Unitarian Universalist Church of Cambria

2018 Scholarship Awards Ceremony

Each year the UUCC awards scholarships to students from the Coast Union High School. The scholarship committee reviews all the applications and interviews students to make a selection of the recipients. The students are selected based on their goals in a career that will benefit society and their communities. This year 5 students received a scholarship with a total of $6,000 given away. This year recipients are Martha Gomez Mora, Karina Mendoza Lopez, Chase Volz, Riley Kennedy, and Margaret (Meg) Stern. Congratulations to these ambitious students and we them success in their college education and careers.

                     Five Year Congregation Anniversary

On Sunday, June 11, the Unitarian Universalist Community of Cambria (UUCC) celebrated our 5th anniversary as a Member Congregation of the Unitarian Universalist Association.  Ten members of UUCC from June, 2012, were honored for their continuing faithful dedication and support of our congregation over these five years--and even much longer.  From left to right:  Tom McGurrin, Laurie Napoli, Margaret Randall, Bill Lakin (a founding member), Judy Butler, Brad Seek, Mary Del Bono, Janet Cooper (a founding member), Diane De Marco, and Dolores Miera (a founding member).

          Thanksgiving Giveaway

The UU Congregation of Cambria partners with local organizations to promote justice and equality for all people.To this end, we continue our collaboration with Danilda Reyes and the LINK program that operates in the middle school to help families connect to services within our community and San Luis Obispo County.This year, for the third year in a row, we collected food for Thanksgiving baskets that were distributed to families who need food support.The congregation contributed a variety of foods over several Sundays in October and November, resulting in the bounty you see here.

Back Row: Cade Hollingsead, Alan Mendez, Max Mireles, Angel Gonzalez

Front Row:  James Welch, Xue DiMaggio, Janelle Bohey, Bobra Tahan, Reagan Kinffen

UUCC Scholarship Awards Ceremony

The UUCC holds a special service each year to honor the Coast Union High School students awarded scholarships offered by the UU Social Action Committee on behalf of the congregation. The Scholarship Committee headed by Bobra Tahan, reviews scholarship applications and interviews students prior to making their final selections.  The UUCC congregation, who dedicates $5,000.00 a year to this program, along with additional contributions by members and friends, provides funds for the scholarships. Students are selected based upon their commitment to giving back to their communities and setting career goals in professions that benefit society. Congregational members are encouraged to remain in contact with the students after graduation to offer support or mentoring. This photograph was taken at the 2016 Scholarship Ceremony.

Putting Our Values To Work

For the past several years, the UUCC has sponsored the 4th Sunday program which sets aside offerings collected on the fourth Sunday of the month for donations to local charitable organizations.  In 2016, the congregation sent checks to the Food Bank, Cambria's Anonymous Neighbors (CAN), the Cambria Educational Foundation and the Homeless Animal Rescue Team (HART). In the past, the congregation has donated to Headstart, Cambria Adult Resources (CARES)  Cambria Connection/Teen Center, Friends of the Fiscalini Ranch, and Friends of the Library.

        Day of the Dead Service

Honoring the Mexican holiday known as the Day of the Dead is an annual tradition at the UUCC.  For the Day of the Dead service, we gather to honor and remember family and friends who are no longer with us. This year a potluck was held after the service with attendees bringing a dish from a favorite recipe or a special type of food enjoyed by a deceased loved one. Photographs, mementos and stories were shared during the service to honor the memories of our dearly departed.

​

​

      Congregational Workshop

Our UU District representative Jan Christian visited us for a workshop about conversation that help allow us to better communicate our congregational mission among ourselves. We were asked to consider five questions:  How are we living out our stated mission? How does being a UU congregation shape our overall identity, our Sunday services, and how we approach our mission? What do we hope is possible for our congregation in Cambria? What are the current challenges to achieving what we hope is possible? It was an informative workshop for us all.

     Music at the UUCC

The UUCC is very grateful to have amongst our members and friends a number of talented musicians and performing artists who regularly share their musical abilities with us during Sunday services and special events.  Our Music Director, Mary Schwalbe, and Jan Callner, our multi-talented pianist, both add mystery, celebration and wonder to our services with their beautiful music selections. We have a part-time choir that is called on to perform on special occasions. All enthusiastic singers are welcome to join.  No audition necessary.

