This Sunday will be our Flower Communion service, featuring the beloved annual ceremony practiced by Unitarian and Unitarian Universalist congregations around the world to celebrate the beautiful diversity and unity of our individual congregants and whole congregation. Be sure to bring a flower; bonus points if it’s one that you feel represents your unique self and your own special contributions to this community! And if you forget, don’t worry! We will have extra flowers to share to ensure that everyone can participate.

There are currently several coats in the Fellowship’s Lost and Found.  These have been collected throughout the winter/spring from various rooms in the buildings.   If you are missing a coat or any other item you brought to the Fellowship, please check the Lost and Found which is located in the coat room outside the powder room in the Mansion. All unclaimed items will be donated to the June 22nd Buy Nothing Exchange.

The Mortgage Prevention team is delighted to announce that for this entire summer, you can purchase your own ‘Mortgage Prevention Eggs’ from the Lackawanna Ladies. Each egg costs $1 for $12 for a full doz + a $3 delivery fee. All proceeds will go to the capital campaign for  Mortgage Prevention (only $335,000 to go). You may think paying $1 per egg is ridiculous, but so is still having a mortgage after all we have accomplished so far! Brooke Donaldson Egg Order Form Orders will be fulfilled as supply is available. Name Email How Many Dozen? 1 2 3 4 5 Message Submit and Pay

You may have noticed the Endowment Fund plaque is now proudly hanging in the Terrace Room.  This plaque recognizes members of the Fellowship who have donated $5,000 or more to the Endowment Fund during their lifetime or identified the Fund for a bequest from their estate.  Regrettably, the last name on the plaque was entered on 2017 even though we believe members have listed the Endowment Fund in their estate plans. We are asking all current Fellowship members who have made or wish to make a donation from their estate to complete the Morristown Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Endowment Fund Deferred Gift Acknowledgement form then mail the completed form to the Fellowship.  Once you make this generous contribution, please advise your family and/or your named executor of your decision.  Of course, you are welcome to make a contribution during your lifetime as well. Endowment Committee has 12 Peggy Karr glass plates that picture our historic building.  We will give the plates to the first twelve people who make known their $5,000 contribution to the Fund in 2025. And thank YOU for your generous support of MUUF’s Endowment Fund! Gift Acknowledgement Form

Meals are a great way to have fun and learn more about your Fellowship friends.   We are relaunching Meals with UU Friends this summer with options based on what you’ve told us about your most recent experience. Some have indicated that the cost of restaurant meals have soared and that crowds in a noisy restaurant can make it a challenge to hear and enjoy the experience. Accordingly, we have two choices in the sign up form — a restaurant-only alternative and one that emphasizes (albeit not exclusively) meal meetups in homes, parks, the Fellowship as the group decides.  Sign up here

Join us for our Annual Picnic on June 8th following service! Burgers, hot dogs, veggie burgers, beverages and a bouncy house will be provided. A donation of $5 per person (max $20 per family) is asked to help offset the costs. We ask that you bring a dish to share based on your last name: A – H    Dessert I – R      Side dish S – Z     Appetizer Please note that side dishes can be heated! Some of our wonderful Green Aprons will be volunteering in the kitchen and will place all dishes that are brought in warm in our ovens. They will also handle any items need refrigeration. There will be a sign up for the pot luck donations at coffee hour if you know what you’ll be bringing. There is also the option to donate a minimal amount in lieu of bringing a food donation. Due to the limited amount of outdoor chairs, please bring your own chair and/or blanket if the weather cooperates!

LIAISON’S CORNER PAST EVENTS On May 5 th twenty UUs from around the state attended UUFANJ’s advocacy training in Trenton.  It was so successful that another training session is under consideration. UUFANJ was at Delaney Hall last weekend.  We have been and will continue to be active members of the coalition standing up for immigrant rights. FUTURE EVENTS This Friday, May 16 th is FIRST FRIDAY ACTION HOUR .  As usual, the easiest effective way to take a stand. The specific actions for the week drop after noon.  Go to bit.ly1st-Fridays Registration is open for the UUFANJ Annual Meeting on May 31 st , 10:30 AM to 3 PM.  The meeting is hybrid and there is no charge to register.  Our Task Forces will be presenting an informative program from 1 PM -3 PM about their issue priorities for the upcoming year.  Recommended.  Attendance is not required at both sessions.  CALLING ALL ALLIES AND WOULD BE ALLIES!  On Tuesday, May 27 th at 7 PM, UUFANJ will be holding a special program “ Responding to the Anti-Trans Movement ”.  For more information and to register go to the “Members Only” section of REALM. TASK FORCES – Anyone who may have been inspired by recent events to get more involved with social justice work, is welcome to monitor or join a task force. Criminal Justice – Monday, May 19, 7-8 PM Contact cjrtchair@uufaithaction.org Environmental Justice – Wednesday, May 21, 3:15-5 PM Contact                                                           admin@uufaithaction.org Reproductive Justice (includes LGBT+ issues) – Monday, June 2, 7-8 PM Contact rjtfchair@uufaithaction.org Immigration Justice – Thursday, June 5, 8-9 PM Contact immigration@uufaithaction.org

