Water Bottle Ban to be presented at the City of Mississauga's Environmental Action Committee
We are having success in being listened to with our Water Bottle ban petition and letters last week! 
Ward 8 Councillor Matt Mahoney invited us to present the 36 letters to Mayor Crombie to the City of Mississauga's Environmental Action Committee next week, and the committee administrator asked us to redo and re-sign the Region of Peel petition, directing it to the Mississauga City Council. So we will ask everyone to sign an additional water bottle ban petition for the City of Mississauga offices, community centres, libraries and other facilities before and after service this Sunday, Feb. 17.

Let's hope this is the first step to success for bottle bans at other governments like the regions of Peel and Halton, and at provincial government workplaces!

Douglas Alton
Long time member, our 2018 Mark De Wolfe Social Action Award recipient, Douglas Alton died on Sunday, February 3rd, 2019. After many months living with cancer, Douglas died peacefully at home, with his wife Janis and children Melanie and David at his side. Cremation has taken place.
 
A Celebration of Life will be held here at UCM on Friday, February 22nd at 1:00pm.
 
Please keep the Alton family in your hearts.

From the Finance Committee
Income tax receipts for 2018 were sent out this week. If you requested a printed receipt, you should receive it shortly in the mail, otherwise it was emailed to you. If you have not received your emailed receipt, please check your “Spam” folder - it was sent from UCM.Contributions@gmail.com. 

Contact Jane George at the above email address if there are any problems with your tax receipt.

Invite Your Neighbour service at Solel

Once again, Solel is having a very special Sabbath service. This "Invite Your Neighbour" service offers the opportunity to rejoice in our multi-faith community and to share with the community the philosophy and traditions of their celebration of Shabbat. 

They warmly extend an open invitation to join them on Friday, February 22, 2019 at 8:00 p.m. for this service. There will be an opportunity after the service for all to have a social get-together over coffee and desserts. 

Please RSVP to Solel if you can attend: 905-820-5915.

Time, Talent and Treasures Silent Auction
The Time, Talent and Treasures Silent Auction is a wonderful opportunity for members of the congregation to meet one another on a more personal level, through the sharing of talents, services, companionship, events or items of value. There are numerous ways for  everyone to contribute, limited only by your own imagination! Some past ideas include dinner parties, gift certificates, cottage weekends, tickets to special events, group day trips, hedge trimming, handicrafts, baking and other food items. The list of possibilities is truly endless! 

Donation forms will be available at Sunday service on March 24 and 31.
Bidding will take place before and after service on Sunday April 7, 14 and 28. 
All bidding will close at 12 noon on April 28th!

For additional information or to contribute ingenious ideas, please contact John Smith or Karen Mistruzzi Canning. Let’s join together to make this a fun and successful event for our congregation!

Calling All Performers!
Calling all performers! If you are not able to join the choir but would still like to contribute to the services, please consider donating your talent to perform during musical gifts. Please let Abigail know if you are interested and she can put you on the list. Any type of performance involving music is welcome - singing, playing an instrument or dancing.  abigailfreeman@rogers.com
 

Choir Exchange
We are excited to be doing a choir exchange with Neighbourhood Unitarian in Toronto! We will be singing at their service Feb 24 and the will joining us here on March 3 for a morning filled with music.

Green Sanctuary Congregation

This month UCM will focus on activities to reduce our use of energy. Televisions, radios, computers, clocks, computers, and game consoles consume power even when they are turned off! A list of carbon saving activities and the stickers will be at the table after each service.

Play the ‘Carbon Footprint’ Game! Everyone is invited to join us to cut Carbon at Home. Almost 40% of each person’s carbon foot print comes from their home. Read more on our Environmental Justice page.

CUC Online Book Club 

Would you like to be part of a cross-country book club for Unitarians? We are facilitating groups of 6-8 to find each other and agree on a first book and a time frame to meet using zoom technology (provided by the CUC). More details can be found here: http://vancouverunitarians.ca/canadian-unitarian-book-group/

Or email Mary Maler in Montreal who initiated this idea mmaler@videotron.ca or Mary Bennett in Vancouver maryinvancouver@gmail.com

New Syrian Family 

The Jalouk's would be happy to have anyone interested in dropping by for some simple English conversation (including maybe playing board games, etcetera) to help them practice their English. It is not necessary to have experience teaching ESL - just a desire to have some fun speaking English! 
 
Anyone interested please contact Cathy Tafler (cathy@taflerrylett.com) for further discussion and suggestions of words and activities from Jean and Marilyn.

Below is the updated list of items that would be useful for the family:
- iron and ironing board 
- knife sharpener
- sewing machine
Please bring any items to UCM and put them in the library. Thank you.

Opportunities Abound

As a thriving community, UCM has much going on. If you have time, please consider sharing your energy and gifts with us. There is a place for you! There are opportunities to help with the garden, the green sanctuary work, and much more. Please speak to Rev. Fiona or visit our Volunteer Opportunities page.

Sexual harassment excludes women from public life
Renu Mandhane, Chief Commissioner, Ontario Human Rights Commission

Le harcèlement sexuel : un acte qui relègue les femmes à la marge de la vie publique

Par : Renu Mandhane, commissaire en chef, Commission ontarienne des droits de la personne

Looking for Inspiration
Each week Rev. Fiona posts a spiritual practice for people to try at home. Sometimes it is an ancient practice such as meditation, others focus on the earth or universe with contemporary practices.  You can find the practice posted each Thursday at emptychalice.com or on the UCM facebook page.