ANNOUNCEMENTS
Announcements can be added to this list, to the weekly e-blast, or to the Order of Service
by submitting the Communications Form - Add Announcement form.
Greeters Needed!
Looking for an easy, low-pressure way to connect with your community?
Become a Greater Nashville UU Greeter!
Volunteer once a month at one of the two welcome tables. There is a short training and you are ready to go.
Have a friend? Volunteer together!
Those who attend regularly online - this is a great way to attend in person once a month and relieve those who work to make the service happen each week.
If you are interested, contact Zenith via email or Lisa on Sundays.
GNUUC Legacy Project
Greater Nashville UU is starting a Legacy Project to document our history.
If you have photos, newsletters, videos, or other media that is part of our history, bring it to Greater Nashville UU between now and December 20th.
Susan T and Kristin R are leading this project and will be organizing the materials. If you have digital media, talk to Kristin R. to get an upload link. Caren S-S will also be recording stories from our past.
Long term we will create a library of materials for congregants to learn from.
This is an ongoing project that will take several months to put together, and will make a lasting impact on recording the legacy of our congregation.
If you are interested in helping with this project, reach out to Susan T or Kristin R.
Sun., Nov. 29, noon: Thanksgiving Leftovers Potluck
On Sunday, November 29, after Sunday service, join us for a Thanksgiving Leftovers Potluck! Bring your family favorites to share.
Sun., Nov. 29, During Lunch: Bring Items for RITI Snack Bags and Help Us Build Them!
On Sunday, November 29, during lunch, we will make snack bags for our 2026-2027 Room In The Inn Guests to take with them after their night with us. We need 32 snack bags total.
Please sign up to bring items. Click Room In the Inn Community Service Project to see what is needed.
Email kristin.reveal@gnuuc.org with what you would like to donate or sign up on the form in the lunch room. Thank you!
November Share the Plate: Razom for Ukraine
This month we’re sharing our plate with Razom for Ukraine. Razom means “together” in Ukrainian, and the name describes how the organization works. Ukrainian and Ukrainian American volunteers founded it in 2014, and it has grown from a grassroots effort into an international nonprofit with offices in New York, Washington, Kyiv and Lviv.
Razom’s work rests on three commitments:
Delivering aid: tactical medical kits, surgical equipment, evacuation vehicles, generators, water filtration units, and winter supplies for front-line medics, rescuers, and families.
Educating: hands-on trauma care and mental health training for first responders, healthcare fellowships, and job training for displaced people and veterans.
Building connection: linking community organizations across Ukraine and sharing Ukrainian culture with the world through film and literature.
Their guiding belief is “Ukrainian success is the world’s success.” Your gift helps people meet hardship with care, skill, and solidarity. To learn more, visit razomforukraine.org.
How to give
Each Share the Plate gift is divided evenly: half supports the current Share the Plate recipient, and half supports GNUUC's general fund. To direct your gift to Share the Plate, use the keyword "share":
In the Sanctuary: cash or check in a provided envelope (memo: share)
Online: visit nashvilleuu.org/donate, then click Give to and choose the "Give to Share the Plate" fund
By text: text 615-246-5553 with "[Amount] share" (example: $50 share)
By mail: GNUUC, 374 Hicks Road, Nashville, TN 37221 (memo: share)
October Share the Plate Partner is Room In The Inn
When someone experiences hospitality and safety and a feeling of belonging, they experience sanctuary. ~ Charles Strobel, founding director
In October, GNUUC shares our plate with Room In The Inn, celebrating 40 years of hospitality to Nashville's unhoused neighbors. This winter, GNUUC once again hosts overnight guests through RITI's Winter Shelter program, offering dinner, breakfast, and a sack lunch for the road. Year-round, RITI provides showers, laundry, mail, legal and ID clinics, recuperative care, and pathways to permanent housing, along with Hope University's education and workforce programs. Please give generously!
How to give
Each Share the Plate gift is divided evenly: half supports the current Share the Plate recipient, and half supports GNUUC's general fund. To direct your gift to Share the Plate, use the keyword "share":
In the Sanctuary: cash or check in a provided envelope (memo: share)
Online: visit nashvilleuu.org/donate, then click Give to and choose the "Give to Share the Plate" fund
By text: text 615-246-5553 with "[Amount] share" (example: $50 share)
By mail: GNUUC, 374 Hicks Road, Nashville, TN 37221 (memo: share)
NOAH NEWS!
