Spring 2016 Garden Tours
May through June

Sunday tours of church members' and friends' gardens are back! This year the Garden Tours begin on May 22. The tours will be 4 to 6 pm, when gardens aren't quite too wilted, should be really lovely and a nice chance for community. They'll occur any week it isn't storming. Questions? Email Mary McAlister at

maryalmc@gmail.com

Sunday, May 22 - Peter Haroutian, 676 Pleasant St., Worcester. From church turn right uphill on State St., another right to lights and left onto Highland St. Left at next light onto Harvard/Lynden, up and downhill through several lights, and turn right at lights by All Saints Church onto Pleasant St. Cross Park Ave., to tennis courts and house with enormous tree opposite last court. Park in large driveway and enter back yard.

Sunday, May 29 HOLIDAY Weekend – no Garden Tour.

Sunday, June 5 - The Riggs, 337 Salisbury St., Holden. From church take Salisbury St.. towards Holden, past Salisbury Green on right. Approx. 2 miles later see #337 on left.

Sunday, June 12 – The Mandiles, 779 School St., Webster. From church take Rt. 290 West onto Rt. 395 to exit 1. Go through light at exit and 1 mile to left onto School St. by stop sign. 779 is just after nursing home on left with parking along driveway just before 779, a pink colonial house with red barn.

Sunday, June 19 - TBA

Sunday June 26 - James and Linda Tartaglia, 6 Old Colony Road, Worcester. From church, turn right onto State St. then turn right onto Harvard St. Continue onto Tuckerman St. and turn left onto Salisbury  St.. Old Colony Road is a right off Salisbury St. (heading west) about 3 blocks BEFORE Flagg Street. 

The Story of an Asylum Seeker

This month’s 50/50 offertory will benefit the LGBT Asylum Task Force.  This agency helps LGBT asylum seekers who have fled their home countries because of threats of violence and death based on their sexual orientation or sexual identity.  All donations will go to providing housing, food, and spending money for asylum seekers in Worcester.  

On Sunday, we heard from an LGBT asylum seeker from Uganda.  Because his friends and family in Uganda could be at risk if his name appeared online, we are using his alias, “John”.

My name is John. I am 29 years old.  My mother died shortly after my birth.  My dad died when I was 12. I was raised by my mother’s brothers and sisters.  I came to realize I was gay at 17, but it is illegal to be gay in Uganda, so I claimed that I was shy and studied all the time.  I was pressured to find a wife.  

My uncle called me and asked me if I was gay.  Boldly, I said “YES!”, in hopes of having his support.  Instead, my honesty only brought me two unending scars, one on my head, and one on my forehead.  It also cost me the love of my uncle and a place to live.  He did promise not to repeat my truth, which was a favor, as families in Uganda who do not turn in their gay children could go to prison for 14 years.  He told me to go far away and get help or I would be imprisoned.,

After years of struggling and hiding, I was no longer a homeless teen, but a self-sufficient man. I got a good job and fulfilled my dream of being a TV producer. All that time, I had witnessed LGBT community members being harassed, killed, raped, and imprisoned. The lucky ones managed to flee the country.

In 2014, I met an old friend of mine who was a music director and a member of the gay community.  We wanted to make a documentary film on the LGBT struggle in Uganda.  We did, even though creating mob scenes in hiding took a lot of money and risks. We decided it would be safer to submit the film to festivals around the world. We won two awards in America and I came to accept the award in Baltimore Maryland.  During that time, someone told me about the LGBT Asylum Task Force in Worcester.  I contacted Pastor Judy and we stayed in touch by email.  I returned to Uganda, determined to take the message to my people.

Bravely, we decided to put our film in Ugandan theaters.   My life was never the same. The police came to my work place with video clips and accused me of recruiting youth to be gay.  I was fired.  After that, theaters would not buy our movie. 

I was arrested and thrown into prison, starved and beaten.  They tortured me to give the names of my friends.   I did not.  They tortured me to tell them where I got the funds to produce the movie. 

The torture increased, so I pretended to be ill so that I would not be killed.   I fainted, begged for medicine, and they sent me to a hospital for a checkup, wishing to keep me alive for more information.   That night, I escaped from the hospital.

I was so committed to bringing human rights to Uganda, that I agreed to help in one last film shooting at a hospital in Kampala, Uganda.  I should have known!  We were arrested and the torture resumed.   A man in prison traded my escape for my camera.  It broke my heart to give it away, but I wanted to live.

I planned to go to Kenya for a while until the situation calmed down. Then, I heard that the co-producer who was running to Kenya had been chased like an animal and beaten to death.   I faced my darkest night. This was my friend, with the same dreams of freedom that I had. 

