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Phone:  229-242-3714 

 

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Sunday Services	Thank You! Thank You!	Religious Education
President's Portion	Social Action	UU Activities and Announcements
Social Events!!	Board Notes
	Special Announcement!  Candidating weekend!   Rev. Barbara Child visits March 6-7.  Click here for more information about events of the weekend, and click here for more information about how UU congregations select a minister.  Join us for this very important weekend!  Your input is valued at this exciting point in our congregational life!

 What’s going on.…March 2004  

Welcome Reverend Barbara Child!

March 6-7, 2004  

The Ministerial Search Committee is delighted to invite all members and friends to participate in the Candidating Weekend, March 6-7, 2004, for the Rev. Barbara Child, the Committee’s candidate for part-time minister for our church.   Several events are planned, offering our members the opportunity to meet Rev. Child and offering her an opportunity to meet us.  

Schedule for her visit:

March 6 – Rev. Child arrives 12:53 PM

-         Tour Valdosta

-         4:30 PM Ministerial Committee meets with Rev. Child

-         6:00 PM Congregational Dinner for all members and friends with Rev. Child at the church. 

March 7 – Rev. Child delivers Sunday sermon,  "Sharing the Ministry." 

-         Congregational Meeting after the Service. The purpose of this meeting is to vote on affirming the Ministerial Search Committee’s choice of calling Rev, Child to serve as our minister for next church year (September, 2004-August, 2005).

-         Opportunity for Rev. Child to explore Valdosta

-         7:35 PM Rev. Child leaves Valdosta 

A general membership meeting will follow the service, Sunday, March 7. The Ministerial Search Committee will present their recommendation on hiring an interim minister to the general membership for approval.  All members are encouraged to be present to take part in this process. Dee Tait, President, Board of Trustees

 Meet the Reverend Barbara Child:

Barbara says of herself: “I am an introvert who loves to work with people.  I love a rich metaphor more than a full purse.  I have faith in uncertainty and love to get things done.  I am always looking for the yes in any no, the hello in any goodbye, and the treasure buried behind the kitchen stove.” 

            She was born in Akron, Ohio and has lived and worked from Ohio to Kentucky to Florida to California to Vermont to New Jersey.  She began her career as an English Professor at Kent State University, where the four Kent State students who lost their lives at the hands of the Ohio National Guard in 1970 were killed virtually in front of her eyes.  The years that followed were formative for her as she devoted much of her time to litigation and comfort for the wounded students and their families.   She attended law school and ministered as a lawyer to the poor people of Portage County in Ohio through the Legal Aid Office.  She says that it eventually became evident to her that her heart was in ministry. In 1996 she earned a Masters in Divinity degree from Starr King School for the Ministry, a UU seminary.  She also holds a law degree from the University of Akron School of Law, and a Masters degree in Creative Writing from Indiana University.

            Rev, Barbara Child is a fully fellowshipped UU minister.  She served the UU Church of Tampa from 1997-2001 and has served a number of other churches as an Interim Minister.  She says that she is “especially drawn to interim ministry, working with congregations in transition.”

            Barbara says in her biographical notes that she has been married, but that she is now single, “with [her] vagabond soul ready to explore a new community.”   She says about herself: “I claim the gifts I have been given and…choose to use them to ‘bless the world.’  I am a good listener.  I have spoken from several pulpits and a great many podiums and also in many small circles.  I have insight into people and an ability to get to the crux of a matter quickly.  I have had lots of experience empowering others to be stronger, more responsible, and more loving.”

            Barbara has visited our church before for a Florida District workshop.  You may have met her then.  Come and renew your acquaintance the first weekend in March or meet her then for the first time.

UU Minister Visits

Rev. Harold Hawkins, who has visited us frequently in recent years, will be here March 28  to lead our service.  His subject will be "Michael Servetus, the Trinity, and John Calvin..”   This will be an opportunity to learn something of our Unitarian historical roots.  Servetus is recognized as a Reformation leader in the Unitarian tradition.  Calvin was responsible for trying Servetus for heresy and sentencing him to burn at the stake.

