Weekly Communicator

Weekly Communicator

February 9, 2022

Sunday Service

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

We are honored to welcome the Scouts to UUCFM to celebrate Scout Sunday with us this week. Helen Leddy and Mary Cline Golbitz will help lead our Service as we honor love and service. We hope you will join us and stay to enjoy the cookout the Scouts will be generously offering us. We hope to see you there.

Minister's Musings

“How wonderful is it that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” - Anne Frank

Today's newsletter symbolizes hope and reemergence. It is full of activities of all kinds. Keep reading and start or continue to participate in the diverse life of Unitarian Universalist in our community. Rev. Sue

revsue@uucfm.org

WhatsApp call or message: +506 8891 2847

Facebook Messenger: Sue Gabrielson

Skype: suegabes

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**

Community Sharing for February

The SWFL RESET Center was founded in 2020 by UUCFM members and committed community activists seeking to be a positive force for change in SWFL. The RESET office is located on the UUCFM Campus. RESET contributes to the Community Gardens and will continue to partner with other organizations seeking to teach and practice regenerative agriculture, permaculture, and community leadership.

SWFL RESET Center offers ongoing free programs and online RESET Conversations educating the public about real solutions for Clean Water, and Environmental Justice in our bioregion. Check out our positive daily messaging called Earth Moments and help us spread the word by sharing, reflecting, and commenting on social media. Stay tuned for our upcoming programming called Being a Good Relative, a UUSC, UUFJ, RESET partnership about working with our Indigenous neighbors in the Everglades on Climate Justice.

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".

January Board Meeting

The Board of Trustees met on January 10th and addressed a lot of business. We talked about the Budget, the Right Relations Committee, and the Nominating Committee process. There were questions about the upcoming Annual Meeting and the Futures Team is going to do some research for the Board. We took some action on Endowment Fund matters, and then discussed the Music Director opening with the departure of Suellen. Bill brought up a potential process for tracking all of the volunteer activities in one place, and we agreed the paper programs are very popular on Sundays. Finally we selected a Volunteer of the Month - Marge Gonzalez!

Volunteer of the Month

Marge Gonzalez

Marge is our VP for Membership, Board Trustee, and Chair of the newly chartered Diversity OPEN Committee. Marge serves the Congregation in many other ways; she is our current L.I.F.E.

representative. She has been a member of the Congregation since 2004 when she joined with her late husband Don Routh. Marge has developed a curriculum for teaching children how to make connections with nature entitled “Earth Wonders.” Born in New Jersey, she has also lived in France and England under the auspices of the Junior Year Abroad Program. In 2018, she published her book “Body in Space: My Life with Tammy,” a story of two people: Tammy, a four-year-old child living in the precarious world of foster care, and Marge, a French teacher at Friends Seminary, who took her in and eventually adopted her.

Thank you, Marge, for sharing your talents and leadership!

ROOTS AND WINGS

OUR 2023-24 GENEROSITY CAMPAIGN FINALE SUNDAY FEB. 12

Our annual Generosity Campaign is coming to a close Sunday. THANK YOU to all who have committed to support UUCFM for the upcoming fiscal year!

If you have not yet let us know your intentions for supporting UUCFM for the coming fiscal year, here is a link you can use for a digital pledge card. If you prefer a paper commitment card, you can pick one up at the Welcome Table on Sunday. All pledges are confidential. You can also call or email Denise at the UUCFM office for help in making a pledge or to learn the status of your present commitment. It is important that we hear from EVERYONE, even if your current contributions are automatically paid.

The Stewardship Committee is providing dessert to go with the lunch that the Boy Scouts are generously providing the Congregation after the service. The Stewardship Committee will draw the names of the winners of the Gulf Coast Symphony tickets shortly after the service in Hobart Hall. You do not need to be present to win, but we hope you are a little bit excited to hear the names of the winners.

We join with others Sunday in celebrating the services that the Boy Scouts Troop provides our Congregation. And we celebrate your generosity in supporting UUCFM. Many thanks.

Love In Action Community Gathering

Presented by LIFE: Lee Interfaith for Empowerment

Join with people from other congregations to celebrate love in action.

Monday, February 13, 6:30-8:30PM, at Covenant Presbyterian Church, 2439 McGregor Blvd.

Time to express gratitude for our achievements toward

affordable housing and to look to the future.

Men's Group

The men's group will be meeting February 14 at 11am. If you want to participate, be at Skillet's Restaurant 13300 S Cleveland Ave, Fort Myers, FL 33907. Contact Len Cohen with questions.

Board Meeting

The Board of Trustees monthly meeting is at 5 PM on February 14th. If you'd like to attend, please click on this link.

POETRY: Indigenous Two-Spirit Poets

The UUCFM Poetry Circle will meet next on Tuesday, February 14, from 1:00-3:00 pm, on Zoom. We will be talking about the poetry of Deborah Miranda (Ohlone-Costanoan Essalen) and others, and its relationship to marginalized experience, spiritual understandings, & social justice work. We may have some

members’ work to share as well.

