News and Events

TriUU TimeTable

SUNDAYSERVICE (VIRTUAL VIA ZOOM)

August 2 - 10:30 AM

“…for the Longest Time”

Rev. Janet Onnie

It has been 21 weeks and counting since Tri-UU moved out of the building. In our haste to pack for the virtual world, did we remember to bring our sense of humor?

NEXT FORUM

TBD

Stay tuned for date and topic.

Rev. Janet Onnie

Minister, Tri-County Unitarian Universalists

President, Florida Chapter UU Ministers Assn.

941-323-8513

janetonnie@icloud.com

Living to Delight the Holy

SCHEDULE

Sunday, August 2:

9:30- Memorial Stone placement;

10:30- “For the Longest Time”

Monday, August 3:

10:00- Brunch with the Minister

Tuesday, August 4:

Congregant and/or Staff meetings

Wednesday, August 5: 2:00- Finance;

8:00pm- Vespers

Thursday, August 6: 10:00- Visioning;

11:30- Interfaith;

4:00- Conversations on Race

Friday, August 7:

Writing Day

Saturday, August 8: Sabbath

SPECIAL CHATS

Please note that the following special chats have been added to our line-up. Use the links posted on the home page to join us.

Monday 10:00 Brunch with Minster

Tuesday 4:00 In the News (Jan Droegkamp)

Wednesday 4:00 Bingo (every other week)

Thursday 4:00 On Race

Wednesday 8:00 Vespers

NEWS AND UPCOMING EVENTS

HYMN HUNTING?

You don’t have to wait ‘til next Sunday to hear or sing some Tri-UU favorite hymns!

More than a dozen are available at any time, and all are performed by members of the Tri-UU Choir or music director Donna Kagen.

They’re all right here – at the click of a button.

Button

The Tri-UU BOOK CLUB meets at 1:00 via Zooom

Contact Cindy Grossman cbg150@gmail.com

For dates and details check the schedule HERE

Social Justice Committee News

1) Mission: School Supplies

The largest school supply drive in Marion County celebrates another year of giving to the homeless and needy students.

When you are out shopping, do purchase some school supplies. These include the much-needed items of paper, composition books, pencils, pens (black, blue and red), electronic calculators, binders (1", 2", and 3"), duotang folders with brads and pockets, crayons, colored pencils, erasers (pencil tip and flat).

Your Social Justice committee members will deliver them to the students and the school liaison office for distribution. You can drop them off at Tri UU and place them in the plastic bin outside the door. Do secure the top of the bin to prevent moisture and critters from seeking shelter in the bin.

Two members of the committee, Becky Love (951-452-1542) and Carole Clarke (703-434-2426) have volunteered to pick up the donations from your home if you cannot get them to Tri-UU. You must make arrangements with them. THANK YOU AGAIN FOR PROVIDING FOR THOSE WHO ARE IN NEED.

If you prefer to write a check to donate for our collection of school supplies for children, please write it to TRI UU. On the memo line, School Supplies.

2) UUA INITIATIVE for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe

This tribe in Massachusetts is in need of support of UUs. In 2007, it was federally recognized. In May, 2019, U.S. Rep. Bill Keating introduced a bill, H.R. 312, to clear legal confusion over the lands status and keep it in trust. The bill passed the house with strong bipartisan support. It has stalled in the Senate.

On the property are a school and a housing complex for members of the tribe. The UUA is asking UUs to call their senators to support passage of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reformation Act (s. 2628). SEE PAGE 39 IN THE SUMMER EDITION OF THE UU WORLD for links to: sign a petition ( sign.moveon.org/petitions/stand-with-the-mashpee), call the chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, contact the Secretary of the Interior, call the Capitol switchboard to speak to your senator or make a donation to the Tribe.

PERSONAL RENEWAL

Shirley Loebel is a long-time member of TriUU now living in Bradenton, Florida.

I am finding this time a time of 'personal renewal'. I'm enjoying some of the seclusion: I am enjoying sitting in pj's Zooming church; am enjoying touching base with old neighbors and friends I will never see again; college

roommate; college friends I haven't seen in 50 years, but will continue in love where we left off the last time; going through old pictures and deciding whether to toss them or to make them into little albums for my kids, who do not make albums, but have theirs on a cloud somewhere; I've

done that for grandchildren; written poems to each and sent pictures of the times I spent with them or watched them in games, and told them how proud I am to be their grandma; I have enjoyed the solitude and beauty of the sky, the clouds, and the flowers who all seem to grow during this time when we have "shut down" our growth.