Rev. Hawkins is a former Southern Baptist who came to UUism late in life when he could no longer fight the Fundamentalist takeover of the Denomination. He graduated from Wake Forest Southern Seminary and entered the Naval Chaplain's Corps at the end of the war in 1944-45. In 1951 he entered the Hospital Chaplaincy and was an active Chaplain of the College of Chaplain headquarters in Chicago for most of the years until his retirement in 1996. He had earlier joined the UUA and has been actively serving small UU churches ever since retirement.   He recently retired as minister of the Pensacola UU church and has been very successful in helping build up the RE program at the Tallahassee UU church.  Although retired he still frequently serves the Panama City and Pensacola UU churches.  Welcome Harold back to our church the last Sunday in March.

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Meet & Greet Coffee after the Service: After each service, except when there is a special lunch planned, there will be coffee and other beverages along with snacks available.  Don’t miss this opportunity to engage in friendly and interesting conversation and particularly to greet visitors and newcomers.  Volunteers are needed to host particular Sundays.  See the list on the refrigerator and sign-up for your choice of Sunday(s) to make coffee and bring a snack.  Please note, those of you who have been missing a before service cup of coffee, this will also be available on a regular basis.

Special Lunches: Second Sunday potlucks are being discontinued; however from time to time there will be special Sunday lunches.  

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Other Visitors and Sunday Programs

March 14, Andy Phillips, one of our members, will lead a service entitled "Audience Participation: Nuclear Attack."  Welcome Andy back to our pulpit and share his thought o this topic.

March 23, Rev. Patricia Marks will speak on  “Dancing the Media Via: Episcopalians in the 21^st Century.”  Dr. Marks, who many of you know from her years as Professor of English at Valdosta State University, has recently been ordained as an Episcopal Deacon.  She will talk about the history of the church, which will put some recent issues in context:  She also plans to bring her vestments and some copies of the Book of Common Prayer and talk about what she does as a Deacon.  When we first asked Dr. Marks to speak about recent issues revolving around appointment of a gay priest to Bishop in the Episcopal Church, she declined to do so, concerned that her personal views might be confused with the views of the church itself.  With the increase in discussion about this issue in the local media and elsewhere, she has agreed to discuss her church and some of these issues with us.    

Childcare during the Sunday service is once again available. Childcare must be provided on a consistent basis if we expect people to come, return, or stay permanently.  Your help is needed to provide this service.  Whether or not some recent visitors, who have children, return to the UU Church may hinge largely on  the availability of childcare.  The mass mailing of our church brochure will result in more people coming to check out the UU Church.   The UUA consistently reminds churches that the prudent thing to do is to have two people providing childcare for each age group on any given Sunday.   Sarah Tait has agreed to be a provider every Sunday for the nursery.  We need one additional volunteer each Sunday.  If everyone volunteers, no one is burdened with this task. Please consult the two-month schedule available at the church and sign up for the dates you can help with the children.  Don't let it scare you.  We will have a "training/work-out-the-details" session to put you at ease.  Thank you for helping.  This could help our church grow!  

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President’s Portion

Dee Tait

If you are reading this newsletter, you are important to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Valdosta.  That’s right.  You are unique.  No one else can take your place.  You might be a faithful, long-time member, who has continued over the years to contribute your time, energy and money to keep this church alive.  You might have even taken a breather and started again. 

On the other hand, you could be a more recent addition to the church, still trying to find the volunteer spot(s) where you feel the most comfortable.  Then, of course, there are the visitors.  You might be a visitor who previously attended another UU church or a newcomer taking a look at the possibilities. 

No matter which category describes you, thank you for your support, your energy, your contributions, and your interest.  If you are a long-time member, I hope you are getting your needs met and that you feel appreciated for all that you do.  If you are a more recent important addition, my wish is that you find volunteer places that best suit you and that this church feels like home to you.  If you are a visitor, I hope you find friendliness and warmth here, enough to keep you coming back for a long, long time.

