Friday News – July 17, 2026

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When I came to First UU on September 7, 2025 I was unaware of how my life would be changed. But when are we ever aware of how a calling or a job can change us? I was in student mode, trying to learn and apply my learning and hoping to do a job worthy of earning an A in my FE 850 class. While I did earn the A, I also learned so much about myself which needed to be further developed in relation to my vocation as a leader while understanding what it means to carry that responsibility as a member of a community. I was resistant and afraid of fully accepting my ministerial role, but this congregation, staff, and my ARA comrades were gentle and encouraging. Because of you, I had a very positive internship experience and I get to transition my focus to the semester in Namibia, with the assurance that I can come back here anytime and be welcomed with open arms. Thank you all for your grace, and for your desire to create community, work for justice, and engage diversity.

P.S. If you want to stay up to date during my time in Africa, please follow me on Instagram: @iampaisha

Paisha Thomas

Justice and Equity Student Minister

Upcoming Events

Sunday Services

This Sunday, July 19th

10am “A Personal Reconning”
 I try assiduously to live my life as an anti-racist and I am far from perfect at it. I will tell some of the twists and turns in my anti-racist journey and hope you will find some of your own story reflected in mine.

Presented by Rev. Dr. Terasa Cooley

Lead Minister

Infant/Toddler Care 9:30am-11:30pm

Early-Childhood/Elementary Class

for 3-11yrs after the story (start in worship)

Teen/Tween Board Games for rising 6th grade and up Before and during service

Reception Honoring

Paisha Thomas

Sunday, July 19, 11 am- 12 pm

Please join us for a reception to honor Paisha Thomas, our Justice and Equity Student Minister, on her last Sunday to officially be with us. Please bring a snack item to share. Cake will be served!

Final Summer Guided Meditation Class

~ be where your feet are ~

Tuesday From 6-7:15 pm July 21

Free and Open to All

(RSVP encouraged but not required)
Join us for our summer wrap up!

We will be picking up again in the fall. All are welcome!

This meditation class is designed to calm the mind, improve focus, and support overall well-being through simple guided practices and breath awareness. The class also invites participants to connect with a greater sense of purpose, presence, and connection beyond the distractions of everyday life.

Instructor: Patricia O’Toole, Ph.D

Expressive Worship

Thursday, July 23 at New Time 7 pm

Expressive Worship grew out of a challenge at GA—to imagine worship in a whole new way. The result was this relaxed, art centered gathering where participants engage with a theme through personal creative exploration. Each service follows a structured flow—opening words, a song, a reading, time to create art while themed music plays, a closing and an optional sharing time at the end.

All ages and artistic inclinations welcome! Bring your own materials or use those provided. This month we will contemplate the theme of “Flourishing Together” as we make paper bouquets together.

All Soles Summer Potluck and Dance

Saturday, July 25th

Summer Potluck and Dance

Potluck 12:30

Beginners’ Session 1:30 to 2:00 PM

Dancing 2:00 to 4:30 PM

Join us for a potluck dinner, followed by an afternoon of music and dance! The potluck will start at 12:15…if you would like to help set up, please arrive at noon. Plates, napkins, and utensils will be provided. Please bring a dish to share.

Susan English will be our caller with music by The .

The Corndrinkers, from the Dayton area, consists of Barb Kuhns and Linda Scutt (fiddle), Tom Duffee (banjo), Doug Smith (guitar), and Al Turnbull (bass).

Cost is $10 for adults, $5 ages 12-25.

New to dancing? A beginners’ session, from 1:30 to 2:00 PM, will get you started. You will learn some basic figures that will be repeated in the afternoon’s dances. All dances will be taught and no partner is needed. Dancing is from 2:00 to 4:30 PM.

Visit our website at: All Souls Contra Dance

Please bring your own refillable water bottle.

Summer Pick Up Choir

Sunday, July 26 at 9:00 am

Do you enjoy singing? Come early to learn and rehearse “O Love” by Elaine Hagenberg, which we will sing at the 10:00 am service. No membership or experience necessary; just show up if you love to sing! We will take care of the rest! If you are interested in looking at the song ahead of time, email Brandon Moss. Otherwise, just show up that morning! We hope to see you there!

Feed & Read Ohio 23rd Backpack Drive is happening now!

Please donate by August 1 for

the 3rd Annual Blessing of the Backpacks at church on August 2

Hear from Jacques

Join us Sunday, Aug. 2. During the 10 AM service, Jacques Angelino, founder of Feed & Read Ohio, will share how backpacks with school supplies help more children get a good education, so they can learn, grow, and build the future they want. After the service, we’re all invited to help fill backpacks in Beach Hall.

