We Need Your Input!
The concrete tunnel in Outdoor Sanctuary for kids to crawl through and climb over needs some design. Bugs, butterflies etc as the one in SB Zoo. We are hoping to get it done this summer.
We are taking ideas, input and wishes before we commission some church artists to do the job.
Send your comments to Michael Akseven makseven@yahoo.com or text 805/208 0344.
by Mark Mendelsohn
Get the free Recycle Coach app (https://recyclecoach.com/residents), which includes complete information and schedules for our Ventura waste and recycling program, available now for App Store Download or Google Play Download, as well as your Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, or simply their website. Now there’s fantastic and extensive info about recycling, pre-cycling, and other waste diversion techniques immediately available at your fingertips or voice command! The information is catered to your street address; Ventura has the most info already loaded, but Ojai, Camarillo, Oxnard, and other communities are not far behind! The Recycle Coach platform will help transform our cities into even greater stewards of the planet and increase our landfill diversion rate, currently at 74%. Email mmendels33@gmail.com any questions.
Global Big Day Report-back: eBird recently emailed us, “On 5 May 2018, you helped set a birding world record. Your eBird lists joined reports from nearly 30,000 fellow eBirders, tallying 6,924 species as a global team: 2/3 of the world’s birds in 24 hours. This is a new world record for the number of bird species reported in one day. Thank you.” We observed 26 species in less than an hour at the Ventura Settling Ponds.
by Linda Pietrzak
When I sent out the announcement for the Work Party, four people responded they would not be attending. What a blow to our work force I thought! But this is the UU Church of Ventura and we show up!
An even-dozen volunteers showed up for the May Work Party. After spending several months working along the Ralston side, they tackled the neglected back of the church. Rob March, Toni Carbonneau, Ted Lombard, George and Ruth Owens, Jim Whitney, Mark Fargo, Phil Wiseman, and Wil Devine filled up the three toters AND 17 large trash bags with weeds, leaves, and other organic debris. Pine needles were piled up as a ground cover to keep the weeds down. Jim Whitney and Ruth pulled a few token weeds from the Ralston side of the church. Toni, Mark, Jim, and Ted swept the parking lot. George swept the trash enclosure. Merle Oberg worked on the ancient, often vandalized irrigation system. Mike Sixbey and Wil worked on the HVAC enclosures, getting ready to make more repairs. Linda Pietrzak cut up boxes that the furniture for the Outdoor Sanctuary came in.
As busy as everyone was, they took time to have some snacks and visit. Getting to know each other is one of the really great benefits of coming out to the Work Parties.
Contact Linda Pietrzak at linda.w.pietrzak@gmail.com
Phil Wiseman and Rob March with half of the green waste from the church parking lot.
“FLAWS”
The word was in all caps at the center of a collage that a Coming of Age youth and her mentor were creating. All youth and mentors were focusing on collages representing Unitarian Universalism, and I was happily circulating among them all watching and listening to the collaborations. The word piqued my curiosity.
“Why FLAWS?” I asked.
“Because we don’t have to be perfect in this church,” came the response. “We get to be who we are.”
I could not have said it better. One of the things I loved about our faith from the first was that I felt accepted in my full humanity. I wasn’t a sinner in need of saving, but a complex human being seeking meaning, trying to live with purpose and compassion. I was appreciated for my gifts and blessings and encouraged to deepen them. I was fully accepted with my failings and foibles and encouraged to learn and grow.
I have loved working with Emily, our Coming of Age crew of facilitators and mentors, and eight of our magnificent youth. Our UU youth always delight me. They often surprise me with their wit, insight and sensitivity. We grow great kids in our faith and in our church. I can’t wait till the Coming of Age service on June 10 when they will read their Credo Statements to the congregation.
These kids are just one more reason I am falling more and more in love with the church and all our people. It’s hard to believe we are coming to the end of our second year together. In some ways it feels like I just started yesterday, in other ways I feel I’ve been here forever. I’ve told anyone and everyone who asks that I am happy as a clam, here in Ventura, serving this congregation. It’s still true.
And by now we are coming to know each other’s gifts, quirks and a few flaws. Folks now know that I don’t always reply to emails right away. And I’m an external processor, meaning that I don’t always know what I think until I hear myself say it, meaning I sometimes blurt out wild and impractical ideas.
I realized that I was even more a goner for y’all recently when I had encounters with a number of folks with their particular quirks and idiosyncrasies, and all I felt was an upwelling of affection. I realized that I love them not in spite of quirks and foibles but because of them.
We don’t have to be perfect in this church. I prove that on a daily basis. We simply get to be who we are.
And what a wonderful group of folks we are.
With love,
Rev. Dana