The President's Perspective (Page 4)

Tom and I had a wonderful time in Scandinavia. We are thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to travel at this point in our lives. It helps us learn so much about other cultures! It inspires me to see how other people do things and how they live their values. Here is one of my favorite pictures – it is how one Norwegian woman gets through those long dark winters! She knits tree sweaters. What fun! There were about twenty of them.…

I am really looking forward to this new year. While I will dearly miss Phyllis Daniel and Birdie Reed on the Board, we will have new energy with Emily Scherping and Eric Noël. Welcome! We have lots to anticipate. We will have a new intern, Wendy Karn, and I very much look forward to getting to know her and work with her. With very mixed feelings, we will have a big transition in staff with Beth leaving. We are all…

What a great Auction! It was super fun and raised more than $15,000, well above the budgeted amount. Thank you JoLynn and Debra, our co-chairs, the entire Auction Committee, and everyone else who contributed, bought, and helped make it happen. We are awesome! It truly takes a village, and this is one of the best examples of all the ways we make it happen. Tom and I are looking forward to returning to attending General Assembly (GA) in person in…

The Sanctuary Construction Committee finally received a bid from the contractor on Friday, January 20th. Unfortunately, it is $2.7M, substantially higher than the $1.8M we have authorized. Bad news. As was presented at the town hall meeting in January, the principal reasons for the increased bids are inflation and increased requirements from the city. The Committee has met twice now since receiving the bid, and has asked our architect to propose cuts that would bring us closer to our financial…

“Look at all the work we’ve done, everybody showin’ up!” This is the first line of one of my favorite choir songs. We’ve really lived it this Fall! As we go into another calendar year, we can be proud of ourselves. We have had lots of “regular” activities with sermon discussion groups, book groups, another successful auction, and other groups that usually meet on a regular basis. Of course, Sunday mornings is our favorite activity. In addition, Rev. Sian taught…

Yes! But we aren’t there yet. Our building drawings for our new sanctuary for their second review the day after Thanksgiving, which means we hopefully have very few changes left to be done. Our architect is also supplying those drawings to our contractor so they can prepare an accurate bid. Yippee! Now for the hard part. The Sanctuary Construction Committee and the Board have been watching carefully. Given that it has been almost two years since we got the last…

The Board met October 26th and created some goals for ourselves for this year. We will need everyone working on it together to be most effective. We were committed to creating goals that are understandable, will guide action, and will be clear whether we achieved them. Hold us accountable! Please contact any Board member if you would like more information or are willing to help. Our next Board meeting is Saturday, November 19th from 9am-12pm in the Victoria Room. We…

Once again, our Wild and Scenic Film Festival was a huge success! Many, many, thanks to Linda Spery and her crew for all the work and organization. A great weekend at OCUUC! It was especially wonderful to see so many new faces and expand our circle. I have a feeling we will be hearing more about many of the issues raised. We are all anxious to know when construction of our new sanctuary will begin. It is already later than…

Tom and I have had lots of opportunity for travel this summer. This is the second summer that we have driven across the United States. This year we spent some time at the beach in Florida with our children and grandchildren and attended Tom’s Penn Hills High School reunion in Pittsburgh. In between, we were able to see some family and friends, including Scott and Margaret Armstrong, long time members who moved to North Carolina. It is so good to…

It is a new church year and a great time for beginnings. I am really looking forward to working with our excellent Board and all of you to make OCUUC all it can be. We have so many opportunities. The Environmental Film Festival promises to be a fantastic event and our beloved Camp deBenneville Pines weekend is in the works for October. It was a pleasure to work with Carolina Tercero Brandon, Eva Lu Goodwin Noriega, Nina Smith and Phyllis…

I am looking forward to a new church year! As grateful as I am to the work of last year’s Board, I anticipate another great year with our new Board. Thank you to all who serve. On July 10, a group of us are leading the Sunday Service to share our recent experiences with racism and anti-racism. It has been a transformative journey for many of us, and we understand we are on a very long path. In addition to…

May completed our onsite Ukrainian Refugee program. Everyone who is not with their sponsor has moved to a dormitory in Los Angeles, and our two-story building is almost empty again. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who donated items, made meals and grocery runs, did onsite stays, drove, and made it all happen. I have been so impressed by all the volunteer response and compassion. We are awesome! The Annual Meeting is upon us. I hope…