a single step June 2018 The longest journey begins with Rev. Julie

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1 June 2018 The longest journey begins with a single step Somehow this phrase came to me as I contemplated writing a goodbye note to you. I remember my first steps as your interim minister. I remember the listening circles when you shared your hopes and fears. I look back to last winter and I remember how hard the leaders of this church worked to right this ship we know as UUCOD. If you were here during that time, you remember all the ins and outs, and the ups and downs. If you weren t, you can be assured that the spirit of resilience that the members of this congregation have is truly inspiring. As the journey towards you that began with my first step is now coming to an end; I am so proud of the work that we have done together. I see a growing confidence in UUCOD s ability to handle the challenges that are a part of any church s life. I see enthusiasm and a deep caring for each other. I have also seen a movement away from individualistic thinking towards a more holistic view. I mean by this that more and more of you understand that communal life is not just about self fulfilment (having it my way), it is about growing the common good and accentuating what is best for us as a whole. Saying a good goodbye is important in our spiritual and emotional lives. So to that end, I will preach on it on June 10th. In addition, for folks that do better in smaller groups, I will be hanging out at church Monday through Wednesday from 11 2 if you want to stop in to say a more personal goodbye. I will also be at church on Monday and Wednesday evenings between 7 and 8. No reservation needed and any who want to can just swing by. My last service with you will be June 10 and then your new minister, the wonderful Rev. Barbara Fast, will begin in August. What a pleasure it has been to get to know her. I feel like so many good things are in store for her and you as your ministerial relationship deepens. Blessing, blessings, blessings and well done on all your amazing work. I will always treasure this journey that we have been on together. Rev. Julie

2 Sunday Services 10:00 AM Located at Via Vail, Rancho Mirage Send Mail to: PO Box 2853 Rancho Mirage, CA website: UUCOD.org Rev. Julie Forest, Interim Minister Rev. Dr. Kenneth Torquil MacLean, President 1st V. Pres 2nd V. Pres Secretary Treasurer At-Large At-Large Minister Emeritus Board of Directors Sarah Gonzales Shirley LeMaster Roger Beaman Jane Zaun Marty Gronewald Bruce Elwood Susan Hannon Membership Information Randy Steele The July Newsletter Deadline Is June 25 Published Monthly by The Unitarian Universalist Church of the Desert Upcoming Services June 3 One Bloomin Thing After Another (aka The Flower Communion) Flowers, flowers, everywhere. At least I hope so. I need each of you to help make our flower communion a blooming success. By which I mean that I need everyone to bring some flowers on Sunday so that we have plenty of flowers for visitors, guests and folks that might forget to bring one. On flower communion Sunday we pause to reflect on how beautiful congregational life can be when we celebrate each person s gift as it relates to the bouquet we make as a congregation. Children s Religious Education, grades K-5 is available Worship Leader: Rev. Julie Forest Worship Associate: Betty Bender Anne Ransom, harp; Kurt Jordan, accompanist June 10 A Good Goodbye This will be my last Sunday with you as your Interim Minister. We will celebrate our time together and give thanks for all we have learned and shared and all the ways we have grown. And it will be a time of mutual blessing. I have asked your new developmental minister, the Rev. Barbara Fast, to participate in this blessing ritual. Children s Religious Education, grades 6-12 is available Worship Leader: Rev. Julie Forest Worship Associate: Sarah Gonzales Donna Boatman, guitar; Malcolm Swan, accompanist Children s Religious Education Schedule for June June 3 Grades K-5 June 10 Grades 6-12 June 17 All Grades Children s Religious Education will resume in the Fall. Have a great Summer!

3 J U N E E V E N T C A L E N D A R Friday, June 1 8a Men s Breakfast Sunday, June 3 Monday, June 4 5:30p Meditation Tuesday, June 5 4p SUBUD Meditation 5:30p Membership Committee Thursday, June 7 5:15p Girls Night Out 5:15 p DOS Choir Bridge Sunday, June 10 10a Socks on the Second 11:30a Finance Committee Monday, June 11 5:30p Meditation 6:30p Desert Theater League Evening Book Club 7:30p Desert Theater League Annual Meeting Tuesday, June 12 4p SUBUD Meditation Wednesday, June 13 6:30p Choir Rehearsal Thursday, June 14 5:15p DOS Choir Bridge Sunday, June 17 10a Share the Plate Monday, June 18 5:30p Meditation Tuesday, June 19 4p SUBUD Meditation 6:30p Board of Directors Meeting Thursday, June 21 5:15p DOS Choir Bridge Sunday, June 24 Monday, June 25 5:30p Meditation Tuesday, June 26 4p SUBUD Meditation Wednesday, June 27 6:30p Choir Rehearsal Thursday, June 28 5:15p DOS Choir Bridge Sunday, July 1 Summer Reminders: Food on the First is suspended for summer as school is closed. It will resume September 2nd. Socks on the Second will continue each month. After June 17, there will be no Children s Religious Education classes or summer program until a new teacher is hired. This includes volunteers to watch children.

