Weekly E-News, February 11, 2021

Celebrate

Black History

Month

In 1870, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper – African-American poet, abolitionist, feminist – joined the First Congregational Unitarian Church in Philadelphia. She was an abolitionist, suffragist, poet, teacher, public speaker, and writer. She was one of the first African American women to be published in the United States and is considered by many to be the mother of African American Journalism.

UUCFM Weekly E-News

February 11, 2021

Join us this Sunday!

Please join us on Zoom this Sunday, February 14th at 10:30 AM for our service titled How We Do "Beloved Community" with Lay Minister, Alberita Johnson and featuring musical guests, Darby & Dana Bixler.

Join Zoom Meeting Sunday at 10:30am

https://zoom.us/j/98733916229

No password needed

Or, follow the link on our webpage for audio only: uucfm.org

Thank you to Sunday's Participants:

Alberita Johnson, Lay Minister

Suellen Kipp, Director of Music

Darby and Dana Bixler, Vocalists from NYC

Hank Flandysz, Worship Associate

Peter Golbitz, Musician

Lesley Peterson, Musician and Tech Team Member

Mark Brandon, Tech Team Member

Walter Peterson, Lead Tech Team Member

Holley Rauen, Tech Team Member

Jill Carville, Tech Team Coordinator

Kathy Ford, UU Dialogues Host

Carole Latino, UU Dialogues Host

UU Dialogues & Breakout Rooms

~After the Service

To participate in UU Dialogues, stay in the main zoom meeting after the service ends and do not accept the breakout room invitation that pops up. All are welcome to attend this intentional dialogue session, especially newcomers.

If you'd rather join a breakout room for casual conversation, please accept the pop up invitation.

Community Sharing in February- ACT

ACT (Abuse Counseling Treatment) is a private, not-for-profit agency committed to serving victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking. ACT provides services to all persons without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, citizenship, marital status, gender identity (or expression), language spoken, immigration status and any other protected class. Services are free and provided to everyone. After several years of working out of their own homes to help provide services for women and children in trauma situations, they incorporated as a non-profit in 1978. More info can be found at actabuse.com.

Vespers Service

Join Albie and Mary via Zoom bi-weekly Thursdays from 6:30PM-7:00PM. The next Vespers Service will be tonight, February 11th. This Vespers will include guitar.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/91800250314?pwd=MmRRenNOUjNUdjcvU1Y3VTIxNFBTQT09

Meeting ID: 918 0025 0314

Passcode: 743236

Vespers Service: a time of prayer, meditation, and contemplation. Have your soft lighting (candles) ready.

What to expect:

We may experience crystal/Tibetan bowls, flute, violin, lite drumming, poetry, short quotes, and testimonials. In addition to a time for prayer, meditation, and chanting, maybe short story telling, and dance. Each service is different but will always include prayer, meditation and contemplation. During Vespers, many will desire to share. At times we may experience story telling, and movement.

From the President of the Board of Trustees

My dear fellow UUCFM members,

The Board of Trustees recently sent out a survey asking our members about

various aspects of congregational life and structure. As a result of that

survey, we have been looking at making changes and updates to our By-Laws.

The Transition Team has made such recommendations to the Board of

Trustees and after review, the Board supports them. These proposed changes

and updates will be placed on the agenda to be voted on at our annual

meeting at the end of March. Also as a result of the survey, we will be

voting on whether to retain the congregational name or to change to one of

the other options presented in the survey.

In order to provide transparency and clarification on what these proposed

changes entail, the Board of Trustees and the Transition Team will be

hosting a series of Zoom dialogues. These will be opportunities for us to

present these proposals and answer any questions or concerns. We have

scheduled the following dates and times:

Sunday, 2/21 at 2 p.m.

Friday, 2/26 at 2 p.m.

Sunday, 3/7 at 2 p.m.

It is our desire to keep everyone well informed of how our community is

taking shape as we continue to go through this time of transition. And so,

we will also be providing a series of articles in the Communicator and

E-News as these Zoom dialogues progress. We look forward to seeing you

there.

Lesley Peterson

Board President

To the Unitarian Universalist Church of Fort Myers:

It is with mixed emotions that I write to update you on my ministry. I’m very glad that changes in the rules and procedures of preliminary fellowship are making it possible for me to begin the process toward full (previously called ‘final’) fellowship. It will be a long process, with many requirements along the way. And, I am excited that this is now possible for me!

In order to do this well, I need to work with a congregation where I have less history and personal investment. It is with a heavy heart that I am ending my formal affiliation as a community minister and resigning my membership with UUCFM. You are the congregation that supported me through my long journey to preliminary fellowship. You are the congregation that ordained me. I will always be grateful to UUCFM. Thank you.

My ministry with EqUUal Access is ongoing. UUCFM members who identify as disabled are always welcome in our online community of disabled UUs, and all are welcome in our anti-ableism work in Unitarian Universalism. For all of you at UUCFM, whether it is in UU spaces, at local justice events, or at the grocery store, I will be glad to see you when our paths cross.

I wish you well in the congregation’s unfolding journey.

Sincerely,

Rev. Suzanne Fast

Community Minister

EqUUal Access

she/her/hers

Generosity + Campaign

How Are We Doing? What’s Left to Do?

We are looking forward to Sunday, Feb. 14. Albie Johnson is leading a service titled “How We Do Beloved Community” and how we bring our time, talent, and treasure to this effort. As always, there will be time after the service during UU Dialogues for all of us to further explore our aspirations for a Beloved Community.

