share their own work for discussion as well, if they want to, but you do not need to be a writer to join. We offer weekly prompts, although there is no obligation to follow them.

This is an ongoing Zoom group. New members can join at any time, and we really hope you will. Contact Judi Dettorre or Cat Pivetti for more information.

We meet every other Tuesday from 1-3pm.

Newcomers - Ongoing Discussion Group

Sundays, July 24 & August 7

11:45am-1:15pm - Room 2

Visitors and newer Members are cordially invited. Sign up by Friday before meeting dates is appreciated (unless previously signed up).
Light refreshments will be served; RSVP judyburget@gmail.com.
VP of Membership Marge Gonzalez facilitates continuing discussions, as we get to know each other by sharing our spiritual journeys.

Save the Date!

November trip to Guatemala

This is going to be exciting! In Patulul, we are collaborating with the Mayor's Office to facilitate Women's Health and Empowerment Workshops. We begin with two workshops to orient 60 Facilitators and prepare them to teach the day-long course. They will go on to teach over 3000 more women! Plus, nearby is the Heart of the Water Cooperative, which is a sustainable permaculture community that thrives by producing watercress. There we will have a tour and enjoy an organic lunch. Finally, there will be a day to take a "lancha" and visit Panajachel to shop the Maya crafts along Santander Street.

Most people do not realize that community gardens were established in the 1800s in the United States. Perhaps the most well-known of these projects is the World War II Victory Garden. Many of them are still thriving.

And while community gardening provides myriad benefits — offering a local food source, reducing food insecurity (food bank beds), encouraging physical activity, and more — experts believe the reason for its enduring popularity is much simpler: It just feels good. Nothing “grounds” a person like getting your hands dirty.