Your Women’s Perspective Ministry Team has many activities in store for the fall:
September
On Wednesday, September 21, 10:00 am women from East Shore and other local UU congregations will meet (outdoors at ESUC’s campus) to plan our joint strategy to address the Dobbs decision. Please respond to Lori Saccardi (lorisaccardi87@gmail) if you can attend.
On Friday, September 23, doors open at 6:30, film starts at 7:00 pm, join us for a screening of “The Janes” in the North Room. This is a story of strong and brave women who provided abortions before Roe. Soups will be available; please bring a dish or dessert to share, and please RSVP to Carol Sinape ([email protected]).
Throughout September, the Northwest Abortion Access Fund (NWAA) has asked for our help in assembling after-care kits for women receiving abortions. We will be posting more specific information on this project soon.
Also in September, help “Bring Out The Vote” in our local critical 8th Congressional District by mailing postcards to inconsistent voters. Contact Margaret Hall ([email protected]) now to participate. Cards, scripts and addresses are provided. Post-carding has been proven to make a difference and so can you!
October
On Saturday, October 22, 9:30 am, jointly with the Indigenous Connections Ministry Team, we are sponsoring a program on “Women As Healers,” as well as continuing a project on dolls representing Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.
We are still selecting a date for October, but we plan to have a guided walk and tea ceremony at the UW Arboretum Japanese Garden
Additional movies, some exciting sales and exchanges, and walks are planned for upcoming months. Look to this space for more info!
Laurie Wick, founder of Women Helping Women, wanted to share a recent exchange between her and Nicholas Kristof, author of Half the Sky, and hope that it will inspire you to join in our upcoming Women Helping Women (WHW) projects.
Nick, You changed my life by inspiring me to start Women-Helping-Women ten years ago after I heard you speak about your book Half the Sky. WHW has 125 members now. We have made a LOT of difference in girls/women’s lives over the years. Even during the pandemic we are serving 80-100 meals/month at the local women’s homeless shelter. Thank you for your inspiration. I am reading Tightrope now. – Laurie Wick
Laurie, As a writer, I love to hear this kind of thing. I’m so moved by people who read what I write, in a book or column, and do something. So thank you! – Nicholas
Volunteer or Donate to Women Helping Women
WHW has been able to provide meals to homeless women at the Bellevue Sophia Way shelter three times each month since September. Hurrah! Much gratitude to our three teams:
Team 1: JoAnne Way, Sue Abbott, Caroline Haessly;
Team 2: Connie Hirnle, Suzanne Tessaro, Elaine Richlie/Gayle Knoepfler;
Team 3: Azar Bergeson, Karen Jones, Verna Harms, Paula Pedroso.
A fourth team is desired. If you can volunteer, contact Laurie. You can also provide financial help by donating to ESUC and putting Women Helping Women in the memo line. Your donations go to East Shore’s Operating Fund, which supports WHW and other programs.
We have put together 60+ meals for the women at Sophia Way once a month for more than five years. It has been a wonderful way to help out and have many of us participating each month.
Then the pandemic hit and we stopped as our church kitchen was closed and then the women temporarily moved and meals were provided via fundraising and restaurants.
Now, Sophia Way is expanding to their new shelter in Kirkland and will also be keeping the Bellevue shelter going. This means they have LOTS of need for hot meals. Twenty each day for dinner at the Bellevue shelter and 40 hot lunches and 40 hot dinners each day at the Kirkland shelter.
Our fantastic Sophia Way meals coordinator, Marian Hayes, is retiring from her role. She has been such a joy to work with, totally reliable and cheerful.
Thus, we need someone to step up to take over as Sophia Way meals coordinator. Can this be you? At first we will probably be cooking in our own kitchens and dropping off at East Shore for the delivery. Once we feel more comfortable being back at church, we can start cooking together at East Shore. This person would put out a request for contributions to the meals via Sign-up Genius.
JoAnne Way has been organizing our deliveries, but we also need more volunteers there. Lunches would need to be delivered (hot) to Kirkland between 11-11:30. Dinners need to be delivered (hot) to either the Bellevue or Kirkland shelter between 6-6:30. Can you help coordinate this?
We have enough volunteers at East Shore that we should be able to make this happen, but it takes some leadership. Please consider these roles. Together we DO make a DIFFERENCE!
The life and work of Margaret Fuller (1810-1850) was held up as an example of a strong, independent, principled woman intellectual who influenced many in her too-short lifetime. Margaret was a formidable intelligent, socially eccentric young woman who was either intensely disliked or ardently admired, but who could not be ignored. She was the founding editor of the Transcendentalist periodical, The Dial; she held what might be termed the first “consciousness-raising” seminars for women in Boston; she wrote the first major feminist book in America, Woman in the Nineteenth Century; she became the first female reporter and later the first female foreign correspondent for the New York Tribune; and she was the first woman ever allowed to step foot into the Harvard University Library. She died, tragically, at the age of 40 in a ship-wreck. In the 1840s Margaret’s work was actually more widely read than Ralph Waldo Emerson’s work – a little-known fact! One of her better known statements was this: “Let every arbitrary barrier be thrown down. Let women be sea captains if they will!”
Starting in 2005, East Shore’s Women’s Perspective has held an annual Margaret Fuller tea to honor her and her work.
At our tea on Sunday, May 3rd, 1:00-4:00 pm, we are excited to offer a dramatic presentation by Tames Alan of Living History Lectures about the American suffragette movement. 2020 is the 100th anniversary of women’s enfranchisement in America. $10 per person. Register online to guarantee your seat!
February 22-24, 2019 Rainbow Lodge in North Bend, WA
Catching Sight of Thelma & Louise
The seminal movie Thelma & Louise was released in 1991 and become a symbol of the strength of feminine friendships and women’s resistance to sexist treatment.
Our guest presenter is Jennifer Townsend, producer/director of Catching Sight of Thelma and Louise. This documentary explores the impact the original movie had women’s lives and society’s failure to deal with these issues since then.
Weekend activities and topics will include:
Power of women’s relationships.
Impact of sexism on women’s lives
The power we have to write our stories differently from the generations before us.
Opportunities for reflection, conversation, connections, games, treats, massage, art, hiking and time well spent with your ESUC sisters.
Proposed Retreat Schedule
FRIDAY EVENING:
• Registration
• Buffet Dinner
• Welcome and Orientation
• Viewing the film Catching Sight of Thelma & Louise
SATURDAY MORNING:
• Breakfast Buffet
• Program Presentation with Producer/Director Jennifer Townsend based on the film and its effect on us now.
• Large Group and Small Group Discussions
SATURDAY AFTERNOON:
• Lunch Buffet
• Your Choice of Personal or Group Activities, which may include: Art, Music, Meditation, Massage, Walking (close trails), Hiking (farther), Zumba or Body-Motion, Book-sharing, Humor & Laughter, and much more!
SATURDAY EVENING:
• Dinner Buffet
• Program Session: Celebration
SUNDAY MORNING:
• Brunch Buffet
• Worship Service and Closing
LODGERS:
The full weekend retreat fee includes dinner on Friday, two-nights’ lodging, program with key note speaker and concludes with brunch on Sunday.
Double Room – Two nights, all meals = $215.00
Single Room – 6 available (Two nights, all meals) = $265.00
DAYTRIPPERS:
Day only with meals (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) = $135.00
Day only with meals (Friday and Saturday) = $110.00
Day fee with meals (Saturday only) = $85.00
Fees will increase after December 31st so register early at esuc.org
