President’s Letter — September 2007

Dear Members and Friends

Welcome Back! I hope that each of you found some respite over the summer. I know I needed downtime. Got some, need more. Isn’t that always the case? Nonetheless, I look forward to seeing those of you whom I missed in my summer mode activities.

Your Board of Trustees worked through the summer months, as did many of our committees. We were pleased with the great turn out of Fellowship members for the June 3rd Annual Membership Meeting. At that meeting you elected some new Trustees, and a few weeks later the Board elected its officers for the next year and selected liaisons to the standing committees:

Edward Fried, President and liaison to Committee on Ministry
Teri Lukin, Vice President and liaison to Religious Education
and the Leadership Committee
Greg Kulberg, Treasurer and liaison to Fundraising and
Stewardship
Rick Turner, Secretary and liaison to Buildings and Grounds
Berni Croft, liaison to Social Concerns and Green Sanctuary
Shahan Islam, liaison to the Arts Committee and Sharing & Caring
Anne Pearl, liaison to the Program Committee
Marjorie Redleaf, liaison to Social Events
Michael Schwartz, liaison to Membership

We have been listening to you (as best we could) and hope you will talk to us, listen to us and support us, so that our actions can reflect the priorities and interests of the Membership.

A year ago the Board of Trustees committed to a set of goals and objectives. As I reported at the June meeting, we made respectable progress. We will again draw on your expressions of concern and priority to set a new plan for the next year. We will meet to develop goals in mid September, so it is not too late to make sure we understand what is important to you. Reverend Jim has expressed his concerns in the areas of Religious Education, a defined Social Responsibility policy, more active outreach to the Gay and Lesbian Community, Family Life Ministry, and Music Ministry. This list comes from the Minister, yet is a product of many of our discussions.

The Board of Trustees and Reverend Covington will likely add priority to environmental sustainability (and our Green Sanctuary efforts) and long term planning for the Fellowship. We may explore organizing the many interest groups to be formally adjunct to a standing committee. This would be to support communication, planning and budgetary issues.

Certainly we ended the year with interest in clarifying membership status and linking membership outreach with both some unfulfilled pledges and several who did not pledge this year. The intent is less an accounting effort, than for clarity regarding people’s intentions. Oh yes, some have floated the idea of a minimum pledge amount to cover the fees we pay to the UU District and national Association for every member. If interest in this topic is sustained, I promise that there will be ample opportunity for members to discuss this concept in open forum. This would be well before the next annual meeting in June, 2008, where it would need to be put before the members of the Fellowship for a vote.

And what did you think of the mini sermons that Reverend Jim sent out on our Fellowship Business List Serv over the summer? I liked them. But they were not as potent as sitting in the sanctuary with you and Our Minister, puzzling over our plight and opportunities and the “magic” we can make together. I hope each of you got to one or more of the lay led services over the summer. They offered inspiration, information and community during the warmer months. Special thanks for these services goes to Phyllis Tortora, the Program Committee and the volunteer coordinators/presenters.

So this September let’s rededicate ourselves to, “an open, inclusive religious Fellowship, striving to build a beloved community that fosters the search for personal truth, social justice, and spiritual growth!”

The light is on, the door is open.
Please come in; we have much warmth to share.

Eddy Fried
President of the Board of Trustees