by Barbara Rohrer, Rummage Sale Coordinator

This year’s return of the Heritage Church rummage sale on April 28 and 29 was a success, thanks to the efforts of close to thirty volunteers. The sale netted $2,220. An additional $275 was raised at the church auction two weeks later from the sale of rummage items remaining at the close of the sale. Other items not sold at the rummage sale are now being posted for sale on e-Bay.

The proceeds of all these efforts will go toward our 2022-2023 operating budget, funding our current fiscal year.

Besides raising needed cash for our church coffers, the rummage sale brought in large numbers of community members who were unfamiliar with Heritage Church or Unitarian Universalism, making the sale an important outreach to our surrounding neighborhoods.

The sale was the first rummage sale that the church has held since the pandemic.

2023.

1. The Music Director Search Committee has recommended hiring Sherry McCamley as the new HUUC Music Director, and the Board voted to accept this recommendation. We look forward to welcoming Sherry to our staff!

2. The Board voted to appoint Russ and Rae Jane Araujo as our delegates to the UUA MidAmerica Regional Assembly. Thank you for your service, Russ and Rae Jane!

3. It has recently been discovered that our church, along with many other UU churches, has been providing retirement benefits for the past few years to some ineligible employees in the form of a match from the church. The Board voted to pass along the refunded funds to the affected employees when we receive them from the UUA.

4. The Board voted to upgrade our parking lot lights to LED fixtures. This was prompted by one of the existing lights needing to be replaced, and will save us money in the long run due to decreased electricity costs.

Bob teaching about the chain of causation at a recent worship service on Karma.

April 2023.

The Heritage Clara Barton Guild Books & Bling sale on March 17-19 was a success, thanks to the efforts of over thirty volunteers. The sale netted $1,480, half of which will go to our 2023 operating budget and half to the Clara Barton Guild, which underwrites various church projects.

Heritage’s Clara Barton Guild has its roots in the First Universalist Society’s Women Alliance, founded in 1917. The guild is named after the “Angel of the (Civil War) Battlefield” and founder of the Red Cross, Clara Barton. All Heritage women and those who identify as women are automatically members of the Guild, age 16 and older.

In 2019, the guild covered the cost of the refurbishing of the women’s restroom and regularly makes donations to organizations in keeping with Universalist values. The guild also provides scholarships as needed to the annual Hope Springs Women’s Retreat

The annual book sale is one way that the guild raises funds for its various church and philanthropic projects. The sale in March was the first sale that the guild has held since the pandemic.

Barbara Rohrer
2023 Books & Bling Sale Coordinator

Our Minister Emeritus, The Rev. Dr. Doak M. Mansfield, began ministry (half-time) at UU Fellowship of Sussex County (Newton, New Jersey) on March 1.

His first time preaching was on March 19. The topic: “Past & Future: Legacy & Promise.” You can check out their website at uunewtonnj.org

3/20/2023.

On Wednesday, March 8th, Heritage UU Church members went to Inter Parish Ministry (IPM) in Amelia to volunteer to pack crates with dry goods, which will be given out at the weekly drive-thru pantry at the Amelia location.

More than 100 milk crates were each filled with three recycled grocery bags containing a variety of dry and canned goods.

In the past, the Freestore Foodbank packed boxes for IPM and delivered them to the locations in Amelia and Newtown, as well as to the more than forty mobile pantries IPM provides at various locations during the spring and summer.

This service is no longer provided by the Freestore Foodbank. Given the high cost of the cardboard boxes, IPM has resorted to a “do it ourselves” assembly line style pack-o-rama.

In addition to all of the other items given out (produce, milk, meat, eggs, bread, sweets, personal care items, diapers etc.), each family receives the contents of one of the crates (double for families of six or more).

Given that there are approximately 120-150 crates given out at the regular Thursday/Friday drive-thru pantries as well as others distributed to various social service agencies/affordable housing complexes, the need is ongoing.

Volunteers are also always needed for putting together power packs that are distributed to local schools, which then distribute the packs to food-insecure students over weekends and holidays.

Anyone interested in participating in a future packing event, or organizing a group, can contact Bob Drake.

People who participated in the pack-o-rama and/or assembled power-packs:

2023.

Our Heritage Christmas Tree was set up on Sunday, December 4. Thanks go out to everyone who helped!

(Thank you, Jaime Castle, for providing these pictures!)

2022.

On Sunday, October 30, 2022, “The Gang of Us” (Jen Ciolino, Kay Inskeep, Bob Lamb, Alison Lang-Hickey, Laura Palmer, and Steph Tacy) led our morning worship service using the theme “A Salad of the Season.” By the end of the service, a fine “salad” had been assembled on our altar. Alison Lang-Hickey took some pictures, which are shared here.

 

 

On July 3, Heritage Church held a summer picnic on its grounds, after the Sunday worship service. Here are some pictures from the event.

2022.