We Are Over Half-way Through Our Pledge Drive

The Campaign ends Feb. 21. The Stewardship Committee is happy to announce that the pledges submitted so far are very generous and we are on our way toward meeting our goal of $138,000. Please remember that we need to hear from each of our members, whatever your decision may be about supporting UUCFM this next year. You can call the office, respond by mail with the pledge card we sent out or

pledge on-line using the link below.

http://uulead.org/fairshare/

Drawing for Gulf Coast Symphony Passes

Pledges that are received by Feb. 15 by 5 pm will be eligible to win one of four passes to a Gulf Coast Symphony event. Each pass is for two people. Winners will be announced on Feb. 21. For Information or if you need another pledge card, our Stewardship Co-chairs would love to hear from you.

Nancy and David Hutchins

nhutchins471@comcast.net

Charitable Contributions

If you would like a receipt for donations made to UUCFM in calendar year 2020, please email your name(s) to: uuchurch@uucfm.org

Notice to All UUCFM Members, Friends, and Groups

Please do not hold gatherings, impromptu meetings, volunteer crew work, etc. in any of our rooms, including the screen room, without scheduling with the office manager. As most of you know, we now have shared usage of the buildings with the Gulf Coast Symphony. We've been having problems with our people being in rooms that are reserved for them, and their people being in our reserved spaces. The Symphony spends a lot of money sanitizing these rooms daily for their safe use, and it's not fair to be in their space once it's sanitized. If a room looks empty, it may be waiting for them so please don't assume you can enter. Thank you so much! Together we can work through this change in our campus sharing.

If you want to schedule a one time meeting, gathering, or cleaning event, please contact the office manager at officemanager@uucfm.org

If you want to schedule a class on a recurring basis, please contact our VP of Programming, Toni Latino at vpprogramming@uucfm.org

The UUCFM Book Group

The Monday Book Group will meet at 1 pm on Feb. 15 to continue our consideration of Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson with a discussion of Ch. 19-24. If you’re joining for the first time, please email Mary Studer. She will send you the link to zoom. mstuder929@gmail.com

UUCFM/Caloosahatchee Mindfulness

The Caloosahatchee Mindfulness and UUCFM Meditation Book Group will be starting a new book on Wednesday, February 10- The Inner Work of Racial Justice: Healing Ourselves and Transforming Our Communities Through Mindfulness by Rhonda V. Magee.

The author "reveals that the work of racial justice begins with ourselves. The practice of embodied mindfulness--paying attention through our thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations in an open, nonjudgmental way--increases our emotional resilience, helps us to recognize our unconscious bias, and give us the space to become less reactive and to choose how we respond to injustice."

The group meets from 10 a.m to 11:30 a.m. on Wednesdays. Contact Helen Leddy at helen.leddy@gmail.com or Mary Robinson at mindfulness579@gmail.com for more information.

Celebration of Life for Nancy Letts

There will be a celebration of Life for Nancy Letts on Saturday, February 13th at 1:30 PM on Zoom. All who knew her including all UUCFM members and friends are invited to attend and recall her beautiful life and Spirit. Gifts may be made in Nancy’s memory to:

The ALS Association

1300 Wilson Blvd. Suite 600

Arlington, VA. 22209

https://donate.als.org

Hope Hospice (Health Park)

9470 Health Park Circle

Ft. Myers, Florida 33908

https://donate.hopehcs.org

Join Zoom Meeting Feb. 13 at 1:30pm

https://zoom.us/j/93617178988

Greetings From Scout Pack 3300 to UUCFM!

Our unit will be providing a service project to the church in honor of this year's Scout Sunday. This year marks 111 years of the BSA and it is our duty and pleasure to thank UUCFM for all you do to support our Pack and Troop.

On Sunday, February 14th, we will be transplanting the tree at the labyrinth and putting up the new sign for the eco-preserve. We will have members of both pack and troop participating.

We would love to have any members stop by that morning to say hello. We will be there from9:00 A.M. until 2:30 P.M.

Yours in Scouting,

Scott D. Clere

Pack 3300 Cubmaster

Thanks Tech Team!

Please check out our new Tech Team page on our website! http://uucfm.org/index.php/this-is-us/our-tech-team

For the past year, UUCFM's mighty tech team of 6 has brought you services every Sunday. Without our tech volunteers and Zoom we wouldn't be able to see each other, chat, and enjoy services from the comfort of our homes every Sunday. I'd like to give a special big Thank You to Walter & Lesley Peterson who haven't missed one Sunday since last March! Please tell them how much they are appreciated, if you can. Tech work involves hours of volunteer time before, during, and after each service.

If you are interested in joining the team, please email Jill Carville at officemanager@uucfm.org. We need you and will start you off with the easiest of duties. It's a great way to show your church you care!

Member to Member Fundraiser

Let's buy and sell from UUCFM Members! Check out the listings. Click HERE.

From The UUA President: We Remain Committed to Public Health and Safety

By Susan Frederick-Gray

January 28, 2021

Dear friends,

Last week, my family and I finally took down our holiday decorations. We kept them up for the bright cheer they brought and because we still hadn’t felt like the New Year had come. I joked that 2021 started off like the 13th month of 2020. Click to read more...https://www.uua.org/pressroom/press-releases/committed-public-health-and-safety