by Kitty Merrill | Sep 18, 2017 | Inreach/Outreach News
“For it is in giving that we receive.” Francis of Assisi
In late July and early August our congregation donated generously to five local and national causes.
We collected $623 to support the mission of The Innocence Project, a national program that exonerates the wrongly convicted through DNA testing, and reforms the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.
The UUCV Inreach/Outreach Fund received $553 to make available monies that will assist folks in our own local and church community who are in need of help.
Congregants donated $528 to SMART Recovery (Self-Management and Recovery Training) which allows the group to meet weekly for a full year with a facilitator volunteer. Participants work on recovering from all types of addictive behaviors – drinking, taking drugs, overworking or any other habitual action that is harmful to one’s health or life balance.
The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) received $402 to help pay for an intern to assist with their summer programs. NCSE supports teachers, engages scientists, and organizes local communities to ensure that evolution and climate change are taught without compromise.
Your donation of $599 to CAREGIVERS will help add a staff volunteer coordinator to ensure the wellbeing of the 495 seniors they serve. This organization is a model program of neighbors helping neighbors based on the one-on-one match between a homebound senior and a neighborly volunteer.
September Inreach/Outreach
Sept. 3: Family Promise of West Ventura County houses newly homeless families with children at a different host congregation each week. During the day the families stay at a centrally located day center where they work with a case worker to save money, repair credit issues, receive social services and gain stability. Funds would help buy supplies needed to give families beds and bedding to use at houses of worship where they will sleep. Bedding will travel with the families to each host congregation.
Sept. 10: Planned Parenthood of the California Central Coast Funds will assist patients who are low-income, uninsured, under-insured, unable to qualify for state or federal healthcare programs or are enduring a hardship requiring them to sacrifice health care.
Sept. 17: B read of Life “Feeding Oxnard’s Hungry” provides 80-100 hot, three-course dinners to anyone who comes through the door each Sunday evening all year at this Oxnard site. More than 20 churches and organizations provide food and volunteers. Funding would help maintain this program.
Sept. 24: NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Health) Ventura County provides emotional support, education and resources for families affected by mental illness, and in addition strongly advocates at the local, state and national levels for a maximization of services for persons who are afflicted. Funds would help continue to offer without cost their classes and presentations throughout Ventura County.
Thanks for your donations, Anne Escobedo
by Kitty Merrill | Sep 18, 2017 | Justice Actions
Church Security and Safety
Our location in Ventura is best described as “urban” versus “rural.” We are in proximity to the walking path, shopping centers, and the county government center. There is a lot of activity surrounding our church. Not all of it good.
Recently the Whales Tail bench in the back corner of the parking lot was painted with graffiti, and on occasion we have had some unauthorized folks sleeping on our property.
Last month, in response to these types of concerns, the Board approved a request from our Safe Sleep volunteers to temporarily hire a security patrol service to check on our property during the early morning hours.
The purpose of obtaining the service was two-fold. First to help reduce night-time trespassing; and second, to aid in the monitoring of our parking lot related to the church ministry of the Safe Sleep program.
The initial use of the patrol service is intended to be short-term, two to four months. During this period, the members of our church who make the Safe Sleep program the successful ministry it is will be gathering data based on their observations and daily experiences. They will incorporate the reports provided by the patrol service into that data. The goal is to look closely at the information to determine if such a service should be included in our annual budget.
Some of the questions we are trying to answer include:
- Do we need a security service?
- Do we need a year-round service or one that is intermittent?
- Does having the service make a difference in caring for our property, members and guests?
A few years ago, we established a Safety Committee (currently inactive) that had the issue of security as one of its responsibilities. That committee was formed in response to problems that several churches around the country were experiencing. Churches rarely need more committees but it seems the time has come to re-establish the Safety Committee.
If issues of risk management, safety of our employees, members and guests, and the security of our property, interest you, please contact me for consideration in participating on the Safety Committee.
Living in Paradise,
Bryan Buck, President
by Kitty Merrill | Sep 18, 2017 | Justice Actions
I am so happy to be embarking on our second year in ministry together. Last year was full of firsts, and this year will have a few of them as well. We have welcomed two new staff members, Jennifer Seale as office-administrator and Emily Carroll as our Director of Religious Education. Both have hit the ground running, and folks are being welcoming and helpful to them as they join us. I do hope this staff team we are building will last a good while.
