Under the Umbrella

Inspired by our UU principles, we are a vibrant, intentionally diverse congregation that models and promotes both locally and globally: love, spiritual growth, service, right relations, and sustainable living.

Contacting Our Minister

Reverend Ellie's email: RevEllie@uufsd.org.

To make an appointment: calendly.com/revellie

Please remember, Rev. Ellie does not use an "@gmail" email account. These are phishing emails attempting to obtain your personal info. Do not respond to them. Report them to your email host or delete them. Also be suspicious of text messages signed with her name.

The Pledge Drive for Fiscal Year 24/25 is now officially over. We reached 94% of our goal, and the finance committee will create a budget using this amount.

Thank you everyone for your participation. We had 75 people renew their pledge, and another 41 whose pledge was continued from this year, as approved by a previous congregational vote. There are a few pledges that we did not continue due to some uncertainty about their continued involvement in UUFSD.

Sheryl Goto      Antony & Daisy Carter & Leithe Miller-Kramer

Sarah Miller     Pamela Parker & Michael Scott    Rita Mercier

Nancy McCharen & Dave Bellama  Greg & Christine Trigeiro

Victor & Mary Dhooge     Wenda & Charles Alvarez   

If your browser takes you to the old pledge form, clear your cache or use: https://uufsd.breezechms.com/form/4ba3bf781034

FROM THE BOARD

UUFSD Board Meeting

Sunday, April 14, 2024, 11:30am - 1:30pm, Founders' Hall - West

All are welcome to attend and observe.

FELLOWSHIP LIFE

RE Volunteer Training

Sunday, April 7, 2024, 11:30am - 1:30pm

Footprints Classroom

Are you a current RE Volunteer, or would you like to be? Join us at an upcoming (mandatory) RE Volunteer Training this Sunday, April 7, 11:30am to 1:30pm in the Footprints Classroom.

If this training time does not work for you, contact rose@uufsd.org to schedule a 1-on-1 training!

UUFSD All Ages Art Club

Sunday, April 7, 2024, 11:30am - 1:30pm

Founders' Hall

Please join All Ages Art Club this Sunday, April 7, 2024, from 11:30am to 1:30pm in Founders’ Hall. We hold space so you can work on your own creative projects: drawing, collage, knitting, jewelry making, card making, book club reading, GOTV, etc.

Bring your own art materials. We also have extra paper, pens, and crayons if you want to give Art Club a try. Light snacks provided. Contact artclub@uufsd.org.

Watercolor painting by Charlotte Ulm

2nd Monday Book Club

Monday, April 8, 2024, 6:30pm - 7:30pm

Founders' Hall West

We take on a well-researched historical novel for our April discussion:

The first of Naomi Hirahara's mysteries set in Chicago's Japantown, Clark and Division (2021) is named after an intersection in the neighborhood where Japanese families try to rebuild their lives after being released from internment camps in 1944. But Aki Ito's older sister Rose is killed by a subway train before the family can reunite. What is behind this suicide?

We meet at 6:30pm in the West side of Founders' Hall. All are welcome! We hope to see you on April 8. Questions or Comments? Email bookclub@uufsd.org or call/text Cathy Leach-Phillips at (650) 224-1974.

2024 de Benneville Family Camp

Friday, April 12, 2024 to Sunday, April 14, 2024

With wildflowers, rushing streams, and lush foliage, this promises to be a beautiful de Benneville weekend for our fellowship. Among the offerings will be crafts and such with our new DRE, Rose, a writing workshop with Eberly, yoga with Wenda, meditation with Christie, several hikes, games for kids, and Improv on Saturday night with Linda L. As always, all activities are optional. All ages are welcome and this is a great way to deepen connection to each other and the natural world.

Registration open until April 6. Online registration and payment now available at: uufsd.org. Questions? Contact Chris Faller at cfaller5@gmail.com, Betsy Gilpin at betsygilpin01@gmail.com, or Christie Turner at christieturner@gmail.com.

Spring to Life Fair & Feast: Food, Music, Auction

Saturday, April 20, 2024, 4:00pm - 8:30pm

Founders' Hall and Core Area

Is April 20 on your calendar for UUFSD's Spring to Life Fair & Feast? If not, be sure to put it on. You won't want to miss this all-Fellowship event that will include activities and opportunities for everyone in our community! Have you thought of a donation you can make that will bring people together, provide a service or create an adventure for your old and new friends? If you have something to donate, do it here. These shared experiences create the community we all yearn for.

Donations should be made to go online on April 10. Go to uufsd.org/auction to see what's already been given. Be part of the dream we are creating.

Save the Date: Forum on the Future of UUFSD

Sunday, April 21, 2024, 11:15ish – noon

Founders' Hall

Thanks to the founders of UUFSD and many who came after them, we have been given a unique and extraordinary campus for our beloved community. Over more than sixty years, however, time has taken its toll on our facilities. As our congregation has evolved, so have our needs, as well as the rules and requirements for safety, accessibility, environmental protection, and sustainability.

Will we find the will and the commitment to keep on moving forward? How can you help? Let’s talk and listen and create the path to a safer, more accessible, more sustainable UUFSD.

Please join us Sunday, April 21 after the service. Snacks will be provided. Contact Lisa Shaffer at Lshaffer@ucsd.edu.

“Planet-Healthy Potluck“

hosted by UUFSD’s Climate Action Task Force (CATF)

Sunday, April 28 2024, 11:00am - Noon, Core Area

Let’s ALL participate!

Bring a healthy plant-based dish for a fabulous outdoor luncheon. If you want to eat a more plant-based diet, this potluck makes it easy. If you discovered a delicious plant-based dish, this is when to share it.

