The Board in brief (Doug MacCleery)

At our regular meeting on June 1^st the Board of Trustees decided to recommend the following resolution for adoption by the congregation at the Congregational Meeting on June 13.

 We, the Congregation of the Mount Vernon Unitarian Church, authorize the Board of Trustees to conduct a capital campaign with a goal of at least $2 million in the fall of 2004 to raise funds for construction of an addition to the Meeting House. Campaign expenses, estimated to be approximately $21,000, shall be paid from proceeds of the campaign. Any decision to move forward with financing or construction of the addition will require a separate decision of the Congregation.

 The Board also adopted a recommendation of the Program Council that, during the church year beginning in September, the hours of MVUC Sunday Services will be changed to 9:30am and 11:15am.

The Board also adopted the preliminary budget for the fiscal year ending in June 30, 2005.

For details, see the Minutes, which will be posted in the Commons and on our website.

From the Treasurer ... (Joan Wamsley)

The May 31, 2004, financial report shows:

The fiscal year will end on June 30. If possible, complete your pledge by that time. 90.77% of this year's pledges had been received by May 27th and $24,191 of previous year's pledges came in this fiscal year. We will gratefully receive pledge payments at any time.

RE notes (Linda Walton)

Summer RE: Come for summer RE and you will take a trip around the world in 14 Sundays. Adult and teens are always needed to assist.

Next year's RE: We are looking for teachers for next year's RE. Please sign up in the Commons or see Georgia Pourchot. A tentative class schedule follows.

 Church services will be at 9:30 and 11:15. If class enrollment numbers are similar to this year’s, the following class layout will be in place for 2004-2005:

       9:30 a.m. Nursery, PreK and Kindergarten/first grade classes only

       11:15 a.m. Nursery; PreK; K/1st; 2nd/3rd; 4th/5th; 6th; 7/8th; high school classes

Köszönöm szépen... (Janice Fitzpatrick)

 ... (which means “thank you very much” in Hungarian) to all who attended the lovely retirement party for me on May 23 — and for the gifts and cards. The party, given by the Religious Education Council, was very special — with lots of delicious food and good company. Georgia Pourchot made yummy special Romanian miçi (mititei). If you didn’t try these (they are “little sausages”), you will have to sign up for the next partner church trip to Romania.

Capital Campaign Kick-off planned for Oct 23-24 (Ron Brandt)

(This announcement assumes that at the Congregational Meeting June 13, held after this issue of the newsletter was duplicated and mailed, the congregation approved a Capital Campaign in the fall. Ron Brandt and Joanne Masterson will co-chair the campaign.)

The Capital Campaign planning team has made tentative plans for a major campaign kick-off event Saturday evening, October 23 and a very special Sunday service on October 24. You won’t want to miss these events, so please mark your calendar now.

Wisdom Years June 29 (Bev Southerland and Ginny Endicott)

Our June get-together will top off our year's offerings and we'll take off the months of July and August to "play." On June 29th, Sunrise Assisted Living of Mount Vernon will play host to our group with a tour of their facility to be followed by a luncheon.

We need to know by June 23rd how many people they can expect, so mark your calendar to call BEV before the 23rd of June to let her know to expect you. (We can car-pool from the church or meet at the Sunrise facility on Holland Road behind Mount Vernon Hospital.)

The Wisdom Years will be back on September 28th with a presentation about health and care of the eyes.

Salvation begins with you! (Herb Tyson)

You might be asking yourself How can I, a simple Unitarian, help with salvation? The root word of salvation is save. You can help MVUC save on postage and labor, twice a month, by opting to receive our two monthly newsletters via email (as a PDF file) rather than receiving them in the mail. Or, you can download the PDF files from www.mvuc.org.

All issues of the Windmill and Stirrings, for the past four and a half years, are available in HTML format at http://www.mvuc.org/windmill.html. To protect our privacy, personal telephone numbers, addresses and email addresses are routinely removed from these very public versions of our newsletters.

