ELECTIONS
ANNUAL MEETING
The Annual Congregational Meeting of our church will be held
May 28 immediately after the church service. Officers will be elected and the
church budget will be approved. If you
have other items for the agenda, speak to any Board member.
One of our UU Principles is “The right of conscience and the
use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at
large.” Although we practice this
principle in our congregation throughout the year, the Annual Meeting is our
opportunity each year as members of the Valdosta Unitarian Universalist Church
to elect the officers who will serve us for the coming year and make decisions
on our behalf. It is also the time at
which we approve the budget for the coming year which will guide the
decisions of our officers and other functions of our religious community.
As is always true in any truly functioning democracy, well informed participation is
required. Plan to participate on May 28
and let your wishes be known.
Watch the bulletin boards at the church for announcements
about the slate of officers, the budget, and other agenda items for the
meeting. Board members will be
providing the congregation with this information prior to the meeting.
Nominating
Committee
Appointed
President
Charles Judah has appointed the following
Nominating Committee to present a slate of officers for the new church
year: Virginia Branan, Jim Ingram, and Diane Holliman. Feel free to speak to
any of these people about the new Board which will serve July 1, 2000-June 30,
2001. We all have busy schedules, but
agree to serve, if you can, if they ask, or volunteer for an office you would
like to hold.
CHRIST THE KING EPISCOPAL
CHURCH MINISTER TO SPEAK
THE VERY REVEREND STANLEY J. WHITE, FOUNDING PASTOR OF
CHRIST THE KING EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN VALDOSTA, GEORGIA AND DEAN OF THE SOUTH WEST CONVOCATION WILL
SPEAK ON MAY 14. CHRIST THE KING IS A VERY DIVERSE, EXCITING, AND INNOVATIVE PARISH, WHICH
IS FULLY INTEGRATED IN MEMBERS, LEADERSHIP, AND STYLE. FR. WHITE
SAYS “CHRIST THE KING HAS A SENSE OF MISSION TO AID IN THE BREAKING DOWN THE WALLS OF PREJUDICE AND MISUNDERSTANDING
THAT CONTINUE TO DIVIDE AND WOUND HUMANITY.”
PLEASE NOTE THAT IN
ORDER TO ACCOMMODATE FR. WHITE’S OWN CHURCH’S SCHEDULE, HE WILL NEED TO LEAVE
PROMPTLY AT 11:45 AM IN ORDER TO BE AT THE 12 NOON MASS AT CHRIST THE KING THAT
DAY. WE WILL ADJUST OUR USUAL
PROGRAM ORDER AND START PROMPTLY AT
10:45 AM IN ORDER TO ACCOMMODATE OUR VISITOR.
Becoming a UU Member
If you are interested in signing the membership book
of our church, speak to the President, Charles Judah, or a Board member.
Youth R.E.
The Religious Education program is continuing to cover
world religions in the curriculum "Neighboring Faiths." Contact Diane
Holliman for more details.
Games
Night!
Bring $1.00, a dish, and your favorite game to the
church on Saturday, May 6 at 7:00 PM.
Call René Kerr or Julie Halte) if you need further information.
BOOK DISCUSSION
Josette and Jim Ingram will host a book discussion/potluck
Sunday, May 21 at 7PM. The book is The Loop by Nicholas Evans,(author of
The Horsewhisperer). Dramatic confrontations between a pack ofwolves, a
powerful Montana rancher, and a federal biologist sound like our UU principle
of concern for the interdependent web of life.
The book is available in paperback.
For anyone who wishes this event were scheduled for a
different date, know there just wasn’t a "good" time this month or
next. Those who make such decisions
decided to schedule the discussion for May 21, even though this is the usual 3rd
Sunday potluck date also. The operative
theory is that we probably eat twice anyway, and besides just bring the
"leftovers" that evening! Come if you can whether you’ve been able to
read the book or not. There’s always
good fellowship, food, and discussion.
The book discussion will be at the Ingram’s. Call if you
need directions.
Women’s Group
Join us
for good food and great company, the
1st and 3rd Tuesdayof each month at 7:00 p.m.
Bring a snack, ideas for discussion, or just yourself! Contact Julie Halter for more information.
Social Action Activities
Break Bread Together
Our date for meal deliveries with the Break Bread Together
program is the 2nd Monday of each month. If you can deliver meals on this day beginning about 11:00 AM,
please contact Virginia Branan.
LAMP THANKS YOU!
Thanks
to all who brought donations for LAMP (Lowndes Associated Ministries to the
People). Our congregation, along with a
number of other churches, supports this organization in our community. April is the month our congregation makes
special donations; however, LAMP
welcomes canned goods, paper products, or personal items anytime.
