News at Manatee Unitarian
That’s right, we have a brand-new Instagram account
that we are filling up fast with photos from our latest activities. If you have an Instagram account of your own for sharing pictures with your friends and family, you can now follow us at manateeuuf and check out our latest doings — and ‘like’ and comment on our photos. And tell your friends and family, too!
No Instagram account? No problem.
You can see our latest photos right here on our website. Click HERE or go to ‘News’ and scroll down to ‘Live Instagram Feed.’
Who knows? You may see yourself there already!
ANNOUNCEMENTS
AND REPORTS FOR MARCH/APRIL 2025
COMING UP THIS WEEK:
March 23-29
Sunday, March 23:
•Service at 10:30 a.m. in person and on Zoom. Sign up on this website for Zoom link. This week, Nels Gullerud and Walter Hodgdon present a service titled “The Power of Gratitude in Uncertain Times.”
•Special Collection for ALSO Youth, empowering LGBTQ+ youth and their allies and creating inclusive communities, concludes today. ALSO’s executive director, Mel Gosselin, will address the congregation. Please make checks payable to ALSO Youth and bring or mail to Manatee UU Fellowship, 322 15th St. W, Bradenton, FL 34205.
•Friendly City Pride 2025 is today from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Oscura, 816 Manatee Ave. East, Bradenton. Please stop by our table and say hello!
•Reminder: Committee budget requests are due to the office by the end of the day.
Tuesday, March 25:
•Connections: A Sharing Hour has its weekly meeting at 11:00 a.m. Facilitated by Alia Starkweather. All are welcome.
•Joyful Song meets every Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. Is there a song in your heart? Come and sing with us!
Thursday, March 27:
•Joyful Jammers meets from 10 a.m. to noon each week. Anyone who plays an instrument or sings is welcome to join in the fun. Contact: Peggy Dickson.
•Chair Yoga meets at 6 p.m. each week.
COMING SOON
March 30: Special Sunday service recognizing Transgender Day of Visibility.
ONGOING
Menstrual Supplies Drive: We’ve begun collecting these for Kim’s Krew clients. See wicker hamper near fireplace in Social Room. A sign lists what is needed. Gift cards and cash welcome; please deposit in little black container there. Thank you!
NOTE: All events are in person at the fellowship unless otherwise indicated.
Schedule updated March 22, 2025.
READ ABOUT OUR NEWEST GROUPS
Caregiver Peer Support Group
“Being a caregiver requires infinite patience, physical and emotional strength, health care navigation skills, and a sense of humor — which can be hard to come by after sleepless nights and demanding days.” — Rosalynn Carter
The Caregiver Support Group is for members of the Fellowship who are currently caregivers at any stage of the journey and who, in a safe nonjudgmental space, benefit from each other’s acceptance and recognition for their common concerns and are grateful for the wisdom, insight and humor of their fellow caregivers.
The gatherings take place at our building on the third Saturday of every month from 10:30 a.m. until noon. The size of the group is limited to 10.
If you are interested in joining, please contact Katherine Knowles.
Connections
Connections, a sharing hour, is a chance for Fellowship members and friends to share with and support each other in a safe and welcoming environment. The group meets at the fellowship every Tuesday from 11 a.m. to noon. Contact facilitator Alia Starkweather for more information.
Joyful Song
Joyful Song is a restored singing group for anyone who loves to sing or just to listen. Facilitator Alia Starkweather says nearly everyone can sing (whatever you were told long ago.) Singing is healing for your body, mind, and spirit. Please join us. [NOTE: If this time is not good for you, please let us know and we will consider meeting at a different day or time.]
Chair Yoga
Chair Yoga meets each week at our building Thursdays from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Emphasis will be placed on asana (exercise), pranayama (breath), and mindfulness to strengthen balance, flexibility and body. Member Patricia Hurd leads the class. She has been teaching yoga for 9 years and is a certified instructor through Yoga Alliance. There is no charge to participate. A chair is waiting for you!