May our combined paths shine bright enough to lead others to this place.          

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Religious Education Program

·        Youth R. E.: We are seeking a leader for this group and more participants!  Get in touch with Lars Leader if you have some ideas.  Planning is on-going, but for now this group will not meet until further notice.

·        Adult RE – Beginning March 21 the group will start a new discussion topic on the writings of Thoreau and Emerson and  will meet every Sunday at 9:30 AM. Hue Jacobs has ordered several books. He is developing an outline of readings, which he will provide to those interested in these discussions. Come participate in these discussions about the writings of these outstanding American authors and Unitarians. Contact: Hue Jacobs.

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Newsletter Staff

Editor:  Betty Derrick

Production/Mailing:  Virginia Branan

Website:  Carol Stiles

March 15: deadline for the April newsletter.  Please be on-time this month.  Because of her personal schedule your editor will have to finish the April newsletter shortly after the 15^th of March.

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Congratulations Carol Stiles on maintaining a first-rate website!   Anna Mitchell Hall recently wrote that she was surfing the web and found this entry on a blog by a guy reviewing the websites of UU churches with 35 members or less for how welcoming they would be to potential visitors: http://www.universalistchurch.net/boyinthebands/archives/000186.html#mo Since he did not mention ours, only the one he deemed the "most welcoming," Anna wanted to know what he thought of ours.  She asked if he would let her know on the blog or by email.  He reviewed us on his blog! His review is at: http://www.universalistchurch.net/boyinthebands/archives/000189.html   Here are a few excerpts: "In fact, Unitarian Universalist Church of Valdosta's site does what it ought, and that's what makes it good... ...it is a good website and I would hate to see it spoiled by becoming too ‘clever.’ Lastly, it was on the list of those church website that knows how to handle a Geocities account. Good going to your web designer, and best wishes to y'all below the gnat line."

Anna goes on to say she has heard several visitors lately say they visited our website before attending.  She says it helped her decide to start going and knows it is an excellent outreach tool.

So a big round of applause to Carol! 

Those of you who are new to our group may not realize that Carol Stiles, who formerly lived in Valdosta when she was a faculty member at VSU, now lives in Gainesville, FL where she is on the faculty of UF.  She visits us when she is in town and continues to create and run our website.

An additional note from Carol:   much of the main page design credit for our website goes to Earl Daniels, who now lives in Atlanta.  He established the home page and posted the early photos of the new church and some other items, and he also provided technical support for some time after he moved from Valdosta a few years ago....     Thanks, Earl!

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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 Dee Tait.

Social Action Committee 

Outreach Opportunity: The Azalea Festival, a Valdosta community event, will be held Saturday and Sunday, March 13 and 14, in Drexel Park.  Nearly 20,000 people attended in 2003.  Many community organizations had booths or tables at the festival last year.  This would be a great opportunity for UU Church of Valdosta to get word out to the community about our principles and programs.  We need volunteers to sit at our table a few hours Saturday or Sunday.  If you can help out contact Lars Leader. 

The Social Action Committee's February project was a non-partisan campaign to encourage church members and friends to "get out the vote". We created a display at the front of the sanctuary about voting and made voter registration forms and instructions available.  Several members and friends of the congregation were also spotted attending an ACLU Freedom Train rally held in Valdosta on February 7th.  (Our UU folks were about 25% of those in attendance and it was a nice size group for a Saturday morning in Valdosta!)  We will continue our "get out the vote" campaign in March, with an email campaign outlining how members can take action to increase voter registration and turnout in our community.  The congregation is also planning to have a presence at the Azalea Festival on March 13-14 that includes information on social action if there is enough interest from the congregation.  The next meeting of the Social Action Committee will be March 31st at 5:00 in the RE wing.  Please come if you are interested in participating in social action or have any ideas for future social action. 

  

Keep in Your Thoughts**

·        Our members, friends, and relatives experiencing health concerns. 