Gay-Straight Network
Potluck Social
The
Gay-Straight Network meets regularly at the UU church the second Wednesday of
each month for a potluck social. The
next meeting will be May10 at 7:00 PM.
Dinner will be followed by a "poetry and reading night." Bring your own work or your favoritewriter to share!
All are welcome. Contact Ann Kasun for further information.
Interfaith
Alliance
The
Interfaith Alliance’s difficulties being recognized by the VSU SGA were the
subject of discussion at the religious tolerance speakout in April. Thanks to Tom Hallock for representing us
and the students in that discussion.
The group held its first forum, on
Religion and Education, April 27, in the Camellia Room of the Old Union. The
group has been meeting every other Thursday night in the University Center for
the past few
months. The last meeting of the
year has passed, but if you are interested in participating next Fall, then
please e-mail Tom Hallock or Adam Moats.
Come share with this great bunch of people!
VSU DIVERSITY WEEK REPORT
Virginia Branan helped organize the
Valdosta UU participation in the VSU Diversity Week SPEAKOUT to discuss
religious tolerance held last month at the university. The speakout topic was "How Religious
Tolerance Benefits Social Justice."
Rene' Kerr and Virginia set up a display
table using Jim Ingram’s display about our church prior to the speakout. Tom Hallock admirably represented us and
the liberal religious point of view on the panel at the speakout. Tom was also representing the new Interfaith
Student Group on campus.
Several members helped to staff the UU
display at the Diversity Fair in front of Palms Dining Hall on campus on
Thursday of Diversity Week. The
Gay-Straight Alliance had a neighboring table which it shared with SAVE, the
VSU environmental student group, which had been protesting the recent cutting
of trees on campus in defiance of campus policy. Their poster read, “Human Diversity is Meaningless without
Biodiversity!”
All in all, in one way or another,
members of our congregation were well represented throughout Diversity Week on
campus. We in the congregation owe
these folks appreciation for publicly stating their positions for what in some
cases is not a popular position on campus or in our community at large. Their courage creates the possibility for real
conversation in the community, the only way to further true tolerance and
respect.
Know
Our Members
Do you know who
n Gets to
church first almost every Sunday?
n Makes
coffee?
n Opens up
the church for Women's group?
n Donates
coffee, tea and contributes items such as toilet paper, garbage bags, and
cleaning supplies?
n Is better
known as the quick, quiet tea goddess?
THANK YOU JULIE HALTER ! WE APPRECIATE YOU AND ALLTHAT YOU DO!
Newsletter Staff
Editor: Betty Derrick
Production: Virginia Branan
Membership database: Doug Fraser
Website: Carol Stiles, Julie Halter,
and Earl Daniels (now of Atlanta, GA)
May 16, deadline for the May issue
At the Church-in-the-Woods:
A Course In Miracles,Wednesday
evenings. Contact Robert Dixon.
Cardio Karate - Tuesdays and Fridays, 7:00 - 8:15
PM. Call Albert and Delane Slone.
Tai
Chi , Monday and Thursday evenings, Contact
Vicki English.
Thank You, Thank You
For delivering Break Bread Together meals: Diane
Holliman
For posting the newsletter to the website and maintaining
the website: Earl Daniels and Carol Stiles
For helping with VSU Diversity Week activities: Virginia Branan, Tom Hallock, Julie Armstrong, Julie Halter, Betty
Derrick, René Kerr, Dee Tait, Diane Holliman, Theresa Thompson, Ann Kasun
For building our display to use for programs like Diversity Week: Jim Ingram
For coordinating the Seder: Diane
Holliman and Sue Eigen
For coordinating Easter Weekend: Julie Halter
For helping stamp and get labels on the April
newsletter. Doug Fraser, Dee Tait and Lea Atkinson
Membership
Directory:
Your Gainesville correspondent (Carol Stiles) here,
checking in with another important announcement: Last call (really!)
for the new membership directory!! This directory will be distributed to those
members and friends who are listed in it (old friends who have moved are
invited to be listed, too!). A rough
draft of the directory is up and ready to be checked for accuracy, etc. - contact Virginia Branan to verify your
information. I have information for
the following families/individuals:
Andersen, Armstrong, Asbury, Bacino, Bennett, Bibin,
Black, Branan, Bruton, Cline, Derrick, Dixon, Eigen, Ford, Fraser, Gibson,
Greene, Hahlen, Hallock, Halter, Holliman, Horowitz, Ingram, Judah, Kasun,
Kerr, Phillips, Ray, Scholz, Slone, Stiles, Tait, Thompson
If you are new to our congregation, or would now like to be included in this directory,
please complete the following information and return it to Virginia Branan by May 20. The directory will
help each of us stay connected with others in the congregation (which is its
purpose, of course; it is not to be distributed for commercial or other
uses). We plan to have the final
version ready for the new fiscal year which begins July 1. Work telephone and FAX are optional; it
would be very helpful however to have an e-mail address if you have one. Thanks!!
