Notes from the Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees wishes to announce a change in its meeting times.

In the interests of getting our members home at a reasonable hour, we will begin our meetings at 6:30 instead of 7 p.m.

As always, Board meetings are open to any members or friends who wish to attend.  If you wish to introduce a topic or bring an issue before the Board, please contact one of the Chairs (Noemi Ybarra, Robin & Dianna Poindexter, Gary Fowler) or another Board member, prior to the meeting to be added to the agenda.

We meet on the second Tuesday of each month.

      Also:

The registration materials for the 2005 District Annual Meeting have gone into the mail and will soon be here. They are also up on the District website, www.heartlanduu.org, for those who prefer to register online and pay by credit card.

This major Heartland District event, to be held in Cincinnati over the weekend of April 8-10, will offer exciting innovations in serving congregations this year.  I'd like to encourage attendance for any of our leaders and for all who are interested in sharing, learning, and networking with other congregations.

                                    --Noemi Ybarra, Board Chair

 

 

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Caring Cans Sunday a Success!

15 bags of peanut butter and jelly and other food items were taken to the LUM Food Pantry at St. John's church.  This was the most successful food drive in several years.  Thank you, thank you!!!

Once again the Social Responsibility Committee asks you to participate in the first Sunday of March food collection. Please let your children participate! For March we are asking for contributions of diabetic or sugar free non-perishable food items.  I was told last Sunday that one of the youth in our congregation is diabetic and most excited that our church contributes diabetic foods. Our efforts are most appreciated.

We hope to have the children place the food items in the baskets at the front of the sanctuary as they leave for RE classes on March 6.

Of course, any non-perishable food items are acceptable and can also be placed in the designated box at the side door downstairs anytime.

                                          --Sue Robinson

 

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Lost and Found

Please help us keep our church clean!  Mary Ann Foley and Sue Robinson have been trying to monitor the kitchen and back hall under the stairway since before the Art Fair.  Our church secretary and Hilary pick up every day and this isn't their responsibility.  Items often appear and are never removed.  Please look to see if you have left something.

 

·        Back hall: Many items left from the Art Fair.

·        The baskets above the coat rack in the back hall: Some lost and found cups, etc.  Clothing on the coat racks.

·        Kitchen: Casserole dish, divided relish tray, miscellaneous.

·        Front hall: Christmas tree.

 

If you bring it to church, please remove it when you leave unless it is a donation. If it is a donation, please speak to someone about the need for the items.  Thanks for your help!

                                                            --Sue Robinson

 

A Night at the Auction -- A huge success!

Many, many thanks to all who contributed to the success of the 2005 Service and Talents Auction. A grand total of $7,000 was raised for the congregation. Every item donated was sold, from vacation properties to cookies and everything in between.

Special thanks to those who helped with set-up -- Dennis Kovar, Dan Lybrook, and Kirsten Reynolds -- and to Amy French for her help the night of the auction. And thanks, too, to Eric Thiel, our sound engineer that evening.

We appreciate the services of Jim Van Schepen, our auctioneer, who donated his time and talents to make the evening a success.

And finally, we want to thank everyone who donated items for sale. From the RE Classes to kids who donated babysitting and car washes to the adults who gave of themselves, we are deeply touched by your gifts. And the generosity of the big spenders who came and purchased items; without you, the evening would not have been possible.

Hope this has not left anyone out -- and thanks to all for a wonderful event!

--Cindy Gerlach-Mueller, Cheryl Fowler, JoAnn Darling, Lisa Pantea and

Edie Pierce-Thomas, the 2005 auction committee

 

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Observations on the Consultants

Our Heartland District consultants met with the congregation to finish the first phase of Conflict Engagement and Right Relations work on Sunday, Jan. 30, after the worship service. 

We had a good turnout of members and friends. We participated in a dialogue exercise which introduced us to Appreciative Inquiry, a method of approaching dialogue.  The consultants also presented us with a summary of the information they gathered on their previous visit, and suggestions on work we might do in 12 general areas.

In the weeks since, I have heard (and made) comments along the lines of, "Why didn't they tell us what to do to solve ___?", "I wish they had given us more concrete recommendations", and "What did we gain?"

In one recent conversation, when I expressed a wish that they had given us clear steps that we could follow, a wise fellow congregant postulated that perhaps the consultants understood that this was OUR work to do.

