Month: June 2021 (Page 1 of 2)

Foothills Honored with COVID 19 Health Care Heroes Ally Award

June 29, 2021 /

We are so honored to have received BizWest’s COVID-19 Health Care Ally Award! Hearing the other honorees speak about their work at the awards ceremony (see the video below – Foothills is honored at the 17:08 time mark!) was truly inspiring. We would especially like to congratulate Foothills member Joel Bitler for receiving the Health Care Heroes Award for his work as a frontline nurse during the pandemic! We are deeply grateful for the chance the award ceremony gave us all to take a collective breath and recognize all the work it’s taken to come through this year. 

The pandemic was a traumatic experience that we have gone through – and it’s still not entirely over. We have been through so much this year, and it’s going to take a long time to sort out everything that’s happened and apply the many lessons we’ve learned. So, we hope we can keep taking the time to tell our stories and to witness the pain, exhaustion, and courage of those who have carried so much during this time. 

We appreciate being recognized as a whole church community since, perhaps ironically, in this time, we have felt a great sense of community and collaboration, with more people actively serving and helping each other than ever before. We count over 300 leaders who gave their time and care to be there for our neighbors both within and beyond our congregation.

While we recognized we were all experiencing this trauma, we also saw how it was not impacting us all equally. We drew on our long history of commitment to justice to leverage our resources for greater equity. We worked with ISAAC to receive and distribute over half a million dollars in grants to support immigrants impacted by COVID. We adjusted our Food Bank to be a drive-thru to better serve our Fort Collins community during a time of increasing economic struggle. And we established a new partnership (and fiscal sponsorship) with the emerging organization, The BIPOC Alliance. The BIPOC Alliance, founded by community leaders Johanna Ulloa and Andrew Naves in response to the murder of George Floyd in June 2020, seeks to address racial equity in Northern Colorado.  

All of this work culminated in early 2021 as vaccines began to be available. In our church community, we saw how hard it was to access vaccines and how confusing it was to sign up for appointments. We imagined that this would be even more true in communities with more people of color, less access to health care, and for those who were not retired and whose first language was something other than English. 

We reached out to our partners – The BIPOC Alliance, ISAAC, and also Fuerza Latina, La Cocina, and The Family Center – and worked with them to establish a new alliance with their leadership and expertise at the center. We secured initial funding for their work and raised the profile of their role as leaders in public health. We hope that this alliance and its work in vaccine equity will have lasting effects on public health long past the pandemic.

We are grateful to be able to serve our Northern Colorado community in the ways we have over this pandemic, as it represents so well our mission to unleash courageous love. We want to acknowledge the work of the Salud Clinic – especially Foothills members Courtney Butnor, Leah Schulz, and Doug Whitman – for their partnership and leadership in health throughout this time.  

Thank you, BizWest, for this recognition! We look forward to continuing to work together in our community’s ongoing recovery, committing ourselves to serving those who are the most vulnerable, and to transforming systems towards greater equity and justice. 

Leaning Into Transitions: Foothills Staff Retreat

June 25, 2021 /

This past week was the first in over a year that offered multiple opportunities for us to come together in person. IT WAS AMAZING! Many of you joined us in beautifying the church grounds through the Many Hands Project, a large group gathered to connect and support local restaurants at the FoCo Food Truck Rally for Friends Night IRL, and Foothills’ Earth Based Path hosted a Summer Solstice Ritual.

Summer Solstice, which officially took place on Sunday the 20th, marks the longest day of the year and the start of Summer. Turning of the seasons offers an opportunity to pause, digest the previous season, and transition with intention. Our staff took time to do just that on Monday at an all-day retreat focused on navigating the year ahead. It was the first time our whole staff had the opportunity to be together IRL, and we spent the entire day together building our trust and exploring the congregation’s vision for the future – and our part in it.

We discussed what pre-pandemic church was like and what pandemic church was like. (This was especially meaningful for the three staff members who joined us mid-pandemic.) We explored ways of having conversations that help us connect regularly with our mission of unleashing courageous love and reviewed key upcoming events:

July 18: Open House at the church with the ministers
August 21: Summer Picnic at Rolland Moore Park
September 19: Water Communion, outside at church
September 25: Annual Auction

Stay up-to-date with our plans for reopening at foothillsuu.org/reopening!

We even made some awesome marshmallow towers!

Perhaps, most importantly, though, we acknowledged that this year will be an in-between year. In large part because we are about to break ground on our new building, but also because we are collectively transitioning out of the height of the pandemic and all that came with it.

As a staff, we recognized that where we are headed isn’t where we were pre-pandemic, nor is it where we’ve been during the pandemic. It’s not even a neat blending of the two. Rather, it’s a new place that reflects an integrated understanding of how to be the church now. It’s an emergent process of deep reflection, listening, and integrating the lessons of the past year.

Just as you may still be metabolizing the past year and trying to determine what your life looks like post-pandemic, so too we, collectively as a church, need to lean into a process of discernment in the midst of transition. It might be easier (at least at first) to just try and rush back to where we were, but that wouldn’t allow for the profound opportunity for growth that is a gift in the struggle and stress of the pandemic. We have an opportunity now to re-anchor in our deepest purpose. But that takes time, and it takes trust – trust that if we make space for discernment and deep listening, we can allow this time of transition to be powerfully grounding as we move forward into the future.
 
So we invite you to pause for a moment and take a deep breath. You don’t have to have it all figured out right away. Join us on this journey of embracing the transition – the in-between time – because life won’t be like it was before the pandemic, nor will it be exactly what we expect after. 
 
