Greetings, All
This is my last President’s Letter, but of course I’m sticking around with all the other past presidents among us. I’ll be chairing the new Hospitality and Events Committee, but we still need someone willing to help find and report on events in the community that we can join with our T-shirts, our banner, our kids and our voices—maybe the roller coaster cars in my attic.
A few upgrades to our building were made during the past month. Judy Barnett painted the cabinets in the kitchen where the stove that the Harlans donated has been installed. Ron Ussery got the countertops cut, trimmed out and glued in place. Those were donated by Bill Turman. The stove is ready to use, but we cannot use the top surface for cooking, only warming something. The oven is fine to use for anything, but we will have to take some steps to keep it clean.
Ron and Hal Midgette purchased and configured a new laptop for the podium from Best Buy. It’s working fine.
As President, I called the December 8 Business Meeting to order after the Sunday service program. The unopposed slate of officers for 2025 was approved by a unanimous vote of 34 members of the congregation in separate shows of hands for officers and trustees. Ron presented the 2025 Budget by explaining why some categories, especially Children’s Programs and Church Mutual property insurance, were increased and a line item for Earth-Centered Spirituality was added. Overall, the budget for 2025 increased to $86,800 over $81,500 for 2024 and you approved it with unanimous vote.
To help meet that budget, our board agreed to send pledge letters out by email again this year. We hope you will respond. We work hard to keep our expenses in check as we promote a sense of abundance within our fellowship. Especially during the winter holidays, that feeling seems strong among us. I hope you have many opportunities to share it with family and friends and with us as well.
Ron will still print letters of annual donations to distribute in person, if possible, or mail to donors. We have had a good year in 2024, and it will certainly continue with Amos Jones as our new President. The Jones family has not been with us long, but they have helped to shape the fellowship as it will move into the future. With their wisdom and energy we can build a stronger and more diverse fellowship that we have long sought.
The December 21 Christmas/Yule party will be a lot of fun. Join in the feast and the Carol-Oke and help keep the Yule log as remembrance of the ancestors who knew that the following morning would begin the cycle of longer days and spring would come again.
We already have big plans in the works for a March 2 UUFC Anniversary Party celebrating TEN YEARS in our new location. Be thinking about all the memories of our old location and write some stories about what you remember. Brenda and I want your memories and experiences from Double Churches to paint a picture for all the members who never got to experience it. Then there are the issues leading to our need to move, our search and the learning experiences that touring available properties afforded. Then we struggled with funding and remodeling the building we now occupy debt free. We did it! We need to remember what this accomplishment means and share a moment of pride in all we did to make it come together. We also need to remember those who have come and gone during all that process and how they contributed as well. Maybe Norm Horofker can join in by Zoom.
So, looking back and looking forward as we celebrate Winter Solstice this weekend, I think of how quickly the seasons pass and how we are all part of the world but also somewhat sheltered from it with all we have designed and built at UUFC. In the twenty-three years that I have been a member here, we have kept our old commitment to the principles we all believe, and we have grown into new values with hope for the future. I am grateful to have been a small part of the leadership team that worked to help us maintain our very unique fellowship.
Happy Holidays—ALL of them.
Connie Ussery, President
Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Columbus