January 2026: Words to Lead By |
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ICE activity has increased in Maine. Mutual aid is an important resource that will support the organizations on the ground that are serving affected communities and working to keep people safer. If you are able to give, any dollar amount helps! The Maine Solidarity Fund is currently in the negative and could particularly use your support. We commend the community work each of these organizations is involved with and recognize that they are all working non-stop in this moment; all of this work is vitally important and part of an interconnected web that supports our most vulnerable neighbors in Maine.
- Maine Solidarity Fund
- This fund is designed to provide rapid, direct, and equitable support to community members facing increased detention, targeted harassment, policy rollbacks, and systemic discrimination under the new Trump administration, and organizations in need that are involved in this work.
- Presente! Maine
- Presente! Maine is a grassroots, mutual aid organization by and for displaced and dispossessed Afro/Indigenous-Latines in Maine. Their work is focused on community health & wellness; food & land sovereignty; and community power & shared leadership.
- Food for All Services
- Food for All Services provides culturally rooted, Halal, and accessible food to Maine’s immigrant and low-income communities, and are currently running a food bank for our community members affected by the ICE raids.
- Locker Project Maine
- The Locker Project Maine connects food-insecure children in Maine with nourishing food to improve their learning capacity, health and future. They are currently running a food bank for our community members affected by the ICE raids.
- Maine Needs
- Maine Needs provides necessities to individuals and families statewide; their support reaches asylum seekers, students, the unhoused population, survivors of domestic violence, and those facing financial adversity.
- Project Relief Maine
- Project Relief Maine is a Black immigrant-led mutual aid and racial justice collective, working every day to protect families, fight deportations, and provide food, shelter, and legal support when systems fail.
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Love Notes for Our UU Siblings in Minnesota |
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With multiple cities in Minnesota under attack by ICE, many of our UU siblings are struggling. Your congregation is invited to send handwritten notes of care and solidarity to one or more of the congregations included in this dynamic list (Google sheet). The notes can be as simple as messages on index cards, and multiple groups can send notes to the same congregation. Once you've selected the location(s) you're 'adopting,' please add your group's name to the space in Column E. Thank you for showing up for your fellow Unitarian Universalists!
Please note: As time and energy allow, this spreadsheet may expand to include other cities/states targeted by ICE. If you're interested in taking on part of that work, add another sheet/tab for a targeted place and go for it! There is a tab for Maine included.
This spreadsheet was created by UU Rev. Lindasusan Ulrich in conversation with a colleague.
NER also sent this email about Minnesota MARCH last week. We write with the acknowledgement that ICE activity is, and will continue to be, increasing in other areas of the country - including here in the Region in Maine. If your congregation needs support, please respond here or email your primary contact (Wufoo). This is a dynamic situation, and we are here for you as it unfolds. |
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Essays and Resources to Engage Your Spiritual Leadership |
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by wren bellavanace-grace |
In the Catholic tradition of my childhood, we are in the weeks marked as Ordinary Time. And although in that tradition, “Ordinary Time” refers to the denotation of weeks by ordinal numbers, to my childhood ears hearing the priest announce each week, “this is the seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time,” felt like acknowledging these were ho-hum-nothing-special weeks.
I write these words in the middle of January 2026, and these, my friends, are not ho-hum ordinary times.
This is obvious to all of us. It is not normal that we live in a country where masked, minimally trained agents are given extraordinary authority to terrorize our neighbors. It is not normal that our government is threatening to invade sovereign nations as though we were planning to set up a tent in our neighbor’s backyard and just refuse to leave. It’s not normal that elected officials in New England are taking life-saving healthcare away from trans kids and wistfully dreaming of the days of racially segregated schools.
None of this is normal. To say these are extraordinary times is not even strong enough a way to describe what we are living through. We have done the work in our congregations to create truly welcoming spiritual homes for our neighbors and families of every race and background; for our trans children to become known as their true selves; for immigrants to find asylum within our walls; and for community members with unmet needs to find a hand up through our many ministerial discretionary funds. You, who are doing this work already, know that these are not ordinary days.
Still, we affirm — we insist — on keeping our congregations places of welcome and love and safety. And we worry that this insistence may put some of our congregations in harm’s way. . . |
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Resources from Side With Love |
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NER Small Congregations Gathering |
Let’s connect! Join with your small congregation neighbors in New England to share ideas, questions, concerns, and support. We expect to meet about three times per year. Our first meeting with be on Tuesday, February 24 from 7:00 to 8:30pm.
This gathering is open to all staff and leaders in New England UU congregations ~120 or less.
The Zoom link will be sent to all staff and leaders in congregations ~120 members or less. To ensure receipt, please check that all information for your congregation on my.uua.org is current and correct. Latecomers and early departures are welcome.
We look forward to gathering with you! |
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Synergy Planning Team for GA 2026 |
Would you like to be involved in Synergy 2026? We are recruiting for 3 or 4 youth groups to commit to being a part of planning and recording for the pre-recorded Service. Learn more and fill out the interest form (Google)! |
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Journeys of Deeper Joy, the new roleplaying curriculum, is now available! The curriculum combines imaginative play, reflection, and a focus on community-building. Participants journey through Covenantia — discovering the Deeper Joy we can create together.
Journeys of Deeper Joy is adaptable for different congregational settings — with options for online, an abbreviated number of sessions, or shorter time frame formats. The curriculum is flexible across age ranges, though designed with youth and emerging adults in mind. Best of all — no roleplaying game experience required to facilitate or enjoy!
Email Ember Oak if you have any questions about the curriculum. |
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Sanctuary Boston's Campus Ministry |
Know any UU students in the Boston area? Sanctuary Boston's Campus Ministry program invites students from all over the Boston area into UU community with small groups, worship, and special events. If you know a UU student in the Boston area who would like to get connected, please share this interest form (Google) with them.
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Cool Congregational Happenings |
Please pass along any cool congregational happenings you have to newengland@uua.org for consideration of inclusion here next month! |
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Unitarian Universalist Association, New England Region
24 Farnsworth Street
Boston, MA
02210
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