by Krystyne Wozniak
We had our first meeting, after the summer break, on Thursday Sept 13th. After having no teams and a lite coffee hour through the summer, we are now back to having our regular coffee hour with teams, which will be making fresh brewed caffeinated and decaf coffees, hot water for various teas, and some delicious snacks.
We are thrilled to have three new members, Marion Payne, Jackie and Mike Goodwin, join our congregation! Congratulations and welcome! We are also thrilled to see some new faces over the summer and in Sept. at our Sunday services. We anticipate the possibility of more people officially joining our congregation in the near future. Marion Payne actually joined our congregation in 1982 when her name was Marion Bayard. She has not been actively involved for many years and is unable to now for health reasons. However, she recently decided that she really wanted to sign the membership book again in order to feel more connected to Unitarian Universalism which is very important to her. Rev. Barbara Threet and Elayne Leonelli went to her home with the membership book so that she could sign up again. Welcome back, Marion!!
Jean Grant has set up a ‘Greeters Calendar’ in the dining hall, and members and friends of the congregation are encouraged to sign up for whenever they are able to be greeters. It is fun and easy, and a great way to get familiar with fellow congregants. The Members/Friends directory is being worked on and cleaned up, and letters will be sent to members who have not been in contact with the congregation for some time. We need to get a better idea who our active members and friends are.
Throughout the meeting, we discussed various ways to raise funds for our congregation. Some suggestions included a car wash, a social, and a possible table at the Farmers Market. We also had an idea that perhaps an evening service, either monthly or bi-monthly, might attract young adults (and graveyard shift workers) to our congregation. Many young adults today are active and involved in the political and social issues facing us in today’s world, and a church like UU may be an ideal way for them to connect with like-minded people. An evening service could also attract those that would like to be a part of something, but aren’t thrilled, for various reasons, with the idea of getting out of bed bright and early on a Sunday morning.
We are looking for more members and friends to be on the coffee hour teams. We thank everyone who has been on the teams, and those who are able to remain on them. Your help has been greatly appreciated. At present there are only 6 teams with about 4 people each. Most third Sundays of the month will be our pot luck, so that will usually mean we only need three teams a month. With 6 teams, that would mean a team will be scheduled about every other month. If we could get more teams together, we can spread that out even more. Even just getting a few more on the current teams would be a big help. If you would like to volunteer to be a team member, please contact Krystyne.
Our next Membership Committee Meeting will be on Thursday, Oct 18th at 12:00 p.m. All are welcome!