This year we will also begin planning and programming thematically using Soul Matters, a program from the UU church in Rochester, NY. More than 200 of our congregations are using it, becoming a kind of nation-wide UU community. Soul Matters has resources for worship and music, religious education and small group ministry, aka covenant groups. Though we will be easing into it, you will begin to see themes weaving into the life of the community.
Throughout the year, you may find yourself talking in a Covenant Group about some ideas that you heard in a sermon earlier in the month. Or your children may give you a whole new perspective on the same topic. And all the while we will know that UUs across the land are considering the same themes.
The resources provided are extensive and have been growing over the last five years or so as the program has deepened and expanded. I hope that we will also deepen and widen our spiritual growth as a congregation using these materials over the next years.
September’s theme is, fittingly, Welcome, and the first service of our “program year” will be a Water Communion service, as we gather together from our travels, near and far, and merge our waters as we sail on together once more.
In October will come Courage. November, we’ll explore Abundance; in December, we will consider Hope. The new year will bring us Intention. As you can see, the themes flow with seasons and holidays and church rhythms and events in the wider world.
My hesitation in taking on themes was that they might feel constricting. I’m not sure I want to link every worship service to a theme, and yet they are broad and deep enough that it is easy to imagine two or even three services each month to be linked in.
We may even see messages on our church sign linked to the themes. A couple of relative newcomers – Chris Chalquist and Peggy Anders – have taken up the ministry of changing the message of our sign every month or so. They hope to catch the eye of people driving by and perhaps draw some of them in. Check it out.
So much love and so much energy arising – thematically – at UUCV!
With Love,
Rev. Dana
by Kitty Merrill | Sep 18, 2017 | Minister
I am so happy to be embarking on our second year in ministry together. Last year was full of firsts, and this year will have a few of them as well. We have welcomed two new staff members, Jennifer Seale as office-administrator and Emily Carroll as our Director of Religious Education. Both have hit the ground running, and folks are being welcoming and helpful to them as they join us. I do hope this staff team we are building will last a good while.
This year we will also begin planning and programming thematically using Soul Matters, a program from the UU church in Rochester, NY. More than 200 of our congregations are using it, becoming a kind of nation-wide UU community. Soul Matters has resources for worship and music, religious education and small group ministry, aka covenant groups. Though we will be easing into it, you will begin to see themes weaving into the life of the community.
Throughout the year, you may find yourself talking in a Covenant Group about some ideas that you heard in a sermon earlier in the month. Or your children may give you a whole new perspective on the same topic. And all the while we will know that UUs across the land are considering the same themes.
The resources provided are extensive and have been growing over the last five years or so as the program has deepened and expanded. I hope that we will also deepen and widen our spiritual growth as a congregation using these materials over the next years.
September’s theme is, fittingly, Welcome, and the first service of our “program year” will be a Water Communion service, as we gather together from our travels, near and far, and merge our waters as we sail on together once more.
In October will come Courage. November, we’ll explore Abundance; in December, we will consider Hope. The new year will bring us Intention. As you can see, the themes flow with seasons and holidays and church rhythms and events in the wider world.
My hesitation in taking on themes was that they might feel constricting. I’m not sure I want to link every worship service to a theme, and yet they are broad and deep enough that it is easy to imagine two or even three services each month to be linked in.
We may even see messages on our church sign linked to the themes. A couple of relative newcomers – Chris Chalquist and Peggy Anders – have taken up the ministry of changing the message of our sign every month or so. They hope to catch the eye of people driving by and perhaps draw some of them in. Check it out.
So much love and so much energy arising – thematically – at UUCV!
With Love,
Rev. Dana
by Kitty Merrill | Jul 29, 2017 | Justice Actions
The next Religious Exploration term starts September 17. Parents, teachers and volunteers, please visit the UU Ventura website at http://www.uuventura.org to register your kids for our Religious Exploration program, or to register yourself as a volunteer or teacher.
Choose “Childrens’ Religious Education” from the “Learning” menu, and then click Child Registration or Volunteer Registration from the menu on the left. This will help us get our new Director of Religious Exploration ready for the new year. If you’re already registered, you only need to re-register if you have information to update.