Our goal for 2026 is 200 backpacks filled with the supplies children will need to start the year prepared to learn. $50 will buy one backpack and all the required supplies for one child. Please sponsor as many children as you are able.

If you prefer to partner with friends and family to purchase and fill your own backpacks, the items needed to fill each one include:
  • 1 backpack
  • 10 #2 pencils
  • 1 large pink eraser
  • 1 glue stick
  • 1 package Crayola colored
  • 1 Pencil Sharpener
  • 1 wide ruled 70 page spiral notebook
  • 1 ruler with inches and centimeters
  • 1 16 or 24 count Crayola crayons
  • 1 pencil case

Please use this list so we have consistency across all backpacks.

We are also accepting gift cards for Walmart, Aldi and Visa.

For questions please Reach Jacques

Peace Camp 2026!

Peace Camp needs your help!

We are seeking the following materials to help us with our activities:

  • Boxes of all sizes (especially larger boxes this year!)
  • Crafting materials
  • Yarn, string, and ribbon
  • Fake flowers
  • Tin cans and yogurt cups (clean and dry)
  • Anything that we could build villages and art creations (exception styrofoam)

Materials can be brought to the First UU Volunteer Workroom before July 27. Or you can notify Amber or Jenifer Bojanowski

*NEW*! Community Music Night

Join us on the first Wednesday of each month starting August 5 for an evening of music, connection, and joy. Bring an instrument, your voice, your dancing feet, or simply come to listen. This is not an open mic, nor is it a concert. It’s a shared musical experience where everyone belongs. The goal isn’t perfection; it’s to experience the joy of music together. Participants are welcome to lead a favorite song, teach something new, join in on familiar tunes, improvise, sing, dance, or simply enjoy the music by listening. Piano will be available, along with a few percussion instruments; please bring any other instruments you’d like to play. All instruments, musical styles, and skill levels are welcome. No experience is necessary. Come and go as you wish. First Wednesday of each month • 7:00–10:00 PM • Worship Center

Contact Leo Taylor

Neurodivergent Adults Group:

Community, Connection, and Support

1st and 3rd Thursdays, 6:00–7:30 pm

Next Meeting August 6

Are you an adult who is autistic, ADHD, AuDHD, or otherwise neurodivergent? This peer-led group is for anyone 21+ who identifies as neurodivergent or is exploring the possibility.

Join us for community, conversation, learning, and mutual support in a judgment-free environment. Together, we’ll explore what it means to be neurodivergent, share experiences, discuss challenges and coping strategies, celebrate strengths, and build meaningful connections with people who know what it’s like to be different, not less.

We especially welcome adults who are discovering their neurodivergence later in life, though ND adults in all stages of self-discovery are invited.

  • All sharing will be voluntary, and no one will be required to speak if they prefer not to.
  • We will have name tags available and ask that you wear one to help those who have difficulty remembering names.
  • We will begin with a fun, introvert-friendly icebreaker activity so people do not have to sit awkwardly, unsure of what to do.
  • You are welcome to bring a neurodivergent adult friend.
  • You are also welcome to bring a fidget toy or quiet activity (e.g., knitting or doodling), as long as it is not noisy (no spinning or ratcheting fidgets, please).

Contact: Dr. Leo Taylor for more information

Labor Day Weekend Retreat

Saturday, Sept. 5 – Monday, Sept. 7

Camp Oty’Okwa in beautiful Hocking Hills

Registration Open Now

Wonderful for families, couples, singles. Everyone! Scholarships available.

New this year! Day Pass: $15 per meal
Register by August 27th. Join us for our traditional Peek, Talent Show, Hike, Hammock Hang, and more. You can even host a workshop or activity: contribute your own ‘flavor’ to the retreat! Please contact Patricia Boughtonfor more information on hosting activities or about scholarship funding.
Register Now

Planning ahead? Check our online calendar for additional events!

From First UU Leadership

Upcoming Parking Lot Resurfacing

Week of August 10-14

The parking lots here at First UU will be resurfaced. During that week, there will be limited parking, and visitors may need to walk around the sidewalks to enter the building. We will provide more information as it is available to us closer to that date.

On the Journey

Read about the 8th Principle and First UU’s anti-racism efforts on our website.

Stamped from the Beginning

ARA Congregational Read

Next Discussion July 21st, 7pm

Discussion Registration Open

The Anti-Racist Allies invite you to read Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi to participate in the congregational group read this Summer and fall. This important work has several versions appropriate for a variety of ages and reading levels. Monthly Zoom book discussions will begin in June, (7pm on July 21, August 25, Sept 29) and more activities connected with the book will be announced for the Fall. We hope you will be able to join us!