Name: ________________________________ Member or Friend? (Circle one)
Complete Address: ____________________________________________________________
Home telephone: ________________ Work telephone: (optional)___________
Fax: __________________ E-mail: __________________________________
Children's names:
_____________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________No. of Smoke Signals: ____________
******************************************************************************************
Treasurer’s
Report
Your
Treasurer, Rene' Kerr
March Budget
Outstanding Debts:
UUA :
$300.00
$300.00
Savings: $0.00
Income:
Pledge: $1004.00
Plate: $86.27
Fundraising: $.75
Rent: $265.00
$1356.02
Expenses:
Mortgage: $520.00
Speaker: $287.37
Music: $45.00
Carpet Cleaned:
$250.00
UUA: $100.00
litys: $155.22
$1357.59
Your Treasurer, René Kerr
René says
thank you for getting your pledges in on time and meeting the budget for next
year!! She says this is a first during
her years serving as our treasurer.
SUUSI
Blacksburg, VA
July 23-29
SUUSI(Southeastern Unitarian
Universalist Summer Institute) is celebrating its 50th anniversary
in 2000. It is an experience with many
levels: fun, scenery, insight, worship, awareness, new friends. It is a community of about 1500 UUers who
gather on the campus at Blacksburg each summer. The program is intergenerational. If you want to know more check out the web site at http://www.suusi.org. Limited funds are available for scholarships. Charles Judah and Betty Derrick can let you
know first hand about SUUSI.
UU Activities and Announcements
Further information is
posted on the church bulletin boards.
May 5-7 CONservation, a Young Religious Unitarian Universalist(YRUU)
sponsored Social Justice Workshop in Tampa, FL
May 12-13 New President’s Forum
for incoming congregational presidents and presidents-elect at the University
Unitarian Universalist Society , East Orlando, FL
June 8-10 Developing a Philosophy of Religious Education, First
Unitarian Church of Roland, Orlando, FL
June 22-26 General Assembly in Nashville, TN. The Florida District has a good deal on a bus to Nashville and
motel rooms but you need to act fast.
See more information on the bulletin board.
November 5-11 Florida Leadership School
The Mountain, a UU Cam and Conference Center in Highlands North
Carolina, has on going camp activities throughout the year. There are a number of weeklong camps during
the summer.
Laurel Hahlen has forwarded the following
social justice issues from the UUA Web site:
At its January, 2000 meeting, the UUA Board
of Trustees passed a resolution
in support of the boycott currently underway
to encourage removal of the
confederate flag from the South Carolina state house:
"The Board of Trustees of the Unitarian
Universalist Association encourages
the Unitarian Universalist Association, its
committees, sponsored,
affiliated, and associated organizations to
join the NAACP-sponsored boycott
and utilize locations other than those in
the state of South Carolina as
convention or meeting sites until such time
as the Confederate flag is
removed from atop the South Carolina
Statehouse, removed from within the
South Carolina House and Senate Chambers,
and relegated to a place of
historical context only."
The Rev. Mel Hoover, Director of the UUA's
Faith in Action Department, was
among the nation's religious leaders who gathered on April 5 at
the United Nations to call for
a US Day of Reconciliation. Hoover, representing the UUA, participated
in
the gathering at the invitation of the
National Conference for Community and
Justice (NCCJ).
The United Nations designated April 5, the
day after the anniversary of the
assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther
King, Jr., as World Day of
Reconciliation. This effort built on the work of United States religious
leaders who recently meet with President
Clinton to highlight work on the
President's "One America"
initiative, designed to end racial and religious
intolerance.
Hoover said, "This meeting provided me
with the opportunity to share the
UUA's 1999 Statement of Conscience, our
Journey Toward Wholeness
anti-oppression program, and our work to
found and support the World
Conference on Religion and Peace.
"Through the World Conference and the
United Nations, our work can be shared
with faithful people throughout the world,
and we in turn can learn ways of
reconciliation from international faith communities."
*****************************************
The Religion Communication Congress, now
meeting in Chicago with over 1200
religious communications professionals in
attendance from 28 countries, has
given two of the annual awards of the
Religion Communications Council to
Unitarian Universalist periodicals.
An Award of Excellence was presented to
WORLD Magazine and former Executive
Editor Amy Hoffman for "UUs in Search
of Simplicity: 'The Best Things in
Life Aren't Things' " (in the Magazine Article - Single Article category).
An Award of Merit was presented to the UUA's
newsletter for lay leaders of
congregations, "InterConnections,"
edited by Don Skinner (the only award
given in the Newspapers-National category).
Congratulations to the UUA's periodicals
division!
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