During this winter holiday, we will be collecting items for the Morris County Correctional Facility. This year we have been asked to provide men's white crew neck t-shirts and women's white underwear and bras. Items will be collected until 11:30 am on Sunday, December 7th. After this date we will no longer be accepting donations. We hope that you decide to donate to the Correctional Facility!

We are participating in Morristown Sprint. This is a collaborative effort with other Morristown congregations to feed 19 immigrants who are housed in local hotels. We need your help preparing meals (meal planning, shopping, preparation, cooking, and clean-up). We are responsible for preparing 75 meals for delivery on January 5th and January 26th. Let us know if you would like to help with this effort. For more information, email socialjustice@muuf.org . UU Faith Action NJ Update The People’s Agenda for New Jersey’s lame-duck legislative session is pressing ahead. We are hopeful that some form of the Immigrant Trust Act will move forward, but we need to keep up the pressure. Here are some dates for getting involved: December 5th at 12:00 PM (Noon): UUFaithActionNJ’s Action Hour. Join in person at the Fellowship or click here to join . December 8th : Action Rally and Lobbying in Trenton. We will carpool from the Fellowship’s main parking lot, leaving at 8:45 AM. December 11th & December 15th : Bills are likely to be heard in committees in Trenton. If you would like to be on the Rapid Response Email Chain, please let us know by emailing socialjustice@muuf.org . A special thank you to all who contributed toiletry items to our collection for Family Promise. We have already dropped off many of your generous donations.

Over the past few years, and even in the last week, our congregation has been targeted by many groups of scammers in attempts to extract money (in the form of gift cards) from our congregants. These scams take many shapes, but I wanted to highlight a common repeat offender that we've noticed because it seems innocuous at first which is how it might fly under the radar. Afterward, I'll also go over a few things you can check to help determine if you're being contacted genuinely or by someone more malicious. The Directory Scam You may be contacted by someone posing to be a member of our Fellowship - for instance, scammers may look at our website and find the name of Rev. Sasha Ostrom and pretend to be her, or our current board president, Nan Perigo. They'll reach out to you, typically through email or text, impersonating this person with a simple request: they'll claim to have lost access to our membership directory, and ask if you can send them your copy. If you engage with them, they'll help guide you into how to obtain that information to send to them. While it might seem innocuous because they're not directly trying to get money out of you , what they're doing is trying to gain the contact information of everyone else at our Fellowship in order to reach out to them with a more targeted campaign to get money from them. What should I do if I'm contacted by a scammer? The answer to this is quite simple - don't engage with them! Don't even entertain their inquiry. If you respond at all , you're telling them that you are a real person and the information they have about you is likely correct, and they may take advantage of that or pass that info along to other scammers to use at a later time. In today's day and age, enough of these scam emails go out that it's hardly worth even reporting it to our Fellowship staff, but feel free to reach out to us if you're uncertain. How can I tell if it's actually a scammer? To start with, this doesn't apply to all congregants, but all staff and board members will only contact you about Fellowship business from an @muuf.org email address . Additionally, in the age of AI and machine learning, it's also worth being cautious about phone calls or pre-recorded messages that sound eerily similar to Rev. Sasha's voice - these are becoming exceedingly easy to fake, with the ample training data we provide (by having our services available online). To help combat this, it's worth always being mindful of the context. Rev. Sasha will never contact you digitally (via phone, email, or text) asking for gift cards or money in any way. That is simply not how our congregation operates. Remember, scam and phishing attempts can happen to anyone , and there's no shame in falling for one (they can be exceedingly convincing!), but sticking to the above guidelines should help you weed out fact from fiction. Stay safe!