NOAH in a Nutshell
Nashville Organized for Action and Hope (NOAH) is an anti-racist, inter-faith coalition of congregations, community organizations, and labor unions (around 70 member organizations). We aim to amplify the power of ordinary people so that their voices are heard in the public arena. GNUUC is a founding member of NOAH.
NOAH is a member of Gamaliel, a national network of local organizations committed to building political power by uniting people of different races and faiths.
NOAH engages ordinary people in the political and economic decisions affecting their lives, acting as a unified voice for the faith and justice community to act on its values in the public arena. NOAH does not endorse political candidates but gets them to endorse our issues agenda, and pledge to work with NOAH if they are elected.
Currently, NOAH has four task forces, selected at its most recent Issues Convention: Affordable Housing; Education; Economic Equity, Jobs, and Transportation; and Transformational Justice. Additionally, there are three working groups: the Faith Leaders Caucus, made up of clergy members, Integrated Voter Engagement (IVE), which engages with voters about the issues they care about, and, more recently, the Immigrant Rights Campaign, which has partnered with The Remix to provide Know Your Rights trainings, among other things.
February Share the Plate Partner is the Mental Health Cooperative
The Mental Health Cooperative was founded in 1993 with a bold mission to provide community-based care for adults with serious mental illnesses. We united three essential services — Urban Case Management, Continuous Treatment Team, and the Mobile Crisis Team — into one coordinated model focused on access, dignity, and real outcomes.”
Reusable Food Containers Needed in the Kitchen
The Kitchen's supply of containers used for take-home leftovers is depleted. Please return containers you have used to take leftover food home, or donate any extras that you don't need. Bring them on Sundays and drop off at the Kitchen.
January Share the Plate Partner is Side With Love
Our January Share the Plate partner is Side with Love, the organizing strategy team of the Unitarian Universalist Association.
Side With Love confronts exclusion, oppression, and violence rooted in identity. With the goal of building Beloved Community, they pursue social change through advocacy, public witness, and solidarity with those whose lives are publicly demeaned.
Through education, organizing, and collective action, Side With Love supports work for democracy, climate justice, racial and immigration justice, and LGBTQIA+ and gender justice—reminding us that these struggles are deeply connected, and that lasting change happens when we act together, grounded in love.
Side With Love has also supported our wider Tennessee UU community, including a recent grant that helped make the TUUCAN Fall Flock in Nashville possible.
We invite you to give generously today as a way of choosing, together, to Side With Love.
November Share the Plate Partner is Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee
Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee is dedicated to ensuring equitable access to the food and resources people in our community need to thrive. For nearly 50 years, we have welcomed our neighbors with radical hospitality, empowering them to live free from the daily burden of food insecurity. We prioritize innovation and remain committed to sustainability as we strive for a future where everyone is food secure, and no food is wasted.
Women’s Group Donated Much Needed Items to Mental Health Cooperative in Nashville
GNUUC Women’s Group has provided requested toys, games, books, weighted blankets, etc. to the new Children and Youth ER Psychiatric unit at the Mental Health Cooperative in Nashville.
The need for mental health services for children is urgent and growing. Left untreated, mental health disorders can cause severe and long-lasting problems
We hope to make this an on-going service project and will inform the congregation of future opportunities.
October Share the Plate Partner is Room In The Inn
This October, GNUUC’s Sharing the Plate partner is Room In The Inn. The program provides safe shelter, warm meals, and fellowship for our neighbors struggling with homelessness during the coldest months of the year.
This year, we will continue to host overnight guests as part of RITI’s Winter Shelter program. Contact Nathaniel B for more information on volunteering.
Share the Plate for August: White Stork (Humanitarian Aid to the Frontlines in Ukraine)
White Stork is a US-based, veteran-led critical aid and last mile logistics charity that delivers medical supplies and evacuates civilians from the frontlines in Ukraine. Taking their name from the national bird of Ukraine, their mission is to give every Ukrainian the means to survive. They focus only on Ukraine, assembling and delivering high-quality individual first aid kits to soldiers and civilians. They also provide temporary housing and other forms of humanitarian aid. They do not provide any weapons or ammunition.
