• Sunday, October 26  Samhain –Beyond the Veil
  Speakers: Lady Vanessa and Ron Zorn
• RE (Religious Exploration) – Director of RE Contact Loren
  Adults 9:15, 10:00 or both! 10am Click here for opportunities

Auction wrap-up
Drum roll please……..our total from the online, silent and live auctions, + final sale last Sunday, netted First U $10,623!! All left-over items were taken to go into the next Really Really Free Market. Everyone should have received an itemized list of what they won. If you haven’t received your items or your list, please contact the office.

The Big Blue Basket
Have you noticed the big blue basket on the raised platform at church?  That basket is for collecting donations of non-perishable food for CLCM’s affiliate food pantry next door at Calvary Episcopal Church.  Food insecurity in our neighborhood is growing due to the funding cuts to the SNAP program, to Medicaid, and to USDA food. It’s also worsened by the government shutdown. As you do your shopping this week, please consider picking up a few extra shelf-stable items and bringing them any/every Sunday. Items especially needed are peanut butter, pasta and sauce, canned meat/fish, soups, breakfast cereal….but all items are gratefully accepted. Let’s fill that Big Blue Basket.

The Great Turkey Giveaway
Each November, Central Louisville Community Ministries gives away 300 turkeys and hams to our downtown neighbors so that they can enjoy a holiday meal.  We’re looking for donations to help make this happen this year too. You can sponsor a turkey for $25 by mailing a check to 809 S 4th St, Lou KY 40203 or by donating online to CLCM. You can also donate those items that complete a holiday meal: canned veggies, bags of stuffing mix, etc. The food pantry at 821 S 4th St can accept your food donations on Monday, Tuesday and Thursdays between 9:30am-noon.

Women’s Alliance to Provide Grants
Women’s Alliance is accepting applications for grants. The grants will be for $250 to $500 and are intended to assist organizations that benefit women and families. Internal grant applications for projects within First Unitarian will also be accepted. Applications must be received by November 30 and the grants will be awarded in early 2026. The grant application may be downloaded thru WA grant application.docx.  A completed copy of the application should be forwarded to the office no later than November 30, 2025.

First U Auction – We Did It!  (Payment Details and Second Looks!)
The auction was a big success, thanks to everyone who donated items, worked behind the scenes, and stayed to participate!  If you haven’t paid yet, please go to the church’s payment page here.  Or, bring a check with you on Sunday to pay.

• Some items remain unsold and will be available to browse and purchase on Sunday.

• If you made a purchase last week, but didn’t take it home – look for those items in the back of the social hall!

We Have a Very Good Problem in Children’s Religious Exploration!
We are bursting at the seams!
We have so many new wonderful little ones joining us every week that we really need help in the classroom to keep everyone safe. There are two classrooms: The Raccoon Room age 4-7, The Fox Den: grade 3 & up. We have a quickly growing population in the Raccoon Room with many 4 year olds, help is needed there especially.
Assistants do not have to plan anything, just sign up and show up that Sunday about 20 minutes early to get the plan. Parents are always welcomed to assist, but parents also really need some time to worship alone, so non-parents are encouraged to step up! Please! It’s a great way to get to know our little ones. And it really is a lot of fun.
Here is the sign-up sheet. Find a Sunday and sign up now! Thank you!!

New: Should First U be a Green Sanctuary? 
The new Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice, offered through the UUA, is a flexible program to support UUs in transforming their congregations through climate justice.
Should First U work towards becoming designated a Green Sanctuary? Should we choose to become a Green Sanctuary 2030, it would require whole congregational engagement. Although that might sound like a heavy pull, much of what is required is already going on in our church, from cloth napkins to solar panels to our church’s involvement with CLOUT, and much more. We would continue to learn about environmental justice issues, collaborate with community partners, advocate for meaningful actions, and take actions in our own homes, our church, our neighborhood, nation and world.