4 Among Us Out the Move Katy Faas was recently seen wandering the streets of Houston with her son, Evan (who joined her there from Seattle), while she visited an old friend she s known since age 9. Favorite activities included trips to Galveston for some beach time, and to the Museum of Fine Art for a stunning Michelangelo exhibit. Also on tap were feasts of Mexican, Seafood and Cajun delights and, of course, lots of Blue Bell ice cream! But the piece de resistance and the reason for the trip, was seeing Hamilton and yes, it totally lives up to the hype! May was busy for Sarah Gonzales and Barbara Storms. They flew to Peru then joined a small group of 24 people on a National Geographic Cruise on the Amazon. How much fun is that?!! In May, Margaret and Roger Beaman and their children enjoyed a cruise around the British Isles. Terry and Shirley LeMaster enjoyed a trip to Napa, CA to visit their favorite sites and wineries. Carol McDaniel has been touring and cruising for 7 weeks. Her fabulous tours began in Bangkok, and then cruised to India, followed by a stay in Japan before boarding another ship for a cruise back home via Alaska and Seattle. Welcome home Carol! Barb Ketay flew to Maryland for her 60 th reunion. (We re not saying if the celebration was for high school or college.) On the Mend Fran Hoag is recovering from surgery on her ankle; you may have seen her managing her scooter around the Church. Marilyn Cavanaugh is doing well in her recovery from surgery. Linda Davis-Brede has recovered well enough to travel home to Spokane. Thoughts and Condolences Rob DuWors and Jerry L Hommedieu, have experienced the deaths of two very dear friends. We hold both Rob and Jerry in our hearts as they grieve for their friends. Larry Schoncite s daughter has informed the Church that Larry died of cancer in March. Larry is remembered for his coordination of the Men s Club. Janine Schoncite, Larry s wife, is now residing in a memory care center in San Diego near her daughters. She is doing well with care and would welcome cards and visits. Mail her at Linda Vista Ln, Monarch Beach, CA Continued on next page

5 Continued For those of you who are new to UUCOD, here s some history for you: Hanging on the wall in the foyer is a picture of the groundbreaking for our building. Those folks were representative of our elders for whom we can thank for this beautiful building in which we now worship. Janine Schoncite, one smiling face in the picture, has a degree in engineering; she came to the grounds nearly daily to unofficially supervise progress of the construction. In addition, Janine created lovely quilts some of which she donated for our auctions. Two of her tapestries currently hang in our Sanctuary: the beautiful rainbow tapestry behind the pulpit and the UU Church of the Desert in Rancho Mirage banner on the eastern side wall of the Sanctuary. We are grateful for the contribution of every one of our elders!! Birthday Calendar In the Lobby is a Birthday Calendar. For those who would like to see your name in a monthly Happy Birthday wish, we invite you to add your name to our calendar. We have plans to include a Happy Birthday section in our Among Us. Add your name and be included!! Remember, if you want something mentioned here, you have to tell us. Have a great month, everyone. Please contact Jane Zaun with your information at jnzaun@yahoo.com. GNO will be held at the Kaiser Grille on the corner of Portola & Hwy 111 in Palm Desert on Thursday, June 5:30 Parking is behind, so for those coming south on Portola, they might want to take a left on the street before 111. Judi Mills heads the group during the summer and she doesn t have an up-dated list of women who would like to attend. She would like to emphasize that ALL are WELCOME, especially the newer members and guests. She will add names and make a new list. Please respond to Judi at jksmills@windstream.net by Tuesday, June 5. Newsletter and Weekly Deadlines: The deadline for publication is always Wednesday morning. If your are going to be late, call or Geoff asking to reserve space. Newsletters need to be on the website by 3 pm, Fridays. Monthly newsletters are published on the Friday that is closest to the first of each month.

6 Your Generosity = 50 Personal Care Kits for Well in the Desert! Smiling faces after assembling the 50 Personal Care Kits Thank you for an amazingly successful campaign! Your small and large donations of time, goods, energy and dollars will make a difference to those who live homeless in Palm Springs. We exceeded by a long shot our original goal of 24 kits. But wait, we didn t stop at just the 50 kits. We also contributed 20 plus pounds of additional toiletries, ranging from hotel-sized to full-sized, including shampoos, conditioners, lotions, dental hygiene, soap, feminine products and more. And we had enough cash donations to add a check for $162 to help the Well in the Desert serve these members of our community. All together, we d guess that we provided over $1,300 in cash and materials. We distributed our mountain of personal care items on May 25. The big smiles and loud thank yous from the recipients show how much your generosity is appreciated. Bryna and Marty contributed the string backpacks and printed our UUCOD logo on the front. The recipients commented that they really think they re cool. The Social Justice Committee can t thank you enough for your combined efforts in making this a successful campaign. Distribution of Personal Care Items on May 25 to Well in the Desert

