July 31, 2008
My dear friends in the TJD,

I know that each of our congregations in the TJD are holding the members and friends of Tennessee Valley UU Church and Westside UU Fellowship in your hearts. This Sunday, August 3, congregations all over the district and the entire country will deviate from their originally planned summer worship service to have special services that focus on coping with this tragedy. At this point, it appears that the Sunday worship service at TVUUC will be webcast live by the local TV station WBIR. If you are with a small congregation, you might want to arrange to watch that as your Sunday service (www.wbir.com). The service will be at 10:00 AM EDT. The broadcast will also be available for viewing later.

I have been working closely with the UUA's communications folks to help make sure that uua.org has up-to-date information of what is happening in Knoxville and around the country in response to this tragedy. Consequently, I have chosen to not update the TJD website on a regular basis but instead focus on getting information to as wide an audience as possible. I encourage you to set UUA Knoxville News as your browser's home page so you can see the latest news.

If your congregation has already or is planning to hold a vigil or a special service to help your communities deal with their grief, please submit the information to websubmissions@uua.org. This is an important show of support to Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church (TVUUC) and Westside Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (WUUF), who were both deeply affected by this tragedy, and although, they might not be checking uua.org while they are the midst of this crisis, it will give them great comfort in the days, weeks, and months ahead to know how their community of faith responded when they were in such great need. You can also leave comments to show your support at the UUA's Supporting Our Friends in Knoxville blog

Please announce to your congregations the a special relief fund that has been set up by the UUA and the TJD to support the congregations as they work through this incredible grief and trauma. Any financial help you can provide will make a big difference in assuring that people directly and indirectly impacted by this trauma have the ongoing support they need to work through the physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual impact on them and their congregations. Contributions to the fund can be made at Knoxville Relief Fund.

The Knoxville congregations appreciate your show of support far more than you can know. I personally want to thank you for the messages you have sent to Sue Sinnamon and me directly. This is the most challenging work that any district staff member has to do and receiving an email or text message filled with your heartfelt words of encouragement has gotten both Sue and me through some of the most difficult times. If we have not yet answered you directly, please know we are extremely grateful and will respond as soon as things quiet down.

Thank you all again for support and especially for your commitment to this amazing faith we love so deeply.

Yours in faith,
Annette Marquis
TJD District Executive