Would you be interested in participating in a Circle Dinner, spring 2020, on the weekend of April 19 or 25?  Please vote for a weekend in our doodle poll!  If enough members express interest, the Engagement Team will assist with the organization of these dinners.

Circle Dinners are held in the homes of UUFoM Members. The goals are to:  

• Make new friends
• Grow and learn
• Share a meal together

This is a modified potluck. Your host(s) will provide an entrée and you & other guests will bring the rest of the meal. Your host will help you decide what to bring. These are adult only events.

Vote here!

Over the next few months, you will see changes to our website:  some major, some minor.  Then, a major overhaul in 2020.  While we are making these changes, we would like to know what kind of things do you like and dislike about our website currently.  What type of changes would you like to see?  What kind of topics would you like us to address?  We want the good, the bad and the ugly.  We are interested in the slightest changes.  Share your recommendations and suggestions here.   If you need access to Members section of the website, please contact Wendy Altmeier, Office Administrator.

Currently, when you access our website via Google, the link does not take you to our current website.  It takes you to a website that we cannot access in the Fellowship Office.  We are working towards resolving this issue with Google.  We recently set the link up to go to our Facebook page for the present time as that is much more accurate than the page it was linked to.  We ask for your patience as we attempt to manage the situation. 

US Marine Reserve Toys for Tots program collects new and unwrapped toys each year to distribute as Christmas gifts to children and youth ages 0-17 in the community.  Midland is hosting a Toys for Tots drive and the Fellowship is a drop-off location.  Please bring in a NEW and UNWRAPPED gift to the Toys for Tots box located in the lobby area before Sunday, December 8.  Toys for Tots does not accept realistic looking weapons and gifts with food.  

Distribution will be held on December 14 at the Midland Mall, Midland.  There are no income requirements but you must be a resident of Midland County.   You will need your driver's license, proof of residency, and birth certificate(s) for all children and youth participating.  Sign up before December 1 to participate. 

Contact Wendy at [email protected] if you have any questions!

RE-Flections: One is Enough

Many years ago, I was at the UU General Assembly, when I had a perspective shared with me by a stranger that turned my world around.  At the time, my oldest child was the only one in our congregation his age.  He was too young for the age group above him, and too old for the age group below, and there was no one his age.  I shared how I understood the decision not to offer a class for just one child.  This stranger stopped me.

“It does not matter that there is only one.  ONE is enough,” he told me passionately.  “When we say one is not enough, we are telling that child that they do not matter.” 

I blinked.  It was so simple for this stranger.  Eye-opening for me.

This changed my world in two ways: one was for my child.  He mattered – not just to me – that was a given, but to everyone. As a Unitarian Universalist parent who values the needs of not just their own child but the other children in our community, it is easy to feel hesitant or to worry about imposing. We fret about having something done on behalf of our single child.  What I want to share both as a parent and now as a Director of Religious Education is that it is not an imposition, but a joy.  Every child matters to our congregations – to this congregation.  The needs of even one matter.  If the needs of a family can be met, our Unitarian Universalist congregants have the biggest hearts.  We want to make it happen.

One is enough.

We have two teachers for every classroom.  This is part of our congregation’s commitment to safe church policy to protect both children and volunteers.  This means that sometimes we have a classroom with a one to one ratio, or rarely even a two to one ratio of adults to children.  Does this mean our commitment to providing teachers for that age-group is a waste of time? Absolutely not.  If there is even one child, offering age-appropriate materials matters, because that child matters.
We do sometimes bring a child into an older or younger class when they are the only one in their age group, if they are old enough or young enough to fit into the other classroom.  We do this, not because the volunteer time matters more than that one child.  We do this because what child wishes to be alone when there are other children to share adventures with? So, if you find a slightly older or younger child in your class, welcome them.  Let them know their desire to be with others matters.

These things are also true when it comes for childcare, or a child with a specific need.  Even if we have only one child who has the need, they are STILL one.  They still matter.  Each and every one.  If we have the ability to do so, we will provide.  If you are the parent of that child, never doubt that your child is worth it, not just to you, but to your congregation.

One last note: We are going into a holiday season that is traditionally filled with wonder and transformation.  Welcome those moments.  Open your hearts to those amazing words or experiences that can turn your world around!  It is miraculous how the words of one stranger can change things.

Yours in Fellowship,

Heather Cleland-Host
Director of Lifespan Religious Education