What

What’s going on.... March 2001

Sat	Mar 3	7:00 PM	Games Night at the church
Sun	Mar 4	9:30 AM 10:45 AM	Youth R.E. Service – Michael Stoltzfus, "In the World but not of the World: Mennonite Faith and Culture."
Tues	Mar 6	7:00 PM	Women’s Group at the church
Sun	Mar 11	9:30 AM 10:45 AM 12:15 PM	Youth R.E. Service – Ann Kasun (watch announcements for details) 2^nd Sunday Potluck and Board Meeting
Mon	Mar 12	11:00 AM	Break Bread delivery
Sun	Mar 18	9:30 AM 10:45 AM	Youth R.E. Service – Tom Hallock, “Preparing for Spring: Up-date On Our Adopt a Stream Project”
Tues	Mar 20	7:00 PM	Women’s Group at the church
Sun	Mar 25	9:30 PM 10:45 PM	Youth R.E. Service – Virginia Branan, “UU Religious Odysseys”

March……. The winds of March promise to blow in greater details about some of our programs as the month develops. Watch for announcements. Spring breaks for some members may disrupt attendance a little. Come when you can and join in our exciting lay led services. This is the month each year in which the Board begins preparations for our Annual Congregational Meeting later in the Spring. Participate in this democratic and personal commitment aspect of our Unitarian Universalism. Pledge of your money and your time as you are able.

v Take time to let your eyes relax on the landscape and paint your mind with the beauty of Nature.

v Try spiritual writings—a poem, short essay, or just a thought written in a journal.

v Meditate on a spiritual question, or in the Eastern style, clear the mind to become open to the spiritual.

Sunday Programs

Michael Stoltzfus, who spoke to us on Buddhism a while back, will visit our congregation again this month. His topic will be "In the World but not of the World: Mennonite Faith and Culture." Michael is a member of the philosophy department at Valdosta State University with primary teaching duties in religion. He was raised in the Mennonite faith and will share a personal perspective on this religion with which many of us may be unfamiliar. Virginia Branan is organizing a panel of our own members to reflect on their personal religious experiences in the program entitled “UU Religious Odysseys.” This type of program has been well received in congregations in Kansa City, White Plains, NY, and Eugene, OR where it is now a monthly program. Contact Virginia if you would like to share your personal odyssey and where you are at this point in developing your personal credo.

Social Action Activities

Break Bread Together

Our date for meal deliveries with the Break Bread Together program is the 2^nd Monday of each month. If you can deliver meals on this day beginning about 11:00 AM, please contact Virginia Branan.

Bring $1.00, a dish, and your favorite game to the church on Saturday, March 3 at 7:00 PM. Call René Kerr or Julie Halter if you need further information.

Women’s Group

The Women’s Group needs someone to volunteer to coordinate the group and be there to open up when the group meets. Contact Julie Halter if you would be available to fulfill this function. Previously the group has had suggestions to discuss current events, read a book, share poetry and other readings. The group meets for good food and great company, the 1^stand 3^rd Tuesday of each month at 7:00 p.m. Bring a snack, ideas for discussion, or just yourself!

Youth R.E. The spring curriculum will be centered around a NASA and NSF educational unit on life in the universe. Ethical/moral questions will be explored also with review of the films "Contact" and Hawkings "Brief History of Time." A project/learning activities/discussion approach is the style of the lessons. 9:30-10:30 each Sunday. If you want to be involved contact Ann Kasun.

The CoffeeHouse Returns in April!!! The actual date will be decided and announced soon, most likely one of the last two Saturdays in April. If you have recommendations for talent and/or other suggestions or questions contact Doug Fraser and Molly Schultz.

Members present: Virginia Branan / René Kerr / Doug Fraser / Ann Kasun / Diane Holliman

· Coffeehouse dates were discussed for April with Doug and Molly designated to make the final arrangements.

· N.P.R. ads discussed: Scheduling of ads, verbiage allowed in the ads, length of time to run. Virginia to handle this with the folks at N.P.R.

· Card designs for special occasion board and church discussed, Ann will email others with ideas.

· Board set dates of May 6^th for annual meeting and April 15th for Nominating Committee appointments in order to make newsletter deadline.

· Date for pledge campaign to be before April 15^th with proposed budget done by Rene for the April newsletter.

· Board mentions we need more hymnals and/or people need to bring the ones they have back to the church. A plea for volunteers to help purchase more hymnals to be put in next newsletter.

Treasurer’s Report

Pledge Information

This month René Kerr will be sending out pledge campaign information in order to prepare a budget for 2001-2002 year. Just a reminder our church year is July 1-June 30 for pledges, budgets, officers, etc. If you are interested in financially supporting our group and do not hear from René, please let her know.

Did YOU KNOW that Unitarian Universalists who live in communities where there is no UU church may join the Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF)? George Marshall in “Challenge of a Liberal Faith” states that “here is a church to which anyone may belong__ if his or her 'mind is his(her) church’ and its integrity brooks no compromise.” He quotes a Canadian broadcaster who says,” I never before had the courage to stand up for my convictions as strongly as I do now, knowing that I am not the only one who feels this way.” Charles Leonard, one of our original members, had been a member of the CLF for many years. One of the UU stories from those early days here in Valdosta is people’s recollection of Charles’ expression when he opened the door of a room where people interested in organizing a UU fellowship in Valdosta had gathered. They had each responded to a newspaper ad. Charles’ expression showed his amazement and delight to find that not only were there other people in the world who thought the way he did, there actually were people right here in Valdosta who thought that way. Fellowship is an important aspect of our religious experience.

To the twins who were members of the Valdosta Middle School academic bowl team which placed in the semi-finals in a recent state tournament. The Tullos family has visited several times recently.

Hymnals: We need all of our hymnals for Sunday services and could use more. Please return any hymnals you borrow in time for the Sunday services. If you would like to have one of your own, René Kerr will be glad to put together a bulk order, which saves on the mailing and handling costs. Think about donating a hymnal. It could be a memorial gift, or remembrance of a special moment, or just a donation.

Mark your calendar for April 8, after second Sunday potluck next month. The Board has scheduled a "spring cleanup" for our buildings and grounds. Wear appropriate clothing. "Many hands make light work" will be our motto as we spruce upour facilities and get prepared for visitors at CoffeeHouse time.

Carol Stiles recently wrote that she had re-arranged the archives on our Webpage and added a link to "meet our newsletter team.” She says she fixed a couple of glitches on the community groups page She says she was told that if she changed the page title so that it appears in the title bar, the page would show up more in search engines...guess what, she says it works! The church home page appears in both yahoo.com and google.com searches, with the key words "Valdosta Unitarian" (also the community groups page appears if you type in "Valdosta community")

Hi "uuvaldosta" I was surfing geocities and checked out your site at geocities/uuvaldosta. I have a good friend with a really similar site, and I passed your url along to her. … Anyway, I really just wanted to say thanks for an interesting site!

We also recently received a note from Harold Hawkins, UU minister from Florida who has visited us numerous times in recent years. He had some really nice comments too about our newsletter in general and our programs we offer. He was complimentary that we manage to do so much on our own as a lay-led congregation.

Let me thank everyone who helps get all of this together each month. I’m just the “cut and paste-er.” MED