Your Mortgage Prevention Capital Campaign has a lot to share! We’ve been a little quiet during the Annual Support Drive , but we wanted to share this update. In June 2023 you authorized us finish fundraising and to spend 4.8 million dollars for our Addition and related improvements. You did authorize up to $400,000 of that to be put into a mortgage. Then, last July 21, 2024,  we announced that we had less than $400,000 remaining to raise to prevent having a mortgage when our construction loan comes due in August 2026.   So we launched this “ Mortgage Prevention” phase, hoping for no mortgage at all.. The Gateways team managing this construction has just paid the final bills for the Addition, right within the budget you authorized.  We are done! The separate fundraising for the Solar Project is complete, fully funded at $180,000, with a combination of direct gifts and low-interest loans.  This budget includes a contingency. A contract is signed and we expect construction to start soon!  The money raised for the Solar Project included $15,700 already spent by Gateways to prepare the Addition for installation of solar panels. This amount has now been credited back to the Capital Campaign. As a result, and due to your continuing generosity, the remaining need to avoid a mortgage is now less than $335,000! What’s next?   We will continue contacting members and friends through this August for gifts and pledges towards the remaining need.  In September we will kick off a renewed effort to raise whatever still remains as of that date. We will start with an information session on September 21 st after the service, focused especially on newer members.  We are hoping to hold other exciting events in the Fall. We have had some Leadership changes:   Franklin has stepped down as Co-chair; Shari will continue through the end of the campaign. Please contact Shari or the main office to volunteer to help bring this home! We need a lot of help – planning events, contacting members for visits, making our communications as clear as we can –  but … We have a Campaign End Date!  The capital campaign will be winding up by December 31,  2025. Your pledge payments may continue past that date, but capital fundraising will come to a close. What if we don’t raise it all? If we don’t raise the amount needed to pay off the construction loan, repayment will have to come out of the Operating Budget, starting August 2026.  Options the Board will consider include extending the current loan for an additional year on an interest-only basis, or taking out a mortgage, in either case as of August 2026. Thank you! Mortgage Prevention Capital Campaign Team – Shari Loe, Chair; Laurent Comes, Tim Davis, Candice Donaldson, Helene Ferm, Paul Ferm, Rev. Sasha Ostrom