Beginning with the July issue of the Windmill, however, our newsletters will be available electronically in two forms. In addition to HTML, we now will be providing the full uncensored newsletters, in PDF form, both via email and online in our members-only area. Read it on screen, print it out… or both—your choice! Unlike the paper version, the PDF version can be zoomed (on the screen) to a print size that suits your eyes! Better still, the PDF (and HTML) versions are searchable! Look Ma! No more paper cuts!!! You’ll also get the newsletters sooner!

And, while you’re enjoying the fruits of our very own Paperwork Reduction Act, you can bask in the knowledge that you’re saving MVUC money, and you’re saving volunteers countless hours.

To keep receiving the paper version, you need not do anything. To help MVUC start saving money now, however, please let us know which electronic version you prefer. You can pick up a form at the church, fill it out and return it to the office, OR, take the first step electronically! Go to www.mvuc.org/opt-out.html and fill in the form electronically, or send an email to o p t o u t 1 @ m v u c . o r g (remove spaces) with the following information:

Please remove me from the mailing list for the newsletters. I will read them via email or the web. Name and address to remove:

Name

Address

(Choose one of the following options)

Please email the newsletter PDF files when they become available. My email address is: [your email here]

OR

Please do not email the newsletter files to me, I will download them myself over the web.

Partner Church brunches - two more opportunities! (Janice Fitzpatrick)

The MVUC Partner Church Committee thanks all who attended the first 2004 Summer Sunday Brunch. Our profit of about $650 goes a long way in our partner village in Romania.

The next brunch is July 11— don't miss it!! That is two days before a group of 32 MVUC people leave for a two week trip to Romania and Szentháromság/Troiţa. Committee members will be taking the donated art supplies and cash for the village school and money for the congregation to use as they need.

We plan to gather some of the information for next year's scholarship program while in the village, as well.

We hope you’ll plan to hear all about the trip at the final brunch on August 15. These brunches are a great way to support the Partner Church program — good food, good company, and a chance to do some good in the world!

Memorial Walks “shine”! (Wendy Burns)

Please take the opportunity this summer to take a walk through the newly refurbished Memorial Walks, our enduring memorial area devoted to the remembrance of those we love. Lisa Napier, her husband, David, and son and daughter, Dolan and Rowan, recently power-washed the entire walkways. They sparkle! All the build-up of moss and discoloration are gone!

We would also like to thank Lucy Hentges for her weekly maintenance of the walks for the past year. Her brother, Calvin, has agreed to continue this in the future.

We are looking for a few committed people to help us support the Memorial Walks. We need people who will help with an occasional interment, weed, and/or be on our committee to assure the long-term maintenance of the Walks.

If interested, please call Wendy Burns or Bev Southerland. We look forward to hearing from you!

Upcoming Events, on and off the Hill

Good Companions (Bev Southerland and Elaine Bronez)

11:45 to 12:45 - BYO lunch; program - 12:45 to 1:45 in Hollin Hall

JUNE 15 - ALEXANDER LEE - "THE WILSON BRIDGE IS NOT JUST A BRIDGE"

The Assistant Project Coordinator of the Wilson Bridge will present the amazing facts of this huge building project. It encompasses 7.5 miles, because it includes the re-building of four interchanges. Virginia has two interchanges (on Route 1 and Telegraph Road) and there are two in Maryland.

Designed for 75,000 vehicles a day, the traffic is now 190,000 a day, with a high accident rate. The new structure is actually two side-by-side drawbridges, each with 12 lanes. One will open in 2006 and the old bridge will be torn down. The second one will be opened in 2008.

Good Companions will not meet in July and August, but hope to be back in September.

Caring Community (Jo Jackley)

The church community extends its sympathy to Donna Bledsoe, whose mother died June 1 in Amory, MS. Jo Murfee, a retired nurse, was 84.

Community Support Agriculture at MVUC(Bill Alsmeyer-Johnson)

First, what is it? The idea is that a group of people get together and buy "shares" in a local farm. Each family that participates pays a fixed price for weekly food delivery from a specific farm. The group picks a convenient drop-off location for the farmer and families meet the truck each week to pick up their box of goodies. The farm, Piedmont Organics (http://www.piedmontorganics.com/), is in Linden, VA (an hour outside of DC) and already supplies food to The Cash Grocer on King Street and both the Arlington and Manassas UU churches.

