The sUUper Sunday Summer Camp begins May 29, 2011 for 4 year olds through rising 6th grade and will feature games and activities based on Dr. Seuss stories. To register click here.
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The Children’s RE Program is collecting items for care packages to send to the men and women serving in our armed forces. We’ll be collecting items from now until April 24. Please donate travel sizes only, non-aerosol, and nothing that will melt. Please place items in the brown wooden box in the Edgewood Lane Hallway. Thank you for your support! We are collecting:
March 2 Youth Programs Committee Meeting March 5 Coming of Age Lock-in March 6 YRUU “OWL” Class March 12 Riddle & Mystery Class Lock-in March 13 UU Stars Story Sunday March 13 YRUU “OWL” Class March 23 Children’s RE Committee Meeting March 28 Adult Faith Development Committee March 30 Youth Programs Committee Meeting Excerpt from Interfaith Humanitarian Sanctum, Inc. 2/18/2011 Newsletter: The Meal Packet Program, originated by Margaret Gorman and her religious education class, and continuing at Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church - Unitarian Universalist (TJMC-UU) in Charlottesville, Virginia were allowed a rare opportunity for a site visit to the UVA Medical Center Social Service Office on Sunday morning, February 6. The class was accompanied by youth group leaders, John, Catherine, Jeff and Mike. The TJMC-UU group has provided nearly four hundred full-day meal packets in the last three months, and used this opportunity to add more meals to keep the shelves adequately supplied for a few more weeks. Teresa Bevins, Clinical Social Worker, and monitor for the program at the hospital’s Pediatric Clinic, hosted an hour of discussion about the role of social workers and the impact the Meal Packet Program was having for caregivers. Although no visitors are allowed onto the floor where caregivers are constantly staying with their infant children, the visit provided this pre-college group a chance to learn about the vital role of UVA Medical Center’s social work staff. The TJMC-UU group had lunch in the hospital cafeteria, just to experience the cost for a single meal. A “full-day meal packet” made by participating groups are nutritionally balanced with diversified items, and based on selective shopping, actually costs less than a single meal from the cafeteria. This proved to be a reality check for students who realized the expense for a caregiver seeking to balance funds while staying in the hospital away from home for weeks, even months at a time.
Louisa County Cub Scout Pack 183 has joined the Meal Packet Program
Pack 183 has 69 active cub scouts, under the leadership of Cubmaster Jim Snider, and Pack Committee members, Tina Schweikart and Karin Sewell. On January 30th Tina Schweikart, along with her personal helpers, Connor and Taylor Schweikart, delivered 71 full-day meal packets and 10 breakfast packets to IHS for further delivery to the UVA Medical Center.
This past week we received a note from Tina on behalf of Pack 183, which said: “We are very excited to become a part of this program. We also talked about our ability to commit as a pack twice a year to these collections, and plan to dedicate October and March as our months to assist, hopefully keeping this tradition going for a long time.”
A special Valentine’s “Giving from the Heart” Party
That event was scheduled around a Valentine’s Day theme in the last week. Dawn said, “The party guests were from Crozet, Ivy, Earlysville, and family from Northern Virginia. 16 kids and 10 adults made for an awesome assembly line. They were age 18 months - 15 years, all helping make cards and assembling bags.” Dawn also said, “One of my friends is an employee of Whole Foods, and she was able to get the store to donate some items as well. I noticed that Whole Foods has been a good sponsor of IHS with their wooden nickels project in the store.” Dawn noticed how the event has sparked a real connection with giving with her young children. She said that her 4-year old is still talking about “the people who don’t have money for food,” and the comment by her 6-year old when he suggested, “Maybe we could give them money in the bags too, so they could buy more food.” The Kimbrough Circle “Giving from the Heart” party had an objective of producing 24 full-day meal packets; however, 34 full-day meal packets were delivered to IHS on February 17th. Other groups in the pipeline for adding to this total effort …
Murray Elementary School (Ivy) Helping Hands Club, and their guidance leader, Jennifer LoCasale-Crouch, are presently fund-raising for food collection for an assembly and delivery session in March. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Ivy Spirit Movers Sunday School assembled 20 meal packets on February 13th, and will present their project to the entire congregation at the February 20th worship service. TJMC - UU children continue their productive ways with meal packet projects scheduled for February - March with an objective of 100 packets, and a similar objective in May. Their example is marvelous for other church groups to emulate. In Summary…
However, full-day meal packets should contain items which have a solid shelf life for many, many months. Therefore, if a large number of packets is produced prior to the long summer or winter holiday breaks, which can effect scout and school club activities, then IHS is standing by for a call for pickup and delivery in any month which makes the activity convenient for all contributors. Allow me to offer an example of how all of IHS objectives can come together with just one patient…
