[more ...]

As we all strive to find accurate information about the situation we face as a world, country and community concerning the spread of Swine Flu, please know that the leadership of this congregation is already actively addressing the potential impact of such a situation on our faith community. More details will be forthcoming on planning efforts. In the meantime, please note the following:

1. This congregation is committed to supporting the health and well-being of all its members and friends. Please find information relevant to treating flu in your home on the Traumaministry.org and Redcross.org websites.
2. If you or someone in your household begins to experience flu like symptoms or is diagnosed with flu, please contact the church and we will work to support you and your family during this time of need.
3. If you or other members of your household are experiencing flu-like symptoms, please stay home from school, work and church. Let us reach out to you with meals or other pastoral needs if necessary.Talk to the members of your household about your own plans for dealing with flu should one of you become infected, or if a period of quarantine is placed on the community by the Department of Public Health. Put together a home disaster supplies kit (visit Redcross.org for information on this important resource).
4. If and when vaccination or other anti-viral medication is made available, please take the opportunity to receive proper preventative medical support.
5. If you are aware of others in our congregation who are vulnerable to flu, or who have flu-related needs, contact the .

Remember, this is a time to prepare, not panic. The leadership of this congregation will be working with local agencies to assist our members and friends in time of public emergency. We will forward information to members and friends via the newsletter, webpage, and voicemail (if and when necessary). Contact the if you have questions or concerns about these efforts.

Sincerely,


Additional information can be found in the "Flu - What You Can Do" and "Key Facts about Swine Influenza (Swine Flu)" documents.

[close]

[more ...]

Are you in a job or career transition? Check out the Employment Transitions Group that meets on Sundays from 12:30 - 1:30. Meet with others in our church who are looking for work and dealing with all the emotions and isolation that accompany this transition.

NOTE TO THE CONGREGATION: Job leads
If you hear of job openings at your company or any other, send that information to Sue Hegedus who will pass that to the Employment Transitions group. We are also interested in jobs that may be temporary, seasonal, or part time -- particularly for the summer months -- as a job search takes time. Please send those leads to Sue as well. Send those to

[close]

[more ...]

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR FOOD PANTRY

As we hope you know, we have assumed responsibility for the Food Pantry previously located at St. John’s Episcopal Church. The pantry will distribute food on the third Saturday of each month. (The first distribution from our church will be on April 18th) We’d love for you to get involved in this ministry.

Construction Helpers - These jobs shouldn’t take long. We need to sheetrock the ceiling in the backroom that will be used for storage, insulate the outside wall and linoleum tile the floor.

Shoppers - The Friday before food distribution occurs, several people need to go to the Worcester Food Bank to shop for enough food for 60 people. All shoppers must attend Shoppers’ Orientation at the Food Bank and be willing to stock the food at the Church.

Set-up - Set up volunteers work from 6:00 p.m. Friday night for 1 to 1 ½ hours. They will put the food out and get carts, paperwork, etc. ready for Saturday distribution.

Distribution Day - Help is needed to answer questions, give out perishable food, make guests feel comfortable while they await their turn to shop, and assist guests. The time commitment on Saturday is from 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Please contact or to express your interest.

The more the merrier. Please consider giving someone a helping hand.

[close]

[more ...]

in case of bad weather

In case of severe weather on Sunday morning, please remember the following:

There are 3 possible levels of closing:

1. NO SUNDAY SCHOOL but REGULAR WORSHIP
2. NO SUNDAY SCHOOL and INFORMAL WORSHIP (Minister will be on site to meet with those who attend - no music)
3. ALL PROGRAMS CANCELLED (including evening programs)

In the event of severe weather, the decision to cancel will be made by 7 AM and will:

• be placed on the church answering machine which can be accessed by dialing (508) 853-1942 and selecting 8 from the menu
• be sent out to the RE family email list
• be placed on TV channel 5
• be placed online at www.thebostonchannel.com.
• People may sign up at http://www.thebostonchannel.com/
  closingssignup/index.html to have closing information delivered to them by either email or a cell phone text message.
• Office closings due to bad weather through the week will also be put on the answering machine at menu item 8. Jen will, barring internet/power outages, be able to check e-mail and messages.

[close]

[more ...]

Summer Office Information and Deadlines

Office Hours for the Summer, from June 23 to August 24 will be Tuesday and Thursday from 9 AM until Noon.

Jennifer will not be in the office at all on the week of July 26 - August 1. Because of this, the deadline to get articles in for the August E-Message has been moved up!

There will be two editions of the E-Message published and sent out over the summer:

• Summer E-Message #1: Published July 2 to cover events and announcement pertaining to the month of July.
  Deadline for submissions to this E-Message is Tuesday June 30.
• Summer E-Message #2: Published July 23 to cover events and announcement pertaining to the month of August.
  Deadline for submissions to this E-Message is Tuesday July 21.

The normal E-Message schedule will resume August 25.

OFFICE GUIDELINES FOR COMMITTEES & GROUPS

• Office Hours starting 03/01/09: Monday - Thursday 11 AM - 4 PM (Staff Mtg Wed 2-3:30 PM);
• In the event of the Office being closed during the week due to weather or other factors, a message is left on the church voicemail - for information about cancellation and closing policies, please click on the UUCW Cancellation Policy.

Deadlines:

• Weekly E-message deadline for articles and flyers is 11 AM on Monday. Please submit your article by if possible. You must write your own article. See other side for E-Message and Weekly Reminder Submission Guidelines.
• Weekly Reminder deadline is 11 AM on Wednesday. See other side for E-Message and Weekly Reminder Submission Guidelines.