 If you are considering joining our congregation, please let one of our officers know of your interest.  When you are ready to make this decision, we invite you to sign our membership book.   When you become a member of our congregation we hope you will also make a commitment of your time, talents, and money to the work of our congregation.

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Social/Fellowship Activities

 

  Games Night!

Games Night Returns to the Church in the Woods! Hue Jacobs is reviving the long dormant tradition of Games Night. Join in this fun evening the first Friday of each month at the church at 7:00 pm.   Bring along some refreshments and your favorite game.

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Congregational Dinner

with Rev. Barbara Child

Saturday, March 6, 2004

6:00 PM at the church

Jim Ingram is cooking a Low Country Boil dinner.  There will also be a vegetarian choice and Jim plans to accommodate any one who is allergic to shellfish also.  Volunteer to help out and plan to come to meet Rev. Child in this informal setting.  All members and friends are invited to come.

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(Last) Saturday Supper

Saturday, March 20, 6:30 PM

Mike Carmichael’s Home

Once again the (Last) Saturday Supper will be on the next to last Saturday!  Contact Mike for directions to his home.   Remember these social events are intended not only as social occasions for our members, but also as a way for newcomers to our group to have an opportunity to meet some of our members and to meet each other.  

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CONGRATULATIONS

v     Ming Lin – Ming has been busy while absent from his piano playing for us in recent weeks.  He has been named as an essay finalist for the state and is now being judged for the national competition by the Daughters of the American Colonists.  He has been selected by Harvard for an 8-week summer study program.  He is taking his elective this term at VSU in philosophy, although he is still a junior at VHS.  On a somber note, Ming was held at gunpoint and robbed while working at his family’s restaurant last month.   He was commended for the cool manner in which he handled the dangerous situation. 

v     Jason Halter – Jason has been inducted into the Beta Club. 

v     Sean Leader – Sean took first place in the Regional Math Counts Middle School Mathematics Competition.  Sean and the other top finishers will represent south Georgia in the state competition in March.

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Choosing a Minister: Thanks to Anna Mitchell Hall for the excellent explanation at the February 23 service about the way UUs hire their ministers.  If you were unable to attend that service you, may find some of the following explanation helpful to understand better the process that we have been involved in as we consider hiring Rev. Child as our minister. 

            Through the years the Unitarian Universalist Association has developed a process, which is generally followed by member churches and which  fellowshipped UUA ministers agree to follow.  Since UUA churches are autonomous, they are not required to follow the process; however a great deal of experience and wisdom has gone into its development.  Our Board and Ministerial Search Committee have been following the general guidelines of this process.

            After much discussion the Board appointed a Ministerial Search Committee and charged it with the responsibility to determine the hopes of the congregation with respect to a minister.  A survey of the congregation indicated that we wanted first of all a minister who lived in Valdosta and secondly, if that were not possible,  a minister who could live part of the time in Valdosta.

            With this information the Committee set about to advertise our part-time position on our website and on the UUA website.  Several ministers indicated their interest and the committee reviewed their credentials.

The UUA process promotes a consensus building process rather than a popularity contest.  The Ministerial Search Committee is charged with bringing to the congregation the candidate among those they have considered who best meets the criteria the congregation has indicated.  The members of our committee all concur in the decision to bring our candidate to the congregation.

UUs refer to the visit we will have this month with Rev. Child as candidating.  Were we hiring a full-time minister for an extended contract, this event would most likely be a full week-long event.  In our case it will be a weekend opportunity for us to meet Rev. Child, hear her give a sermon, and have an opportunity to visit with her formally in a Board meeting and informally in a social occasion.  This weekend is important for us in order to make an informed decision.  It is also important for Rev. Child to determine if she can meet our needs and remains interested in coming to serve us.

Ultimately the congregation will exercise our principle on democratic action and vote.  It is important for the success of this venture that as nearly as possible we reach a consensus decision.  Let your voice be heard in this particularly important event in our church’s life.