I had to leave.  My visa to the United States had not expired, so I sold all that I had and booked my flight.  I got in contact with Pastor Judy. Sadly, she said, the Task Force did not have the money to take me in.   I tried everywhere.  No one answered.  As I travelled the United States looking for help, I spent my nights sleeping in train stations.  Pastor Judy kept emailing me to see if I was okay. 

On Sunday, February the 7th of 2016, I got on a bus and came to worship at Hadwen Park Church.  I figured I would just live in a homeless shelter and be close to the church and the Task Force.  I had $50 left in my pocket.  Pastor Judy sent an email to the church and two women offered me a spare room and a mattress.   I am still there, as the Task Force has not raised the money to find me my own place.

Maybe you, in this church, can help to financially support me.   It costs the Task Force $7,000 a month to keep 12 asylum seekers housed and fed.  The Task Force only supports us during the time we are not allowed to work, usually about 9 months.  Then, we move on to self-sufficiency and employment and another asylum seeker takes our place.

No matter what, since I found Worcester and the Task Force and all of you, I know that I will survive.   It is still my desire to tell the story of Uganda’s abuse against LGBT people.  

Thank you for listening and may God bless you as God has blessed me.  

“John” 

Asylum Seeker to Tell His Story

Our 50/50 beneficiary organization for March is the LGBT Asylum Task Force.  This wonderful organization is based out of the Hadwen Park Church in Worcester.  The Task Force provides support those for who are seeking political asylum in the U.S. based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.  

This Sunday, March 13, you will hear a brief story from “John” an asylum seeker from Uganda who arrived in Worcester on February 7.  He fled from his home after being imprisoned, starved, and beaten for producing a movie about LGBT persecution in Uganda.  John, another asylum seeker, and Polly Laurelchild-Hertig, Executive Director of the Task Force, will be available for conversation about their experiences and the Task Force after next Sunday’s service.

Since 2007, the Task Force has helped more than 100 individuals. Asylum seekers are vulnerable and traumatized individuals who have fled to the U.S. in fear of being killed or harmed in their countries of origin due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. The violence resulting from homophobia and anti-homosexuality laws in many countries in the world is rampant.  There are laws against homosexuality in 88 countries around the world.  In 72 countries, you could be imprisoned if you are part of the LGBT community. In 7 of those countries, the punishment is the death penalty.

Because most asylum seekers are not permitted to work during their legal process, they do not have the means to support themselves. They often arrive in the U.S. with nothing but the clothes on their backs having used all of their resources getting here. Moreover, they remain particularly isolated because frequently they cannot turn to people from their own country in the U.S. for assistance or support, as it is their fellow countrymen from whom they are fleeing.

The LGBT Asylum Task Force operates on a shoestring budget of approximately $7,000 per month.  This allows them to support 12 asylum seekers at a time, though there are many more who need help.  The 50/50 offering for the Task Force will be on Sunday, March 20.   http://lgbtasylum.org/home.htm

Winter Fun Afternoon

Mark your calendar for Sunday February 28! 

After Church, there will be a Winter Fun Afternoon at the Mirick Farm on the slopes of Mt  

Wachusett in Princeton.  We’re planning on sledding, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing now that we’re finally getting snow this winter.  There will be a bonfire, and a cooking fire by the lean-to for make-your-own s’mores, and hot drinks. 

Plan to leave the Church about noon.  Bring your own picnic lunch, which you can eat in the dining room before leaving, in your car on the way (the drive is about 25 minutes), or around the fire after you arrive. 

This is an intergenerational event!  Bring your own sleds, toboggans, snowshoes, and skis.  There are lots of slopes – some steep and some gentle – all kinds of fields and lanes through the woods for cross-country skiing, and lots of walks through the woods for those on snowshoes.  You can stand on top of a beaver lodge, follow animal tracks through the snow (moose tracks if you’re really lucky), scout for places where the deer have bedded down, and just enjoy an afternoon outdoors.   If you get chilly, you can warm up at the cooking fire at the lean-to or around the bonfire. 

Of course, dress for winter weather:  layers of clothing, boots, hats, and gloves. Consider a small backpack for lunch, snacks, and odds and ends.  And if you have little ones who may get wet when playing in the snow or along the brook, put a change of clothes for them in your car.

Princeton is just 17 miles north of Worcester.  The quickest route from the Church is to pick up I-290 in Lincoln Square, to I-190 north to Route 140 and then Route 62.  You can also get to Princeton using Route 31 from the center of Holden.  We will pass out maps and “Can’t Miss” directions on February 28.  If you were on the Mt Wachusett climb in October, the route will look familiar:  Mirick Road is parallel to Mountain Road, where we started on the trail up the mountain.  The Mirick farm has a large red barn on the west side of the road, and a white colonial house and other outbuildings on the east side of the road.  For those who use a GPS, plug in “160 Mirick Road, Princeton MA  01541”

Park in front of the barn – head-in parking, please!  If you have a 4 wheel drive vehicle, you can also park in the field to the right of the barn.  And if everything else is filled up, then parallel park along the edge of the road, but leave room for cars to get through.  The bonfire and lean-to are a couple of hundred yards down the lane to the right of the barn, past the pond, and over the brook (there’s a bridge!) to the right when you come into the meadow.

