[Men] Men's dinner canceled, virtual meeting considered

Fri Mar 13 12:02:57 CDT 2020

I am canceling the men's dinner scheduled for my home this Wednesday. The
Church Board has cancelled all "large group activities." "Large" has not
been defined, but Gary tells me it is my responsibility as host to decide
about the men's group. Sharing food, as we do at men's group, is especially
risky, and a lot of us are in the "over 70" category. So I'm calling it off.

As an alternative, I am considering setting up a virtual meeting.  I was
inspired by the attached email from Beth Casebolt in which she says she is
opening her "zoom room" at 7 tonight.  Zoom is one of the best known
softwares for online meetings.  I'm going to attend her meeting at 7
tonight, and if it works well, I may open a "zoom room" for our group.  We
can do our usual check-in and get updates on everyone's lives.  We can
focus especially on dealing with the imminent pandemic.

This pandemic is likely to last for several months, so learning to use
virtual meeting tools may prove useful for other things as well.  For Zoom,
you need a computer and internet, but most of us have that.  There is also
an option of using the telephone, but you have to pay them for an upgraded
account for that.

I'll send out another email later to let you know if the Zoom Room is
happening and what's involved.  If any of you have experience with this or
other software such as Google Groups, please get in touch with me.

Ted

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Beth Casebolt via AppalachianCluster <
appalachiancluster at lists.cerguua.org>
Date: Thu, Mar 12, 2020 at 12:55 PM
Subject: Re: [AppalachianCluster] Current UUA Status
To: Appalachian Cluster <appalachiancluster at lists.cerguua.org>

In the interest of helping as many folks as I can I am going to open my
zoom room to answer questions and talk through challenges you may be
facing. Consider this open virtual office hours if you will.

I’ll be there tomorrow at 7 pm for 1 hour. If you need to chat and this
time doesn’t work for you reach out and we’ll schedule something.

My Zoom information is below:

Beth Casebolt is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Appalachian Cluster Office Hours
Time: Mar 13, 2020 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/343992531

Meeting ID: 343 992 531

One tap mobile
+16465588656,,343992531# US (New York)
+16699006833,,343992531# US (San Jose)

Dial by your location
        +1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
        +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
Meeting ID: 343 992 531
Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/aglSfvOp7

*Beth Casebolt* :: she/her/hers
<https://www.uua.org/lgbtq/identity/personal-pronouns>
CER Communications Consultant and Operations Manager
740-232-9048

Contributions from member congregations <https://www.uua.org/finance/apf>
 and individual donors <https://www.uua.org/giving> make the missional work
of the UUA possible.

On Mar 12, 2020, at 11:54 AM, Beth Casebolt via AppalachianCluster <
AppalachianCluster at lists.cerguua.org> wrote:

Dear Appalachian Cluster members

I’m writing to check in and see what the needs and questions of the
congregations in the Appalachian cluster with the current COVID-19 pandemic.

First a few mentions - The UUA has closed the office in Boston and all
staff are working from home. The UUA has also recommended that any
congregation in an area with cases to suspend any gatherings of more than
25 people including worship services (see the UU World article -
https://www.uuworld.org/articles/covid19-uua-closure
<https://nam01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.uuworld.org%2Farticles%2Fcovid19-uua-closure&data=01%7C01%7Cbcasebolt%40uua.org%7C1fe50e894a9f444671eb08d7c69da190%7C233fa3af288049738c97849b33720752%7C0&sdata=bEH2q9nJkdHUl4Y4aeyUZc6XkwChWCaEBeA4fwG0MIg%3D&reserved=0>).
The Central East Region has cancelled all programming in March and April
and is currently working on either moving them to online formats or
reschedule. (see our announcement from yesterday -
https://www.uua.org/central-east/blog/news/event-changes-central-east-region
).

All state universities and colleges in Ohio have switched to virtual
classes through the end of the month and they may extend that. Marietta
College, WVU and University of Maryland have also made that move. So there
are many groups who are watching this and trying to contain it.

I strongly urge you to start talking now if you haven’t already about what
you are going to do if you need to cancel services or more. As a faith
community is it our responsibility to protect those who are most vulnerable
in our congregations. According to the CDC, that includes anyone over the
age of 60, those with chronic respiratory or heart conditions and diabetes.
We encourage you to take what your local public health department says to
heart and follow their advice. However, I also encourage you to consider
taking these steps to protect your congregants before your health
department says you have to. Some congregations have said we’ll close when
the schools close - please note that school children are at the lowest risk
and there is debate about whether or not children are at lower or higher
risk by going to school.

Your UUA staff is rapidly creating and updating several webpages on the
website that relate to this situation.
There is a page on Pandemics - https://www.uua.org/safe/pandemics
A Guide to Streaming Sunday Services, Meetings, and Classes -
https://www.uua.org/leadership/library/streaming
Also look at this post - Streaming Sunday Services - Technical Tips -
https://www.uua.org/leadership/library/streaming/sunday-services

There are options for gathering folks together in small groups and creating
connection between our congregations. You can use Skype or google meetings
or other software to do small groups. Check in on each other and see if you
can help each other. Send cards and letters. Have kids in your home drawing
art? Send it to the shut in adults in your congregation. Create FaceTime
opportunities to check in. Do those who are ill or unable to leave home
need help getting groceries by those who are able to get out. If children
aren’t able to go to school can another adult FaceTime with a child
(supervised by their parent) to share the excitements of their day to help
save their parent’s sanity? Be creative, find out needs and figure out ways
to connect that. Try creating or using a closed facebook group (so only
your members and friends can see it) to share needs and make offers of
help.

If you feel you can’t create worship there are alternatives - You can
invite your congregation to share with a congregation that already
livestreams their worship, many of our larger congregations do that and you
can find links on their website. If you need some suggestions let me know
and I’ll share that with you. You can also join Church of the Larger
Fellowship who has been doing online worship for a very long time. They do
services each Sunday at 8 pm and use zoom for their service. -
https://www.questformeaning.org/worship/
<https://nam01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.questformeaning.org%2Fworship%2F&data=01%7C01%7Cbcasebolt%40uua.org%7C1fe50e894a9f444671eb08d7c69da190%7C233fa3af288049738c97849b33720752%7C0&sdata=bkExlu5i1t4PVajdjOihBJFuYbMRYEIxEzupkFTk9WY%3D&reserved=0>

Have questions? Need advice? Reach out. Use this list or contact me
directly. I certainly don’t have all the answers but I can help you find
them. I can connect you with others. I can offer a zoom tutorial for your
leadership. Let me know.

We are a community and we can support each other in this time.

*Beth Casebolt* :: she/her/hers
<https://www.uua.org/lgbtq/identity/personal-pronouns>

CER Communications Consultant and Operations Manager
740-232-9048

Contributions from member congregations <https://www.uua.org/finance/apf>
 and individual donors <https://www.uua.org/giving> make the missional work
of the UUA possible.

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