January – April 2023. Registration Required by January 4.

The UU Council of Greater Cincinnati invites Unitarian Universalists from all six local congregations to participate in the Winter 2023 Anti-Racism Circle, “Building the World We Dream About.” This 12-week interactive workshop is designed to help Unitarian Universalists from all levels of multicultural experience to welcome, include and build community across diverse ethnicities, races and cultures, both in congregational life and when working in interfaith and community coalitions.

“Building the World We Dream About” will run on Zoom at 7 to 9 p.m. for 12 weeks on the second, third and fourth Tuesdays of the month, from January 10 through April 25. Participants are not required to attend all sessions although regular presence is the best way to benefit fully from the curriculum that builds on itself from week to week. Exact dates are Jan. 10, Jan. 17, Jan. 24, Feb. 14, Feb. 21, Feb. 28, Mar. 14, Mar. 21, Mar. 28, Apr. 11, Apr. 18, and Apr. 25.

Registration is required by January 4, 2023. You can register at https://tinyurl.com/UUBuildTheWorld2023. There is no course fee.

For more information about the program, contact one of the following co-facilitators:

Joetta Prost (St. John’s member) at:

Linnea Lose (First Unitarian member) at:

The basic curriculum was developed by Mark A. Hicks, Ed.D., who also created the popular on-line Beloved Conversations anti-racist course at Meadville-Lombard Theological School. He is known for using taking-it-home activities, reflections and readings to help participants practice dreaming our world otherwise, and then committing to new intentional ways of being.

“Building the World We Dream About” is the fourth anti-racism program within two years sponsored by the UU Council. The initiative memorializes Leslie Edwards, a member of The Gathering at Northern Hills, an original Tuskegee Airman and the grandson of Rev. W.H.G. Carter. Rev. Carter was a Black Unitarian minister who had a Cincinnati West End storefront church in the 1930s, and who was shunned by local and national Unitarians due to racist and classist biases.

11/22/2022.

Just a reminder that Joann Meyer still has a “shoe box” under the coat rack in the rear hall to collect shoes. Most donations go to a national organziation called Soles 4 Souls. They take all and any shoes in any condition, and send them to those in need all around the globe. Check them out at www.soles4souls.org.

But sometimes, Joann finds pairs that can be put to immediate use and sends them to Inter Parish Ministry (IPM) and sometimes to Maslow’s Army. So instead of throwing unwanted or old shoes away, please bring them to church (keeping them out of a landfill) and put them in the blue box. We can make a difference!

November 2022.

Inter Parish Ministry (IPM) is collecting gently used coats which will be handed out to those in need in November and December. IPM is collecting coats for all ages and all sizes, though there is a particular need for the large sizes for both adult and children’s coats.

Place coats in the shopping cart in the Great Hall at church, or donate them at the IPM Newtown location on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9 AM through 2 PM., or at the IPM Amelia location on Thursdays and Fridays from 11 AM through 3 PM.

For more information on IPM, visit https://www.interparish.org/ or see Bob Drake.

10/3/2022.

A recent NPR story regarding predominately white churches using music by Black composers, especially Negro Spirituals composed by enslaved Africans, addressed ways that churches have begun to take offerings to support education programs in predominately black communities and schools. The goal is to pay a kind of royalty or reparation to the descendants of enslaved people for the use of their ancestor’s music.

Inspired by this, the Heritage Social Justice Collaborative discussed how our existing outreach offerings could be a tool for us to pay for the use of the traditional spirituals and other royalty-free traditional music by black composers sung by our choir and contained in our hymnal. It was decided that we would dedicate quarterly outreach offerings to music education programs that serve predominately Black communities. We began this process with the offering on March 27, 2022, going to The Music Resource Center of Cincinnati. This local afterschool center in Walnut Hills offers classes that span learning to play an instrument to composing and recording music. You can listen to some of their original recordings on the New Music tab of their website.

