Community Happenings

This page contains information about JRUUC events and community events that our congregation members are involved in that align with our mission.

Check out our weekly newsletter for current events and news
Click here for the latest national UU news

Weekly Events at Reeb

  • Sundays – 10am service, Coffee and conversation after the service (meal on 3rd Sunday)
  • Tuesdays 11-1 – Minister’s In Person Office Hours at Java Cat Coffee House (4221 Lien Road)
  • Wednesdays 6:30-7:00 – Meditation with Friends, online
  • Thursdays 7:00-8:30 – Sacred Breath Choir (intermittent – check newsletter)
  • Fridays 12:00-2:00 – Minister’s in person office hours at Reeb, please call or text ahead so Karen knows you’re coming
  • Fridays 5:00-6:00 pm – Minister‘s Zoom office hours
  • Saturdays 10:30-12:00 – Folk Music Gathering in person

Check this week’s newsletter for more information and zoom links

“Time Pieces” by the Wisconsin Chamber Choir – 5/9

Reeber Sarah Hallas is in the Wisconsin Chamber Choir and would love to see folks at their next concert on Saturday May 9 at 7:30 p.m. It’s a powerful program that addresses injustice, among other topics. Click here for more information about the program and tickets.

Catfish River 4-H Club Plant Sale – 5/9, 5/15, and 5/16

Hello, gardeners! Come find great plants to start your garden! The Catfish River 4-H Club, which Benny Luglio is a member of, is having a plant sale. The sale will be held at two locations:

  • Monona location: 5104 McKenna Rd on Saturday May 9 from 10 a.m. to noon 
  • Emerson East Madison location: 406 North Street on Friday May 15 from 4 to 7 p.m. and Saturday May 16 from 10 a.m. to noon

The sale is a fundraiser for club activities, field trips, and service projects. The plants that the club will be selling include tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and flowers. Bake and Art sale too! Can’t wait to see you there, the plants are growing well.

Cheers and Fears – 5/10

This is a space in which we’ll offer each other support in navigating today’s times. We’ll cheer each other on, and we’ll share our fears and hold them together. The next one-hour session will meet on Sunday May 10 after worship in the Reeb library. All are in person, drop-in opportunities – come once, or as often as you like.

Potluck for People, Peace, & Planet – 5/16

Saturday May 16 is the date for our next Potluck for People, Peace, & Planet. As it falls on Nakba weekend, we will partner with Jewish Voice for Peace and other pro-Palistinian justice groups to offer an after-dinner program to commemorate “The Nakba.” Nakba is Arabic for “catastrophe” and refers to the 1948 forced displacement of roughly 750,000 Palestinians. Potluck starts at 6 p.m. The program will begin by 7 p.m. For more information, see our flyer or contact Tim Cordon.

Perfect Harmony Chorus Concert – 5/16 and 5/17

Perfect Harmony Chorus is grateful for JRUUC and invites our congregation to come to one of their next concerts on May 16 and 17. This chorus joyously serves the LGBTQ+ community in Dane County, providing an active welcoming community that makes beautiful music. Note the sliding scale ticket pricing – you choose from 3 different ticket prices to reduce the barriers to attendance. For more information, see their flyer here.

Congregational Annual Meeting – 5/17

Our annual congregational meeting will be held Sunday, May 17 at 11:45 am, after the Sunday service and our monthly community meal. The meal will be a potluck. If you are able, please bring food to share. Donations for the meal instead of food are also welcome but not required. All are welcome to the meal and meeting, but only members will be able to vote. Documents related to the meeting will be available at the link below as they become ready.

Find out more here!

Community Potluck Meal Sundays After Service – 5/17

Eating together is one way we build community!  Once a month after the service (around 11:30-12:30) we gather to share a meal. Frequently (but not always) the meal happens on the third Sunday of the month.

Most months, this is a potluck meal where folks are encouraged to either bring a dish to share.  We accept cash donations to help defray the costs, but everyone should feel free to come to the meal regardless of their ability to bring a dish or donation. Gluten free and vegan options are always provided.