Diana Hart is a familiar face to anyone who has enjoyed coffee hour after the 10am services, or partaken of hors d’oeuvres or buffet meals at events in Chu Hall. A Morristown UU Fellowship member since 2022, and a professional caterer for over 30 years, Diana is soon to celebrate her year anniversary as chef and catering manager here at MUUF. When Chu Hall and the new kitchen opened, Diana offered a year’s commitment to develop kitchen and catering procedures, and to develop a program to train volunteers in hospitality and kitchen skills, know as “The Green Aprons”. As this year ends, we at MUUF are deeply grateful to her for sharing her professional knowledge, her leadership skills, and her generous commitment of time and energy. Interestingly, the Green Apron program Diana developed is based on a similar volunteer program that Diana’s father, Doug Hart, was heavily involved with. Called ‘The Red Aprons’, it began at the First Universalist Society of Hartland, Vermont. “My dad was a long-time volunteer, delivering Meals on Wheels, as well as serving as a Red Apron at many UU Thanksgiving meals and at other church gatherings.” The Red Aprons would also hire themselves out for community events, with their earnings donated to their UU church. “My dad was my example for establishing the Green Apron volunteer group at MUUF. He was an atheist who loved his church and often said ‘I don’t believe in god, I believe in good.’” Diana was also inspired by her mother, Patricia Hart. Blind at 21, she founded as school for the blind in Bridgeport, Connecticut, which has evolved into a regional music and arts center serving all of Fairfield County. Diana says “My parents have inspired me to live a life doing good works and service to the community.” Diana’s years of work were primarily spent as an off-premises caterer. She owned her own business, and shared professional kitchen space. “I worked at a variety of venues including the New Amsterdam Theatre, where I catered the Tony Awards Party for The Lion King Show. That was my biggest event. We prepared for 800 guests.” Diana has also served on the board and contributed catering services to the South Orange Perform Arts Center (SOPAC). Additionally, she has worked preparing meals as a private chef and event caterer. Diana remembers once catering a wedding reception years ago at MUUF. “Last year while Sandra Persichetti and I were clearing out the mansion kitchen, I found a very large, very heavy serving bowl with my company initials on the back. I’m sure my staff left it behind on purpose. It was a beast to handle.” The COVID epidemic was a game changer for Diana’s catering business. Events were cancelled or indefinitely delayed. To keep her staff busy and to offer services to front-line workers, Diana created “Thanksgiving Thursday”. By soliciting online donations, she and her staff were able to contribute meals to hospitals and fire stations. Jeanne Craft, MUUF board member and pediatrician, remembers the staff at St. Barnabas Hospital receiving meals. Jeanne shares, “The meals donations helped us feel ‘seen’ and supported during that difficult time.” Diana also utilized her catering skills in a personal way, when she spent a month preparing meals for her father and step-mother as part of her father’s 87th birthday celebration. “Staying with my dad and step-mom during that time allowed me to appreciate the kindness, support, and deep connections my dad shared with Hartland church, and with his fellow Red Apron friends.” Diana’s experience with the supportive community at the Hartland church inspired her to join MUUF when she moved to Morris Plains with her partner Kerry in 2022. And, following the loss of her father in 2022, it was a welcome distraction for Diana to be busy at MUUF, working with Sandra Persichetti to set up the new kitchen. Diana remembers, “The first Chu Hall event was the Ribbon Cutting in November 2024. Since then, I have held six Green Apron training weekends with more than 30 attendees, resulting in about 12 to 16 Green Aprons and giving many other attendees some knowledge as to how the new kitchen functions. We have worked at over 30 events, including Souper Sundays, coffee hours, memorial services, two service auctions and several rental events.” As her volunteer commitment draws to a close, Diana looks forward to processing the experience, stating “It’s time to take stock of the progress we’ve made during the past year. It’s been a period of growth and change for everyone at MUUF, with more to come.” The future looks brighter, thanks to Diana’s leadership. The Green Apron program is a gift to all of us at MUUF, and we are truly grateful.

Our recent service auction had an item A5 which offered the following: Hand-made by the ladies of Sinfalva, our Unitarian Partner Church in the Transylvania region of Romania. (You provide the shirt, we send it to them). Here are photos of shirts being modeled. Two were purchased, so there is still an opportunity to get a Partner Church embroidered shirt, depicting the symbols of both American and Transylvanian Unitarianism. Contact Gabor Kiss.

