News

UUF as a Local Polling Place

The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of San Luis Obispo County is proud to be able to serve it’s neighborhood by opening our facility for use as a local polling place. Two neighborhood precincts have been forced to go downtown to vote since the only facility large enough to accommodate them was unable to do so in 2009. Our Fifth Principle calls us to support and defend the principles and practice of a democratic system. What better way to put that principle into action!

Phone Problems

We appreciate your patience while we work through some technical issues with our new phone system.

Our new phone number is: 805.439.0188

If you cannot leave a voice mail, please try calling when the Office is staffed: Mon – Friday 9am-noon

OR – email us: office@uuslo.org

Hopefully our new phone system will be up and running soon.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Peter Mayer in Concert Sunday, April 29th

Peter Mayer in Concert

Sunday, April 29th, 7pm

Peter Mayer writes songs for a small planet—songs about interconnectedness and the human journey; about the beauty and the mystery of the world. Whimsical, humorous, and profound, his music breaks the boundaries of “folk”, and transcends to a realm beyond the everyday love song, to a place of wonder at the very fact of life itself.

Peter began playing the guitar and writing songs when he was in high school. He studied Theology and music in college, and then spent two years in seminary. After deciding that the priesthood wasn’t for him, he took a part-time job as a church music director for 8 years, while performing at clubs and colleges, and writing and recording his music. In 1995, he quit his job and started touring full-time. Since then, Peter has gradually gained a dedicated, word-of-mouth following, playing shows from Minnesota to Texas, New England to California. He has nine CDs to his credit, and has sold over 70 thousand of them independently.

You can find out more about Peter and his music here.

Listen to the song  Holy Now.

Ticket are available through Brown Paper Tickets or can be purchased at the door. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to a local charity.

Announcing our Ministerial Candidate

After a thorough and thoughtful search we, the Ministerial Search Committee, unanimously present Rev. Rod Richards for your consideration.   Rod is 51 years old, originally from the Midwest, and for the past 9 years has been the minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Southeastern Arizona.  He has been married to his wife, Hanje, a life-long UU, for 26 years.   Rod has been an avid reader since childhood with a significant interest in religion and philosophy.  He grew up Lutheran and Hanje introduced him to Unitarian Universalism.  He has been a champion of our faith ever since.

Rod brings many gifts to our congregation, among them:

• Warm and personable leadership that will encourage, support and guide us to become our best selves
• Beautifully crafted worship with sermons that integrate the intellectual with the heartfelt, the spiritual, and the practical.
• The ability to  understand and work well with children, their parents, and grandparents
• A well-read, discerning, and knowledgeable presence that at the same time is accessible, sensible and responsive to the members of the congregation
• A wry sense of humor with the ability to enjoy life and readily share that joy

If you would like to read Rod’s Ministerial Search packet it is available online here.

We sincerely hope you will warmly welcome Ron and Hanje when they visit us for “Candidating Week”, April 14-22.  Kate Troop, Gina Whittaker, and Jan Clarke have been hard at work planning and organizing Candidating Week activities. A complete list of the activities is available HERE.   We urge you participated in some of these opportunities to get to know Rod.  He will preach on two Sunday’s, and after his second service (on April 22nd), there will be a special congregational meeting, where you will vote to ratify or reject the committee’s choice to call Rod as our minister.

The Ministerial Search Committee

Alice McNeely, Tom Norwood, Lois Allen, Ly-lan Lofgren, Don Reynolds, Ingrid Pires, Katie Krupp

Here is a letter from Rev. Rod:

Hello to all and many congratulations on your new home!

I wanted to let you know how honored and energized I am by the invitation to be your Ministerial Candidate.  It was a great pleasure to meet Alice, Tom, Lois, Katie, Ly-Lan, Ingrid, and Don and to learn about the congregation through them.  The dedication, care, and sensitivity with which they spoke of the challenges you’ve faced, the community that you share, and the future possibilities that you wish to explore was truly inspiring.  It led me to imagine an exciting and deeply fulfilling ministry with all of you and with those who have yet to make their way through your doors.  I look forward with great anticipation to the opportunity to meet you all in April and to hear what this congregation means to you and the visions you have for the future.

Congratulations again on the celebration of your new home and for all that has brought you to this place together.  I welcome the possibility of sharing the journey ahead with you all.

Rod

SLO Revealed is Back!

Join us on Saturday, May 5, 2012, for SLO Revealed.  This annual fundraising event is an adventure race throughout downtown San Luis Obispo.  Teams of four will race against each other and the clock solving riddles and collecting talismans. They will also discover local history and intrigue along the way while competing for wacky prizes.

Stumped? Need a hint? Buy one from our roving band of experts. Afterward, celebrate with a dinner, dance, raffle and awards party at The Creeky Tiki.

The cost to participate is $40 for adults, students are $25 and children under 10 are $15.  The entry fee covers your team backpack, clue book and one free  hint.  Each participant also receives a dinner ticket and a drink ticket. Children under 10 will have a backpack of their own with age-appropriate clues to solve alongside their team.

Last year, we had 23 teams–let’s double that number this year.  Come one, come all!

The game is presented by the UUFSLOC and the Children’s Museum with generous support from Joan Sargen.

For additional information, please contact Janet Murphy (jmurphy@calpoly.edu) or Susan Stenovec (sstenovec@yahoo.com) or click here to check out the website at www.SLORevealed.com

Community Outreach Offering Program Up and Running for 2012

We began in February by collecting $793 for the SLO Women’s Shelter Program!! Thanks to all who so generously donated to help families start their lives over in the shelter’s Transitional Housing program!

The Social Responsibility Circle has decided to stick with the same recipients we donated to last year for the next three months. In May, we will take a poll of the congregation at our annual meeting to determine if there are new organizations you would like us to include. So, the next several months’ collections will go to these non-profits: March – Hospice Partners of Central Coast; April – Meals on Wheels for San Luis Obispo city; and May – Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry (UULM) in Sacramento. Some of the new organizations we are considering this year include the Noor Free Clinic, the Homeless Prevention Rapid Re-Housing program, and People Helping People in Los Osos. More news on that later.

Remember, these organizations need volunteers as well. The Meals on Wheels program in SLO city especially needs drivers! Watch News and Notes for contact information for each of the agencies at each month’s collections. I always publish information about the organizations we give to in NN on first two Sundays of the month.

Thank you for all your generosity! We always welcome input!

Gina Whitaker

Social Responsibility Circle

Prop 8 Overturned!

A three judge panel from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned Prop 8 stating: “Proposition 8 serves no purpose, and has no effect, other than to lessen the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California, and to officially reclassify their relationships and families as inferior to those of opposite-sex couples. The Constitution simply does not allow for “laws of this sort”.”

The full text of the ruling can be found here.