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Treasurer’s Report

January

Treasurer: Randy Thompson

 

							YTD
OPERATING RECEIPTS AND DISBURSEMENTS:						January
Receipts:
One-time Ministerial Pledge						0.00	17,500.00
Pledge						2,190.00	8,867.12
Plate						146.81	807.72
Rent						240.00	1,880.00
Other						0.00	535.00
TOTAL RECEIPTS						2,576.81	29,589.84
Disbursements:
Mortgage						500.00	3,500.00
Speaker's Fees & Expenses						0.00	1,026.00
Utilities						214.27	1,357.79
Pianist						35.00	665.00
UUA Annual Dues						0.00	1,495.00
Chamber mailing						0.00	100.00
Postage						23.64	120.95
Supplies						24.06	487.89
Insurance						253.00	253.00
Repairs and Maintenance						0.00	613.55
Other						45.00	490.00
TOTAL DISBURSEMENTS						1,094.97	10,109.18
NET RECEIPT (DISBURSEMENT)						$1,481.84	$19,480.66

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Ministerial Search Committee

As noted earlier in the newsletter the committee has reviewed candidates for our ministerial position and is recommending Rev. Barbara Child to the congregation.  It is important that members participate in the weekend visit with Rev. Child to affirm the Search Committee’s recommendation.  The committee will hold a joint meeting with the Board of Trustees and Rev. Child  on Saturday, March 6 at 4:30 PM at the church just prior to the congregational dinner.

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Unitarian Universalist Church of Valdosta

Board of Trustees Meeting

The Board of Trustees held their monthly meeting February 10, 2004 in the Religious Education Building.  In attendance were:  Dee Tait, Randy Thompson, Lars Leader, Mike Carmichael. and Rosie Asbury. Board President Dee Tait called the meeting to order.  Secretary Rosie Asbury read the January 2004 minutes and the Board approved the minutes. Treasurer Randy Thompson gave a detailed financial report, which is attached to the record copy of the February 2004 minutes. (A brief report is included in this newsletter.) The Board agreed to pay visiting ministers who come to speak at our church $200.00 plus expenses.  The Board also approved making a donation of $25.00 to the UU United Nations Office, which serves to speak, act and bear witness on behalf of UUs at the United Nations.  The Board discussed the possibility of finding/purchasing different hymnals written in a lower key due to the difficulty singing from our present hymnals.  Lars Leader brought some information about the Azalea Festival 2004, March 13-14, at Drexel Park.  The Board discussed church participation, depending upon volunteers to set up the space, talk to people and hand out pamphlets, etc. The fee for each space is $25.00. Hue Jacobs is developing a new Adult R.E. program.  The Ministerial Committee is prepared to recommend a candidate to the congregation.   Childcare is now available every Sunday.  In accordance with UU guidelines, two caregivers will share the responsibility each Sunday.  The church will pay Sarah Tait $10.00 for each Sunday she assists the adult volunteer.    Mike Carmichael reported that plans for March and April programs are complete.  The Board discussed plans for getting the audio system to the RE building in working order.  The first plan is to see if someone in the congregation can make the connection, if not, then to call in a professional to do the work. 

The next meeting of the Board of Trustees will be Tuesday, March 9, 2004, at 6 P.M. in the Religious Education Building.

 

UU Activities and Announcements

 Further information is posted on the bulletin board at the church.

March 6  District Board Meeting, Orlando, FL

March 13 “Religious Right: Radically Wrong,”West Central Cluster, Clearwater, FL

March 13 Membership Practices Workshop with Rev. Anne Odin Heller author of Churchworks, Jacksonville, FL

March 20  Treasurer and Finance Chair’s Workshop with Rev Ralph Mero, St Petersburg, FL

April 16-17  Florida District Annual Assembly, Canterbury Retreat & Conference Center, Oviedo, FL

June  UUA General    Assembly – Long Beach, CA - UUA will pay the registration for congregational presidents or presidents-elect 

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UUA TRUSTEE TIDBITS   Joan Lund

By the time you are reading this I will have returned from the January Board of Trustees meeting in Boston although the column is being written before this meeting. Please know I appreciate the suggestions and ideas you have presented regarding topics for my monthly writing. Hopefully over the next few months I will be able to address your requests but because of a recently received correspondence this month I will talk about the Commission on Social Witness.