Join us for as much of the afternoon as fits in your schedule and your energy level!

Bad Weather Date:  If February 28 is terrible, we’ll move to the following Sunday, March 6.

Questions?     Call John or Diane Mirick 978-464-2313  

Emails: jmirick@mirickoconnell.com or dianemirick8@gmail.com

Edward Everett Hale

I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.

The making of friends who are real friends, is the best token we have of a man’s success in life.

To look forward and not back, to look out and not in, and to lend a hand.

Make it your habit not to be critical about small things.

‘Do you pray for the senators, Dr. Hale?” No, I look at the senators and I pray for the country.

If you have accomplished all that you have planned for yourself, you have not planned enough.

Edward Everett Hale was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Nathan Hale (1784–1863), proprietor and editor of the Boston Daily Advertiser.  He was a nephew of Edward Everett, the orator and statesman, and grand-nephew of Nathan Hale (1755-1776), the Revolutionary War hero executed by the British for espionage. Edward Everett Hale was also related to Helen Keller.

Hale was a child prodigy who exhibited extraordinary literary skills. He graduated from Boston Latin School at age 13 and enrolled at Harvard College immediately after. He graduated second in his class in 1839 and then studied at Harvard Divinity School.

Hale married Emily Baldwin Perkins in 1852.  She was the niece of Connecticut Governor and U.S. Senator Roger Sherman Baldwin and Emily Pitkin Perkins Baldwin on her father's side and Lyman Beecher, Harriet Beecher Stowe and Henry Ward Beecher on her mother's side. They had nine children.

Biographies for Nominations for Annual Meeting

Biographies for nominations for January 31, 2016

Vice-moderator:

Jesse Anderson has been a member of First Unitarian for close to 20 years.  In that time, he has served as a Trustee of Parish Funds, Member-at-large of the Prudential Committee, and many roles on various committees, most recently the Search Committee.  He has also served as a board member and Treasurer for the Clara Barton District.  He and his wife Susan produce the weekly radio show on WCUW 90.5FM.  Jesse is the Manager of Audio-Visual Services at the College of the Holy Cross.

Stewardship:

Ellen Foley was raised in the Unitarian Church of Flint, Michigan and has been attending First U for several years (usually with her spouse Ajayi Harris and their three-year old Mose).  She is a medical anthropologist who teaches in the International Development and Social Change program at Clark University.  She was a member of First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia in the 2000s and she loved serving on the Stewardship team there.

Stewardship:

Laurie Ross came to First Unitarian after her two children Zoe and Eli found the magic of Hogwarts/Wiogora several years ago. She currently part of the social justice committee. She teaches Community Development and Planning at Clark University and is director of the HOPE Coalition, a youth-adult partnership that aims to reduce youth violence and substance abuse and promote positive mental health and youth voice in Worcester.  She is married to Jeff Black.

            Stewardship: one slot available as of 1/26/16

           
Carol Gregory has been a member of the Church for two years and has recently served on the Mission and Values Committee. Carol is a retired educator currently working for a small educational consulting company assisting school districts to implement the newest version of the Massachusetts Educator Evaluation System.  She looks forward to serving the church in this new capacity. 

Trustee:

Bonnie Prescott is a ten year member of the Church who lives in Holden.  She is a widow with a grown daughter residing in Michigan.  Bonnie is a member of the Church Sisterhood and has served as Co Chairman of the Annual Sisterhood Retreat for the past two years.  Throughout her teens and adulthood Bonnie has been a Community Volunteer and Fundraiser, giving back to each community in which she has lived, from Massachusetts to Michigan and Indiana.  In the more recent years Bonnie has been and remains an active leader in areas of town government, was affiliated with the Worcester Foundation for Biomedical Research, as leader of its Auxiliary, and currently is a Board member and member of the Executive Committee of Preservation Worcester.  She looks forward to the opportunity to serve the Church in a more active capacity.

Trustee:

Gary Riggs, member of First Unitarian for over 10 years, US Army veteran, husband, father and part-time carpenter and mechanic. Banking experience some years ago. College graduate plus advanced degree. Honest, loyal and patriotic. Loves animals, traditional hymns and a good story. Can't stand insincerity, game-playing, those who push politics or religion on others and those who take advantage of others.

Caring Circle:

Eileen McMahon has been a member of First Unitarian for just over a year and is currently a member of the Social Justice Committee. She is a Software Technical Writer who is currently employed at RSA Security in Bedford, Massachusetts. Eileen enjoys cooking, reading, traveling, and loves all animals (especially horses and dogs). She lives in Worcester.

