Announcements

All of our community announcements are posted here. If you want to keep up to date about on UUCE, subscribe to our newsletter!

Summers at UUCE

Once upon a time, when the Sanctuary we reside in today was first being built – both our yearly operations and climate were different from what we’re used to today. Our building was originally constructed without air conditioning because it was typical for UU Ministers and the congregation to take the summers off, and the surrounding months were predictably cool enough to keep the building at a tolerable temperature throughout the year. As things change, we’ve remained a resilient bunch…

It’s Time to Tend to Our Grounds!

While it may seem that our beautiful prairie grounds do a great job of maintaining themselves, taking care of our shared outdoor spaces takes the dedicated work of many hands! This Sunday, 7/12, from 11:30-1pm Mary Alice and hopefully many others will join in the task of weeding around our Meditation Garden. We currently have many thistles flowering so the plan is to collect them in wheelbarrows and we will dispose of them later so they don’t spread their seeds.…

Chair Force One has taken off!

Great news everyone – Chair Force One has taken off!  Now we would like your input.  If you have opinions on seating and what you think we should look for in new sanctuary chairs, now is the time to share that with the team.    Please reach out to Erica Khan, Beth Cooper-Zobott, Krista Wagner, Sharon Fincher, or Kevin Sweeney with your feedback by July 20.

UUCE Outing to The Obama Presidential Center

There’s nothing more humbling than realizing a project that you thought could be done by a certain date, absolutely cannot be completed by that date! I’m still on the hunt for newly released tickets for our UUCE group to visit The Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. However, being ready to purchase tickets by 7/8/2026, given the diversity of times people are available, became impossible. SO, what to do? Easy solution, I think. We skip September tickets and move on to…

Ethnic Eating: Cook Islands

In July, Ethnic Eating casts off for the Cook Islands. We will be partaking in Pacific seafood at Crazy Crab at 279 Barrington Road in Streamwood on Saturday, July 32nd (or for you landlubbers not familiar with nautical timekeeping, that’s August 1st) at 1:00 pm. Also, since my summer includes a good deal of travel, I’ve already chosen the August selection and we will be sampling the West African cuisine of Cote d’Ivoire at Bisi Restaurant at 853 Roselle Road…

Pride in Action

This June, you have the opportunity to make a meaningful impact on federal policy, opposing this administration’s efforts to enact a proposed Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rule that would strip safety protections from federally funded shelters for transgender, nonbinary, two-spirit, and intersex people. Make your voice heard by submitting a public comment in opposition to the proposed HUD rule. Want to learn more and take action with a group? Join the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee’s virtual Trans Liberation Action Hour on…

Annual Church Picnic

Join us after Sunday’s Flower Communion service for a church picnic – being held this year at UUCE! The main meal will be catered once again, but we’re asking everyone to bring a side dish, dessert, or beverage to share. Please also feel free to bring any outdoor accessories – for instance, camping chairs, pop-up canopies, and outdoor games.

Conversation Cafe on Break for the Summer

The monthly Conversation Cafe will take a break for the Summer. There will be no meetings in June, July, and August.  We will reconvene on Wednesday, September 9th at 5:30 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall and we hope you will join us. Until then, enjoy your Summer!

This Week in Religious Education

Dear Friends, Wow, this has been a wonderful church year filled with learning and growing together! As we head into June, I want to take a moment again to say a huge thank you to all of our amazing volunteers, families, and kids. Your energy and heart are what make our beloved community so special. Summer is (almost) here, bringing us a chance to slow down, breathe a little deeper, and enjoy the sunshine. While not my favorite season, I…

July & August Share the Plate: The Progressive Turnout Project 2026

Postcards to Swing States started in a volunteer’s garage. In just four years, their volunteers in all 50 states, D.C. and U.S. territories have sent more than 99 million handwritten messages to voters – more than any other organization. In 2024 The Progressive Turnout’s postcards added an estimated 200,000 votes. Keep in mind that the presidential election in 2020 was decided by fewer than 43,000 votes – so your postcards are making a difference! The UUCE Social Justice Team has…

Sanctuary Chair Replacement Task Force

As you may have noticed over the last bit of time, our sanctuary chairs are on their last legs and are in need of replacement. Erica Khan, as a member of the Executive Team, has volunteered to lead a task force to get this done. We will need to select new chairs (we have a head start on this), determine how to responsibly dispose of the old chairs, and while this is budgeted for out of the maintenance fund, we…