This made me pause to remember what it was we set out to do. We did

NOT expect, or even ask, the consultants to solve our problems. We did not even ask them to show us how to solve them. We asked them to gather information and help us to learn more about conflict engagement and right relations.

As with any group of human beings, we will always have problems, conflicts, disagreements.  What we need - what we asked for - is a basic framework within which we can work in a healthy, loving way to engage those issues.  How do we discuss contentious issues and still show respect for one other? 

How do we approach each other with care and concern as we try to resolve problems?  How will we treat our fellow congregants when we disagree with them?

This is the work that is before us now.  Our consultants gathered much information, and distilled it into a relatively short document. They introduced us to some ideas on engagement.  The next steps are ours.

                                                Noemi Ybarra, Board Chair 

 

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Come Discuss the Restructure of Program Council

Program Council as it was originally structured might have made some people feel that their voices have not been heard.

All members and friends are invited to attend this important meeting. Let’s work together to ensure that Program Council is a vehicle for communication as well as an essential piece of the church structure.

Robin Poindexter will facilitate this meeting Thursday, March 31, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. upstairs at the church.

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Share Your Opinion on New Building Project

The congregation has reached a turning point in our efforts to find a church home suitable for our current family and for growth.

The vote taken last Sunday was one step in the process. Options for the next steps were identified at the January and February congregational meetings.

If you were not at the February meeting, we would like your input as to the attractiveness of the options identified so far. We realize that none have been fully explored and explained in detail – at this point we are interested in your opinion as to which of the options should be investigated more thoroughly. 

Please rank the options that are listed below. There are spaces to write additional options.  Give a ranking of “1” for the option that you favor the most at this point, a rank of “2” for the next best option, etc. 

If you think a particular option is not worth further consideration, leave it blank. We will tabulate this straw vote by giving a high score to options ranked highest on each ballot, and low scores to options ranked low. Options left blank will be given no score from that particular ballot.

 

______            Re-do the existing design for the Union Street building as a smaller building, resulting in a plan closer to our budget.

 

______            Change to a completely new design for the Union Street property, with an eye for both affordability and other changes in design.

 

______            Look throughout the community for a different property that we could buy with the money that we have raised.  This could be a property on which we could build more affordably, or an existing structure.

 

______            Explore whether there is a congregation in an existing building with whom we could share facilities, as we increase our building fund.

 

______            Develop a plan to stay at our existing building on Seventh Street at least for the short term. The plan could either enable the congregation to fit more comfortably into our space with our current size, or allow for reasonable growth.  It is anticipated that the plan would probably involve purchase / use of nearby properties.

 

______            Other option ________________________________________________

 

                        ___________________________________________________________

 

 

______            Other option ________________________________________________

 

                        ___________________________________________________________

 

When completed, please return this ballot to the church through the mail, or place it in the New Building Committee mailbox. 

 

 

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Participate in the Heartland Annual Meeting April 8-10

 

This year’s District Annual Meeting is nearby – in Cincinnati--on  April 8-10.

 The theme “Gather in Spirit” will set the tone for a weekend of sharing, exploring, and learning. Exciting workshops, worship and social activities, and important business discussions will take place. You can find complete information online at www.heartlanduu.org, including a brochure you can print out. You can even register online!  Otherwise, watch the back of the sanctuary for brochures and registration forms soon.

Don’t miss this opportunity to gather with other UUs from across our three-state district. If you are interested in attending, please inform the Board (we are allowed to send four voting delegates).

The District meeting is a great opportunity to meet with other Unitarian Universalists in the district and learn more about what other congregations are doing. 

This year our congregation is thinking about also providing a half-day visit to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati.  A group of willing adults would accompany interested children and young people on the tour while others could attend the Saturday sessions.  If you are interested in this idea, please contact Sarah Boulac at 742-0460. 

Registration materials for the 2005 District Annual Meeting have gone into the mail to key persons in every congregation and are up on the District website, www.heartlanduu.org, for those who prefer to register online and pay by credit card. 

Hope to see you in Cincinnati. And perhaps in Fort Worth for the General Assembly. The District Assembly is closer, smaller, but it is a small taste of the banquet of useful information and exciting connections you can find at our General Assemblies in June.