   UUCC Donates to YMCA

As a part of our ongoing commitment to support our local schools, the UUCC recently donated $1,500.00 to the YMCA after school program. Judy Butler, Pat Lakin and Janet Cooper are shown with the director of the YMCA presenting the check. The local YMCA program is offered at Santa Lucia Middle School and teaches students how to develop informational or advertising campaigns and how to design and create promotional material, including videos. The students filmed the open house at our church on Arlington St. and created a wonderful video of the event. To see the video

A Bountiful Thanksgiving!

Members of the UUCC Social Action Committee collected food items last November to make baskets of food to donate to needy families in Cambria for the Thanksgiving holiday. The project was headed up by Cat Lekich who was assisted by Judy Butler and Kris Fox. They partnered with the LINK food project organizer Danilda Reyes. Thank you to all the members and friends of the congregation who contributed to this very successful food drive.

Tie Dye Picture Day

Who doesn't love brightly colored tie dyed shirts? Having fun together is definitely an important part of community building.  On this particular Sunday, we all wore our favorite tie-dyed outfits and took this group photograph after service as a memento of one of our more colorful gatherings.

Unitarian Universalist Church of Cambrian

Open House and Dedication Service

How time flies. This was the picture from 8 years ago when the UUCC celebrated the successful completion of our new church home by hosting an Open House and Dedication Service. Both events were well attended. For the Open House, guests and the UU community enjoyed a tempting selection of appetizers, viewed displays set up by the various UUCC committees, watched a slideshow illustrating church activities and discussed any questions they had about Unitarian Universalism with members of the congregation. At the Dedication Service, the new meeting hall was filled to capacity with nearly 100 attendees.

These are our 2017 Scholarship Award recipients.  From left to right:  Fabian Godinez, Margaret Hall, Lupita Castaneda, Savannah Lyon, Annika Marthaler, Cameryn Tatham, Bobra and Grace Jones.

     2017 Scholarship Awards Ceremony

​

The UUCC is excited to award scholarships to 7 deserving students from the Coast Union High School. The scholarship committee is headed by Bobra Tahan and this committee reviews the scholarship applications and interviews students before making the final decisions for their selection of scholarship recipients. Each recipient received a $1500 scholarship towards their education. Students are selected based upon their career goals that benefit society and their commitment to giving back to their communities. We wish these ambitious young students success in their future education.

                              2016 UUSC Guest at

                              Your Table Program

This year, our congregation raised $580.00 in support of the 2016 UUSC Guest at Your Table program.  Guest at Your Table (GAYT) is UUSC’s annual intergenerational program to raise support for and awareness about our work to advance human rights. This year’s program theme was Defying Hate, based on the recent release of the Ken Burns documentary about UUSC founders Martha and Waitstill Sharp, Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War. The Sharps defied hate by helping Jews and dissidents escape Nazi Germany using brave, creative methods, many of which could have caused them to be imprisoned, tortured, or worse. UUSC is proud to carry forward the Sharps’ legacy by continuing to defy hate and protect the lives and rights of refugees, asylum seekers, and other marginalized groups, both here in the United States and throughout the world.   Bill Lakin, one of our founders and past president of the UUCC, spearheaded the fundraiser. Our congregation’s financial support of the GAYT program was nearly ten times the 2015 level.  We signed up 12 new or renewing UUSC members, which represents 30% of our membership. Thank you to all those members and friends who contributed and to Bill for presenting the 2016 program.

        Deepening Your Nature

         Connection Workshop

This nature exploration workshop was led by Sue Davis starting at the San Simeon point. The workshop was designed to awaken ones senses to the natural world and form a deeper connection to nature with activities that included: Storytelling, Sit Spot, Deer Ears, Peripheral vision, ephemeral art, tasteful eating and touch connection. This was a 4 hour workshop with a walk along the beach and on to the point trail to experience the sounds and beauty of nature. It was a wonderful day for all who participated.