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Friend,

Like many of you, I watched the news out of Texas with horror.  It is hard to fathom the negligence from which this human disaster flowed.

At times like these, I am grateful for the many congregations and individual UUs who support the Disaster Relief Fund. We are a generous people in the face of crisis! Our generosity allows the UUA to respond swiftly to communities in need of support. To date, the UUA has granted more than $79,000 in relief funds in Texas! Thank you for making that response possible.

If your congregation wishes to take up a special collection to support the Disaster Relief Fund, please feel free to incorporate the UUA’s text-to-give prompts in worship slides: “To make a gift, text DISASTER to 51555.” Contributions may also be made online with the following link: giving.uua.org/disaster-relief.

One of the UUA Disaster Relief grants has just funded a truckful of water for Texans in the Houston area. More than 28,000 bottles of water arrived at The First Church in Houston this week. The vast majority of that water will be distributed in communities of color surrounding the church, in collaboration with local organizing partners. The remainder will go to members of the congregation. 

We are all in this together. Take care of one another, dear friends.

UUA President Susan Frederick-Gray recently shared a prayer on Facebook for those in the path of winter weather and associated power and water problems.

My prayers are with those across the South, especially in Texas, as they struggle to survive a winter storm that has caused power and water outages, flooding and disruption of critical supply chains for food and water.

And, we know that communities of color, poor communities and the frontline and fence-line communities in Texas that suffered the worst after Hurricane Harvey, will again suffer the worst and longest impacts of this devastating crisis. All during a pandemic.

I pray for those struggling to stay warm and survive. I pray for the families still without power, for the elderly, for those incarcerated without power, for people in care facilities – for everyone struggling to survive. We must not look away.

To Unitarian Universalist congregations: remember the UUA’s Disaster Relief Fund is here to support to you and your partners in the community. 

Recent messages from UUA President Susan Frederick-Gray are listed here. They are posted to Facebook as well as UUA.org.

• From the UUA President: We Are Held In Covenant (February 11)
• From The UUA President: We Remain Committed to Public Health and Safety (January 28)
• A Prayer for Inauguration Day 2021 (January 19)

Loved into Being Stewardship Worship Service Coming 3/5

In gratitude and recognition of the covenant that holds us, the UUA is producing a complete virtual stewardship service, a collaboration of our WorshipWeb and Stewardship and Development teams. 

The service will be focused on congregational annual stewardship campaigns and can be used in whole, or in part, for an upcoming Sunday service. Worship leaders include Rev. Chris Long and Rev. Mariela Pérez-Simons. The Music Director for this service is Jen Hayman.

Faith in Unitarian Universalism isn't an intellectual exercise: it's "heart" work. This full-length worship experience features a sermon by UUA President Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray, as well as vibrant music, storytelling, and other worship elements that will help us to grow in spirit, in courage, and in generosity. Join us for this Stewardship Adventure.

This worship service will be a downloadable, captioned video and will be offered to all Unitarian Universalist congregations to use. The worship video is expected to be available starting Friday, March 5, 2021. Check out UUA.org for more details as they become available.

UU@UN at the UN Commission on the Status of Women

The 65th Annual United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW65) will be held virtually from March 15 - 26. During CSW gatherings, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) hold parallel events: the NGO CSW Forum, in which the the Unitarian Universalist Association Office at the United Nations (UU@UN) participates. 

On March 15, the UU@UN is hosting a panel called, The Right to Joy: LGBTQ+ WOC: 

Against insurmountable challenges, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Women of Color have persevered, despite threats to their human rights. This NGO CSW65 parallel event seeks to affirm their acts of resistance amid adversity and to celebrate LGBTQ+ WOC globally. 

Through Audre Lorde’s concept of radical self-care, we will learn the significance of claiming joy within this community for resilience-building and intensive healing. Three panelists will share what joy means to them, ways to sustain the vibrance of the LGBTQ+ community, and how we can exercise self-preservation as a tool for social justice. As we rejoice through trials and tribulations, the UU@UN hopes to help protect LGBTQ+ Women of Color worldwide.

To attend register for free online here. Find more on the UU@UN here.

Do you receive the monthly news from your region?

Don't miss out! Each UUA region has a monthly email newsletter with messages from congregational life staff about upcoming events, news, job opportunities, webinars, UUA happenings and more.

• Pacific Western Region - The PWR blog is here. The newsletter comes out on the fourth Thursday of each month. Read the latest issue or subscribe here.
   
• MidAmerica Region  - You can find MidAmerica updates on the News blog. Subscribe or read the latest MidAmerica Messenger here (arrives on the first of the month).
   
• Southern Region - Congregational Life staff members blog here. You can sign up here for the monthly newsletter, sent on the first of the month. The February issue is available here.
   
• Central East Region - Opportunities for Connection, the CER newsletter, arrives in your inbox few days before the first of the month. Find the February 2021 issue or subscribe here.
   
• New England Region - New England region staff send the newsletter on the first of each month. Find February's issue or subscribe.

Seasons of Giving is the monthly e-newsletter from the UUA's Stewardship and Development Office. Questions can be directed to Suzanne Murray at development@uua.org or (617) 948-4392.

Check UUA.org and UUWorld.org, as well as UUA regional websites, for the latest updates. You can also follow the UUA on Facebook.