Want to help?  To lessen the burden on Sunday greeters, we are asking for volunteers to help with set up/clean up after service on third Sundays for the community meals. Responsibilities will include setting up tables and chairs as well as ensuring the dishwasher is run and all counters are wiped down. Please see Emily before or after service or email her at re@jruuc.org if you have any questions or are interested in volunteering.

Watch your newsletter for updates about future meal dates. Our June meal will be after viewing General Assembly online together in the sanctuary.

Reeb’s Annual Rummage Sale – 5/22 and 5/23

The sale is Friday May 22 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday May 23 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.  

Donation Drop-Offs: Starting Sunday May 17 after services. Please place items in the multipurpose room (use the door at the end of the hallway). You can drop off any time you are in the building that week. On Thursday May 21 from 4 to 8 p.m., the building will be open while volunteers are setting up the sale, and you can drop off donations then too. We’ll take almost anything in good or usable condition, except clothing. As per last year, this year we won’t be pricing each item individually, but will be asking buyers to pay what they think an item is worth. This approach to pricing doubled our return last year! If you are donating something of substantial value, please contact Ingrid Stark or Jane Aldrich to let us know what you think it is worth so we can deal with those items in a special way.

Volunteers Needed! We will be setting tables along the west wall of the sanctuary after service on Sunday May 17. We will need help moving them. We also need volunteers on Thursday May 21 from 4 to 8 p.m. to help with setup. And we need volunteers during the sale itself, to keep things orderly and to take cash at the table at the door. Please talk to or contact Ingrid Stark or Jane Aldrich if you are able to volunteer or if you have questions. Thanks, everybody!

Sign up here to volunteer, or use the paper sign up at Reeb near the kitchen.

Book Lovers Club – 6/6 (Monthly Mon-Sat)

Thanks go to Renee for organizing this group! We will meet for a half hour for general chit chat and enjoyment of treats/any food you might want to bring for yourself, and then for an hour to focus the discussion on books.

Join us! Drop-ins welcome. No need to commit to coming to all of the meetings.

  • Saturday 6-June 9:30-11:00
  • Monday 6-July 6:30-8:00
  • Saturday 1-August 9:30-11:00
  • Monday 31-August 6:30-8:00
  • Saturday 3-October 9:30-11:00
  • Monday 2-November 6:30-8:00
  • Saturday 5-December 9:30-11:00

This group will not follow the traditional book club format of picking a book, reading it, and discussing it as a group. Instead, we are thinking of it as more of a space to share book recommendations, swap books, and eat treats. To help focus discussions, each month has a theme. For example, what is your favorite book, favorite biography, favorite non-fiction, favorite sci-fi/fantasy, etc. Watch your newsletter for more information.

For 2026, based on feedback received, let’s plan to try an alternating Monday and Saturday schedule for the first week of the month (most of the time). We can check-in mid-year and see if the schedule is working. If it is working great! If it’s not working I’m open to suggestions.

For Saturday meetings, let’s plan on meeting at 9:30 am for general chit chat (and coffee/tea!) and then talk about books from 10:00-11:00 am.

For Monday meetings, we will follow the current time of meetings from 6:30-7:00 pm for general chit chat and then talk about books from 7:00-8:00 pm.

Open Mic Saturday – 6/6 (Monthly)

On the first Saturday of every month, Reeb is hosting an open mic event. Suggested donation is $5/person, and all admission and concession proceeds will go to JRUUC. Please come and entertain with your music, poetry, comedy or any other talent you can offer! To donate food or beverages to sell, or for further information, please contact Mike Stimson.

Please come and share your talents or just enjoy the show.

Monthly Laughter Yoga – 6/8 (Monthly)

If you enjoyed the Laughter Yoga offered at a Sunday service back in April 2025, you’ll be tickled to know that we are now offering a monthly Laughter Yoga session available to anyone and everyone! Members of the Laughter Club of Madison will return to JRUUC on the second Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m. for one hour of healing laughter in community. Mark your calendar, and bring a friend! Second Mondays, 6:30–7:30 p.m. at JRUUC, beginning September 8. Questions? Contact Virginia.

