Doolittle Home Benefit Auction - Update!

The auction will be shown live on Foxborough's Cable Access TV Channel 8 and on-line at FCATV-8 on February 28, 2009. Foxborough residents with cable TV or internet access and out of town residents with internet access can now watch! Please donate something or your time if you are able. Bid early, bid often! This year's proceeds will go towards the purchase of a new adjustable examination table which will make many exams more comfortable and safer for residents.

February 2009 Newsletter Highlights

Calling All Musicians And Singers
We are looking for musicians and singers of any type to enhance and add variety to our Sunday services. If anyone in the congregation has any musical talents they would like to share, or knows of any musicians who would like to volunteer to share their music with us, please let Katie or a trustee know. Any type of instrument will be considered - piano, guitar, flute, and anything else. We are also looking for people interested in joining or leading the choir. Please help give our services an uplifting beat!

Doolittle Home Benefit Auction
The sixth annual auction is scheduled for February 28, 2009. The auction will be cablecast live on FCATV 8 from 1 to 5+ p.m. Donations are being solicited from anyone, so if any of our Unitarian Universalists want to, please call the Doolittle Home at 508-543-2694 to donate something. The auction will only be shown to Foxborough residents with cable TV, but there will be a way to bid on items in some other manner. Please donate something and/or your time if you are able.

Third Annual UU Lobby Day
Save the date for the Third Annual UU Lobby Day! It will take place, on Wednesday, April 1, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., beginning at the UUA office at 25 Beacon Street in Boston. Learn about the key issues facing Massachusetts this year and help UUs make a difference on these issues including "Poverty" and "Global Warming". Connect with UUs from around Massachusetts and learn how to be a more effective advocate for issues important to you! More information will be available in February and through www.uumassaction.org. Please e-mail Nancy Banks at uumassactionnetwork@verizon.net to register or call 978-264-4961.

New England Music Conference
The annual Ballou Channing District (BCD) sponsored New England Music Conference will be held on March 7, at Murray Unitarian Universalist Church in Attleboro. The conference is for music directors, choir members, worship and music committee members, ministers, religious education directors, and all individuals interested in music in their church. There will be presentations, classes, and the popular choral repertoire "sing-through." Please visit www.murrayuuchurch.org, www.bcduua.org, or the church bulletin boards for more details.

Milestones
Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Blackwell, Adlai Ewing Stevenson, II, Pauline Agassiz Shaw, Charles Darwin, Lydia Estes Pinkham, Peter Cooper, Sallie Holley, Carroll Leander Coburn, Laura E. Howe Richard, & Linus Carl Pauling.

News From Advocacy & Witness
The National Prayer Service held during Inauguration Week was followed by a "Coffee and Conversation" between UUs, President Sinkford, and UUA Washington staff on Wednesday. You can find coverage of some of the week’s events and more on uua.org and the Advocacy & Witness staff blog - “Inspired Faith, Effective Action” - at uuasocialjustice.blogspot.com.

UUA Releases New Study Guide For "Milk”
“Milk”, Gus Van Sant's filmed biography of the later years in the life of Harvey Milk, a great leader of the 1970s Gay and Lesbian movement and the first openly gay politician in the United States, has recently been released. Given the film's important historical content and the passage of Proposition 8 in California in the last election cycle, as well as the UUA's longstanding commitment in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights, a discussion guide for UUs and UU congregations was prepared to support faithful congregational conversations on the subject of equality for all people and related topics. This discussion guide includes a list of resources and steps for taking action, and was prepared by Rev. Mark Belletini, Senior Minister of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbus, Ohio. Rev. Belletini has taught worship and celebration, Unitarian Universalist history, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender studies, and the Gospels from a Unitarian Universalist perspective. Find out more about the new study guide and access versions in MS-Word and PDF via www.uua.org/leaders/leaderslibrary/leaderslibrary/125446.shtml .

February’s Action Of The Month
“Speak Up for Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Equality” is the theme for February’s ‘Action Of The Month’. Participating in the ‘Action Of The Month’ can be as simple as: having a conversation with your friends and neighbors; writing your legislators to advocate for LGBT Equality; blogging or posting videos or comments to blogs, forums, social networking web-sites, and bulletin boards; hosting an event such as a lunch with clergy members; or writinge a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Choose the action that works best for you and our congregation. More information is available via www.uua.org/socialjustice/.

BCD And UUA Events
* Feb. 2: (7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.) Green Sanctuary Conference Call - “Developing Environmental Justice Projects”. Please visit www.uumassaction.org/GreenSanctuaryConferenceCalls for details.
* Feb. 4: (7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.) “Tools For Intergenerational Social Action” conference call. More information is available through www.uumassaction.org.
* Feb. 7: (5:00 p.m.) "Contra Dance and Soup Supper" at Unitarian Memorial Church in Fairhaven. For more information, visit www.uufairhaven.org or call 508-992-7081.
* Feb. 8: (3:00 p.m.) Installation of Rev. James Ford at First Unitarian Church of Providence.
* Feb. 8: (7:00 p.m.) "Community Drum Circle" at Unitarian Memorial Church in Fairhaven. For more information, visit drumfish.bravehost.com.
* Feb. 23: (6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.) Anti-Racism Workshop And Discussion preceded by a potluck dinner at First Parish Bridgewater.
* Please visit www.bcduua.org, BCD In-Brief, BCD and UUA e-mail lists, past newsletters, www.uufoxborough.org, and the bulletin boards in the vestibule for more event listings and additional details.

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