The CSW’s mission is to help UUs put the Principles and Purposes into action, and to assist congregations and the Association express concern for social justice. The CSW is involved in all the steps of the 3-year process to adopt Statements of Conscience. Each year, the CSW receives proposals from congregations and districts for Study-Action Issues that they hope will be selected and eventually result in a UUA Statement of Conscience as voted upon by the delegates at General Assembly, after two years of study and action. This Study and Action Process was created to uphold our principles and engage UUs in the articulation of conscience on pressing social justice issues.

I received a letter and information sent by The Social Witness Process Review Panel, a group that has been studying our Social Witness process, particularly as it relates to General Assembly. They issued a report named “The Direction We’re Going” and it is available on-line in PDF format at: www.uua.org/uuawo/new/article.php?id=146 or you can request the report from me at jlund@uua.org or  I will send it in a Word document via email. There are some thought provoking ideas in their work and until the end of March, they are inviting opinion and input from interested individuals and groups. The Panel believes that much more of the responsibility and ownership of the social witness process belongs in the hands of UU congregations. They feel that the current process is not engaged in sufficiently by congregations, either qualitatively or quantitatively. Changes are being recommended. Another belief the Panel shares is there is not sufficient attention to implementation of statements once they are created, and they have recommended adding a fourth GA (third year) to the process to take time to learn together how implementation of the statement is proceeding rather than rushing on to the next one. The Panel wants to remove amendments from the GA floor and take them into small group “mini-assemblies”, to avoid the mass “word-smithing” that sometimes occurs. Significant changes to the process for Actions of Immediate Witness have been proposed and finally they are considering a new type of witness, that would allow the staff of the Association , as well as UUs and the public generally, to know our UU policies on a given issue without searching through a many-paged book of old resolutions. Again, I strongly suggest you express your opinion to the Panel after reading the thoughts from the CSW Panel of Review.

Once more I ask that you remain in touch, contacting me at e-mail address above. And remember in this month of “love” to be mindful of the love and respect we hold for one another now and throughout the year.

 

At the Church-in-the-Woods

Tai Chi – Monday and Thursday Evenings. A new beginner’s class began in February.  Contact Dennis Bogyo if you are interested or need further information.

New Hope Christian Fellowship - Sunday evenings: Choir practice at 5:00 PM. Service at 6:00 PM.

South Georgia Coalition for Peace  The Board has given this grassroots community group permission to use our building for its meetings as needed.

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UU Infidels Publishing Newsletter. The UUI, Unitarian Universalist Infidels, is a UU-Related Organization whose purpose is to support and work to maintain a place at the UU table for atheist, agnostic, skeptic, and secular humanist UUs. This spring it will publish the first issue of a semiannual newsletter that will provide a voice for viewpoints and opinions not usually represented in UU World magazine. You can order this year's spring and fall UUI newsletters by sending your name and address and a check for $3.00 to UUI, 16265-D Dahlgren Road, King George, VA, 22485. We plan to include a section titled "Talkback to UU World" and invite your comments. The UUI Newsletter will also be published on-line at www.uu-infidels.org , and if you wish, you can join the UUI discussion group by sending an email to uui-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.  

Unitarian Universalist Service Committee Holiday Card Design Contest 2004. UUSC invites creative UUs of all ages  to submit their designs for next year's UUSC holiday cards.  The sale of UUSC holiday cards help us continue our vital human rights work worldwide.  Submissions must be received by UUSC on or before April 15, 2004.  Be sure to view our submission guidelines, or call 617 868-6600 to request a copy. You can read more about the contest here

http://www.uusc.org/info/holidaycardcontest2004.html. 

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