It IS a time of growing, but growing inward. I miss hugging my lady friends. I miss hugging my gentleman friends. I miss hugging, period! But I wrap my blanket around me at night, grateful for a bed to sleep in, and for a home that is warm, for warm and hot water, and for having friends like you. I DO get tired, but when I can't take it anymore and when the news gets too damaging to my breaking heart over our national disorder and distress, I watch "Say Yes to the Dress", pure fluff, like reading a Daniel Steele romance novel after studying climate change. I wish good things to you and your sister and to all of these friends. May we find the GOOD in something so BAD.

Looking in the Rear View Mirror

7/23/20 Helen Dohn

It was a chilly January morning in the Adirondack Mountains, as we packed up the car after a weekend cross country ski trip to Adirondack Lodge in upstate New York. We drove through Keene Valley along the winding cliffs rising on our right and dropping to our left. Suddenly, Larry gasped and managed to get words out despite questioning his eyes as he looked in the rear view mirror. He described that the car behind us (a Volvo like the one we were driving) had flipped over, landed on its wheels and stopped.

Thinking quickly, we stopped and evolved a plan instantly. Larry would go back around the curve and stop traffic coming and I would go to the car behind us to assess what had happened. There wasn’t enough time to consider the danger; only time to act. When I arrived at the car, I learned that the driver was a man from NYC who was deaf and he appeared, miraculously, to be uninjured. With only the basics of the alphabet in American Sign Language, I managed to determine that his wife in the passenger seat had an injured shoulder (from the seat belt that probably saved her life) and could not move. She was blind and deaf so I signed into her hand and her husband comforted her as we assured her we would get help.

This occurred in the days before cell phones! Larry stopped the first car to come across us and sent them to get assistance. Help arrived and we followed the couple that was taken to the small hospital at the base of the valley. We stayed until they were seen in the emergency room, a broken shoulder was confirmed, and we knew they would be well cared for. As we left, we looked at their car. Only the side view mirror on the passenger side was smashed. Unbelievable but true. They and their car had survived. We had survived the valley cliffs and learned to believe what we see with our own eyes.

50 years later, we are still learning that lesson; believe what we see with our own eyes in a crisis and work as a team. We never saw the couple from Brooklyn again. However, the memory of their presence in our path, though through the rear view mirror, remains with us to this day.

Three Questions for Contemplation During COVID-19*

Submitted by Joe Donatone

1. What does COVID-19 take away from me today?

(What am I grieving today?)

2. What can COVID-19 not touch today?

(For what am I grateful today?)

3. What does COVID-19 give me today?

(What is the unexpected gift today?)

*Source: Missional Wisdom Foundation, Isolation Relief Efforts

https://www.missionalwisdom.com/mwf-isolation-relief

1 SUSAN ASHLEY

6 CAROL YOUKEY

6 HILDA LUCAS

9 JERRY SLOSSER

11 SARAH REAGAN

13 IVETTE GARZA

13 ANNE McCUSKER

14 RANDY CLARKE

18 GEORGE GREEN

21 CHUCK MORRISSEY

23 NELSON HAY

23 FRAN LANDIS

24 MARIA MORRISSEY

24 LINDA TAYLOR

25 GLENN MULLER

26 LaRAE DONNELLAN

30 EILEEN McCABE

30 CAROL STENSON

31 NANCY CROCE

One result of the pandemic is that more & more folks are in need of basics. Regarding some of the work happening in the Social Justice Committee, especially the "Ocala Downtown Project" we find the need is greater than ever. People are not traveling , so donations of travel sized hygiene products have decreased drastically. Regular size products such as shampoo, lotion, etc. are too heavy & cumbersome for homeless to manage. So what's a person to do? Well, we have a solution! If you'd like to continue giving your support to this important cause, please consider sending a check to TRIUU, noting in the memo section, "Ocala Downtown Project". We on the committee can then obtain travel sized products in bulk. Our inventory stays controlled and we have the flexibility to buy products as needed. Our common belief of caring for those in need has taken on a new urgency during this time of COVID 19. Your monetary gifts are hugely appreciated! Thank you for your generosity!!

We all have stories to tell. While we are physically separated, we are sharing stories from our members. Submit your own story for next week’s Timetable. It can be a poem, a couple of paragraphs, or a piece up to 350 words.

If you have an article for Stories to Tell related to the pandemic, please email your submission to Doug Worthington, who is now able to work with new submissions. He is grateful to Helen Dohn who took charge when Doug had his knee surgery.

