Sunday, January 31^st was the kick-off of our annual Stewardship Campaign. By now you should have received your brochures and pledge cards. Please let me know if you did not receive one. The Stewardship Campaign will go until the last Sunday of February, time for you to decide what you will be able to give. As soon as you have made up your mind, please bring your pledge card to the church and put it into the offering, or mail it to the office.

Our offering on Love Sunday, February 14, will be dedicated to Indy PFLAG. Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians & Gays, is a national non-profit organization with over 200,000 members in the United States, including a local chapter in Muncie. The people of this organization celebrate diversity and envision a society that embraces everyone, especially including those of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. PFLAG provides: 1) support, to cope with an adverse society; 2) education, to enlighten an ill-informed public; and 3) advocacy, to end discrimination and to secure equal civil rights. Like our UU Church, PFLAG asserts "Only with respect, dignity and equality for all will we reach our full potential as human beings, individually and collectively." The Indy PFLAG has a special need to advocate against the current anti-gay legislation coming before the Indiana congress. For more information about PFLAG visit the Indy PFLAG web site.

In the wake of devastation wrought by the earthquake which struck the island of Haiti on January 12, 2010, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) and the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) are launching a joint relief effort to bring aid to the impoverished island nation.

The Haitian Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA) estimates 2.2 million people are immediately affected in this nation of 9 million people.

Click here to make a contribution at the UUSC website.

More information on UUSC/UUA relief efforts can be found at this link.

According to the UUSC: "UUSC's disaster response in Haiti will focus on those survivors less likely to have access to aid, such as child domestic workers (restaviks), women-headed households that work in the informal sector, and people living with HIV/AIDS. Haiti has a vibrant grassroots movement with a vision of empowering people. UUSC will work closely with partners in this grassroots movement to reach those survivors at greatest risk of being overlooked. As of this afternoon (January13) we've already connected with three organizations and will be reaching out to others over the next 24 hours in order to shape our response."

Follow ongoing news about UU relief efforts at uua.org and uusc.org.

Locally, the Haitian priest, Father Andre, who had been serving at St. Francis in Muncie, is in Florida and thus was not in Haiti when the earthquake hit. That congregation is taking a Second Collection that will go to Catholic Relief Services.

Foresters manage and protect forest lands. It is an ancient job. In medieval times they would be paid well to protect and preserve a Lord’s forests. Modern Foresters serve governments and corporations, using satellite imagery, soil testing and other modern tools to assess the health of wooded areas and work to sustainably develop them. The forester does not make trees grow but facilitates their growth and helps them repel beetle attacks. Foresters also design reforestation projects, manage how people play or work in the woods, negotiate with the community about the use of forest lands, and they often supervise the work of rangers, trail crews, and even loggers and fire-fighters.