Scheduling/Use of Building:

• If possible, try to agree upon a regular meeting date for your committee. Once you let me know (for ex., the third Thursday of the month) I will add it onto the calendar for the remainder of the year. If you know that you are not meeting on a particular month (including summer months), please let me know that as well, as soon as possible, as someone else may desire your space.
• If you are unable to decide on a regular monthly meeting time, you must inform the office each time you schedule a meeting. The best way to do this is with email. I will respond back to you letting you know if your space is available. In most cases, notices of any meetings scheduled in the building are posted in the newsletter and bulletin calendars prior to the meeting.
• Do not schedule any event or meeting, no matter how small, until you have checked with the office to determine if the space is available.
• If events or meetings, including regularly scheduled meetings, are cancelled or postponed, please let me know as soon as possible so that I can free up that space on the calendar for others to use.
• Make sure all doors including the back door and windows are closed and locked after each meeting. Please turn off all lights as well.
• Please note: Religious Education and Fellowship space, including the hall and kitchen, are reserved until after the services on Sunday. Do not schedule any events in those spaces without checking with the office first.
• See other side for regularly scheduled UUCW and community groups. When community groups are in session, DO NOT DISTURB them for any reason (except for emergencies, of course). This is part of our arrangement with those groups.
• Committees with bulletin board space must oversee their space, keeping information current and uncluttered.
• All committee heads can acquire a key for the length of their term in office. A deposit of $10.00 per key is required. Return the key when your term is finished and the deposit will be returned. Keys are in short supply, so please return.
• Office support is available on a limited basis for some committees. Please check with me as early as possible if you have a project, you believe you need office support on. My office hours are limited. Any expenses incurred during the project will be applied to your committee (for ex. postage and paper, if a mailing is done).
• Website submission guidelines and instructions will be distributed pending redevelopment of the website.

E-Message And Weekly Reminder Submission Guidelines.

• Weekly E-message deadline for articles is 11 AM on Monday. This deadline is firm as the EMessage goes out for editing by 2 PM on Monday afternoon.
• Please send me a short, concise article, not just a list of details as I will not write the article for you.
• Please submit articles by e-mail to office@uucworcester.org as a PDF, plain text (.txt), Microsoft Word (.doc) or Open Office Writer (.odt) attachment if possible.
• Flyers will only be included in the E-Message for special church-wide events such as fundraisers, and only on a space-available basis. Half-page or smaller flyers are more likely to be included.
• PLEASE NOTE that all submitted articles will now be put under a byline based on the name and e-mail address of the submitter. If the byline should be other than the name and address of the submitter, please indicate this in the e-mail.
• Weekly Reminder and Order of Service Deadline is 11 AM Wednesday. This deadline is also firm as the Order of Service goes to print at 11 AM Thursday.
• Weekly Reminder articles must be kept as short as possible (under 400 characters). The office reserves the right to edit them as needed, and to select them based on the date of the event the article pertains to.

Should you have questions and/or comments, please contact me.


Office Administrator
Office: 508-853-1942

[close]

[more ...]

Child-friendly summer services—August 9 and August 16

While all summer services are open to adults and children alike, two services in August are particularly geared toward participants of all ages. August 9 features an all-church picnic, and on August 16 Dave Curry will lead a drum circle.

Dave will bring extra drums to allow many people the opportunity to play, and we are hoping that a couple of adults will volunteer to run an art-session from 9:30-10 for kids to make their own drums from oatmeal containers or tins. If you are interested in helping with this project, please contact Peter Ringo at lcfreeman@yahoo.com or 413-548-0887.

Families put these dates on your calendar now and don’t miss these opportunities to come back and worship together in August.

Please Bring Back Water from Your Summer Travels

It is our tradition here at UUCW to collect drops of water from the places you visit this summer. When we return to each other in the fall we will pour our waters together and tell the stories of where we have been. If you did not take a small water collection vial from church on Sunday, please collect your water in any container that you have handy. And enjoy the collecting!

[close]

[more ...]

Interested in an October Weekend Mission Trip to Baltimore?- Deb Selkow debselkow@gmail.com Looking for a Team of 10 Senior High Teens and Adults - Deb Selkow and Robin Caracciolo

• Have you always wanted to go on a mission trip, to travel somewhere to do physical work that makes life better for people?
• Have you wanted to send your teen on a work journey that demands physical labor and team work and offers the possibility of personal transformation?
• As a former COA mentor or parent or a Youth group advisor, do you dream of a fall reunion in a project with the teens that you grew so close to this year?

We want to create a team of at least 10 teens and adults interested in traveling to Baltimore, MD on Columbus Day weekend, October 9-12, 2009 to provide services to a home for homeless people called Meeting Ground. Our team will join other teams of teens and adults from Worcester area congregations in this trip that will be organized by WAYS, the Mission Travel Bureau of the Worcester Area Missionary Society (WAMS).

This trip is a fantastic opportunity for our high school teens to go away and work together on a project. It is very accessible in both cost (only $375 per person) and time commitment (4 days including travel). It also offers the chance for our teens and adults to work with and to develop friendships with other Worcester area congregants.

So…are you interested or do you know an interested teen? Interested enough to attend an informational meeting to learn more? If so, please contact Robin at or this week.

We need to know if there is enough interest within this congregation to move this project forward over the summer. And you need to know whether or not to start saving for the trip. So spread the word, and be in touch immediately! See http://www.uucworcester.org/downloads/BaltimoreMissionFlyer.pdf for more information! Let’s go to Baltimore!!!!

[close]