Articles should be submitted by noon on Monday of the week you want your piece submitted in the Timetable.

Molla Getaye Faces the Virus in Ethiopia

by Doug Worthington

Lynn and I reconnected with three of my former students when we traveled to Ethiopia in 2011,as part of the 50th Anniversary of the establishment of the Peace Corps. From that moment forward, I corresponded by email with Molla Getaye. Molla, 73, lives with his wife Gennet in a subdivision of Addis Ababa, the capital.

In early July, Molla and his wife were going through an extremely difficult health crisis. Molla had a fever. He felt weak and his breathing was labored. He confided in his wife, but he told no one else, including his son who lived nearby. Molla suspected the worst: Covid-19. He knew that people his age who had underlying conditions were at a high risk. Molla’s underlying conditions were a heart problem, diabetes, and asthma.

One step that he ruled out was calling the Corona Control Center. After making such a call, he knew a team of medical workers and police officers would suddenly arrive and check everyone in the house. Those who were suspected of having the virus were immediately transferred to an Isolation Center. If that person had the virus and he survived the illness, he could return home after a 14-day wait period. In the meantime, family members who remained at home would be ostracized by friends and neighbors.

Molla considered going to one of the government hospitals, but they were not well regarded. Gennet urged him to go to a private hospital, but Molla ruled that out because it was very expensive.

He decided that tomorrow he would go to one of the Corona Virus Test Centers. He researched which center had the fewest number of daily patients.

The next morning as he prepared to bid farewell to Gennet, he felt sick to his stomach. Sick from fear. So much was riding on the outcome of today’s test. He hugged his wife good-bye and wondered if he would ever see her again.

When he arrived at the test center 45 minutes later, he saw a crowd of 70 or more people. He was pleased to learn that the medical personnel had a priority system. If you were over 60, you got to move up near the front of the line. If you had underlying conditions, which he certainly had, you got to move up even further in the line. He was tested and got the results on the same day.

“Your test results were negative,” a medical technician informed him. Molla’s shoulders dropped. He fought back tears. He was so relieved. “Thank God,” he whispered to himself over and over.

The next day he went to a government hospital where he was diagnosed with Pneumonia. He was given medication to take at home for the next 10 days. Molla is now almost fully recovered. He was strong enough by July 18th to send me an email, outlining all that had happened. His email ended with this ironic statement: “Thank God I had Pneumonia.”

The CAT* Box

*Climate Action Team

LETS HELP THE PLANET!!

Do you have some great tips you can share about living a ”greener life”?

Often, when people are damaging the environment, it is because they don’t have the facts, or haven’t considered a particular course of action. Share this list with your friends – if each of them takes on board just one point, the effect could be immense. And if they share it too, think of the mass chain reaction. Let’s work together to make the world a better place.

Here are a couple of tips:

We’ve all done it – gone somewhere and took a napkin or two more than we needed, only to throw them away unused. If everyone in the USA used one less napkin a day, current figures show that it could save a billion pounds of space in landfills.

Dishwasher

If you can’t live without your dishwasher, then at least cut the pre-rinse. With a decent detergent, your dishes will be just as clean and you can save an average of twenty gallons of water per load.

Have your own tips? Share them!

ONGOING PROJECTS

SOCIAL JUSTICE DONATIONS

Donations for food for our local community needs.

Food can be brought to TRI UU if you are in the area and have a key. Put your contribution in the wagon just inside the Chalice Room door, on the right.

Other agencies in desperate need include the following.

Checks can be sent to:

Community of Gratitude, Inc.

PO Box 2021

Ocklawaha, FL 32183

Interfaith Emergency Services, Inc.

435 NW 2nd Street

Ocala, FL 34471

Domestic Violence Shelter

PO Box 2193

Ocala, FL 34478

Thank you for sharing your donations.

Joyce Mills, Chairperson, Social Justice Committee

A big thank you to members who have been donating to the Oklawaha Community of Gratitude food pantry! Your generous donations are greatly appreciated! In this crazy time of taking care of ourselves by staying home as much as possible, wearing a mask and social distancing when not at home, it's easy to forget that there are still people, even more now, who need our help. Food prices are continuing to rise, more folks are unemployed and more food at the pantry is needed.

Becky Love has a goal to deliver a car load of donations every Tuesday on a regular basis. It is understandable that many are not comfortable driving to the pantry at this time. If you want to donate but don't know how with the church closed, give Becky a call or send a text to 951-452-1542 to arrange a time for her to pick up your donation. Thank you for your dedication to continued efforts to help people & communities by giving what you can.