The Seventh Principle Team is willing and able to lead the congregation, YOU, in becoming a Green Sanctuary, but do you see the value in it? Stay tuned to further articles to learn more about Green Sanctuary 2030.  Send a thumbs up or thumbs down and/or ask questions, make comments, or find out how to get involved in planning by writing to the office. You can read further about the Green Sanctuary program of the UUA here.

First U Book Club: November 10
A reminder that there is no book club meeting in October; we will resume meeting on November 10 when we’ll discuss the very timely book  Autocracy, Inc. by Anne Applebaum.

Religious Book Collection
Phil Young’s granddaughter has contacted the office. Her grandfather was a member of First U before he passed two years ago. She has possession of his  large collection of new and lightly used books, almost all pertaining to the study of various religions. She is offering them before disposing of them. There are probably close to 300 books of various sizes. She is willing to help deliver. Contact the office for her information.

Social Justice: There’s a wide range of areas where you can connect, help, support or join in – long or short term or even just once! It might be donating something, attending a meeting or protest, volunteering in many ways, or learning more. Scroll on past information about upcoming Sunday services to check it out.

Perhaps the most revered holiday in the Pagan calendar is Samhain
(sau-ihn), in which we honor those who have gone before us, celebrate the end of harvest, and usher in the darker half of the year. In this service, Lady Vanessa and Ron Zorn, along with members of the Pagan and First Unitarian communities, facilitate an all ages service that highlights our 6th source of spiritual teachings/earth-centered traditions.

Children are welcome to attend the service and remain. There won’t be a dismissal from the service.

About the Speakers
Lady Vanessa is a High Priestess of the Wica in Louisville, KY where she’s been active since 1981. Transformative and earth-centered practices are the focus of her spell work, tarot readings, rituals, and teachings. As an advocate for Pagan paths, Lady Vanessa has appeared on local media, but more often facilitates public rituals and classes through CUUPs at First Unitarian Church, Louisville Pagan Roots Festival (FKA Louisville Pagan Pride), and Clifton Unitarian Universalist Church. In addition to being a Unitarian Universalist Church member, she has a M.A.T. and holds ministerial credentials of public record through the New Wiccan Church. For fun, goodwill outreach, and charity, Lady Vanessa regularly dances with Bluegrass Black Hats.

Ron Zorn is a long-time member of First Unitarian Universalist Church and a Co-Facilitator of the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (CUUPS) here at First U. He is also the Treasurer and Co -Chair of the National CUUPS organization on their Board of Directors. He follows an Earth-Centered Spiritual path and enjoys collecting books on a variety of religious paths that are outside of the Abrahamic faiths.

For the zoom link, Click here. The Meeting ID is 4508929882 if you can’t attend in person.  You will not need a password. Contact the volunteer desk if you have trouble getting online.

Bring a photo or memento to place on the altar of remembrance that we will build together. Come find solace for your grief, whether new or old, and gratitude for the life we share.

New: Opportunity to Help in Afterschool Program for Immigrant Children
La Escuelita Learning Hub, located in Beechmont Presbyterian Church (417 W. Ashland Ave. 40214), runs an afterschool program for children between ages 5-16. They provide help with reading comprehension, gym time, and serve dinner before the children go home. The program runs Mondays-Thursdays from 3pm to 7pm and they are in need of volunteers. A 2-hour training is provided and they ask that volunteers be willing to participate at least one day per week. Jobs include choices of reading with children, watching over the kids in the gym, watching over the kids while they have their snack when they first arrive, waiting outside for school buses to drop off kids, and helping where needed. There’s no such thing as too old, and volunteers as young as 16 are accepted. Contact Program Assistant, Yai Malave at the La Escuelita Learning Hub by calling 502-797-3298 or email.

Strong Paper and Plastic Bags Needed for the Food Pantry
The food pantry volunteers pack bags and bags of groceries to be given out every week and need a lot of bags. If you shop at a store that uses paper bags, could you double-bag and grab a few extra bags and forward them to the food pantry? If you do food pick up or delivery, those strong plastic bags are also needed. As always, we need and appreciate the non-perishable food items donated every week. Place them in the blue basket. As cuts are made to safety nets, the need for food is growing.