The Morristown Unitarian Fellowship raced from a meeting held on Oct. 18, 1955 to ascertain local interest in forming a Unitarian congregation to approving the bylaws and having the first members formally join on December 18. How the group achieved that quick start was the work of a steering committee that first met on October 23 and went about setting up a complete list of the committees needed to organize the body. The steering committee received its due in the first newsletter, issued sometime before December 17 by Marshall Deutsch, one of its members, and he published thumbnail sketches of the members, eight men and two women. Three of the men and their wives would resign their membership in the Fellowship before the end of 1956 The male members of the committee had very much the same profile as the male members of the new congregation—young, only two were more than 50 years old, only three more than 40—most were veterans of World War II and most were heavily involved in science and technology. Of the eight, two were chemists, two engineers and two technicians with the two female members both married to chemists. Among of women, on at 29 years old , was among the six youngest founding members. Playing a key role was steering committee chair, Winfield Scott Greenleaf (May 22, 1916-April 21, 2005), an electronics technician at Ballantine Laboratories, who would later start a business designing custom mailboxes. Greenleaf, who served in Burma during World War II was one of the few vets who was actually in a combat area during the War. Very importantly, he was on the board of trustees of the Morristown YMCA and chaired its membership committee and it seems likely he was behind the fellowship’s ability to nab the Y as its home in time for the first sermon on Oct. 30, 1955.. After the first two years, his job changed and his involvement with the Fellowship plummeted. Greenleaf’s wife Martha later joined the Fellowship but was not a founding member. John Zieger (March 31, 1898-September 1977), who also worked at Ballantine, was a laboratory technician there and was a German immigrant who was booted from the priesthood in New York before taking his final vows. Zieger took over the Program Committee chairmanship for the steering committee after Vincent Richards resigned. Zieger resigned his Fellowship membersship, probably before 1957, probably in a huff, judging from an interview with his daughter. His wife, Grace, was also a founding member, who also resigned about the same time. Marshall Deutsch, member No. 1, (Aug. 17, 1921-Dec. 23, 2017), who spurred the effort to found the Fellowship was a senior scientist at Warner Chilcott, later Warner Lambert, as was Arthur Babson, whose wife Doris served on the steering committee. The head of the publicity committee, Deutsch produced the first four newsletters and was responsible for bringing Munroe Husbands to speak at the October 18 organizing meeting. Deutsch considered himself an inventor of medical devices. A World War II veteran, he would joined a veteran’s group opposed to the Vietnam War. His wife, Judith, later the Rev. Judith Deustch, was active in the organization of the October 18 meeting. She is still alive in New Mexico. Doris Marcia Babson (b. 8 April 1926), who married to founder Art Babson, the Fellowship’s first president, was chair of the membership and hospitality committee. She had worked in the public relations industry but dropped those activities to take care of her two children. After she and Babson divorced, Doris married Albert Thomas in 1979, apparently becoming a Methodist. She was alive in California when her daughter Betsy died on March 15, 2019, and may still be alive there as no record of her death has been found since. Marsh Steiding (Nov. 15, 1920-Sep. 25, 1962), who became the Fellowship’s first president in January 1956, headed the committee that produced the first bylaws and chaired its publications committee. A technical sales engineer at R-B-H Dispersions, Division of Interchemical Corp. at the time, Steiding had been an explosives chemist before that (and not the only explosives expert at the Fellowship). He was also an organist and choir director for the local Episcopal Church and was able to maintain that role because when the Fellowship met at the Y services were on Sunday evening if a minister spoke. Early orders of service show he could handle heavy duty classical music. His wife, Jane, was named as Sunday School director by the committee in late October or November 1955.. She was left a widow with four young children when Steiding died. Eleanor Mason (Dec. 9, 1919-Jan. 16, 2014), the last founder active in the Fellowship was the steering committee’s secretary and helped recruit prospects of the October 18 meeting via telephone calls. Married to another founder and chemist, Robert Mason, Mason was a physical education instructor at Barnard College and the University of Delaware, before moving to New Jersey, where she joined Drew University, becoming an assistant profesor. She would spearhead efforts to organize social justice programs at the Fellowship early on. Robert McCready (May 16, 1911-Dec. 23, 1995) was the Fellowship’s first historian and was its resident humorist. A map editor, his credits include editing the Humble Vacation Guide USA in 1971 and the Exxon Travel Club guide in 1974. Treasurer of the steering committee, he became the Fellowship’s first vice president for a four-month term in January 1956, did not seek re-election to a full term then, but later served as Fellowship president. McCready wrote “A Light-Hearted Look at the History of the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship”, in February 1968 and a multi-part history published in newsletters late in 1962 and in early 1963. His wife, Evelyn, was also a founding member. Gerald Quinlan (Oct. 23, 1903-May 8, 1985) had a strong start at the Fellowship, joining the steering committee and becoming chair of the Sunday School Committee. He and wife Rosa would resign in September 1956 but rejoined by 1958. Quinlan was an English teacher whose tenures included Morristown High School but was also a professional flautist who conducted the children’s program for the Colonial Little Symphony, sponsored by Drew University, and occasionally conducted the orchestra. He ended his career as a manager the Haynes Flute Co. Anthony Parella (originally Anthony Laparella) (July 9, 1921-March 23, 2015) probably had the most unusual career path. He was described as a psychology technician during World War II and worked at Picatinny Arsenal. But by 1955 he had become a beautician, along with his wife, Elizabeth, a founder was not on the steering committee, and he would handle some publicity and take over the newsletter. They moved to Arizona where he became a real estate developer and they divorced. Vincent Richards (May 10, 1917- May 2, 2004), who gave the Fellowship’s first sermon was born in Wales. Richards served in the British Army and later was a bomber navigator in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Richards first chair the Program Committee formed by the steering committee but resigned. He worked at Lever brothers and then was a mechanical engineer for Colgate-Palmolive by 1955 and later moved to Louisiana and worked at Dow Chemical. He and wife, Wilda, also a founding member, resigned in September 1956. After they divorced in Florida, he would end up as a member of the Central Unitarian Church in Bergen County.