SOCIAL EVENTS FIRST WEDNESDAY, THIRD FRIDAY OF EACH MONTH
Join us for our ‘happy hour’ at Pier 22 (1200 1st Ave. W, Bradenton) on Wednesday, March 5 at 4:30 p.m. Everyone is welcome to join this informal gathering featuring friendship, food, drink , and conversation. Go to pier22.com for directions and menu information. Our Pier 22 outing is held the first Wednesday of each month.
Our next Share a Dish potluck is Friday, March 21, at 6 p.m. at our building. Bring a dish to share — like the name says! — and join us for food, fellowship and fun. Share a Dish is held on the third Friday of each month. Some months a special speaker or program is presented. This month, pianist Shirley Loebel will offer a selection of St. Patrick’s Day music.
Please check back here each month for the latest details and updates. And please join us for these monthly social events — and more!
SPECIAL COLLECTION FOR MARCH:
ALSO YOUTH
Our Special Collection for March will benefit ALSO Youth.
ALSO Youth was created in 1992 by individuals who were alarmed at the statistics documenting high rates of suicide among gay and lesbian teens. In cooperation with other local organizations, volunteers were recruited to conduct a support group for Sarasota area youth. Upon realizing that more comprehensive services were needed throughout the community, ALSO’s founders initiated contact with school officials and implemented a training program for educators. The types of services and numbers of youth and community members served have steadily increased.
Today, ALSO Youth is a nonprofit organization providing peer support services, community enrichment, scholarships, free counseling, and so much more for LGBTQ+ youth ages 10 to 24, their families and friends, and the community throughout Sarasota and Manatee counties.
This Special Collection begins Sunday, March 9, and runs through Sunday, March 23. Please make checks payable to “ALSO Youth” and bring to a service or mail to: Manatee UU Fellowship, 322 15th St. West, Bradenton, FL 34205.
Thank you for your help in supporting the work of this important organization. Go to ALSOYouth.org for more information.
THIS IS THE WAY WE KNIT ‘N CHAT
Knit ‘n Chat continues to meet at 10 a.m. the first and third Tuesdays of each month. A small group of knitters and crocheters are working on a project to offer for the annual fellowship Auction. It will be wonderful — so keep your eyes open for what is coming! Our two shipments of 27 colorful scarves were sent to Women Knitting for Peace — these go with volunteer dentists around the world to distribute in clinics, encouraging people to come for dental services.
We enjoy spending our 2nd hour with the Connections gro which meets at 11 a.m. — as part of our mission to ‘knit’/connect with needs of our Fellowship and community. We are looking forward to cooler temperatures and meeting once again on our back deck with the sheltering umbrellas. All are welcome and encouraged to join us … no craft skills needed. There is always time and pleasure in our Chatting.
— Carol Alt
OUR TINY LIBRARY IS ONE YEAR OLD!
It was a year ago this month we dedicated our Tiny Library. Since then, we have given away over 300 books focused on Diversity, Equality, Inclusion, and UU Values, as well as banned books. We also included books in other languages that are spoken in our neighborhood. In the political atmosphere we are living in, it’s a way we can stand up to the censorship and be a voice for the marginalized. Our Tiny Library has been embraced in other ways by our community. I often find books that have been placed in the cabinet. I remove them and review them for content and condition and usually put our bookplate and bookmark in them, catalog them, and put them back out to be circulated to the public.
The Warmington Freedom Tiny Library should be a source of pride for our community. It’s funded by a special account set up by the late Carl Warmington in honor of his wife Ruth. I belong to a Tiny Library Facebook group and I read complaints that no books are being taken, all the books being taken, and even vandalism. So far none of that has happened to us. Our cabinet has recently weathered 3 hurricanes thanks to the sturdy construction from our former custodian Bernie Salzinger and it has a motion sensor light inside installed by Denise Solomon our office assistant and custodian. It was decorated by Chris MacCormack who painted the books on the side. I’m excited about how successful our Tiny Library is.