 

 

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Warning About Scam

I (Noemi Ybarra) received this message via email last week, forwarded by the

Heartland District office: 

"From the Clifton Unitarian Church:  Yesterday, I received a phone call from one of the Board members from the UU church in Hopkinsville, KY, who reported that she had taken a call the night before from someone claiming to be Todd Eklof, the minister at our church, Clifton Unitarian in Louisville. 

The caller stated that he needed $70 for a congregant that was stranded in her area, and needed to get to Louisville to meet with a loved one that was gravely ill in the hospital.  The caller stated that the Hopkinsville church would be reimbursed by the Louisville church.

 She was just about ready to buy into the call, when the caller mistakenly used some language which gave her serious doubts about the caller's authenticity. 

I'm writing to you to see if we can notify other UU churches of this phone scam, so they don't get taken in."

"This UU in Trouble scam is a variation of a scam that has been going around the country for several years and has occasionally succeeded in getting money from leaders in UU congregations.  The version reported below from our UU Church of Hopkinsville used the name of the Rev. Todd Eklof, minister of our CliftonUnitarian Church in Louisville.  

Please alert your staff and lay leaders not to be taken in by such stories and not to provide any funds to the caller.

 

Barbara Hamilton
Office Administrator
Heartland District of the UUA

    

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Outdoor Group Plans Outing

The Outdoor Group is planning a hike to NICHES's Weiler-Leopold Nature Reserve in Warren County on Sunday, Feb. 27th after church. 

Please bring along a packed lunch, we'll carpool from church for those interested.  See Tandy Easler for more information. 

This 179-acre property on the Wabash River in eastern Warren County includes open oak savannas, wooded slopes, old fields dotted with boulders deposited by glaciers in millennia past, 100 acres of bottomlands returning to forest after the planting of 30,000 trees in May of 2000, and a 12-acre grassland area being restored to native tallgrass prairie. Walks through these areas are most conveniently begun from the parking lot at the northeast corner of the property. Birds and mammals abound. Many special plants have also been found and more are being discovered each year now that fire, in the form of controlled burns in the savanna and prairie areas, has returned to reduce the competition from aggressive and nonnative invaders.

The Reserve is named after its former joint owners, the families of  Emanuel Weiler, who was the founding dean of Purdue's School of Management and of the Krannert Graduate School, and of A. Carl Leopold, an internationally known plant physiologist and son of the renowned naturalist Aldo Leopold. It was acquired in 1999 with the support of the Indiana Heritage Trust, the Roy Whistler Foundation, the Sycamore Audubon Society, the Weiler, Leopold, and Sanna families, and nearly two hundred additional individuals, families, groups, and businesses.

 

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New UU and You Class Starting

The Greeting and Membership Committee invites you to the "New UU and You" class.

Learn about our history, principles, mission, and diversity.

Get to know our congregation through discussion, fellowship and good food. Child Care provided.

The two-hour classes will be offered EITHER: 

• Sundays, after church: April 3, 10, 17, & 24 (a light lunch will be served)

OR

• Sunday evenings: April 3, 10, 17, & 24 (hors d'oeuvres and dessert will be served)

 

Please register on sign-up sheet at the back of the church.  Popular demand will determine time scheduled.
 

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HHighlights from Congregational Meeting of 13 February 2005

Barny Dunning gave a brief re-cap of the information provided in recent weeks about the progress of the Union Street building project. 

Due to a significant difference between the amount that we had budgeted for the project and the estimated cost of the project, the New Building Committee and the Finance Committee had recommended to the Board that we not go ahead with the current plan.  

The Board concurred and took these recommendations to the Congregation.  A motion was made and seconded not to release the design for bidding. Motion passed. 

Some options for how to proceed from here had been offered for consideration at a previous meeting, and these were reviewed briefly. A straw vote on these options had been suggested, and there was discussion about the how much influence such a vote would have. 

It was explained that the purpose was to get a very general idea of what people’s thoughts were at this time, and that those not attending the meeting would also be provided an opportunity to vote via a ballot in the Lighted Chalice. 

Meeting attendees (not necessarily members, but anyone who felt that they had a stake in the future of this church) then ranked the options on a written ballot and turned them in.  These will be considered over the next few weeks. 

 

Religious Education Happenings

 Religious Education Director: Sarah Boulac
RE Committee Co-Chairs: Beth Misner, Cheryl Fowler