July Share the Plate: Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Americans United for Separation of Church and State is a nonpartisan educational and advocacy organization dedicated to advancing the separation of religion and government as the only way to ensure freedom of religion, including the right to believe or not believe, for all. Please donate to Americans United through Share the Plate in July, defending freedom of religion, and freedom of belief.
Women’s Group Collecting Water Bottles for Nashville Rescue Mission
Please help us by bringing bottled water to church during July. We will deliver to the Nashville Rescue Mission. If you have a large vehicle and can help with delivery, please let us know. Please put the water bottles on the table at the back of the Fellowship hall.
Music Sunday
On Sunday, June 15, members from FUUN joined GNUUC for Music Sunday. More than 100 people attended in person, and over 30 attended online! After the service, refreshments were shared in the Fellowship Hall. This event was a great success for both congregations, and we look forward to more co-hosted events in the future.
Click Read More to see pictures of Music Sunday.
GNUUC Board Meeting Summary - June 18, 2025
The GNUUC Board held its monthly meeting on June 18, with members gathering via Zoom to discuss congregational matters and plan for the future.
Financial Update
Treasurer Jesse Spencer-Smith reported excellent financial news. The congregation exceeded budget projections with pledge income at 110% and plate income at 131% of budgeted amounts. The positive financial position will allow GNUUC to prepay next year's UUA Annual Fund contribution ($6,600) and add $2,000 to the building capital fund for future AC unit replacements.
Annual Meeting Reflection
Board members reflected on the recent annual meeting, acknowledging that some discussions became heated, particularly around budget matters. The board identified key learnings:
-Share the budget with congregants well before the annual meeting to allow time for questions and discussion
-Implement regular "meet your board member" opportunities during Sunday announcements
-Better prepare congregants for productive participation through resources like the "Be Prepared, Be Kind" guide to annual meetings
Contract to Call Update
Claire S. reported on the Contract to Call Task Force progress. The team is working to schedule a meeting with UUA representative Christine Purcell to clarify next steps.
Looking Ahead
Board Retreat: Scheduled for Saturday, August 30, 9 AM - 2 PM at Jesse S-S's home.
Shared Ministry: Rev. Denise will provide updates during Shared Ministry meetings about her ministerial activities to help congregants better understand the breadth of her work.
Appreciation
The board expressed deep gratitude to outgoing members Tina and Carol for their years of dedicated service and welcomed new members Nathaniel B. and Gabby to their roles. A special congregational meeting to officially elect Gabby to the board was scheduled for August 24, following the Sunday service.
The meeting concluded with members feeling optimistic about GNUUC's financial health and committed to improving communication and processes for the congregation's continued growth.
June Share the Plate Partner is The Belonging Fund
The Belonging Fund was established by the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, Conexión Americas, and Tennessee Justice For Our Neighbors, in conjunction with the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, and will be used to support families impacted by civil immigration enforcement operations in Middle Tennessee that began on May 4, 2025, and are ongoing. This fund will be responsive and evolving to the community's needs as determined by the founding organizations and will be flexible to adjust to the shifting policy landscape.
May 2025 Share the Plate: Free Hearts | Support for those Impacted by Incarceration
This month we are honored to share our offering with Free Hearts, a Tennessee-based organization led by formerly incarcerated women. Rooted in Nashville, Free Hearts works to support and reunite families impacted by incarceration through education, advocacy, and grassroots organizing.
In partnership with the National Bail Out collective, Free Hearts is participating in the 2025 campaign to free as many Black mothers and caregivers as possible in time for Mother’s Day—offering not only release, but reunion, dignity, and healing.
Free Hearts also leads Nashville’s Participatory Defense Hub, a powerful community initiative where families and loved ones come together each week to learn about the court system and advocate for justice. Since 2017, these efforts have resulted in more than 1,100 years of incarceration avoided—a testament to the transformative power of collective care and resistance.
Your generosity today helps Free Hearts continue this vital work: reuniting families, shifting power within the criminal legal system, and imagining a world where love and liberation prevail.
To learn more about Free Hearts, visit https://freeheartsorg.com/.