In the midst of making phone calls, delivering soup, and grocery shopping for those who are home-bound, our Caring Circle has also been organizing for the long haul.

Over 60 people completed our online Heritage Needs and Gifts survey and the vast majority also volunteered to help keep Heritage connected while our church building is closed. Volunteers are being divided into teams that will expand the reach and efforts of our Caring Circle and be sure that all church members and friends are contacted and their needs met to the best of our abilities.

You’ll hear more about our Heritage Caring Network teams in the near future. For now, if you receive a voice mail, email or other message from someone identifying themselves as a Heritage Caring Network member, please call them back! We just want to be sure you are ok and that you know how to reach out if you need us.

If you want to get in touch with the Caring Circle, send email to Michelle Kelly and Barb Beezley at:

As true with much in our lives, COVID-19 has our Heritage plans for an Everything But the House (EBTH) sale and a church rummage sale in flux. We were to kick off the EBTH sale at the end of March. The rummage sale is scheduled for the end of May.

The EBTH sale is definitely postponed to some later date yet to be announced. The same may be true for the rummage sale as well, depending on the length of time we are restricted from gathering together.

Please keep (or continue to collect) any items you were planning to donate to either sale until that time when the sales can be held. If you have any questions, please contact me, Barbara Rohrer, at:

Stay home. Stay safe.

March 25, 2020.

If you are a Heritage UU Church member or friend, please click on the following link and complete a short set of questions for our Heritage Needs and Gifts survey.

https://forms.gle/3P4YB4on6PfoCRoM8

This set of questions (1) asks how you are doing; (2) asks if you have immediate needs, and (3) lets you indicate what help, if any, you can offer our Heritage community.

Some people have said that this time of social distancing is a marathon, not a sprint. Here is a different metaphor — this is not a sprint or a marathon, but rather a relay race. Those of us with the energy and means to help now might not be able to help later, and vice versa. We all will do what we can, when we can, and that will be enough. Together we will create a network of care that reaches out to all.

Some additional information:

• You can go back and complete the survey again if your circumstances change. The program will automatically update your responses.
• It would be most helpful if everyone connected with Heritage in your household, age 16 and over, would complete the survey separately.
• Some workplaces will block access to Google forms while you are at work.
• The survey works best on a computer, laptop, or tablet. It’s difficult to complete on a phone.

Don’t hesitate to reach out by telephone! Call Rev. Leslie at 937-478-1031 if you need help or just a listening ear. Don’t wait!

Posted 3/19/2020.

Today (3/18/2020) the HUUC board was asked to decide if a longer-term closure of Heritage was necessary.

After consideration for allowing the various groups that make use of the building, outside of service, to make alternative plans for the future; and after serious consideration of the ongoing changes and updates to the current situation from our community leaders, it was decided by the board that HUUC will remain closed through the month of April.

We are heartbroken by this, as you all are.

I know we all are desperately wanting to get our lives back to “normal,” but we obviously can’t put any member of our Heritage family at-risk to do so.

I am hopeful that the outcome will improve greatly in the next few weeks and, perhaps, we can open our doors sooner than anticipated. But until that time, I encourage you to stay informed, stay healthy and stay safe.

Until we meet again.

Jim Nolan
Board President

March 18, 2020.

The auction, originally scheduled for April 18, has been postponed due to the Coronavirus. In the meantime, we are working on a way to help raise funds for the church and we still need donations, whether that be for a rescheduling of the in-person event or holding an online version. Please continue to think of what you can donate and upload here: http://www.togetherauction.com/huuc.

The article below indicates the plans for the original auction gala.

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Silent/Live Auction, Music, Food, Costumes, and Drinks.

$12 per person; $34 maximum per family.

The “Rock Around the Clock Auction” is coming soon, and we need your help to make it shake, rattle & roll!

This is Heritage’s biggest fundraiser of the year, so we’re calling on flat-tops, hippies, punks, and new-wavers alike!

You know the drill, daddy-os! We need themed baskets and donations for the silent auction. And for all you committee and choir members and other Heritage groups, please take some time at your next gathering to see if you can think of something super swell to donate. We also need contributions for the LIVE auction that are more big ticket-y. Put on your thinking caps and let us know what you can share to rock our socks off!

Of course, we will also just take your bread, maaaan. In the old days this was called PAYOLA (look it up kids), but today it’s called a SPONSORSHIP! Your names will be read as event patrons if you throw down some clams.

