by Admin | Jan 1, 2018 | Justice Actions
Dear UUCV Community,
Soon after the Thomas fire began and throughout the long week to follow, a phrase I heard often was that UUCV was a second home. We had play dates for the children all day or half days every day for the next week, and many people told me the sounds of laughter and play warmed their hearts. Times like these make us remember what matters most.
According to Holstee, a company whose mission is to bring more meaning and inspiration to people’s lives, an intention is a deeper purpose that could guide our actions. Love is my intention. To me, love means to offer belonging and welcoming to everyone I encounter and to give everyone a sense that they are seen and worthy of kindness.
January is the start of the Coming of Age program, which is a huge undertaking for the religious education program and our congregation as a whole from now until summertime. It’s an effort that touches many in our community, from the youth, their siblings, parents, and grandparents, the facilitators, mentors, and beyond. We are blessed to have Rev. Dana playing a key role in the program as well. We hope to offer an empowering space to guide and nurture our 12-14 year olds as they evolve into their adolescence. Please keep us in your heart!
I Hope You had a lovely Holiday Season and May You Enjoy the Blessings of Purpose, Inspiration and Meaning in 2018
Emily Carroll, Director of Religious Education emily@uuventura.org
by Admin | Jan 1, 2018 | Inreach/Outreach News
“Love only grows by sharing.” Brian Tracy
Your generosity toward those who ask for our help continues to be amazing.
Nov. 5: UU Church of Ventura Inreach/Outreach fund – $726
Nov. 12: Southern Poverty Law Center – $813.97
Nov. 19: LUYV: Safe Sleep program – $840.60
Nov. 26: Turning Point Foundation – $813.95
Dec. 3: UUSC: Guest at Your Table – $709
Dec. 10: Park Outreach Team – $913
January Inreach/Outreach Recipients
Jan. 7: No More Deaths is a humanitarian effort of the UU of Tucson Arizona dedicated to stepping up efforts to stop the deaths of migrants in the desert and to achieving the enactment of immigration reform.
Jan. 14: UUCV Inreach/Outreach Fund to help those in our own congregation or someone in the wider community who is in need of assistance.
Jan. 21: Habitat for Humanity uses volunteer labor to help low-income families build their own homes on land secured by this non-profit through grants and donations.
Jan. 28: Dig Deep Water works to ensure that every American has clean running water. They empower American communities to build and manage low-cost systems that bring safe, hot and cold water into homes, schools and community centers and to measurably improve human rights standards like health, gender equity and economic development.
Thanks for all your donations
by Admin | Jan 1, 2018 | Justice Actions
Lift Up Your Voice (LUYV) Needs You
by Sue Brinkmeyer
Lift Up Your Voice is this church’s ministry to do what we can to end homelessness and to ease the suffering of those still struggling to survive it. Our work and over 50 volunteers are organized into teams, and each team has a leader or two.
Currently Kathy Powell leads our Park Outreach Team and our Events Team, Neal Ortenberg and Darryl Marquez lead the Safe Sleep Team, Kappy Paulson and Sally Shampine lead our One Stop Team, Pam Waldron leads our RiverHaven Team, Bill Wakelee and Sue Brinkmeyer lead our Family to Family Team, and Ruth Owens leads our efforts to launch Family Promise VC (a program to shelter families with children at churches). Quite a few people lead separate advocacy efforts: Rob March works on Ventura, Yukio Okano on Oxnard, and Kappy Paulson represents us on a coalition advocating for Homes for All and on the Faith Subcommittee of the Ventura Social Services Task Force.
