Sunday, January 8, 2012

Meeting Notes 1-8-12 and FIELD TRIP!

Hey Enlightened Hippogriffs!

What a great meeting we had today! Great job everyone!

For those of you who weren't there, here are some notes about what we did. Also please see below for info on our FIELD TRIP to Athens County next Monday for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! Please join us and invite your friends!

2012 Calendar
We spent the first part of our meeting going over our plan for the new year and brainstorming some great ideas! We're going to work on 5 big projects this year, as follows:

  1. January - March: Magical Acts of Kindness. We're going to be doing everything we can to put a little more kindness into the world, which we think is magical! Acts of kindness can be big and small, including some of the things listed below as well as simple things like writing kind notes to those we know, making artwork, and creating treasure maps leading to gifts! We're thinking of keeping track of these acts of kindness on a Hogwarts-style House Cup competition poster. Anyone can join in the fun by picking a House and writing down something nice they did. Monthly projects related to this include:

· Jan: making bean soup for the Athens County food pantry, which we did today! And bringing our soup and rice down there next Monday.. see below for details!

· Feb: we're going to channel our inner Dobbys and collect all the hats, scarves, mittens, and other woolen goodies we can to give to those in need. Gabe suggested we tuck in some hot chocolate mix as well... fair trade of course! Lucia can teach us how to make finger-knitted scarves, and I'm betting there are some needle-knitters or other types of crafters in our midst. One idea Lu and I had on the way home was to make a life-sized cardboard cutout of Dobby and stack hats on top of him!

· March: Accio Books! We'll be collecting new and gently used books for readers in need of any age. We'll kick this off at First UU's annual Harry Potter-themed First Friday event, asking all participants to bring a book as well as their usual potluck dinner item. And all books count toward the House Cup! Extra points for Harry Potter books! Also related to this, we might have some Potter-themed readings (HP books? Fan fiction?) and maybe a read-a-thon where we all just sip some hot chocolate and chill out with good books together. Maybe everyone brings a book to donate as admission?

2. April – June: Wrock for Equality! What is wrock? Wizard Rock of course! Noting that witches and wizards are equal in Harry’s world (and thanks to Hermione, so are House Elves and other magical creatures,) we’re going to be thinking about gender roles and what we can do to fight bullying and homophobia, and see if we can do some wrocking out while we’re at it! Maybe get some wizard rock bands (Harry and the Potters?) to come to Comfest? Or to First UU? Maybe a gender-freeing dance event? We all agreed we definitely want to have a float in the Pride parade, and dress up in witch and wizard costumes!

3. July: Harry’s Birthday Movie Marathon. Harry Potter and JK Rowling share a birthday on July 31st, and we think that’s an awesome reason for a party! How about a movie marathon? We can watch all eight Potter films, and maybe some others as well… maybe even make it a sleepover at church! We’re also going to check out the special features on movie 5’s DVD for a documentary on the theme of courage in the HP books and films. And perhaps some outdoor Quidditch matches in between each film? Audrey and Evelyn are already making diagrams.

4. August – October: Haunted Earth House. Guess whose house is really haunted? ALL of ours, that’s who – thanks to environmental troubles on the house we all share, planet Earth. What can we do to help? Go vegetarian and/or local for a month? Visit some metro parks or Hocking Hills, pick up trash somewhere? Maybe a Back to School planet-friendly feast? An environmentally-themed Nearly-Headless Nick style Deathday party? A tour of a (not too scary) haunted house? The Shrieking Shack? Don’t forget your costumes and fair trade candy!

5. November – December: Fair Trade Chocolate Yule Ball. This was so fun, let’s turn it into an annual thing, shall we? We’ll bring back our folk dancing and fun activities and re-open Honeydukes for another round of fair trade chocolate awareness and merriment!


Bean Soup Making

We spent the rest of our meeting mixing dry beans together with Jacques Angelino, who heads up First UU’s Appalachia Project, bringing much-needed food and goods to the people of Athens County, the poorest county in Ohio. We learned that HALF of the children there go to bed hungry every night. Right here in Ohio! So we decorated bag labels with our favorite HP themed artwork and bagged up our mixed beans as well as rice to deliver to them next Monday. Great job everyone on all your hard work!

Field Trip to Athens County

We’ll be visiting the Feed My Sheep Food Pantry in Mineral, Ohio with Jacques on Monday, January 16, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. day. The pantry is open from 1:00-3:00 p.m. every Monday and serves 300 families who come from all over rural Athens County in need of food. Here are some important details if you would like to join us:

· Let me (Lynne) know as soon as possible if you are able to drive and how many you can seat in your car.

· Please meet at First UU at 10:30 a.m. and we’ll try to leave Columbus at 11. We should be back in town around 5 or so.

· The food pantry has only one bathroom with no heat. Please go to the bathroom before we leave. We will likely stop for a bathroom break on our way down as well so as not to need the pantry’s facilities. There is also a diner nearby where we can stop for a bite on the way back.

· It would be fabulous if everyone could bring more food along with our beans and rice. They are especially in need of peanut butter, canned soup (chunky, stew, chili) and would really appreciate children’s clothes, books and toys as well. Maybe you have some outgrown things to give away now that Santa’s been to your house?

· Jacques will have strong adults help pass out the boxes of food to families, but kids can help by loading the boxes and doing other jobs that he gives us. Please dress in work clothes (nothing fancy) and be willing to follow instructions and cooperate. Best behavior everyone!

· If the weather is too horrible, we will reschedule for another day, perhaps Presidents’ Day. Please check your email that morning for an announcement.

Thanks again everyone! See you Monday!




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