You can buy 18 weeks worth of vegetables from Piedmont for a cost of $470. A full share is enough to feed a family of four or two vegetarians for the week. Half shares are also available. This works out to be about $26/week for a full share. In addition to food, families also get a newsletter and invitations to come out to "pick your own" at the farm. The delivery period is from June 1st - September 27th. So the sooner we start the better. They are willing to pro-rate the cost for any weeks that are missed. We only need a total of six families to get this started. Additional families can join later, again with a pro-rated fee.

Where? The pick-up places will be the church parking lot if all the logistics can be worked out.

Next? We are trying to determine who might be interested. Also we are concurrently working with the Board of Trustees and the wedding coordinator on logistics. So please look for a sign-up sheet in the lobby after service. If you want additional information you can contact Daria Bergen-Hill or Bill Alsmeyer-Johnson.

Don’t forget UCM this summer!

As you head for your favorite vacation spots, or just hang around your own backyard barbecue, don’t forget the needs of others. UCM continues to need non-perishable foods, baby formula (Good Start or Enfamil with iron), diapers, linens and towels. Donations of gently used clothing and household items to The Back Door Thrift Shop, and of vehicles and even boats, can also help benefit those less fortunate. Give thanks for your blessings, and give to help others. See the bulletin board for more complete information.

Sunday Worship Themes:
Services in Remington Chapel. 10:00 am

June 20   Claiming Harry Potter   Rev. Louis Schwebius

Summer services begin June 27. A complete schedule is included as an insert to the paper newsletter.

The Sunday Services Committee has scheduled an exciting array of programs for our services this summer. Many will be presented by members of our congregation — just one more example of the multitude of talents and interests to be found at MVUC. Children in RE will be journeying “Around the World in 14 Sundays” and adults will travel vicariously to such places as Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and the far reaches of the universe. We hope you will join our caravan!

Beyond the Hill

“Light, Luscious, and Linguine”

On June 20 at 4 pm, the Lesbian & Gay Chorus of Washington (LGCW) will present a concert reflecting a broad spectrum of choral music from Christopher Forbes’ contemporary Song of the Stars, a setting of a Passamaquoddy Native American text, and Libby Larsen’s The Night of the Full Moon to an arrangement of two Civil War songs by Ron Jeffers. The program will include several musical appetizers to segue into the spaghetti dinner which will immediately follow the concert.

Tickets for the concert and dinner are $20 and are available by phone reservation at 202-546-1549, at Lambda Rising, Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, or from TICKETplace. The concert will be interpreted for the deaf, and the church is accessible.

JPD Chalice Lighter Ambassador Training August 8

What are Chalice Lighters? Not those who stand there with a match at the appropriate time in the service! Chalice Lighters are those who pledge a certain amount each year to a fund that helps other congregations in the district with such projects as staff increases, building programs, and the like. Chalice Lighter Ambassadors are the volunteers in each congregation that organize and conduct a successful drive to recruit new Chalice Lighters. If you plan to attend, please email jillian@jpduua.org one week prior.

RE Workshop at Wilmington August 21

“Building an Effective R.E. Team for your Local Congregation” is the title of the JPD workshop that will be held August 21, 10am-4 pm, at the First Unitarian Church of Wilmington. The day will include: Defining the roles of the various players on your RE team; Establishing and categorizing all tasks; Evaluating your RE program; Setting short and long-term goals; Addressing any questions specific to your own programs. The workshop will be led by the Rev. Carol Ann Taylor, JPD Faith Development Program Consultant. The deadline for registration is August 6. Registration form and information available on the bulletin board or in the MVUC office.

UUYAN (Unitarian Universalist Young Adult Network) summer gatherings

Camp Sipapu near Taos, New Mexico, will be the site for two gatherings of UU young adults in August. Bridgers, Young Adults (18-35) and Young Adult Allies can attend UUO, the annual spiritual retreat of the Continental UUYAN August 7-12; ConCentric 2004, August 13-16, will provide tools and tactics for young leadership to create and energize religious communities with radical spiritual values. Scholarship opportunities are available. For more information, visit www.uuyan.org.