President’s Letter — February 2006

Fellow UU’ers,

Every year we come to the time when we start the arduous task of fundraising. Just as the members are the soul of the congregation the money that we collect in pledges and fundraising are our lifeblood. Raising money for the Fellowship is something that we do not always want to talk about but with out it we cannot do the things that we want to do. From new doors to paying Jim, money is essential for our continued growth and survival. This month we are having our annual fundraiser, not to be confused with the Pledge Drive. The Fundraising Committee has worked very hard to come up with alternatives to the large fundraising event of last year to give everyone a little break. But we still need to raise some money to make sure that we can accomplish some of the things that are important to us. As you may know the money that is raised in the fundraisers each year goes primarily to the capital improvements part of the budget. The amount raised determines what physical improvements we can do to our facility. I know that the Buildings and Grounds Committee can spend every dime that we raise and the more that we raise the easier their job becomes. Some of the things that the Buildings and Grounds Committee is hoping to address this year are; a new ADA bathroom, the water problems in the basement, parking lot improvements and safety doors for the Sanctuary. This year one of the events that the Fundraising Committee has planned to help pay for these things is UU On The Road. On February 10th and 11th various members of the Fellowship will open their homes for different events. Dinners, brunches, wine tasting, game nights. For each event you dimply sign up and pay the fee and go have a great time. How much simpler can fundraising be? You can sign up for any of the events that are still open on Sunday and if you have any questions contact Sally Simon.

Another project that the Fundraising Committee is working on is our own Ebay site, or as some call it Ubay. So if you have anything sitting around that you have thought you would like to sell on Ebay you can donate it to the Fellowship and we will sell it and the money will help us with the financial health of our community.

On a different note we are still looking for someone to assume the responsibility of Newsletter editor. The Board of Trustees has approved a new Newsletter policy and needs someone to make sure that submissions comply with this policy. This doesn’t mean that you would need to rewrite submissions or even check for punctuation. We are just looking for someone to oversee the policy and make sure that the newsletter is as good as it can be. If you are even a little interested, give me a call or talk to any of the Trustees about what this volunteer position might entail.

Special thanks to the Social Events Committee for a terrific “Game Night” last month. If you missed it, well you missed it. It was great fun and well attended.

As many of you may have heard we had a minor intrusion this month and someone broke in and stole our computer. Thanks to all of those that helped close things up and secure the building. The Buildings and Grounds Committee has taken steps to make the building more secure and is in the process of other improvements. We are almost back up and running. I am still grateful that it wasn’t worse. Nobody was hurt and the computer is replaceable. Remember if you use the building to make sure that it is locked up when you are done.

As always I want to thank all of you for what you do, this Fellowship would not be the same without you.

Be Safe,
David Morkal President
Board of Trustees