Welcome to Unitarian Universalist Society East
Sunday Services at 9:00 and 11:00
Director's Corner
Emmy's Friday Update
For Sunday April 20th
Greetings CYM Families & Friends!
This week Rev. Josh Pawelek and I took our “Affirmation” Coming of Age cohort on a day trip to Boston and Lexington to connect with Unitarian Universalist history. The photo above was taken in Arlington Street Church, which has a long and fascinating legacy. Like many UU congregations around the world, our gray and blue hymnals stood ready to be used for the spiritual practice of singing. This Easter Sunday, our UU Sanctuary in Manchester, CT will be filled with the joy-filled sound of Spring music provided by our UUSE Holiday Choir and various musicians. Please join us at 9 or 11 AM for this inspiring service! An egg hunt will be held on UUSE grounds between services. Please bring your own basket and meet in the Memorial Garden by 10:30 for instructions for the hunt!
One more note for your consideration this holiday weekend. As you are holding and making traditions and preparing the home to invite Spring in, CYM is asking for your support in upcoming community engagement. As you busy young children with activities so you can devil some eggs, please consider setting aside “extras” for donations of art supplies and sports equipment to the EmpowerU community-sponsored afterschool program at Squire Village, a large housing development in Manchester. These supplies will be used for a collaboration between EmpowerU and our Children & Youth Ministry program at UUSE. (More exciting details to come about fun opportunities for our children and youth to meet and play with new friends this Spring and Summer!)
Here is your mission, should you choose to accept it: we need small blank canvases for the children in our community. As you know, the cost of canvas adds up quickly! So here is what I’m asking: Collect *already used* canvases you are ready to let go from your home, collected from your local Buy Nothing group, your town “swap shop” (ask your Transfer Station), and thrift shops. Bring those used canvases (small sizes preferred) to UUSE this Sunday and next Sunday, for our middle school youth to paint over with white paint to be given a next life. I will share more details about this collaboration project in the coming weeks, but I guarantee that you will be excited to participate! Any other art supplies such as paint brushes, poster board, art kits, clay, and sports equipment like various balls (basketball, soccer, kickball, tennis, and ball pumps!), jump ropes, chalk, yard games, water balloons and games are needed as well! Look for collection bins in the Lobby and I thank you in advance for your generosity and support.
Here’s what’s happening in Children & Youth Ministry on Sunday, April 20, 2025:
@11 AM
All Congregation Worship
All children and youth from birth through high school are invited to join their families and friends in the Sanctuary for a specially designed all-ages worship service this Sunday.
Sunday Service: “In the Morning, Joy: A Service for Easter” - Don’t miss our annual all-congregation service. Through music and story, we celebrate Easter, and bare witness to the joyful unfolding of Spring.
Coordinators: Mary Bopp, Emmy Galbraith and Rev. Josh Pawelek
Nursery (Ages 3 and under): Childcare is available in our Nursery on the Garden Level at 11 AM for children 3 and under. Care is provided by two regular childcare staff including our Nursery Coordinator Molly, our Nursery Assistant Lilly. Our nursery staff have grown up at UUSE, and are equipped with loads of experience, patience, and creativity to keep our youngest UUs safe and engaged. Families are always welcome to tour and stay in the nursery at any time.
High School Youth Group: Has been cancelled for this week. Come to Easter service and we’ll see you back in Youth Group on May 4th!
SAVE THE DATE:
THIS SATURDAY, Apr 19: UUSE attends Kamora’s Cultural Corner’s “Thinking and Doing Day: Take Back the Land.” Please visit https://kamorasculturalcorner.com/ to learn more about KCC, a new (to us) partner in guiding our children, youth, and families about community engagement at a grass-roots level. Register to attend this free event here: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/2025-thinking-and-doing-days-3893073. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions!
Sun, Apr 20: Easter Egg Hunt between services, beginning at 10:30 in the Memorial Garden.
Sat, May 3: May Fair at UUSE! 10AM-2PM
Sun, May 18: Flower Communion Service, Community Potluck, & UUSE Annual Meeting
Sun, May 25: NO CYM programming, Memorial Day Weekend
Sun, Jun 1: Affirmation Sunday Service
Sun, Jun 8: CYM Field Day and final ‘24-’25 CYM Stakeholder’s Meeting in the field
Sun, Jun 15: CYM Sunday Service
Sun, Jun 22: UUA General Assembly (interested in attending as a family? Let mw know!)
With Love and Gratitude,
Emmy Galbraith
dcym@uuse.org
Cell: (860)576-7889
CYM Committee Members:
Desiree Holian-Borgnis, Chair
Michelle Spadaccini
Paula Baker
Sudha
Committee email: uusecym@uuse.org
Angela Attardo, CYM Program Assistant
CYMAsst@uuse.org
Director of Children and Youth Ministry's Monthly Column for May
The Victory Garden
When someone asks me, “what’s your favorite season?” – I often say a tie between spring and autumn, or whichever one is closer to returning. Something I love about the four distinct seasons in New England, is how ready I am for the next season just as it is about to arrive. The magic of spring is like nothing else and difficult to beat, and then when autumn rolls around with a different kind of magic, I can’t imagine enjoying anything else as much.
So I’ve landed on, how lucky am I, to experience and love both so deeply. They are often looked at as transition times, on the way to the extremes of summer sun and winter ice. To me, the magic is in the transformation taking shape right before our eyes. It can be felt in the air and seen on the faces of young and old alike. Teenagers ask, “when will the trees be full of leaves?”, as if they’ve never witnessed a spring before. It is that magical, that it feels brand new every year.
We allow ourselves to get excited about our warm weather hobbies. The garden comes back to life. Birds return, frogs sing, farm animal babies adorn the fields we drive past. I wear my sandals and my shorts, feeling the elements on my skin. I stand barefoot on the grass that is turning green once again. It’s miraculous. For a moment, all that is hurting has hope. That is the magic of transformation. Something stirring underground, new shoots breaking through soil, wordless signals to others for support and encouragement. Something much greater than us, but which holds us, is fixing to thrive. Thank goddess for the infinite wisdom of our greatest teacher Mother Earth.
For every sunset,
there is a sunrise;
for every dream that ends,
one is born;
for every door that closes,
another one opens;
for every love that ends,
another begins;
for every end there is a new beginning;
for each departure there is an arrival;
for every defeat there is a victory.
Nothing is ever finished,
As long as there is life
-Paul Coelho
Emmy Galbraith (she/her/hers)
Director of Children and Youth Ministry