UU Sisterhood Monthly Potluck Dinner and Program

Please join us for the next UU Sisterhood Monthly Potluck Dinner and Program  Friday, October 21.

We will start the evening with our usual potluck dinner starting at 6:00.
All women of the church are encouraged to attend, please bring a dish and drink to share. 

Our own Lorna Pezanelli will bring us a program that she has developed.  She describes it in more detail below.

   

Presentation

Title: "Women of the 18th Century in Colonial America." This past summer, on a full scholarship, I attended a fascinating 5-day George Washington Teacher Institute at Mt. Vernon, VA on this topic. We studied women from the lower-mid classes to the upper classes.We also studied Native American women and female slaves. I will have a slide presentation. handouts, and information for further research. 

Lorna’s Bio

I teach Art in Millbury to grade 4-6 students. I'm creator/coordinator of the annual "Art in the Valley" art show, which features over 400 works of students in grades K-8 throughout the Blackstone Valley schools, both public and private. The show had ~1,500 attendees last year. This April will be the 11th year of the show.

I also work at the Worcester Public Library Foundation. In my spare time, I paint, create fabric art, cook, bake, and read (esp. Colonial American History)  

I was lead vocalist in a band for 30+ years. My 2 grandsons are a joy! As many of you know, after a 50 year hiatus, I'm thrilled to say that I've taken up horseback riding again and have not fallen off . . . yet.

Refugee Circle Update

It was a busy summer for the Refugee Circle!  In July, eight-year old Vanessa had surgery for a cochlear implant, which went well. The Circle is now working with Olive to get her placed in an appropriate educational environment.  We are hoping, with the help of an evaluation from the Boston Children’s Hospital, to have her transferred to the Framingham Learning Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.   Vanessa now has an advocate from the Mass Commission for the Deaf for Vanessa, and we all continue to navigate the various social systems for additional support and resources. Other news: Olive has been working part-time at FedEx, Jordy is now in pre-school, and Angela is still in day care.

Over the summer we realized a need to revisit our goals and role in Olive’s life. Through that process we created a mission statement for ourselves: “We are committing to assisting Olive to meet her own goals, for herself and her family, in a relationship of mutual respect, openness, and honesty, and with an ethic of caring and compassion.”

We have a new member of our team, Stacey Hill, who has signed on through Ascentria Care Alliance, the agency we are working with. We have had so many people from our church community respond and help with time and/or donations. It has truly been remarkable.

How you can help: Olive and the children have enjoyed attending church on the Sundays that we can provide them with transportation.  We would love a few more volunteers to sign up so that we could create a Sunday driving schedule.   You will need to fill out a volunteer form from Ascentria to serve as a driver.

Other needs: winter gear!  We would like to provide the family with winter shoes, boots, and coats. Please contact Lynn Simmons to get information about sizes and to prevent duplicate donations: 774-262-5120, lsimmons@me.com.

 Additional needs: 

- Boys clothing for Jordy, Size 4-5T

- Wet wipes, Kleenex, paper towels,

- Diapers: Size 4 (day and night), Size 5 night

- Mousetraps

- 6-8 volunteers to drive Olive and the children to church

- Volunteers for outings with the children to area parks, playgrounds, etc.

- Saturday morning transportation to ACE starting in mid-October

- Transportation to laundry, groceries

Please bring donated items to church on Sunday and leave them by the welcome table during coffee hour. Again, for winter coats, shoes, and boots please contact Lynn Simmons to get information about sizes before donating.

Thank you and many blessings to all,

Ellen Foley, Stacey Hill, Danna Peterson, Peter Haroutian, and Lynn Simmons (774-262-5120, lsimmons@me.com.)