Over 100 members of the Morristown UU Fellowship contributed in person, virtually and by e-mail to explore the idea of Welcoming, our first Open Question of the year. Several prompts encouraged participants in small dynamic groups to share their experiences of being welcomed, being welcoming and experiences that feel less welcoming. Facilitators summarized the shared wisdom on large notepads so that the shared wisdom could be seen in real time within the small groups as participants responded to the experiences, observations and suggestions being shared.  Many participants offered comments on the process. In general, the process comments reflected positive experiences interacting with people they hadn’t met or gotten to know, or even people they just hadn’t seen in a while. Some noted they were hearing things they had not personally thought about and appreciated the wide range of experience. There was an appreciation for the open invitation for the whole Fellowship to share in the Open Question conversation. Comments with suggestions for improvement were also offered, for example noting that the RE teachers found it difficult to engage since they were teaching during the live sessions.  There was overlap between the responses to the different prompts, as participants continued to mull over previous prompts or anticipate subsequent prompts during the sessions. Facilitators helped guide the sharing to offer all participants an opportunity to speak and to allow all of the prompts to be addressed.  Some strong themes bubbled up.  A search for personal and family spiritual development is what brought many participants through the door the first time. Connection to wisdom from the pulpit, connection to community within the worship service, connection to religious education (all ages) were all offered up as welcoming.  Participation in social justice groups, support groups and common interest groups were valued as well. The ability to explore the wisdom of different faith traditions felt welcoming to many of you. The freedom to express one’s own beliefs, traditions and questions was valued. There was a comment about the Fellowship being not churchy enough and one about being too churchy in response to the prompt about not feeling welcome. This is perhaps confirmation that we are truly Unitarian Universalists.  The power of interpersonal connection was the most strongly expressed measure of what makes us feel both welcomed and welcoming. And the lack of interpersonal connection was a common theme in feeling unwelcomed.  Being remembered the second time you came, having a name tag in the rack, and having someone sit next to you in the service made a difference.  Many described taking this feeling of welcome and passing it along by being a person who now says “Hi, it is good to see you” to the newcomer, or sits with them in the service, or hands them their new name tag from the rack when they come back again.  Several of you expressed an appreciation for an open but undemanding engagement when you were new. Many expressed the joy in the relationships you have here, whether months or decades long, that make this your spiritual home. It feels good to be seen and appreciated You shared the experience that a specific invitation to participate in our community strengthens the interpersonal connection. Specific invitations to participate in the life of the Fellowship both within our walls and externally through social justice work matter. Many of you reflected back on being invited to sing in the choir, or teach an RE class, or volunteer with one of our social justice teams and that welcome feeling of belonging .  Invitation made a difference to you, and many of you now actively engage new visitors, friends and members in the same way. From an invitation to chat over coffee after the service to inviting a new person to participate in a social justice activity, invitation matters. This theme was expanded to include indirect invitations. For instance, knowing how to reach out to groups and committees to volunteer time and energy is valuable. The ability to use the website to easily identify specific opportunities to participate matters. Easy access to opportunities to serve, and to information are welcoming. It feels good to be active in our community. The invitation to share thoughts around diversity led to exploration of the different ways diversity can be observed, appreciated and welcomed . There was recognition of the attention toward making the new Gateways addition welcoming for those who benefit from entry into the space without a single step up, a panel to open the door automatically and large gender-neutral private bathrooms. The repurposing of space to support those who don’t enjoy large crowds or loud noises was appreciated. There were observations that it felt welcoming to be able to express yourself in a safe space even when everyone in the conversation does not agree with your position on an issue. There was a recognition that we have an opportunity to be more welcoming to everyone who may not even know yet that they can find a spiritual home here. Opportunities to share who we are and what we are here to do with the wider community were suggested.  These included activities to bring our story to the community and activities to bring the community to us. There were also opportunities identified to expand our own appreciation of the many forms diversity can take, so we can understand the many forms welcoming diversity can take.  The Committee on Ministries, The Board and Rev. Sasha are grateful for the response to the First Open Question. The wisdom shared during the Open Questions is one source that will help guide the development of next year’s Vision of Ministry.  The current year Vision of Ministry goals center around Spiritual Development, Relationship and Communication, and Social Justice.

Did you know that there has been a 32% increase in unsheltered homelessness in Morris County YTD? And did you know that there are state-level resources available to help people access housing? Rev. Sasha learned both facts last Wednesday when joining other Morristown faith leaders for a meeting with Michael Callahan, Director of the Office of Homelessness Prevention for the NJ Department of Community Affairs, and Jillian Barrick, our Town Administrator for Morristown. They hope to activate faith community support for an upcoming state-funded effort here in our community. Called the “Sprint,” this 6-month rapid initiative seeks to house 25 chronically unsheltered individuals here in Morristown and strengthen community coordination. Working through Collaborative Support Programs of New Jersey (CSPNJ), faith communities are invited to support the Sprint in any way we are able, which might include: meals move-in kits volunteers donations non-judgmental listening hospitality circles fundraising events supply drives Faith leaders from several Morristown congregations attended the meeting, and there was strong interest in the room in joining together in this effort. Each congregation is free to decide for ourselves what kind of support we can provide. No congregation needs to do everything, but we are all encouraged to do something. How wonderful it would be if Morristown UU could be a part of this important community project! Rev. Sasha is looking for a team of 3-5 volunteers to coordinate our congregation’s participation in this interfaith effort. She anticipates that this work will last approximately 6 months, although there could be future opportunities if the Sprint is successful, as this is somewhat of a trial case for what could be a longer-term program here in Morristown. Because the effort begins in approximately 2-3 weeks, Sasha is especially looking for people who are prepared to help her rapidly assess what kind of support MUUF is able to offer and then organize our community to provide it. If you’re interested, please email Rev. Sasha.

The Sunday Plate distribution for April was $1,442. The recipient organizations are UU Side With Love, Black Lives UU, RAMP – Refugee Assistance Morris Partners, UU Ministry For Earth. Thank you for your continued generosity!

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