Our next Middle School Book Club is January 22nd, because December is hard to schedule. Book Club is for grades 6th through 8th. This month we will be reading a long waited book, "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas. Hope to see you or your child there!

In November we collected $1,623 for the Sunday Plate. These funds were distributed to Black Lives Matter Morristown, Morris Mutual, Family Promise, Homeless Solutions and UUA Side With Love. Thank you for your continued generosity in supporting these organizations!

NOW, thanks in part to the generous spirit inspired by Stearns' Matthews ethereal music last Saturday, we need to drop the number further - to $206,000! Our progress is due always and foremost to your generosity! But we also appreciate the prudent stewardship of the Board and the Finance teams, which had enabled the Fellowship to set aside funds from the CARES Act for a rainy day. And apparently it was raining last week, as the Board confirmed the release of $78,667 which had been set aside for the Capital Campaign if needed - turns out it was. But that is your money from generously continuing to fund salaries for our Staff during the shutdown, which the CARES Act enabled us to claim. Also, due to prudent management, the Solar Project was able to transfer $15,000 not needed for the Solar construction costs towards Mortgage Prevention. And thanks to those of you who have made payment on existing pledges early! You have saved us $10,000 in potential interest, assuming the remaining pledges come in timely and we eventually meet our goal. We also have taken some time to canvass all outstanding pledgers to confirm whether or not they will be able to complete pledges - some of which have been outstanding and being paid down for years. Not surprisingly, a very few have said they will not be able to fully pay their pledges, due to changed circumstances. So – though we can’t go into detail for reasons of confidentiality - the $206,000 still needed TAKES INTO ACCOUNT the adjustments for pledges that will not, or that we now judge unlikely to be paid. So as usual we are at a fulfillment rate of 95% or greater (as is our consistent experience with the Operating Budget pledges). The new amount reflects over $3000 net from the Stearns event, plus $8000 in new gifts since Sunday. YOU GUYYYYYYS wow. Just wow. Let's do this!