Guns to Gardens Event Sunday, November 9 (2:00-4:00pm)
at Lynnhurst United Church of Christ; 4401 Taylor Blve. 40215 Click here for more information and a flyer.

Central Louisville Community Ministries: Bikes for Kids
Got kid bikes?  Cochran Elementary and Pedal Power are joining forces in a Bikes for Kids Christmas Drive.  They have a goal to collect 150 bikes for elementary-age children (age 5-11).  Do you have any no-longer used bikes for these children? Your donations can be dropped off at Cochran (500 W Gaulbert Ave) or at Pedal Power (4100 Shelbyville Rd – drop outside the garage). Pedal Power will refurbish the bikes and make them available in time for the holidays to the families who have children attending Cochran.

La Casita News: La Casita Center works intentionally to build a thriving community based on mutual support and respect built on the vision of connecting people through solidarity, to be one community. Priority needs; ways to give; jobs, internships, and volunteer opportunities.

Children’s RE    contact Loren
Children’s RE begins in the sanctuary at 11:00 with the Moment for Ages. They leave during the Song for the Children.

• Click here for Fall Children’s Classes and Registration Forms. Registration information is required for each child, including those in the nursery.

The Nursery will be open for babies and pre-k  from 9:30am-12:15pm on Sundays.

Adult (RE) Adult Religious Exploration – contact Jim H

• All are Welcome: Members, friends, visitors, curious people, and people lost in the building are all welcome.
• Attend the earlier session at 9:15, the later one at 9:45 or both!

Adult Sunday Schedule
The Anti-Racism Challenge (ARC) The ARC is sponsored by Listen. Learn. Act.
Register here to get the e-mail information about ARC activities on Fridays  in October. We will explore ways we can lean into anti-racist practices and thinking collectively…and we will also come together to process together our individual efforts and explorations. We’ll poke at the racism all around us, from food deserts to incarceration and beyond. You can subscribe to the four weekly ARC e-mails via Listen. Learn. Act. If you have suggestions for our own First U ARC activities, share them with Alexis, Jim and Matt.

• 9:15 – 9:45 – Anti-Racism Potluck – It’s not a potluck, as in food, but each week, we will tackle one of the items on the Anti-Racism Challenge and do it collaboratively. (There’s no telling what it will be until you walk in the door, but it will be something from the weekly ARC e-mails.) Register for topics and activities.
• 9:45 – 10:00 – Checking-In – As always, we’ll have our check-ins to catch up with one another
• 10:00 – 10:45 – Our Regular Sunday Session – We’ll have something prepared – and for this month it will be topics that tie back to the Anti-Racism Challenge.

The weekly topics at 10am (Don’t forget to register!)

• October 26 – Environmental Justice and the Right to Clean Water
  Climate change responses are inextricably tied to racialized injustice. Access to clean water is inextricably tied to racialized injustice. The environment has been exploited and mistreated much like we’ve treated Black people – and it typically comes at the greatest expense and detriment to Black people. Environmental engineer Alexis McFadden will be sounding the alarm and spelling out the anti-racist dimensions of fighting for a clean environment.

Children’s RE  Contact Loren  
Children’s RE begins in the sanctuary at 11:00 with the Moment for Ages. They leave during the Song for the Children. This Week: The children will remain in the service.

• The Nursery: Tadpoles will be open for babies and pre-k  from 9:30am-12:15pm on Sundays.
• The Raccoon Room: Pre-K – Grade 2. Room 212. Teacher: Ms. Loren & guest teachers will begin in the sanctuary with their families and then head upstairs with their teacher after the Moment for All Ages. Class ends at noon, parents will come up and get their children following the service.
• The Fox Hole: Grades 3 and up Room 202. Ms. Christina & guest teachers will begin in the sanctuary with their families and then head upstairs with their teacher after the Moment for All Ages. Class ends at noon, parents will come up and get their children following the service.
• Youth Group: Grades 5 and Up We hope to meet on a regular basis at the church and around town.

Please complete a registration form for each child, including those in the nursery. Contact Loren to get an online link or see the Midweek Update.