Your admission to this event includes two drink tickets, a chance to bid on the theme for next year’s auction, a delicious comfort-food dinner, and entertainment!

This is a multi-generational event where all ages (including ankle-biters!) are welcome. There will be kids’ activities available all evening and childcare just during the live auction from 8 to 9 p.m. So bring the family! We can’t wait to see which threads you wear to celebrate your favorite musician, band, or musical genre.

Originally scheduled for Saturday, April 18, from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m., at Heritage UU Church, details of how, when and where are now up in the air. Watch your email for new information.

To donate auction items, go here: http://www.togetherauction.com/huuc

And of course, we can’t have a successful party without helpers! Most opportunities are scheduled in short blocks so that you only have to take a brief break from the bash. Sign up early to get your first choice: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d4baeab22a5fb6-rock

If you cannot attend but would still like to contribute, contact Shannon Murley for details. You can email her at:

Thanks for tuning in!

Jaime Castle, Ellie Lamb, Julia Sandman, Joelle Tunning, and DJ ShaMu

Although there was a movement afoot to join the movement to make everything virtual, the Babes with Books (Heritage’s women’s book club) has decided by informal consensus to “social distance” from a virtual book club meeting for the time being. In other words, we will continue to suspend book club meetings (either physical or virtual) until Heritage re-opens the doors. When that happens, we will continue with our traditional schedule of every third Wednesday of the month from 7 – 9 p.m. in the Heritage Room. (All women members and friends always welcome). We will pick up where we stopped with previous selections, shown in the order below.

1. American Duchess, by Karen Harper
2. Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ng
3. Second Glance, by Jodi Picoult
4. Before We were Yours, by Lisa Wingate

Now may be the time to read ahead down the list. Although the libraries are closed for physical book pick up and return, ebooks offer another alternative. Or, now may be the time to get to that stack of books at home that you were intending to read eventually. Now may be the time and may offer a potential book club selection! Here’s to happy reading in our social isolation!

If you have questions about Babes with Books, send Barb Barnes an email at:

April 2020.

As we continue to be mindful of the safety and security of our members and friends when they are in the Heritage building, we’ve discovered that information for many of our families is incomplete.

Security professionals have urged us to have emergency contact information for everyone who attends programming in our church, especially on Sunday mornings. In January and February, you may receive an information form via email. We urge you to fill it out as completely as possible and assure you that all information collected will remain safe and secure from hacking or other unauthorized access.

Paper forms will also be available at the Religious Exploration recruiting table on Sunday mornings.

Please help us ensure the safety of our Heritage children and youth!

January 2020.

Heritage will once again be a proud participant in the Bottlecaps to Benches Program. For now, we will just be a collection site. Many people have expressed an interest in continuing their home recycling of bottle caps and jar lids and need a place to drop off their collection. As in the past, we will give our caps to 9United, a service organization in the Forest Hills School District. 9United, as its name implies, unites all 9 Forest Hills school buildings in common service projects which benefit the community at large. To date, 9United has brought 18 six foot plastic benches to Anderson Township. One of those came to Heritage and the rest to parks and schools.

9United partners with GreenTree Plastics in Evansville, Indiana who makes the benches. They are a plastic lumber manufacturing company, not a plastic recycler. To make plastic lumber, they require a specific type of plastic which is only found in bottle caps and jar lids. Please see the chart of Acceptable and Unacceptable Caps and Lids to determine what is acceptable to bring to our collection. Help us do less sorting work by only donating acceptable caps and lids. Also, please make sure the caps are free of dried food. You do not need to wash them, but please rinse out obvious food/milk from the lids. A collection bin is in the Great Hall. If you have questions, please contact Ann Roberts or Joann Meyer.

In response to discussion at our annual congregational meeting in June, Heritage UU Church has started placing its financial statements on a password-protected webpage on the church website.

To go to the financial statements, on any church webpage find the main menu bar, point to CONGREGATIONAL LIFE, then point and click on MEMBERS’ AREA. On that page, scroll down and click on the Financial Statements link. This will take you to the Financial Statements page.

You will need to enter the members’ area password if you have not entered it recently. If you do not know the password, please talk with the Church Administrator either in person or by phone.

If you have questions about the content of the financial statements, please talk with Reid Hester, or email him at:

September 2019.