Our next music education offering will be the end of June. Possible recipients could be a youth orchestra in a predominantly African American neighborhood or a music scholarship fund for Black students. If you have recipients you would like to recommend, please contact the Outreach Coordinator.

3/28/2022.

Once again this year, Heritage UU Church collected toys and cash donations for the Inter Parish Ministry Holiday Stores. Our Outreach Coordinator, Regina Pugh, made a video of all the toys collected, which you can view at the YouTube video IPM Holiday Gifts.

Bob Drake is one of several HUUC members and friends who volunteer at IPM locations. He passed along this message from IPM:

Thanks to YOUR generosity, the spirit of the season came alive in powerful ways at IPM Food Pantry’s 2021 Christmas Store at Crossroads East Side Church last week.

At the two-day event, 425 client families were able to shop from an abundance of gifts for their families at the Christmas Store, choosing items ranging from baby toys to presents for senior citizens. Additionally, IPM was able to distribute toys and gifts to over 200 clients at the Amelia and Newtown Drive-Through Pantries. The remaining gifts were transported to western Kentucky to be given to families devastated by the recent tornadoes there.

“There were more gifts to choose from than I ever imagined” said Christina, a mother of three teenaged girls and a year-old son. “My shopper was helpful and I could take my time to shop. It was such a fun experience picking out what my kids wanted. It was just easy and very organized … the Christmas Store was wonderful!”

We are so grateful for the thousands of gifts that were donated, the hundreds of hours put in by volunteers and the partnership with Crossroads East Side to make the Christmas Store an unforgettable experience for IPM clients.

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If you have questions about IPM, talk with Bob Drake or Regina Pugh.

12/22/2021.

For years, Heritage UU Church supported the Inter Parish Ministry choice food pantries with donations of food and household supplies. The pandemic put a halt to these physical donations, though we continued to support IPM with our outreach offerings. Now IPM is accepting food and supply donations again.

To add a little fun, you might want to donate food especially for meal kits, as IPM describes below:

Did you know? IPM is once again accepting food donations! Right now we are working to supply our new program, IPM Plates! We LOVE to provide families with a complete, nutritious meal in a bag containing all of the ingredients, ready to prepare with simple instructions. Please help us create Taco Tuesday and/or Barbecue Night by donating the following: taco shells, taco seasoning packets, canned chicken, barbecue sauce, and hamburger buns! Thank you for your support of IPM and our neighbors in need. We are so grateful when you join us in feeding families and nourishing souls.

You can also donate other food and supplies. You can always look online to find a list of IPM’s current needs.

Donations can be delivered to either the Newtown or Amelia locations:

IPM Newtown Location
3509 Debolt Rd.
Cincinnati, OH 45244
Monday: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Tuesday: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

IPM Amelia Location
1075 W Ohio Pike (on K of C Drive)
Cincinnati, OH 45245
Thursday: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Friday: 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

If you have any questions about the Heritage Church involvement with IPM, please talk with Bob Drake, Kay Inskeep, Regina Pugh, or Mike Roberts.

6/18/2021.

Did you know that Heritage Church has an account with Kiva.org? Kiva is an organization that uses crowdfunding to make loans to remove barriers to financial access around the world. They currently work in 77 countries and provide loans that support a variety of needs including small businesses, education, home improvement, healthcare, the arts, and agriculture.

Utilizing an outreach offering in May of 2017, Heritage opened a Kiva account with $604 and made four loans. Loan recipients were chosen with the help of Heritage youth. As those loans were paid back, new ones were made. Since 2017 Heritage Church has made 23 loans to 16 countries totaling $1575.

Loans must be at least $25 and we will soon have enough money in our account to make a new loan. If you have a young person in your home who would like to help choose the next recipient, please contact the Outreach Coordinator.

Covid-19 has changed lots of things, including how Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN) feeds, shelters, and shows love to homeless families. Here are the important things to know.

