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Finding Your Powerful Voice February 27, 2022, at 10:00 a.m.Online and in-person Rev. Joyce Palmer The theme for Sunday, Feb. 27 is Finding Your Powerful Voice, reasons why this is important and ways to discover your own voice are the focus.
Happy Birthday to: Tracey Armstrong (02/22), Billie Callahan (02/22), Leslie Williams (02/22), Chizuko Duncanson (02/25), Larry Heibner (02/26), Peter Anderson (02/27), Andrea Schultz (02/28), Susan Cooling (03/01), Daniel Fellars (03/01), & Krysta Wasilewski (03/01)!
Volunteers for Sunday, February 27
Ushers: We Need 2
Greeters: We Need 2
Guest Table: We Need 2
Email me at office@uurockford.org and let me know what you would like to volunteer for!
Thank you!
Info for Ushers
Ushers are responsible for handing out the orders of service and passing the baskets during the offering. Both ushers will need to count how many people were in service and the money collected and put it in the bag that is provided. Once you are done counting, give the bag to Autumn at the tech desk in the Sanctuary. If Autumn is not working that Sunday please drop it in the locked box under the mailboxes by the offices.
One of UU Rockford’s Touchstone groups, whose members are from the Oregon area, have sponsored an Afghan refugee family of four. The Naib family consists of the father Haroon Naib (age 34), mother Fowzia (age 22), daughter Farankis (age 3.5) and son Frzam (age 1.5). They arrived 3 weeks ago and are living temporarily at the Islamic Center in Polo, IL. Because Haroon worked for an NGO that promoted democracy and women’s rights in Afghanistan his life was endangered by the Taliban takeover.
This week’s Share the Plate will go to the Sauk Valley UU Afghan Refugee Sponsor Circle to help raise the $3,400 still needed to pay the family’s expenses (about $9,750) for their first 90 days. In addition to cash the family needs a used car and Haroon needs a job.
The Naib’s will visit UU Rockford for a Meet and Greet in late March or early April when the Corona virus dies down. Please contact Donna Ducharme (dducharme@grics.net) or Jennifer Riley (jenniferocec@yahoo.com) for more information or for a copy of Haroon’s resume. Click Here to Donate
Matthew’s Memo
February 21 2022
I want to give you an update on our hopes to add back some things we’ve paused because of COVID. Cases are falling rapidly across the country and in Winnebago County. New treatments for folks who are immunocompromised are becoming available. And CDC data shows that fully boosted people are more than 60 times less likely to be hospitalized than folks who are unvaccinated. If you haven’t done so, get your booster.
Of course, we are still waiting for vaccines for children under 5. They remain more vulnerable, and their parents and families remain cautious. Though they were unlikely to get the pre-Omicron versions, that’s not as true now. (This is why I think the decision to make masks optional in school is foolish. These children have younger siblings who can’t be vaccinated yet. We should wait until then.)
So, what does that mean for us? We can relax some precautions for adults as cases fall, especially since we know that almost every adult in the congregation is vaccinated and boosted. But we need to proceed with caution for our kids, to prioritize school.
We will continue to require masks for large groups, including worship. A small group meeting at church can remove their masks IF everyone in the group wants that, and if everyone is boosted. Center the most vulnerable person, please. You’ve done this well, keep it up.
That said, we can start bringing things back.
One thing we want to bring back is coffee hour. For folks who want to, after worship, they can come to the fellowship hall, and join in conversation and community and coffee, tea, and snacks. We plan to restart this on March 13th. But we need volunteers! Please be in touch with Rev. Joyce if you are willing to be on the regular schedule. Also look for details to come about a kitchen-clean up on March 12th.
The other thing we want to bring back soon is congregational singing. With a high-quality mask, singing for boosted persons is safe when community transmission is not extreme. Multiple studies from choirs and congregations show this to be true. So, when the Winnebago County cases are at 25 per 100,000 or less, and the infection rate remains below 1.1, we will sing together in the sanctuary. Currently, those numbers are 30 and .62, so we’re almost there if the numbers keep trending in the right direction. We will post in the Friday update if we can sing that coming Sunday.
For religious education, we are in a wait-and-see place. In the weeks to come, Lindsay and I will be touching base with parents to see where your comfort level is and what you are ready for. We know we will have a core need for volunteers, and if you are willing to be a regular volunteer with our children, please let Lindsay know. As soon as the weather is good, RE will be outside again – but we have a little ways to go before that can be true. Stay tuned and thank you for your patience. Children are very welcome in worship or to join with their family and others in Deale Hall during the service.
Questions? Please ask.
In faith,
Matthew
Kitchen Clean-Up day
We hope you’ll consider helping! Come help clean up on March 12 at 11 a.m. so we are ready to do coffee hour the next day. Please email Autumn at office@uurockford.org to sign up/lead this clean-up day.
Our AIM team met earlier this month to discuss ways we can better welcome, embrace, integrate, and support people with disabilities and their families in our congregation. We reviewed a previous review of our grounds and programs by the AIM Advisory Team with the Unitarian Universalist Association. We were pleased to receive recognition for the many positive things our congregation is already doing such as having accessible parking, assisted listening devices, and an elevator. Most importantly, we have leadership committed to engaging in this work.
Our next steps include revieing our website to ensure it accessible and clearly stating we have an accessible building. We are also planning to conduct trainings and offer workshops to improve our welcome.
If you are interested in joining us in this work, please reach out to members of the AIM Team: Rev. Joyce Palmer, Ruth Little, Jennifer Riley and Rhonda McAllister.
Families without citizenship cannot access public health services.
HB4437 aims to change that inequity. HB4437 provides that adult noncitizens, otherwise eligible for Medicaid except for being noncitizens, may receive health care from facilities under the auspices of the Department of Healthcare and Family Services. We are aware that immigrants and refugees are being routinely turned away from public health clinics demanding proof of citizenship, which the Public Aid Code currently mandates. This is a huge change in support of our immigrant and refugee community.
HB4437 will be heard by the Appropriations-Human Services committee on Thursday at 8am. Let’s file witness slips in favor of bringing the bill out of committee and onto the floor.
HB4437 is being strongly opposed by folks objecting to “government overreach” as “unhappy taxpayers.”
Section 1: Fill in your info, register yourself as “self” or “UUANI”
Section 2: Register yourself as “self”, “citizen, “UUANI”
Section 3: Select “proponent”
Section 4: select “Record of Appearance only,” unless you plan to be there
Sign onto the ILGA terms of agreement (left corner), and “create slip” (right corner)
Partnering with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
Also — Last month, you stepped up to support HB4093 in committee, a mandate to locate new clean energy initiatives in communities impacted by loss of fossil-fuel industries. We doubled the number of “proponent” slips. The committee recommended DO PASS and the bill is on the docket for next week. You rock!
Book Discussion
Thursday February 24, 2022 6:00 p.m.
Join us by zoom for a discussion of 1619 Project-A New Origin Storyby Nikole Hannah-Jones and multiple other contributors.
We will be discussing pages 249-480.
The book reframes our understanding of American history by placing slavery and its continuing legacy at the center of our national narrative.
Please read the book on your own and we will discuss it.
Join the Zoom Meeting here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81211275487 Book discussions are presented in partnership with Rockford Public Library.
The Board of Trustees:
President: Amanda Tapfield
Clerk: Bob Spelman
Vice-President: Judy Gustafson
Treasurer: Teresa Wilmot
Trustees: Khanh Oehlke, Sarah Greer, Jami Edmonds
The Unitarian Universalist Church, Rockford, IL | 4848 Turner St., Rockford, IL 61107 | 815-398-6322 | uurockford.org |
