Plans for celebrating our 175th Anniversary are taking shape!  At a luncheon on April 18, the Planning Committee revealed our new logo, memorabilia ( now available for purchase),  and some of the plans for the 2010-11 Anniversary Year, including opportunities to help support our celebratory events.  Look for an invitation to join the 175 Circle, coming in mid-May.

The new logo, designed by John Martin-Eatinger, can be seen here, and in all its glory in Hull Chapel.  You will also see it popping up on great looking tee-shirts and stainless steel water bottles.  (Due to a small glitch, size XXL tee-shirts will not be available until Sunday, May 2).  Both items will sell for $20, and about half of that will go to supporting anniversary activities.  They will be available at social hour every Sunday.  There will be another logo item coming in the fall.

The History Committee is looking for your artifacts from church life!  Do you have old event programs?  Photographs?  Other original materials?  Now is the time to share them with us as we begin the research process for our documentary DVDs and consider other ways to display and interact with our church history.  Don’t delay in finding these items.  We will be collecting them only until the end of June (May 2 through June 27). From 9:30 until 9:55 a.m. and during Social Hour, there will be a member of the History Committee ready to receive your historical contributions in Hull Chapel.  (Alternatively, you could arrange for your item(s) to be collected from your home, by contacting John Martin-Eatinger at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; Cindy Pardo at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or Grace Williams at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )

We will carefully document your items and keep them safe in a locked, dry space in the church.  If you are willing to donate items to our permanent collection, we will be most grateful.  If you only want to loan items, we will care for them well, and return them with thanks.  In either case, we will ask you to sign a form which will list what you are leaving with us, whether your items should be kept by the church or returned to you, and who has received your materials.  We hope you will understand that not every single document or artifact can be used in our various activities,  but we won’t know what we need until we see what you have stored away.  So please consider sharing them with us.

Social Justice Project. It was felt that working with existing Social Justice projects in our neighborhood was the best use of our time and talents. The 175th Social Justice Project is still taking form, but we are hoping to join with the Hyde Park-Kenwood Food Pantry to supply some much needed items which are not covered by regular food suppliers, such as deodorant, shampoo, soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes.  We are also working on the possibility of sending regular groups to work at the Greater Chicago Food Depository, with the HPK Food Pantry benefiting from our service.  Final details of all this will be coming soon, but we do know that we will be donating the proceeds of our Third Sunday plate collection for the first quarter of our Anniversary Year to supporting these activities.

And then there is FUN!  Rev. Nina is working on inviting our former settled ministers to preach, as well as our church children who have become ministers. Invitations have been extended to UUA President Rev. Dr. Peter Morales, as well as to Ginny Courter, our UUA Moderator.   We are working on several activities which will include fun for our children (who have asked for something that included ballerinas and magicians!), and there will be ways for them to contribute to service activities, as well as fund-raising.  We are planning to add to our regular musical events with special guests, as well as a major composition by our own Michael Thorn.  There will be several events to honor Rev. Grey’s years of ministry to our congregation as she moves toward her retirement, and, there has to be a year-end gala.  We believe that will take place on May 19, at the Chicago Cultural Center, in Preston Bradley Hall (most appropriate, since Rev. Preston Bradley was a Unitarian minister!).  

175 years is something to celebrate, and we are going to do that in as many ways as we can.  We hope you will find much to engage you in this most wonderful year!  

Read more about our history.

First Unitarian, our beloved church community, is about to embark on a year-long celebration of its distinguished 175-year history. Maintaining itself for 175 years is a great accomplishment for any institution. We invite you not only to join in the celebration, but also to join The 175 Circle!

Two years of questions and conversation within the congregation have helped the 175th Anniversary Planning Committee focus on ways to express our joy at this singular milestone. There will be a significant social service activity, invitations to past ministers to join us in worship, banners, a history project, commissioned music and art, special performances, events for children, retirement events for Rev. Grey, and, of course, a year-end gala, which will be held at the Chicago Cultural Center!

We think we have planned a year that will truly represent the importance of First Unitarian in the city, our denomination, and in the individual lives of our members and friends. We hope that everyone will make the time to participate in as many activities as possible, to reconnect with old friends, and create new memories as we look forward to the next 175 years.