UU General Assembly – 6/14-26 Online

General Assembly (GA) is the annual meeting of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), where participants gather to worship, witness, learn, connect, and make policy decisions for the Association through a democratic process. While anyone can attend, congregations must certify annually to have voting delegates.

Click here for detailed information.

Sign Up to Contribute to Rev. Karen’s Farewell-Thank You Reception on 6/8!

Rev. Karen’s last worship service with JRUUC will be on Sunday, June 28. After service there will be a reception where members and friends can say final goodbyes and well wishes, and share gratitudes and reflections on what Karen’s ministry with us has meant to them. We will have paper hearts for people to write their messages for Karen to take with her. In preparation for the reception, we will need people to purchase and/or make things and volunteer to set up and clean up the event. Sign up HERE to help out! Contact Virginia Harrison with questions.

Midwestern Unitarian Universalist Summer Assembly (MUUSA) 7/5-11

MUUSA is an intergenerational, week-long “camp” for Adults, Young Adults, Senior High School, Junior High School, Elementary and Early Childhood campers. MUUSA is a place for spiritual reflection, intellectual growth, and creative play within a caring and supportive community. MUUSA was started in Lake Geneva, WI in 1944, then moved to Potosi, MO for the last few decades. Now, it will be held annually at Ripon College. That’s less than a 90 minute drive from Madison!

At MUUSA, Adults enjoy a long list of workshops and excursions. Teens live separately from adults with their own counselors and their own programming based on their year in school. Our youngest children enjoy day-long activities and religious education and rejoin their families at the end of each day. Multigenerational activities include a social hour, open-mic “coffeehouse,” games, and spiritual meetings.

The 2026 camp will be July 5-11 with the theme of “Hearts Wide Open!” and the ministerial speaker will be Suzelle Lynch. For fees and other information, see muusa.org or speak with Jocie Luglio.

Reeb Rave – Annual Auction and Fundraiser – November 2026

Learn about our annual fundraiser and auction here. This event is not only a wonderful one-night experience, but also an ongoing community builder. We offer lots of auction items where members and friends can share experiences throughout the year such as dinner parties, dungeons and dragons events, and birding excursions, as well as art, goods, and services offered by members and the wider community.

Quarterly-ish Potlucks

In case you are new or have not yet participated, this is the story: A Quarterly Potluck is a chance for Reeb folks to sit together for a meal and conversation with 5 to 8 friends you may or may not have already met. The magic computer randomly puts the groups together, and one of the group members will host the others in their home at a date convenient to the participants.

If you are already on our list for these events, you don’t need to sign up again. If you would like to start participating or just want more info, write to Jan Gordon.

WUUSAN Monthly Newsletter

The Wisconsin UU State Action Network envisions UU congregations in Wisconsin in a collaborative relationship, sharing hopes and ambitions, embracing UU values, and working together to bring about the Beloved Community. WUUSAN’s newsletter is available here.

Food Equity Opportunity – Luke House

In January our participation at the River Food Pantry ended. Prairie UU Social Justice Coordinators have been seeking a new service opportunity and would love to continue to include us in their volunteer numbers.

They have landed on serving (not preparing) a lunch once a month at Luke House, which is just off Williamson Street. Volunteers commit to sitting and eating with the guests. Is this something you are interested in?  We need 3 volunteers for each date, so check your calendars and contact Peggy Haack if you are interested.

Let Peggy know if you’d like to be added to the list of future volunteers.

Just Bakery at Reeb

Get your goodies after Sunday Services in the foyer and support a just cause. Both cash and cards are happily accepted. Just Bakery, an initiative of JustDane, is a 12 week educational and vocational training program. The program works with individuals who are experiencing significant barriers to employment (homelessness, justice involved, lack of education, and/or a lack of work history or skills). Learn more about Just Bakery here. Watch this space for future dates.

Share the Plate Nominations Needed!

Each week this congregation gives half of all offerings collected in our plate to local organizations whose work furthers our mission.

Do you know of an organization you’d like us to give to? Please nominate them!

Did you know you can buy your own “Side with Love” apparel at Inspirit, the UUA bookstore?

In Our Wider Communities…