The Official Summer Institute Real Information Service
Central East Region Summer Institute
Friday, July 12, 2019
QUICK LINKS
Your Opinion Matters
What Will You do to Fight Climate Change?
Restorative Practices Morsel from SICoM
S.I.S.T. News & Notes
Pampered Chef Fundraiser
Renovations at First Church – You can Help
Sexual Assault on Campus
YOUR OPINION MATTERS!
We need your feedback on this year’s SI. Please complete the annual survey at: https://tinyurl.com/y22ybcuv.
We’re also already accepting workshop ideas! To propose a morning adult seminar fill out this form: https://tinyurl.com/y4w4d5o7.
For afternoon workshops please use this form: https://tinyurl.com/yxnjwrqq.
Please direct questions to Cal Frye at sichair@cersiuu.org.
WHAT WILL YOU DO TO FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE?
Today the Living our 7th Principle workshop made personal commitments to take action on climate change. What could you do? Think about these 6 areas for action:
- ENERGY: electricity and gas. Can you reduce your consumption, upgrade to more efficient appliances, generate renewable energy?
- TRAVEL: Can you reduce flying and driving, bike more, get a high efficiency vehicle?
- FOOD: Can you reduce food waste, eat local/in season and reduce meat consumption (especially beef)?
- OUR CHURCHES: Can you help your congregation reduce its carbon footprint and create a climate action plan?
- COMMUNITY: People underestimate how concerned others are about climate change because we don’t talk about it. Can you start talking about climate change with friends and family? Can you join with others in your community to take collective action?
- POLICY: When there is overwhelming demand for action, even the most reluctant leaders will act. Can you write letters to the editor, call your elected officials, and work to elect people who take a stand on climate?
None of us can do everything, but all of us can do something. Find the actions that excite you and play to your strengths. Or, create a growth opportunity for yourself and leave your comfort zone. Or both!
RESTORATIVE PRACTICES MORSEL FROM SICoM
Our last full day for 2019! What adventures and joys we have had; and how pleasantly exhausted most of us are. Our covenant stands firm and many of us are already thinking about next year, because SI’s community continues.
Restorative thinking has can help us avoid some of the little bumps that a few of us have experienced. Restorative practices taken to another level can increase SI’s democracy, justice, and equality congruent with our 5th and 6th UU principles.
As Jennifer Ball, Wayne Caldwell, and Kay Pranis wrote in the first chapter of Doing Democracy in Circles: Engaging Communities in Public Planning, “[p]recisely because we aspire to ideals of freedom and equality, the failure to ‘practice what we preach’ becomes all the more painful for those whose freedom and equality are violated.” Studying restorative practices can help us become even better at leaning into what we know is right on that path.
Let us recommit to the kind of restorative frameworks our principles demand from us. As Sandhya Rani Jha wrote in Transforming Communities: How People Like You are Healing Their Neighborhoods, “only those embedded in the struggles and opportunities of their communities have the skills and wisdom to collectively solve their problems and thrive.” We are embedded and wise – we should fully embrace that as we plan for 2020.
Let’s celebrate our closing day and a half together! Let’s listen more than we speak; let’s create more memories and more magic! And know that SICoM will remain available to talk by distance and help with your restorative practice needs, even after this week.
In closing, be authentically together… joyfully, restoratively, and gently… as we soak up the end of SI 2019.
S.I.S.T. NEWS & NOTES
Scholarship fundraising is a year-round effort with funds awarded for 2020 in early spring. Donate anytime by check made out to UUA-CER with CERSI scholarship on the memo line. Snail mail to:
CER Summer Institute
Central East Region of the UUA
100 W. 10th St., Suite 1008
Wilmington, DE 19801
Or donate electronically at https://tinyurl.com/y2gz66fq.
- Thanks to all for the $714.68 raised at Monte Carnival & the Pie-in-the-face!
$330 was raised by buskers during Wednesday community night; thank you Christa Champion for bringing busking to SI. - Thank you to bookstore staff & the busy roaming ticket sellers for all your help with scholarship fundraising and to all the vendors who donated raffle prizes.
It takes a village to build, sustain & then grow this special family & community. Thank you.
PAMPERED CHEF SCHOLARSHIP FUNDRAISER
Pampered Chef, founded in 1980, and a part of the Berkshire Hathaway family of businesses, is a direct seller of high-quality kitchen tools. As an Independent Pampered Chef consultant, Melanie Christiansen (Toledo) has offered to sponsor a fundraiser for the CERSI Scholarship Fund this week. 15% of any sales between now and July 15 will go to support the scholarship fund if you order directly from the designated website: https://www.pamperedchef.com/party/cersischolarship2019
RENOVATIONS AT FIRST CHURCH—WE CAN HELP
We have enjoyed our years in Oberlin which were made possible by the generosity of the people at First Church. They graciously invited 450 UUs into their church home for a week every year for several years.
Now it is our turn to be generous. They are in the midst of a renovation project and shared this information:
The First Church Meeting House is Oberlin’s oldest, most historic building. More than 1,000 people visit each year to learn more about Oberlin’s history advocating abolition, women’s education, and civil rights. More than 20,000 come each year for concerts, benefits, debates, lectures, and, of course, worship.
Today, the building – cornerstone laid in 1842 – is in need of preservation and restoration work that, when complete, will secure the building for its third century. We have received grants from the National Fund for Sacred Places and from the Ohio Office of Historic Preservation totaling more than $300,000. We are near our goal and hoping to secure as many gifts as possible in this final phase. Please make a gift now and be part of this effort to preserve Oberlin’s Meeting House and upgrade the other First Church facilities.
First Church Oberlin is a special place. Many famous Americans have spoken here including Frederick Douglass, Mark Twain, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Booker T. Washington, Woodrow Wilson, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Not resting on their laurels, in October 2018, they established the first safe space in the county for immigrants, refugees and those seeking asylum.
We are grateful to First Church for all of their support over our years in Oberlin. As a sign of gratitude, we will be taking a special collection during closing ceremonies on Saturday to support First Church’s capital campaign. You can donate via cash at the service, checks addressed to “First Church” or via their online giving page. Simply go to https://firstchurchoberlin.org/giving.html and locate the online giving page. Choose Campaign for the Future as the fund. You can also find us with the GivePlus Mobile app.
SEXUAL ASSAULT ON CAMPUS
Signs have appeared on Oberlin buildings reporting a sexual assault on campus. This was at a building on the other side of the downtown area and not on our campus. The campus has increased their care and support of the community through signs, increased security, and building checks. Please be aware of your surroundings, take advantage of the golf carts and walk with others when possible.
We recognize that an announcement like this can be difficult for many in our community. If you are in need of support, please contact a chaplain. You do not need to deal with this alone. Please know that all of us are here for one another and you are not alone.
-Rev. Sunshine J. Wolfe and the S.I. Planning Committee