The future is emerging, and we can either fear that uncertainty or lean into it and allow it to help us grow. It’s scary to exist in the in-between space. But in staying uncomfortable and in embracing the transition, we open ourselves up to profound growth that can lead to a life and community that better serves our deepest needs, not just our preference for normalcy. So let’s lean in together and step forward with open hearts and minds. Whether we’re journeying as a church into what our community looks like over the next year or identifying what our personal or family life is like – we’re in this together every step of the way.

In partnership,

Rev. Gretchen

Ways to “Beat the Heat”

June 24, 2021 /

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]A few suggestions for ways to “beat the heat”:

  • An ice cold towel/washcloth etc. around your neck. And TONS of H2O.
  • Bike early in the day do you feel a cool 😎 breeze!!
  • Cold soup and sliced melon. Though acupuncturists recommend hot tea. Counter intuitive but it does work. There is a biological explanation that I don’t remember.
  • Soak yourself completely then do whatever it is.
  • Drink iced tea.
  • Get up at 4 am. The cool morning is wonderful.
  • Hang is the basement if at all possible 😀
  • Head to the mountains if you can!
  • I am lucky enough to have a pool at my apartment complex!
  • I have been getting up at 3am to start my day. Then a nice mid-afternoon nap when it is too hot to do anything anyway.  I also open all the windows at night to let the house cool down then close it up for the daytime.  Last year I couldn’t do this because of the smoke.  Gosh, I really like fresh air but gosh, I really dislike smoke!  I hope we have a very small, quiet wildfire season this year.
  • I wiped off a windowsill this morning. My sponge came up black from wildfire soot!  Yipes, how soot covered is the rest of my house!?!
  • It helps me to wrap a polymer-filled fabric tube around my neck… soak it in water for an hour before wearing it; the polymer crystals soak up the water and evaporate slowly throughout the day to provide a cool surface against my skin.
  • It’s far from unique, but I like being in or around a body of water & drink lots of water
  • North side porch always shaded. Usually a slight breeze. Cool washcloth on neck and water pitcher (no ice) is all I need. (I dislike A/C a lot!)
  • Run through a sprinkler.
  • Run through the sprinklers! Anywhere you can find sprinklers- your yard, neighbor’s yard, go for it. 😁
  • Sit in a kiddie pool in the shade, add ice & drink iced tea!
  • Spend a day at Dowdy Lake in Red Feather Lakes, maybe with kayak, canoe, paddle board etc. 8100 feet and much cooler.
  • Swim at Horsetooth!
  • Freeze coffee in ice cube trays to add to coffee for cold, cold, non-diluted coffee!
  • Use a golf cart and play early.
  • Visit someone in the hospital. Hospitals are always very, very cold.
  • Wading pool, river, lake, higher altitude!
  • We are retired so we go out early and have somewhat moved to our basement, about 20 degrees cooler.

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Reopening, Camp Recap & The Many Hands Project

June 18, 2021 /

We are so glad to have taken a big step toward reopening last week with the first session of Chalice Camp! Having kids back at the church was a breath of joy. From animal blessings to yoga, learning about Courageous Love to face painting, and science lessons to sing-alongs, campers built new friendships, learned about Unitarian Universalism, and connected with our Foothills community. 

As we’re exploring in our June Worship Series, IRL, returning to being together in person can feel joyful, overwhelming, thrilling, confusing, exhausting, and even downright awkward. On Tuesday, we were so happy to connect with 18 of you at the FoCo Food Truck Rally for the first group gathering of Friends Night IRL, our IRL series practice. As our Communications Manager Kelsey shared: “I forgot what to do with my face after months of being covered by a mask.” And you know what? That’s okay! We’re all bound to have our “strange face” moments. That’s why we’re embarking on the IRL journey together – to practice those social skills that may have grown rusty, to embrace the uncertainty, to find belonging and acceptance even and especially when it’s awkward.

If you couldn’t make it on Tuesday (We get it. It was HOT!), you have two more opportunities to join us at the Food Truck Rally for Friends Night IRL. We’ll be there Tuesday, June 22nd and 29th, starting at 5:30 pm in City Park. You can also participate in Friends Night IRL on your own time. Learn more by clicking on the image below!

Being together for flower communion, camp, and other small get-togethers over the past few weeks has made us even more eagerly anticipate the return to our beloved church for regular gatherings and services. After over a year of being away, though, we recognize that some places on our property could benefit from some TLC. In keeping with our dedication to serve, Foothills’ Program Coordinator, Amy Gage, is organizing The Many Hands Project so we can work together to spruce up our space.

We invite you to serve our church and each other by taking on some of the identified projects to help fix up our grounds. Together, we can help beautify this safe space for ourselves and each other as we slowly transition back together again.
 
Please CLICK HERE to register for one of the listed projects, and we will get ahold of you to discuss the details and schedule a date and time. Some projects are more appropriate for groups, and some are more appropriate for individuals. 
 
Some of these opportunities you can do in your own time. Others will be done in small groups where there will be a chance to gather afterward and socialize. You can indicate your preference in the registration questionnaire.
 
If you have a special skill set that might be well-suited for a specific project, please let us know by emailing Amy at amy@foothillsuu.org.
 
You can also learn more about our plans for reopening by visiting foothillsuu.org/reopening.
 
We look forward to setting you and your family soon!
 
In love, joy, and partnership,
 
Rev. Gretchen

How Busy Is Your Summer?

June 17, 2021 /

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Last week we asked you to share with us how busy you were feeling this summer. Here are your responses:[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”43314″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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