Of course this is Valentine’s Day, but that’s relevant, since poetry and activism could both be viewed as manifestations of love. Newcomers are always welcome. Contact Cat Pivetti or Judi Dettore for more information and links.

Dream Work Sessions

“All dreams come in the service of health and wholeness,” said Jeremy Taylor, UU minister and author of several books on dreaming, including “The Wisdom of Your Dreams, Using Dreams to Tap into Your Unconscious and Transform your Life.” Debra Leigh, certified dream work facilitator (Marin Institute for Projective Dream Work) will lead a six-week session of dream work on Saturdays beginning February 18th, 10:45am-12:15pm in classroom 2 (or the amphitheater, weather permitting). These sessions are in conjunction with Caloosahatchee Mindfulness. To register, contact Debra or call (831)818-1418. Class size limited to 7 participants. Bring water, a pillow to sit on if you like, and something to write with. Please commit to all 6 sessions.

NEW MEMBER CELEBRATION SERVICE FEBRUARY 19

With great rejoicing, a New Member Celebration service on February 19 will recognize new Members and celebrate all those who joined last year. Nineteen new members were welcomed into our Congregation in 2022! And ten have joined since Rev. Sue Gabrielson became our new minister in August!

BTW: For returning visitors, your inquiries about becoming a member are very welcome - Contact us or our Minister, or in person on Sunday mornings at the Welcome table.

PLAY READING, Feb. 21st-COME AND ENJOY

Readers are needed and welcomed for fun and fellowship. Our UUCFM celebratory play, VOICES FROM OUR PAST, presented for our 40th year, February 22, 2002, is being reread on Tuesday, February 21st to celebrate our over 60 years. Play readers will gather in Hobart Hall from 10am-2pm with a break for lunch. Bring your own lunch and beverage. This 26 page play has a large cast, written by members Bill and Dee West. It has 2 Acts, a Prologue and Musical Finale. You will find it heartwarming and a tribute to our first 40 years when we built our present Shire Lane.

The Green Amendment

Dr. Maya Van Rossum is a force of nature! She will present key concepts and examples of Green Amendments from her new book, The Green Amendment: The People's Fight for a Clean, Safe, and Healthy Environment. She will discuss how we arrived at our current climate and environmental status as a nation, what needs to happen, why constitutional amendments are the only viable way forward from a systemic perspective, and ways to empower environment advocates wanting real change.

March Hare's Tea Party

March 18, Sat at 4pm you are invited to join us for the March Hare's Tea Party. You never know what awaits down the rabbit hole! We will have various teas with yummy finger food and tarts. There will be healers and card visions for all. This is sponsored by CUUPS and we are asking for a $10 donation to cover food costs. This is part of the spring equinox celebration and it is open to all. Come one and all, have a spot of tea with our merry bunch of quirky characters, find a bit of balance in all. If you are coming please contact CUUPSFM, so we have a bit of a headcount. May The Ways of March bring you a pot of gold. If one so desires you can dress for the occasion although it is not mandatory.

Young People in the Garden!

UUCFM Member and FGCU student Ally Hutson Is getting her volunteer hours helping us harvest food for 2 food pantries. This Monday she dug up about 30 sweet potatoes that are curing for a few weeks in our barn. We also harvested about 20 lbs of greens and other Veggies for S Fort Myers Food Pantry.

The group of 5 FGCU students in the courtyard is about to submit a proposal for a 10-week project with the SWFL RESET Center, hopefully on our grounds. We will keep you posted! What a joy to have young nature-loving and intelligent volunteers to work with. We (RESET) really treasure our relationship with FGCU and UUCFM.

Update on Quakers’ Meeting House

We are pleased to share our preliminary approved drawings of the Quaker Meeting house we hope to see constructed this year.

This half-million-dollar structure will be the first major addition to our campus in many years made possible by the innovative covenant between us and the Fort Myers Friends.

The Meeting House while providing a spiritual home for the Quakers is designed to provide flexible space for our campus and to blend with our existing structures and be in harmony with the natural areas of our Holton Eco-Preserve.

The basic concept is an octagon within a stretched octagonal roof. The main worship/open space is designed for 50-60 people to meet in the round or it can be configured in a classroom style. Large windows will provide views of the woods and natural areas of the Preserve. Worship, lectures, concerts, yoga, Scout meetings, etc. can all be accommodated in the space.

As you enter the handicapped accessible building you will see through to the woods beyond. On your right will be two bathrooms which will be accessible for those working in the gardens, walking the labyrinth, or meeting with the Scouts. Between the bathrooms will be a small kitchen/storage area with a pass-through counter for coffee service.

All the area between the bathrooms/storage area will be under cover of the roof, providing shelter from rain for anyone working in the gardens or visiting our Holton Eco-Preserve areas. The stucco and roof will be similar to our existing structures.

The octagon is a universal shape symbolizing renewal, rebirth, regeneration and renewal. More to come as plans are more finalized.