Dear Families and Congregants,

I am happy to report on recent successful endeavors in RE that UUFS folks will be able to participate in again this month. On a lovely Tuesday evening in June, Cora and Julianna Walker, their mom Clara, and myself, along with another local parent and his son, lent a hand in support of food security at Sunnyvale Community Services. SCS holds a monthly family volunteer night where participants learn more about their neighbors and take on a task that helps address needs in the community. On this occasion, we sorted packaged foods and restocked the shelves where SCS clients make their selections. The kids are clamoring for more such opportunities. Mark your calendars for Tuesday, August 13, 6:00-8:00 p.m. to pitch. For more togetherness beyond our walls, try the next area-UU park meetup on Saturday, August 17, 9:30-11:30 a.m. at Fremont’s Central Park. The first such event was a hit! Twenty folks from Mission Peak UU Church and UUFS communed over multigenerational lawn sports and cool refreshments at our inaugural meetup in July. This month there’ll be coffee and baked goods and more time with new and old friends.

I would also like to tell you about the successful first session of the UUFS-sponsored Our Whole Lives sexuality education program. Like the volunteer nights and park meetups, this collaboration with the UU Fellowship of Los Gatos promotes intercongregational connections and community outreach–and there’s another opportunity to participate beginning this month.  In the initial session, which wrapped up in May, first and second graders from Sunnyvale and San Jose explored such topics as body positivity, gender, personal boundaries, family variety, pregnancy, birth, and babies with two trained facilitators, myself and a volunteer from UUFLG. Thanks go to Corinne Blankenship and Rev Johnnie for helping to administer this first session of the new OWL program, along with their two counterparts at UUFLG. I am thrilled to announce that the next collaborative OWL session is scheduled to begin September 8. This one is designed for 4th and 5th graders and is again open to UUs as well as community members, so spread the word. On August 25, there will be a parent information meeting. Feel free to contact me about registering a rising 4th or 5th grader or about volunteering to help with this growing program in the future.

Summer isn’t even over and we are already blessed with a bumper crop of enriching experiences, and we can look forward to many more.