What we eat every day makes a difference in the health of our planet, ourselves, and all life. This small action cultivates a new mindset. Doing it with friends is an adventure.

List your main ingredients. Gluten free? Nuts? Dairy? We’ll supply cards to label your dish Vegetarian or Vegan. Or bring a recipe card. Salads & fruit plates welcome.

Plant-based Vegan: no poultry, meat, fish, dairy, egg. Vegetarian: includes dairy and eggs.

Those who arrive at 10:00am enjoy an Earth Day Service with a guest speaker, singers, and a guest musician! Contact Linda Luisi at lindamluisi@gmail.com.

April 2024 Quarterly Magazine

The April 2024 Quarterly Magazine “Dialogue” is now available on our website. I hope you enjoy this issue which features several poets in our UUFSD community. You can also learn about the State of the Fellowship, from the Board of Directors, and what’s happening in our Religious Exploration and Fellowship. We have a summary of our Social Justice undertakings, our ongoing programs, upcoming events and also introduce several new members.

You can access the April 2024 Quarterly Magazine by clicking here: UUFSD Quarterly Magazine. Contact Irv Himelblau at ihimelblau@gmail.com.

The Great Debate: "Principles" versus "Values"

Sunday, May 5, 2024, 11:30am

Article II of the UUA bylaws contains the core of our faith - our "Principles" and "Sources". A dramatic revision to Article II will be voted on this June at the UUA General Assembly. The revision replaces our “Principles” with "Values" such as Interdependence, Equity, Justice, Generosity, Pluralism, and Transformation. For each Value, we are asked to covenant to specific actions. Our Six "Sources" are eliminated and replaced by a paragraph about "Inspiration."

Do you agree with this substantial change in defining the core of our faith? Is this revision too great a departure from the historical roots of Unitarian Universalism? Are enough UUs even aware of what is being proposed?

Come to the debate in Founders' Hall on May 5 after service! Following the debate, we will begin a voting process that will ultimately determine if our UUFSD delegates to GA will vote for or against the revision. The voting process will remain open through May, and we will be encouraging every member to cast their vote. Mark your calendar! Contact Angie Knappenberger at angie3886@gmail.com.

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Fill A Belly - The Picture Tells It All - Get Involved

The UUFSD Sacred Circle, facilitated by Lisa Shaffer, along with other members and friends of the Fellowship provided an abundant meal to approximately 40 guests at our March monthly Fill a Belly Dinner. We served the meals and then served ourselves and joined and interacted with our guests. We encourage members and friends to sign up and would love to have more participation from UUFSD. For more information email Terry Goan at terrygoan@gmail.com

URGENT CALL: Fill a Belly has a call out for a used baby stroller, car seat, etc... Two of the guests are expecting a baby in May! Contact Lee Auerbach at LeucadiaLee@gmail.com

UUFSD Social Justice in Action and Partner Organizations



The UUFSD Social Justice in Action (SJA) team encourages members and friends to contact, if interested, our SJA partner organizations in Gun Violence Prevention, LGTBQ, and Racial Justice to learn of ongoing issues and actions. Our partner organizations are:

• San Diegans for Gun Violence Prevention: sd4gvp@gmail.com
• Louise Titlow, Co-Chair of First UU San Diego Rainbow Action: lmtitlow@gmail.com
• The North County LGBTQ Resource Center, a SJA partner organization: ncresourcecenter.org
• Showing Up For Racial Justice -North County San Diego: surjncsd@gmail.com

GOOD NEWS AND OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST

“I want to do what Spring does with the cherry trees.”

– Pablo Neruda

• Thousands in Donations Pour into Animal Shelter Where Jon Stewart Adopted His Beloved Dog That Just Passed Away
• New Solar-Powered Desalinator Keeps Producing Clean Water Without Needing Sunshine
• ‘Exhausted’ Immune Cells Could be a New Target for Preventative Breast Cancer Treatment

“Israel and Gaza: The Question of

Genocide, International Law,

and the Struggle for Palestinian Liberation”

Talk Hosted by First UU Church of SD Justice Team

Via Zoom

Tuesday, April 30, 2024, 6:00pm

The Palestine-Israel Justice Team of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego invites you to join us for a virtual talk titled “Israel and Gaza: The Question of Genocide, International Law, and the Struggle for Palestinian Liberation” with guest speaker Prof. Raz Segal, Israeli historian, Associate Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, and Endowed Professor in the Study of Modern Genocide at Stockton University. For more information click here.

The event will take place via Zoom on Tuesday, April 30^th, at 6pm PDT.  You can register for the event here.

SpiritRest Silent Retreat

August 4-9, 2024

SpiritRest is a facilitated five-day silent retreat for Unitarian Universalists and other spiritual seekers. Our 2024 gathering will be August 4-9 in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA. This retreat is led by UU ministers Lucy Bunch, Batya Dale, Tania Márquez, Arvid Straube, and Sharon Wylie.

Retreatants meet with a spiritual director for a half hour each day. In addition to the practice of silence, there is guidance for meditation, labyrinth walks, prayer, art journaling, Qi gong, and InterPlay. There is also time for singing together. Each day closes with a vespers service at sundown.

Learn more at www.spiritrestretreat.com.

Want to Learn More About

What's Happening at the Fellowship?

Visit our website at uufsd.org.

Share information, ideas and conversation with other UU's at our NextDoor Page here.

Watch your email inbox for our weekly "Stay Connected" update. It arrives on Saturday mornings.

Our Dialogue Quarterly Magazine is available in both digital and print form.

You can find us on Facebook at facebook.com/uufsd.

Note: those who use the Le Port School parking lot on Sundays: the gate code is 152