The social worker on duty called the pharmacy in the child’s hometown, and indicated some specifics, and IHS paid for the medication to assist for a few days until Medicaid could be engaged again on Monday. IHS immediately booked a hotel room for the night near the hospital. The social worker then obtained several meal packets from the social worker office to feed the child and grandparent through several days until securely back at home. You may ask and rightfully so…how many meal packets are needed? A definitive answer is difficult, for the need is experienced in all of the UVA Clinics. Lack of nutrition reaches long and short term residents at UVA Hospitality House, caregivers in Ronald McDonald House, many family members who have come to be near a loved one in critical care, and many outpatients with only funds for travel to the UVA Cancer Center for treatment, etc. etc. Dawn Cleveland and Margaret Gorman reminded their children to remember that one person staying as a caregiver for 60 days needs 60 full-day meal packets. It is a sobering example, and presently the IHS objective must be prepared with no less than 300 full-day meals monthly. Walking the Spiral Path One thing I know for sure is that our congregation is full of generous souls. I am reminded of this truth every Sunday when I see so many people helping in a multitude of ways to support the life and work of our congregation. Whether you are greeting, ushering, making coffee, running the sound system, teaching in our RE program, giving a ride to a church member who needs a lift, or helping out in another way on a day other than Sunday… the sharing of your resources (time, energy and talent) almost stops me in my tracks with a feeling of overwhelming gratitude. To me, our church community is a blessing to all of us as well as the wider world and the truth that we all pool our money together to support its existence is a sort of miracle. As our Stewardship Campaign launches this month and you are asked to make your financial gift to sustain our beloved community, I hope you will reflect deeply on what you can give and that you will, as our beloved Gordon McKeeman always counseled us, “give until it feels good.” Your act of making a financial commitment to our shared religious life is important and no matter the size of your contribution, your gift is valued and appreciated. Let us join together, combine our resources and commit anew to our continued support of the church we love. With appreciation, Leia Durland-Jones Director of Religious Education An Invitation Would you like to get to know and work with a small group of dedicated people within our congregation? Are you interested in deepening your understanding of our UU faith and traditions? Would it feel good to know you are really helping support the congregation you love? This is your invitation to join one of the small groups that does the “behind the scenes” work of our lifespan faith development program (otherwise know as religious education.) Are you interested in children’s programming (nursery through fifth grade)? The Children’s RE Committee would love to have you join us for our monthly meeting, usually the fourth Wednesday of the month. If sixth through twelfth grade is more your area of interest, we welcome you to join the Youth Programs Committee. We meet once a month, usually on the first Wednesday. Our Adult Faith Development Committee considers the needs of adult learners (all of us!) and plans the classes for adults of all ages. We meet regularly, though not monthly, and usually enjoy an inexpensive dinner together beforehand. All three committees, Children’s, Youth and Adult, work directly with the Director of Religious Education to carry out our church’s educational programs. All three committees are welcoming new members at this time. Our meetings are fun and our work together is collaborative and inspiring! Will you join us? Contact Leia Durland-Jones, DRE, at 293-8179 extension 3# or leiadj@embarqmail.com. Leia is waiting to hear from You! Weekly Electronic RE Updates— A Great Way to Keep Informed! The weekly Children and Youth Religious Education Update, emailed Thursdays, connects parents and non-parents alike with the information about what is happening in the RE program for the upcoming Sunday. Brief lesson descriptions are detailed and there is also information about upcoming church events. To have your name added to the email list, contact Leia Durland-Jones, Director of Religious Education, at leiadj@embarqmail.com. You can “unsubscribe” at anytime if needed. Thank you to our Coming of Age Mentors A big heart-felt thanks to the eleven members of our congregation who are serving as Mentors for the youth in our Coming of Age “Challenge” class. They are: Cindy Benton-Groner, Dawn Dirks, Ruth Douglas, Griff Giffis, Holly Hintz, Laura Horn, George Jones, Raven Long, Walt Megonigal, Jean Newland, and Sally Whaley. Mentors and youth will meet regularly (at least twice a month) between now and the end of May to complete the COA workbook which includes the writing of a faith statement. Youth who complete the workbook are eligible to participate in the COA pilgrimage to Washington DC in June. Additionally, the youth will share their COA experiences with us during our Sunday morning worship service on June 6. PJs, Pancakes & Bingo! Do not miss this super fun event for all ages on Friday February 4, at 5 PM in the Social Hall. The Children’s RE Committee sponsors this annual all-church pancake dinner where wearing PJs is optional and having fun is not! After a delicious dinner of pancakes, sausage and other treats, we will play Bingo with our fabulous new Bingo machine. Bingo begins at 6:30 PM and Bingo cards are $2 each or three for $5. For more information or to find out how you can help, contact Leia Durland-Jones at 293-8179 extension 3# or leiadj@embarqmail.com.
Save the dates: February 2 Youth Programs Committee Meeting February 6 Four year-old-Fifth grade Chinese New Year Celebration February 9 Adult Faith Development Committee at “Aqui es Mexico” February 13 UU Stars Story Sunday February 23 Children’s RE Committee Meeting |
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