Donations of books are welcome from the membership if you’d like to support the cause. Planned enhancements are; a bench next to it and a literature tube that we can put a brochure about our Fellowship in it for the public to take to learn about us. The Tiny Library is an outreach to the neighborhood, a symbol of our principles, and a way we can try to make a difference by spreading a message.
— Becky Smith
ABOUT THE PROGRESS PRIDE FLAG
The original pride flag was created in the 1970s by gay activist Gilbert Baker, friend of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California. Baker used eight colors and corresponding meanings: hot pink for sexuality, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for the sun, green for nature, turquoise for art, indigo for harmony, and violet for spirit.
The new Progress Pride Flag includes new colors and a new design that are meant to represent people of color, as well as people who are transgender, intersex, or nonbinary.
The colors black and brown were added to the Progress Pride Flag to represent unrepresented black and brown people.
With the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, culture at large began to shift in a much-needed way towards acknowledging the vital roles that people of color have had in our society. The pride movement background is one of many areas where people of color did not receive the recognition they deserved historically. Adding colors to represent them on the flag is one way to change that.
The word “progress” in the new flag isn’t only about adding the new colors to it. It’s also because of the shape, which differs from the original design of horizontal stripes only. The Progress Pride Flag shows the white, pink, baby blue, black, and brown stripes in a triangle shape, with the old six-color rainbow stacked next to them.
The color placement and new shape was done intentionally to convey the separation in meaning and shift focus to how important the issues represented on the left are.
The placement of the new colors in an arrow shape is meant to convey the progress still needed.
— Mariano Vera
[As a Welcoming Congregation accredited by the Unitarian Universalist Association, Manatee UU Fellowship flies the Progress Pride Flag in front of our building each Sunday morning. It also appears on our permanent building sign.]
RENEWING OUR LEGACY CIRCLE
Anyone can join our Legacy Circle and make meaningful gifts to Manatee Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in their will. Regardless of the amount, your bequest is a statement of faith that our UU movement and our voices for compassionate justice, democracy, and religious freedom are heard long after we are gone. When you demonstrate that you care enough about this fellowship to support its future, others will follow your generous example.
No matter what your age, you can designate Manatee UU Fellowship as the beneficiary of all or a percentage of your IRA and it will pass to us tax-free after your lifetime. It’s simple, just requiring that you contact your IRA administrator for a change-of-beneficiary form or download a form from your provider’s website.
Join the Legacy Circle at our fellowship by stating your gift plan on your personal intentions form available in our office. Your name(s) will be placed on the Legacy Circle plaque in the sanctuary. Because most popular retirement plan administrators assume no obligation to notify charities of their client’s designations, the intentions form is an important document to us and will be held in a confidential file.
SOMETHING FOR OUR SANCTUARY
This beautiful banner, made by fellowship member Klara Weis, was carried by her during the banner parade at the UU General Assembly in Pittsburgh, Pa., in June 2023. It currently hangs in front of the media booth in our sanctuary.
Thank you, Klara!
A GIFT FOR US ALL
For our 2021 auction, Peg Green offered to create a flaming chalice fabric wall hanging “to hang in your home or give as a gift.” The winner would get to choose the flaming chalice design and color scheme. and then Peg would create the piece.
During the live auction held in February 2021, Bill Hayes kept raising his bid and finally outbid everyone. Over that summer he generously gifted the lovely quilt to our fellowship. It is bold and beautiful, and can be seen in our Sanctuary on Zoom as well as in-person during our Sunday services.
Peg’s artwork can be viewed on her website www.peacepeg.com and one of her works is on the cover of the UUA Pocket Guide for new members.
Thank you, Peg and Bill, for being so generous!
Reverend Fred L Hammond
FRED’S FLAVORINGS
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Becky-Smith
Unitarian Universalist Association