LLPC

Becky Spanagel has been a member of First Unitarian for close to 20 years.  She has been a teacher in Religious Education as her son Paul was growing up at First U, and has been active in the music program at First Unitarian as a keyboard player. She and her husband David founded the joint youth choir with Holden Street youth from 2008-2011, and more recently she has the privilege of working with the Jingle Bell Choir.  She works at St Vincent Hospital as an Internist and teaches UMASS medical students as they rotate through St Vincent Hospital, as well as co-ordinating an elective at UMASS entitled “The Healer’s Art”.

LLPC

Christina Wertz has been a member of First Unitarian for several years, attends UU Sisterhood gatherings, and has taught RE classes. She is the mother of a teenage daughter, and the daughter and long distance caregiver of an elderly father.  She is employed at Community Healthlink where she works with and advocates for children and families, and teaches psychology interns.  Christina loves the music at First U and wishes she had more time to work on protecting our planet Earth for our children's children's children.

Wiogora Committee 2015

Wiogora Committee 2015

"We believe that the real magic is friendship, acceptance, tolerance, and searching for the truth with love."

Chair: Alison Barrows Ronn

Members: Abby Hannaford Ricardi, Linda Wyatt, Una Belau, Laurie Ross, Warren Huber, Amy Borg, Fran Nase, Kelley Guilfoil-Zinkevich, Seth Popinchalk, Parker Ronn, Ellen Waite O'Neal, Nan AK Gibbons.

The Wiogora committee formed February 2015 to organize First Unitarian's two- week summer program for kids and youth aged 5-18 in the spirit of the Hogwarts camp that had run at our church for three years. Renamed the Wiogora School of Wonder and Wisdom, the camp is now wholly a program of First Unitarian Church. Wiogora shares the values of Unitarian Universalism through the magic of Harry Potter. This program welcomes in diverse youth and staff from all over Worcester County and beyond.

In planning our summer program, the Wiogora committee committed to preserve and improve upon the creative qualities of the former Hogwarts camp, while expanding our emphasis on scholarship, intentional values learning and community building. The following aspects of our program are essential:

• Community: The students and staff are a community of like-minded people, accepting of all and interested in learning and delving into challenges.
• High quality staff and engaging classes: Wiogora offers science, art, engineering, drama, crafts, music, dance, resilience, and much more, all led by experienced, enthusiastic practitioners in their fields. Lesson planning workshop urged multiple approaches to learning, and encouragement as the primary feedback.
• Values-based learning: Lessons (and the program as a whole) are planned with the seven UU principles in mind, and overt connection to at least one principle is required of each class. These principles are also the values encouraged in the Harry Potter Books.
• First U outreach and visibility in the wider community: Wiogora serves both First U and UUCW members as well as many families who do not attend a Unitarian church.

The Wiogora committee invited Nan AK Gibbons to direct the camp program in 2015, and continues to work closely with her in planning the program for 2016. During the year in addition to planning the summer program, she leads Wiogora off-season programs (Halloween and Spring), she attends Wiogora committee meetings, leads staff gatherings, and supports the Wiogora community. This summer's program is scheduled to run from July 25 through August 5, 2016.

The committee sets dates and camp tuition, grants scholarships, manages the program budget of ~$30,000, determines staffing needs and consults on hiring of staff and volunteers, determines broad themes and contributes to the myriad of details necessary to run a two- week program.

In 2015:

• Wiogora income was $28,280 and expenditure was $25,693 for a net income of $2597.
• 69 scholars attended camp for two weeks (60+ hours)
• 26 scholars attended camp for one week (30+ hours)
• 12 Young Adults between 15-18 participated in ELFS -Enriching Lives through Fun and Service which included daily reflection and support meetings on their experience
• 18 full time and 5 part time staff members under 30 participated
  12 full time and 6 part time staff over 30 participated
• 16 additional non-staff volunteers participated

Wiogora Mission Statement

• Wiogora continues the liberal religious education program of First Unitarian Church, by offering 60 hours of programming based in the seven UU principles
• Wiogora offers children, youth, young adults and adults values-based leadership and service opportunities
• Wiogora provides engaging opportunities, learning and support for college-aged young adults between 15 and 30 to participate in the mission of being a local leader in liberal religion
• Wiogora makes money for the church

• Wiogora draws people into the church -- both staff and campers have returned to attend regular services and Sunday school (other families have their own strong faith traditions which are entirely respected by the program and staff)

• Wiogora strengthens ties with other local faith and educational communities, providing a larger, supportive, intergenerational, interfaith community of like-minded scholars, artists and social activists to serve and grow in
• Wiogora increases the visibility of the church in the community