7 Please bring new socks to donate, darker colors are very welcome. They go to Well in the Desert in Palm Springs to give out to local homeless persons. The socks you give will cushion footsteps during long treks on foot, provide a sense of comfort and dignity, and keep feet warm and dry at night. Join us right after service to do a quick count and get them out to the car. Reminder: we have limited space to store and to transport all these socks, so we ask for socks only. If you have any other items to donate, please contact the Well in the Desert or another local charity and transport those items yourself. Thanks! Socks on the 2nd June 10 Baseball & Fireworks on the 4th! Let s celebrate Independence Day together by watching a baseball game and enjoying the fireworks at the Palm Springs Baseball Stadium, 1901 East Baristo Road. Gates open at 4:30 pm. The game starts at 6:05 pm. Fireworks will begin after the game. A prepaid group admission of $5.00 each for at least 20 people will get us reserved seating and recognition of our group s presence over the loud speaker. If you have any questions, contact Marion Ellson. Sign up in the foyer and pay Marion by June 10 th. JUNE Contact Dorian musicdirector@uucod.org for more information Choir Rehearsals are on the 13 th and 27 th at 6:30pm

8 Share The Plate with Our June 17th Share the Plate recipient is Barkee LaRoux s House of Love Domestic Animal Sanctuary. A UUCOD member who wishes to remain anonymous has generously offered to match dollar-for-dollar all money collected for Barkee LaRoux. Barkee LaRoux s visionary is Carlynne McDonnell. Carlynne s name may sound familiar as she has been the organizer for Action for Societal Change and has brought numerous important programs to UUCOD over the past several years. Carlynne s true passion has been rescuing the dogs & cats that no one wants; oftentimes just hours away from being euthanized. For the past several years, whenever Carlynne heard of sick, elderly, abandoned, orphaned, and/or abused dogs left at shelters throughout southern California, she would drive to the shelter and talk them into giving the poor animal to her. She did this so often and developed such a favorable reputation that shelters now know to call her when they receive an unadoptable animal. She takes these frightened animals to her vet, paying for their care out of her pocket. Using her extensive list of contacts, she finds a qualified and loving volunteer to take the pet in & care for it (often paid for by Carlynne) through the end of its days. Carlynne s vision has always been to build an animal sanctuary that focuses exclusively on establishing a safe and comforting home for pets who need help the most, whether they be sick, elderly, abandoned, orphaned, and/or abused. It would be a year-round inside-living facility that features 24/7 care. Barkee LaRoux s House of Love Domestic Animal Sanctuary has been in the planning stages for nearly two years and will hopefully become a bricks-and-mortar reality in Desert Hot Springs. The goal is to provide these poor animals with the highest possible quality of life in a safe and secure forever-home filled with love and kindness. Services will include providing loving perpetual care for those pets who have been left alone by owner loss and providing a safe and loving space for unadoptable shelter animals that have been left behind due to behavioral or other issues, such as age or medical needs. You can help make Barkee LaRoux s House of Love Domestic Animal Sanctuary a reality by giving generously on Sunday, June 17th. Children s Religious Education Sleep Over - A Fun Time Had By All!! On Friday, May 25th the children in the religious education program had their end-of-the-year sleep over inside the church. They ate pizza, tie-dyed t-shirts, made slime, paper flowers and watched the movie, Beauty & The Beast while munching on popcorn. On Saturday morning they ate pancakes with maple syrup and sausages. They had so much fun, everyone asked to do it again really soon! Who do you recognize?

9 Flower Sign-Up Sheets for June and July are now on the clipboard in the foyer Labyrinth Project Site Integrity and Safety Now that we have begun construction it is critical that we maintain the integrity of the site. Team Labyrinth is requesting that members not go into the construction area. This is in order to avoid additional costs for re-staking or any other scope that is compromised. There is a safety issue, as well. The site will be cordoned off but until then the orange stakes mark the perimeter of the slab. There are also several painted lines delineating various points. We appreciate your cooperation and look forward to a successful project! If there is a concern, please contact our Leslie or coach@lesliegebhart.com You know you want it! Recently the church received a donated computer. This Dell Inspiron 560 desktop machine has been upgraded to the Windows 10 Home operating system. It comes with a flat screen 21" monitor, keyboard and mouse. Speakers can be added. The dimensions of the machine are 15" high 7" wide 16 1/2 " deep. Newsletter and Weekly Deadlines: The deadline for the Newsletter is always Wednesday morning. If you are going to be late, call or Administrator Geoff asking to reserve space.