Now Comes The Big Ask: Sue Brinkmeyer is leaving Lift Up Your Voice and is ready to help someone new take over two tasks: (1) convening meetings of the Lift Up Your Voice Steering Committee and (2) being the liaison between the church and the Lift Up Your Voice Team leaders. If you are interested in helping the work of Lift Up Your Voice by taking on either or both of these tasks, please contact Sue at 818/281-6249 or suebrinkmeyer@earthlink.net.
by Admin | Jan 1, 2018 | Justice Actions
Out of the Fire Together
What is arguably the most expensive fire in Ventura county history began on December 4, 2017. Just like many others, Gretchen and I were under mandatory evacuation orders. Early in the morning we packed up some of our belongings and headed for the church. We went to the church because unlike the emergency shelter at the Fairgrounds or Nordhoff High School, the UUCV is our spiritual home. We wanted our known community to be our place of refuge. Although we had talked about the possibility of one day needing to evacuate quickly, we were not as prepared as we might have thought. That was also true of our church when it came to an emergency the size of the Thomas Fire. And yet, as a congregation we showed up and stepped up, making a difference in people’s lives.
As the day unfolded Reverend Dana, Beverly Jordan, Emily Carroll, Gary Zinik and myself made phone calls to everyone that we thought might be affected by the fire. Information trickled into us via phone calls, email, texting and Facebook. We received offers of shelter, food, mattresses, and help. We made plans for the church to be able to house people overnight. Rob March, Kitty Merrill, Dennis Charles and Linda Pietrzak, Kent and Sue Brinkmeyer, and others, made contributions that made it possible for our church to be able to be a welcoming place during a major crisis.
The rest of the week we opened our facility for childcare and made hours available for families to spend time together in comfort. We provided emergency meeting space for an AA meeting and for some community college students to receive extra tutoring for an upcoming calculus exam. We suspended the rules for the Safe Sleep program allowing more space to be available for those who sleep in their cars and in need of a place to park for the night. We instructed our security service to leave anyone found sheltering on our property undisturbed.
We are so fortunate to have a culture of dedication and commitment. We are blessed with an amazing staff. What we have participated in and accomplished during this latest emergency is the place where vision is lived. We can talk at length about our vision and our mission. To me the difficult task is to articulate statements about each. But if you were fortunate to spend any time at the UUCV during the fire and its aftermath, then you would have seen the beauty of people in community together, doing what they could to help people in need. That’s a Mission fulfilled, and it was amazing to watch. Thank you everyone for all that you did, and continue to do each day for our church and faith.
On behalf of the Board of Trustees, we wish each one of you a Happy New Year in 2018! May the year bring you Hope, Peace, and the Joy of knowing a loving community.
Living in Paradise,
Bryan Buck, President
by Admin | Jan 1, 2018 | Minister
Happy New Year.
And can I just say that 2017 is a year that I’m happy to see in the rearview mirror?
As I write this column, the fires have been burning for two full weeks. I fervently hope that by the time you are reading these words – another two weeks on – that the fire is fully contained, if not completely extinguished.
I am not one to dwell in doom and gloom. Life offers so much richness and possibility. Yet I suspect memories of 2017 will be dominated by the Thomas Fire.
Still, a new year opens its vistas before us. Let us step into it newly, with hope of all that can be rebuilt, and with the wisdom that living through a natural disaster can bring.
Our theme for the month of January is Intention – fitting for the New Year. Now, I am no fan of New Year’s Resolutions. That is not the kind of intention I recommend (though if resolutions work for you, go forth and resolve!).
The kind of intention that arises for me now is affected by my experience of the fire. As one of the thousands who evacuated, I had to go through the process of deciding what I would take with me and what I would leave behind. Some among us actually lived that experience, having lost everything in their homes they couldn’t bring out, sometimes with very little little time to consider the question.
Yet I know the fire occasioned such reflection even for those who didn’t evacuate. At such times, the question naturally arises, What would I bring with me? Answering that question is one way to figure out what is most important to you.
- What is irreplaceable?
- What is necessary?
- What can I easily let go?
- What is truly precious to me?
And all this can lead to further reflection on how to live intentionally, thoughtfully, with awareness.
So let us enter the new year thinking intentionally about our lives – about our material possessions, about our values, about our actions. Let us be more intentional about how we move through the world as Unitarian Universalists and simply as human beings who want to be good.
Happy New Year to All
with love, Rev. Dana