We hope you enjoy this “replay” of one of our early mini-bios of inspiring black authors, artists, change-makers, and innovators, originally published February 20. Please consider submitting! Email Becca for submission guidelines or a name.

Garrett Morgan

Pioneer of Public Safety

This week, we want to celebrate Garret Morgan, who contributed to safety around the world.  Garret was born in Kentucky, but lived in Cincinnati and then Cleveland as an adult, beginning by sweeping floors and eventually learning how to operate and repair sewing machines and starting his own business  In 1912, after learning of the tragic fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Co that killed 146 garment workers, Garrett was inspired to invent and patent an early version of the Gas Mask – a “Safety Hood” that gave a first responder the ability to breathe in adverse environmental conditions. Garret won the first prize at the Second International Exposition of Safety and Sanitation for the device, and it became the prototype for the gas masks used in World War I, winning him after. Garret later created the first 3-way traffic signal, introducing the “Caution light” to the more rudimentary traffic signals that were used at the time. He sold his patent in 1923 to General Electric, who developed an electric version of his hand-operated signal.

Garret’s story is a show-stopper, and we encourage you to read about him at the National Inventors Hall of Fame or watch this Department of Transportation Video (1:55) on youtube to learn more about this early safety pioneer! For a deeper dive, check out this educational video by Fresberg Cartoon or take a deeper dive on biography.com.

Many thanks to Susan O’Donnell for submitting the name of this inspiring innovator!

Happening in Columbus

Coming Soon: The August/September ARA Calendar

Community News

Calling All UU Artists

Freedom! What does this mean to you? We will use our freedom of expression to depict: freedom of speech, from oppression, from fear and more. Free as a bird, free to be you and me, freedom isn’t free, disobedience as freedom, be brave to be free, free air to breathe, free time, free for all, get out of jail free card, no such thing as a free lunch, free to choose, freebies, freedom of religion, freedom from religion, freedom to assemble.

Register or email Deb Baillieul for your spot in the UU Artists and Friends Show “Freedom”! Drop-off 1-2 entries ready to hang (no pedistals) Sunday, August 16 – Tuesday, August 18 by noon. Age High School to adult please.

Playground Celebration Thanks & Campus Updates from SYC

Our affiliated preschool, School for Young Children (SYC), recently hosted a successful celebration for the new playgrounds, and they want to share a heartfelt thank you with our community! Here is a quick summary of their update and how we can continue to offer support.

Celebration Success: SYC loved seeing so many new, current, and alumni families come together to check out the new outdoor spaces.

Ongoing Fundraising: If you missed the event, you can still contribute. Donations support SYC’s Continuous Improvement Fund and help fund a new playground at the Columbus Early Learning Center’s Southside location.

How to Give: You can make a direct donation online SYC Enrichment Fund

Save the Date: Keep an eye out this fall for details regarding the upcoming Scholarship Auction once the new school year begins.

Thank you for your continued generosity and for being such a vital part of our community!

Keeping Cool

Our friends at Columbus.gov and IACO shared this message about resources for keeping cool in the extreme heat, and we want to pass it along.

With extreme heat impacting our region this week, we want to ensure all residents are aware of the available cooling resources across the city:

Family Activities

Happening This Sunday, July 19th!
9:30am-11:30pm Infant and Toddler Care 3mos-3yrs (101)

*Per safety policy, children/youth need to be supervised while on church grounds.

9:15am-12:15pm Teen/Tween Board Games! Rising 6th Grade & Above (A/B)

10:00-11:00am Worship Service (sanctuary)

10:15-11:15am (After Story) Early-Ed/Elementary Summer Class for 3-11yrs (201)

Kiddos w/fam in service: use Busy Bags or quiet toys in Wee Worship/Slowter!

11:00-11:30am Coffee/Tea – Pending Volunteers!* Email Robin Beach Hall)

Coming Soon: Fall Class Registration and Volunteer Teacher Recruitment!

Seeking More Campers for Peace Camp B!

Week B now open to 7-12yrs! Invite your friends! bit.ly/peacecamp2026

  • Nearly Full! Session A: 5-8 years, Monday-Friday 7/27-7/31, 9am-12noon
  • <10 Spots Left! Session B: 7-12 yrs, M-F 8/3-8/7, 9-noon ($100 suggested)

What is Peace Camp?  Peace starts with small actions–a kind word, a gesture to welcome someone, or taking a breath when emotions feel big.  In the span of a week, children will explore peaceful practices, including developing a sense of community, problem-solving, meditation, walking in nature, and more.