IHN programming falls under essential services as outlined in section 8 of Governor Mike DeWine’s Stay-at-Home Order. Staff and volunteers can travel for these purposes, but such travel should be reduced and limited as much as possible, especially for volunteers.

Under current emergency Board of Health orders, it is not permitted to have the homeless receive shelter for a week in church buildings. Families in emergency shelter are now in a hotel so that they have access to their own kitchen and bathroom spaces. This also allows for social distancing from volunteers, staff, and other families. Families are still served by their case managers, often by phone and email.

IHN will still rely on persons and congregations to provide food, but this will be handled differently. More information will be provided later. What is known now is that, to limit food handling and number of drop offs, IHN will be asking for donations of pre-packaged breakfast, lunch, and snack supplies only. Possibilities include Lunchables, or packages of luncheon meats and loaves of bread that a whole family can use to make sandwiches, rather than the volunteers making the sandwiches themselves. Items that can microwaved are also especially helpful (mac and cheese cups, soup cups, etc.).

Here are some things you can do now to help:

(1) Donate Kroger gift cards to help provide for families. Luckily, there is a Kroger within walking distance of the hotel.  The large ask, what we need each of you to do, is to donate some amount on a Kroger gift card for IHN.  This can be ordered online to be shipped directly to IHN ( 990 Nassau Ave – 45206), to minimize contact.  Increments of $10 are preferred, not to exceed $50.

(2) Make a contribution to IHN by visiting: www.ihncincinnati.org/take-action/give

(3) Donate items to make kid/adult activity packs for families. Anything that can entertain a family that is isolated would be helpful. These can include puzzles and board games. Please provide new, unopened items only.

Donations can also be mailed to:

Interfaith Hospitality Network
990 Nassau Street
Cincinnati, OH 45206.

Thanks so much for continuing to work together, even as we remain apart.

If you have questions, please email Rae Jane Araujo.

March 25, 2020.

A recent cleaning and organization of our kitchen revealed an abundance of disposable plates, cups, cutlery, napkins, and over 2000 (yes, 2,000) plastic gloves! The greenest thing we can do is to use up the disposables that we already have in the kitchen.

As a Certified Green Congregation, we committed to using reusable plates, cups, etc. PLEASE DO NOT BRING ANY DISPOSABLE KITCHEN ITEMS INTO HERITAGE UU CHURCH.

That includes not bringing any plastic water bottles or, especially, Styrofoam cups.

Plastic is killing more than 1.1 million seabirds and animals every year.

The average person eats 70,000 microplastics each year.

Plastic chemicals are absorbed by the body—93 percent of Americans age six or older test positive for BPA (a plastic chemical), which is linked to fertility problems, male impotence, heart disease, and may cause cancer.

Please read the sign in the kitchen regarding recycling. The chart clearly shows what you can recycle in our area.

Also, another housekeeping item: Do NOT use sand for holding candles, etc., in carpeted areas. The sand spills and is then ground into the carpeting, causing premature wear.

Sincerely,
The Tuesday Morning Green Cleaning Team

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Editor’s Note: The chalice water bottle pictured is available at InSpirit, the UUA Book and Gift Shop.

Our 7th UU Principle reminds us to Respect the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. And our 6th Source invites us to celebrate the sacred circle of life and instructs us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature. One way to do that is to continue to be mindful of what and how to recycle at Heritage and at home. Heritage uses Rumpke Recycling Service. Here are the items that they accept:

WHAT YOU CAN RECYCLE

Accept: Paper

 

Accept: Plastic Bottles and Jugs

Accept: Cartons

Accept: Metals

Accept: Glass Bottles and Jars

UNACCEPTABLE MATERIALS

Would you like a handy flyer of this information that you can print out and put up on your refrigerator or elsewhere? Click here to get What You Can Recycle.

If you have any questions, please speak with Tracy Jo Small.

March 2019.