Weekly E-News, May 6, 2021

Unitarian Universalist Congregation

of Fort Myers

Weekly E-News

May 6, 2021

This Sunday!

This Sunday, May 9th at 10:30 AM, we will be honoring Mother's Day. We'll feature Lay Minister, Mary Cline Golbitz, Worship Associate, Gary Robbins; Musicians, Peter Golbitz, Suellen Kipp, and Guest Soprano, Stephanie Nelson. We will examine

the history of Mother’s Day and the gentleness and ferociousness of mothers and nurturers of all genders who defend all beings.

If you wish, please bring a photo to hold up of a mother or nurturer in your life and a candle to light in their honor. We hope you can join us! See you on Zoom!

Join Zoom Meeting Sunday at 10:30 am

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:

Mary Cline Golbitz, Lay Minister

Suellen Kipp, Director of Music

Stephanie Nelson, Soprano

Gary Robbins, Worship Associate

Peter Golbitz, Musician

Lesley Peterson, Tech Team Member

Mark Brandon, Tech Team Member

Walter Peterson, Tech Team Member

Jill Carville, Tech Team Member

Kathy Ford, Dialogues Host

Mary Studer, Dialogues Host

Community Sharing in May: Alliance for Fair Food

The Alliance for Fair Food (AFF) is the vibrant, diverse ally network of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), the internationally-acclaimed farmworker organization transforming human rights in the U.S. agricultural industry. The principal focus of the Alliance for Fair Food is the Campaign for Fair Food, a farmworker-led, community-powered movement that successfully holds major food retailers accountable to the highest human rights standards in their produce supply chains.

www.allianceforfairfood.org

Vespers Service

The next Vespers Service will be this evening, May 6th at 6:30pm. We look forward to seeing you then.

UUCFM Board of Trustees Meeting

The next Board of Trustees meeting will be Tuesday, May 11th at 5:00 PM. Here is the Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/92925862711

All who are interested are invited to attend.

UU Dialogues

Do you get a lot out of participating in our after service UU Dialogues? If so, have you thought about volunteering to be a Dialogue Moderator? This is what it is all about-

Our UU Dialogues are a sacred space for intentional discussions with our speakers, whether they be visiting ministers, our lay ministers, our worship associates or other invited guests.

UU Dialogues is hosted by two Moderators and a Tech support person; they occur

immediately following the Sunday service. Ideally both Moderators attend the half hour Service Rehearsal on the Wednesday before the Sunday Service and decide between themselves who will be Moderator A and Moderator B.

Moderator A starts the meeting/dialogue and then opens it up. “Please feel free to explore all aspects of today’s service. The floor is open…”

Both Moderators watch for hands and keep the discussion flowing.

Moderator B’s role is to once again thank the visiting minister/speaker and to close the Dialogue with a poem, a quote etc. relevant to the theme of the service.

Sounds doable, right?

Please contact Lay Minister Albie Johnson albiej@uucfm.org or Kathy Ford

ktromford@gmail.com and we will sign you up.

UUCFM Monday Book Club

The Monday Book Group will not meet until May 17, when it will begin its discussion of Janet Mock’s memoir as a trans, Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identify, Love and So Much More. 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 is reading 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 to 11:30 a.m. on Wednesdays. Contact Helen Leddy at helen.leddy@gmail.com or Mary Robinson at mindfulness579@gmail.com.

Social Issues Book Group Resumes

Started Wednesday, April 21 from 1:00-2:30 PM and continues weekly

Book: My Grandmother's Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies by Resmaa Menakem.

My Grandmother's Hands is a call to action for Americans to recognize that racism is not only about the head, but also about the body. The author introduces the reader to an alternative view of what we can do to grow beyond our entrenched racialized divide. He takes the reader through a step-by-step healing process based on the latest neuroscience and somatic healing methods.

Coming to the Table (CTTT)

We are inviting interested members to join together in the formation of a Coming to the Table chapter in Southwest Florida. CTTT provides leadership, resources, and a supportive environment for all who wish to acknowledge and heal wounds from racism. For further information about CTTT, following this link:

https://comingtothetable.org/.

Contact Helen Leddy for details on the book group or CTTT: helen.leddy@gmail.com

60th Anniversary Pave the Way Fundraiser

We are celebrating our 60th year here by offering commemorative, personalized bricks to line the walkways leading into the sanctuary.

Our Endowment Fund has granted the Brick Project all costs of production and placement of each donated brick, which amounts to about $20 per brick. Thus, all $100 per brick goes right to the operating budget. 53 bricks have been donated totaling $5,300. We are over halfway to our goal of $10,000.

Among the memorial bricks are Nancy Letts, Don Ehat, Bill Brewer, Ellen Peterson, Matt Stark, Carolyn Maron, Bill Ziemer and Don Burget. Many thanks for your contributions which are looking quite fantastic along the walkways into the sanctuary.

To get a brick order form, Contact Project Manager, Ways & Means, Suzanne

Ziemer at suzanneziemer@gmail.com or 239-463-9020.

UUA General Assembly

General Assembly (GA) is the annual meeting of our Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). Participants worship, witness, learn, connect, and make policy for the Association through democratic process. Anyone may attend. This year’s GA is a 100% virtual event and will be held June 23-27. Registration costs $200 and is done on-line at https://www.uua.org/ga/registration. One registration scholarship has been funded anonymously and is available to a member of the congregation.

UUCFM has four voting delegates; the Board of Trustees has allocated three of them. One voting delegate position is available for a member of the congregation to represent UUCFM.

If you are interested in the scholarship and/or the voting delegate position, please contact Jill Carville at 561-2700 or officemanager@uucfm.org.

Southern Region Links

Find out what's happening in our district! https://www.uua.org/offices/organizations/southern-region-uua

SWFL RESET Center

Join us for a RESET Conversation with Steve Suau, Watershed Manager, Progressive Water Resources

REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE

Wed May 12 at 3:00pm a 45 minute online event

Steven M. Suau earned his engineering degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and holds a masters degree in Engineering Administration from Bradley University. During his 25 years of experience in Florida, Steve has been active in both the private and public sectors. He’s highly regarded for his expertise in watershed management and water resources, and for his contributions to sustainable agricultural practices.

This will be the beginning of a series of conversations with people who are advocates for a more sustainable future in SWFL relating to Regenerative Agriculture and Resilience Ecology -- people from whom we can learn. By the way, please add your questions and comments into the chat option as we move along.

RSVP to get zoom link: swflreset@gmail.com

RSVP to Eventbrite:

https://www.eventbrite.com/o/swfl-reset-center-31785653907

Dear Justice Seekers,

It's a story that needs to be told... three years ago we started asking the city of Fort Myers to create an affordable housing trust fund. At this year's Nehemiah Action the mayor attended and committed to bringing a trust fund to the council.

Well, we got news Saturday afternoon that the city would address the topic with just two days warning. 50 LIFE members mobilized at the last minute to show up at city hall. We hosted a prayer vigil out front and then waited in the lobby for our chance to speak. The speakers were compelling and the applause from the lobby let our city know that LIFE does not give up.

Four hours later the city voted unanimously to create an affordable housing trust fund.

https://www.news-press.com/story/news/local/2021/05/04/activists-tell-fort-myers-council-create-affordable-housing-trust/4920061001/

Congratulations to all LIFE members for building the power needed to create this real and long-lasting policy change.

We will be inviting all our city officials to the LIFE Celebration to applaud them and we look forward to sharing more stories from the Nehemiah Action when we all gather on May 24th at 7 PM.

Thank you and God bless,

Chelsea Baker

LIFE