Announcements (5/4/08)

Cell Phones
Please turn off your cell phones during the service.

Today in Religious Education
Preschool – 8th Grades: Chalice Circle will begin after joys and concerns in room 302.
High School: The youth will be reflecting on last week’s worship service.

Lunch Is Served!
A deli-style lunch will be offered during the Annual Meeting. The cost is $5/person or $15/family as you define it. Baked goods will also be sold. The lunch is being coordinated by “Liquid Chaos”, Savannah and Todd Underwood’s Destination Imagination Team, to raise money for their trip to the Global Competition. A video loop will be shown for those who would like to know more about this wonderful organization where thinking outside of the box is the norm.

Sharing the Plate
During each Sunday service we pass the baskets to collect an offering. Half the non-pledged cash donations collected over a month through these offerings are given to a charitable organization. In the month of May that organization is the Anderson Animal Shelter that provides compassionate and humane treatment of homeless companion animals. If you wish to write a check to support the program make it out to the UUCE and write “Share the Plate” on the memo line.

Beltane Discussion Today
Come have an informal chat about Beltane today in the Fellowship Hall from 12-12:30. May 1st was Beltane an ancient Gaelic holiday also known as May Day. Learn why we dance around the May Pole at this the midpoint in the Sun's progress between the vernal equinox and summer solstice. Contact Debbie Caruso with any questions.

Green Tags
The Green Sanctuary Committee is still collecting pledges and donations for Green Tags. Part of being a Green Sanctuary is our continued commitment to wind energy. These Green Tags will allow us to purchase credit for next year. Green Sanctuary members will be available in fellowship hall after the service. Please see them if you would like to make a donation or pledge, or if you have any questions about the program.

Labyrinth Pie
So you have an affinity for the SE quadrant of the labyrinth...now is your chance to call it your own. For this summer's ongoing maintenance we are dividing the labyrinth into sections. We are looking for 8 or 9 individuals or groups who would be willing to weed and maintain a section of the labyrinth throughout the summer. Please see Stacey Reynolds or sign up on the clip board downstairs if you can help out.

New Green Sanctuary Campaign
The Green Sanctuary is launching a yearlong campaign that will address environmental concerns regarding bottled water. Throughout the year, we will tackle this issue and provide alternatives that will leave our planet and you healthier! First, we want to encourage you to take the first step. In accordance with our seventh principle, we are asking each member of our congregation to stop purchasing bottled water. In the near future, we will bring you information that will clarify how bottled water has become an environmental catastrophe and a personal health hazard.

Unichord Announcement
Due to budget cuts and UUCE’s environmental commitment to use less energy and paper, our monthly newsletter “The Unichord” will no longer be mailed to the congregation. Beginning with the June edition, we ask those who have e-mail to please read it or down load it from the UUCE.org website. If people want a paper copy they can pick one up at the church at the information table.  Those who are unable to receive e-mail or unable to pick up a copy due to health or distance will be sent one.

UUCE Elists
We have two elists that members and friends of the church may use. Below is a brief description of their purposes. To eliminate excessive messages we ask that you do not duplicate the same message on both lists.

UUs@UUCE.org
The purpose is to communicate church related events, announcements and information. 

BulletinBoard@UUCE.org 
The purpose of the Community Bulletin Board E-list is to provide members and friends with a means to communicate information about:
- Items they wish to give away or sell
- Things they are looking to buy or borrow
- Employment opportunities or needs
- Requests for assistance with social justice activities they are involved in
- Requests for advice/recommendations about companies or contractors they might hire to do some type of work.

I you would like to be added to one or both lists please contact Mila Brinker at administrator@uuce.org

Back Doors
We are finding the back doors near the elevators unlocked when no one is in the building. We would like these doors to be treated as Emergency Exit Only and should not be used for routine entry. It is difficult to recognize when these doors are unlocked and thus often are left unsecured. Thank you for your cooperation.

Your Cooperation is Needed
One of the biggest challenges to keeping the church building looking clean is coffee and other drinks being spilled on the carpet. This is why we encourage people not to consume such beverages on the second and third floors. The reality is that some people, when they have gatherings before or after church, do drink beverages in the classrooms. This is understandable and we encourage those people to be very careful. Where we ask beverages never be brought is into the sanctuary. Please, before entering the sanctuary, deposit your beverage container either downstairs in the kitchen, or if disposable, in a trash receptacle.

Becoming a Member of UUCE
Membership at the Unitarian Universalist church of Elgin is open to anyone who wishes to join us in building a caring and open community by supporting the church and its efforts. A brochure on church membership is available on the visitor information table downstairs. Our minister, Dan Brosier, is always happy to answer your questions about membership. Contact him at the church at 847.888.0668.

About Fundraising—Especially Bake Sales
A reminder that all fundraising activity within the church must receive prior approval from the Executive Team. Some fundraising activities are approved for an indefinite period of time - like RE bake sales and the Quilt Raffles. Recently we have had a couple of groups plan bake sales on the same Sunday. To avoid this, any group given approval for holding repeated bake sales needs to get these on the calendar by contacting Mila Brinker, the Church Administrator.

Newsletter/Save a Tree
If you would like to receive the Unichord newsletter via email rather than regular mail, or are having trouble receiving your newsletter, please notify Mila Brinker at administrator@uuce.org.

Sunday Morning Service Cancellation Due to Weather
In the event of a weather advisory, the Executive Team will decide whether or not to hold services. Notification of canceling of the service will occur as follows:

• An email will be sent out via the UUCE community news list.
• The information will be posted on the web site.
• The answering machine at the church will relay the information.
• If congregants still have questions, they can call a member of the Executive Team. The Executive Team is composed of: Mila Brinker, Kathy Underwood, Alice Macy, Andrea Schmidlin, Kathy Hislip, and Dan Brosier.