A note on the oldest-known order of service for the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship has a handful of pencil-written words annotating it: “Negatives, Orthodoxy’.” There was no clear list of positives, but the words “Attitudes, Reverence, Good Will, Freedom” precede that note by the unknown author. The order of service does not contain the name of the speaker, topic or date but the name “Dr. Dale DeWitt, November 28, 1955.” was added by the notetaker. Sunday was actually November 27, but an article in the Thursday, November 24 edition of the Madison Eagle, noted DeWitt was to speak on the subject of “A Religion of One’s Own” on Sunday. A Unitarian minister, DeWitt was the executive director of the Mid-Atlantic region for the then-American Unitarian Association from 1939 through 1964, and gave this sermon over the course of years, covering the history of and attributes of liberal religion. The notetaker did not elaborate on the meaning of “Orthodoxy”, but a good guess can be made because the order of service showed there was a prayer—and that was not common for the congregation through the first years of its existence and would have been anathema for many years in the late twentieth century. One of the hymns, “Morning So Fair to See”, is also known as the “Crusader’s Hymn” (and in Christian circles is sung as “Fairest Lord Jesus”. Another hymn sung was “God of the Earth, the Sky, the Sea”. Certainly, there were periods in which the mentioned of God drew objections at the Fellowship, although it was not as unusual as the use of a prayer in the 1950s. But we can suspect it drew the notetakers criticism. Indeed, the word, “hymn” became unpopular with some later in the century. The service also included a responsive reading, “The Riches of the Spirit” by Robert T. Weston which points to a belief in a deity with the first two lines of its closing verse “Let thy house be built upon a rock of virtue and let thy trust be in the riches of spirit.” The use of the word “God” would recur, although not frequently The Feb. 26, 1956 service included a musical interlude, “Glory to God”. The use of “Hymn” for songs during services was standard, as was the offertory, which was discarded sometime before the early 1980s in favor of having individuals place their contributions in a kiosk, although hymns and offertories would be restored to the congregation's practice. The term for the services themselves, usually programs in the last 20 years of the century, was usually meetings in Fellowship publicity, and sometime lectures, with orders of service routinely referring to main presentations as sermons. But among orders of service examined so far, it would not be until Jan. 20, 1957 until a prayer found its place on Sundays again. In fact, services would more commonly offering a meditation before a prayer was offered again

The Service Auction statements were emailed last week. If you didn’t receive yours, contact us at serviceauction@muuf.org . The deadline for payment is Dec. 31st by Realm or by check. Also, on Sunday, Dec 7th, you can pick up items at the service auction table, or by arrangement. We can also accept payment and answer your questions there. Thank you for your generosity!

Dec 1, 6 pm: The Joys of December What brings you joy during December? After all, this IS "The most wonderful time of the year!" Is it the sparkle of holiday lights everywhere, the gathering of family and friends in festive celebrations, the promise of snow and the emergence of warm, seasonal sweaters, perhaps even the "ugly" ones? Come to GAAMC to kick off the season and share some holiday cheer with like-minded folks. There will be videos to watch, tasty goodies to enjoy, and stories to exchange. A small donation is asked to contribute to our use of the Fellowship. And you're welcome to join a small group at a local diner afterward to continue the camaraderie! Dec 8, 6 pm: Being Positive What are we thankful for? Come join us as we discuss what we are thankful for and how we can be positive in today’s often challenging world. Dec 15, 6 pm: Songs of the Holidays The Holidays are great for remembering memories and making new ones, and what connects us to memories more than music? Email links to your favorite holiday music to info@gaamc.org and be prepared to tell us why this song means so much to you. Rumor has it that in addition to playing videos of favorites, we may be tuning up our pipes and raising our voices in song. Feel free to join us in conjuring the Holiday Spirit! Dec 22, 6 pm: The Florham Park Diner Enjoy good fun & food at a reasonable price! We’ll meet at the restaurant located at 182 Ridgedale Ave in Florham Park. Please rsvp by Friday, Dec 19, to Gordon Sauer at president@gaamc.org . Dec 29, 6 pm: Ma Vie en Rose Although this Belgium film dates from 1997, the story of a child’s exploration of their gender identity is timeless. This Golden Globe Award film tells the comically heartbreaking story of Ludovic a seven-year-old transgender girl’s coming out with warmth and empathy. It also explores the effect that Ludovic’s journey has on the relationships between his family members and the community. The issues of confusing homosexuality and transsexualism, denying its existence, attempting to cure it, and exhibiting discrimination and hostility towards the trans individual and their family are dealt with. The discussion should prove to be quite lively. There will be tasty goodies to enjoy after each gathering, and stories to exchange. A small donation is asked to contribute to our use of the Fellowship. And you're welcome to join a small group at a local diner afterward to continue the camaraderie!