To help provide financial assistance for this exciting celebration, The 175 Circle, a community of supporters formed to coincide with the launch of the Anniversary Year, will be established. The Board of Trustees is budgeting funds for the celebration, but they will not cover all our costs. A one-time contribution of $175.00 from each member or friend will go far to help us carry out significant activities and events that reflect the desires of the congregation, and further its mission.

Will you consider making this gift? If $175 isn't in your budget, could you collect that amount from several friends or family members, or another group within the church? All the people who donate in your group will be recognized as supporters of the Circle. We have planned some activities that will have a suggested donation, but creating DVDs or hanging banners to let our neighbors know our story will cost money, as will commissioning music and paying expenses for invited former ministers. All contributions will be acknowledged in various program books throughout the year.

We look forward to seeing you often during First Unitarian's 175th Anniversary Year, and hope to welcome you as a supporter of The 175 Circle.

To join The 175 Circle, you may submit a check payable to: First Unitarian Church of Chicago (with "The 175 Circle" in the memo line) and mail it to First Unitarian Church, 5640 S. Woodlawn Ave., Chicago IL 60637, indicating the Name to be acknowledged and/or the name of the person in whose honor you are making this contribution, or which hurch or family group the gift is part of.

Alternatively, to make your contribution by credit card, please click HERE:

Banner Dedication. Our anniversary celebrations started off quite auspiciously with the dedication of the banner created for the year on Sunday, July 4, followed by a picnic, which coincided with the Independence Day celebration. The banner, seen below, appears in two forms--on  the front of the church, and on street poles located on Woodlawn between 57th and 56th Streets and on 57th Street between Woodlawn and University Avenues.

Social Justice Project. Our year-long Social Justice Project got off to a great start with the delivery to the Hyde Park Food Pantry, between July 2 and 16, of the following personal care items: 400 deodorant, 400 toothpaste tubes, 400 soap,  400 shampoo, and 500 toothbrushes for the July through September quarter, by Allen Lindrup, Coordinator of the Project, with some help from our custodian, Alan. Coordinators of the bulk purchases are: Lisa Martin-Eatinger and Charissa King-O'Brien, Religious Education, Allan Lindrup, Social Justice, Lara Tushla, Board and its Committees, Cindy Pardo, Worship and Music and Choir, Allen Harden, Spiritual Pluralism Project. In addition, several of these items were contributed by individual members and friends in the baskets located at the front entrance of the church. Everyone  is invited to contribute to the Social Mission Outreach collections that will benefit this project during the months of July, August and September. Our Social Justice Project will serve some 400 families each month, consisting of 700 individuals. Many thanks to all!

Projects Underway. The 175th Anniversary History Subcommittee is continuing its preparation work for the DVD Documentary planned for completion in time for showing at our May 2011 Gala, as well as at other venues. Thank you to all who have contributed materials that have been logged into our research library by Joan Pederson.

The 175th Anniversary Picture Directory is also in process, with additional opportunities to have your photograph taken, if you missed the previous photo sessions. See the article in this newsletter.

The Events Planning Subcommittee will begin work shortly on an Events Brochure that will list all the special events planned for the year, including Concerts and Worship Services led by guest ministers who either served the church in one capacity or another, or who were children of the church who later became ministers. This brochure will be distributed in the wider Hyde Park and Chicago community, as well as through our church community.

The 175 Circle and Fundraising. We are pleased to report that several of our current members and friends have contributed to The 175 Circle; others have purchased memorabilia. We encourage us all to contribute to these major fundraising efforts as the funds raised will allow us to underwrite all the celebratory activities and events planned without placing a strain on our church budget. Do remember that membership in the Circle can be a collaborative venture between individuals and families.

The Anniversary Team would like your help in identifying individuals and families who were formerly involved in the church whom we could invite to the special events and to become members of The 175 Circle. Please contact Cindy Pardo at < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it > or Grace Latibeaudiere-Williams at <grace.latibeaudiere @gmail.com> with your suggestions, or leave the contact information in The 175th Anniversary mailbox in the church office.

Upcoming Activities Please be sure to attend the services on August 15 and August 22, when our first guest ministers will be preaching.

Cindy Pardo and Grace Latibeaudiere-Williams
Co-Chairs, The 175th Anniversary Planning Team/Anniversateam