December 2021 –

Holiday Greetings to the UUFM Family from the UUFM Board — Judy Nickelson, Chair; Rob Morrison, Past Chair; Amy Betz, Chair-elect; Cathy Hedge, Secretary; Dan Swenson, Treasurer; Marisa Larson and Ruddy Benavides.

We meet every second Tuesday at 7 pm.  All are welcome to attend.  We continue to meet via Zoom, so if you want to be there, just let one of us know and we will get you the link.

In October, we welcomed our new pastor, Rev Isabel Call.  We accepted the resignation of at-large board member Deirdre Greeley and elected Ruddy Benavides to fill her term.  Thank you, Deirdre, for your service and Ruddy for stepping in.    

The Sunday Services Team is working on getting some new technology that will make it much easier to run the in-person and online service, something that was budgeted for this year.

In October, Lindsay Smith reported on building maintenance.  The work on the outside of the building is finished and the new door to the Alsop room has been installed.  New tile is being installed in the Alsop room and the ceiling in the Jupiter room is being fixed.  Our faithful grounds volunteers have spruced up the outside of the building.  The HVAC system is in good working order.  Please let Lindsay know if there are issues in the building that need to be addressed.

In November, Kathy Swenson reported on the Social Action Team.  The main functions of Social Action are choosing the monthly Helping Hands offering recipients (Kathy); stocking the Blessing Box at Wonder Workshop (Doug Walter); cooking and serving the Happy Kitchen breakfast every Friday morning at St Paul’s Episcopal (Tom Phillips); and the Racial Justice Team that meets every third Sunday at 4 pm.  Many members of UUFM also serve in community groups concerned with social justice including the Manhattan Alliance for Peace and Justice (MAPJ), Committee on Equal Justice (CEJ), the Manhattan Afghan Resettlement Team (MART), and others.

Doug appreciates everyone who stocks the Blessing Box or brings him items to stock.  He checks it at least once every day.  He would like to have some people he could count on to back him up for days he can’t get there.  Tom is always looking for regular volunteers or substitutes for Happy Kitchen.   Social Action and Social Justice teams are open for everyone to get involved. 

The Board will be asking the Racial Justice Team to conduct a congregational inclusion audit using a rubric developed by the Minnesota Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Alliance.  There are many ways we could be more inclusive and welcoming.  We could start by assuming that everything we read, write or speak is being heard by people not familiar with our congregation or Unitarian Universalism and putting ourselves in their shoes.

The Board has been contemplating our committee/volunteer structure and the fact that some of our volunteers have been in their positions for a very long time.  We will continue to work on these issues in the coming months. 

Respectfully submitted,   Judy Nickelson, Board Chair

Contact Judy at judynickelson@gmail.com.