By Marcia Wittmann on behalf of the Board of Trustees

As we reach the end of our fiscal year, there’s much to look back on and be proud of as a congregation. We’ve energetically pursued our mission to Create Community, Celebrate Life, and Change the World through our committees, ministries, and events, including our community potlucks, and by showing up for social action in our communities.

The Board has worked diligently to meet the goals we set for the year, and I’ll highlight just a few here. As a reminder, these goals are:

• Create Community – We offer creative, meaningful ways to be part of community life, strengthened by mutual care, honest communication, and a spirit of covenantal connection that unites us all. We actively welcome and are hospitable, while embracing learning and growth to being a truly inclusive community.  We build multigenerational, multicultural, in-person and online communities; they are woven tightly to each other and the wider whole.
• Celebrate Life – Each of us shares and lives our Unitarian Universalist identity in our daily lives.  Together, we grow spiritually as individuals and as a congregation.
• Change the World – We actively engage in the larger community as partners, collaborators, and advocates for justice, guided by their needs and voices.

We have a financial plan for the next one to three years to ensure financial stability and set realistic goals.

We sponsored several task forces this year to help us make progress toward these goals, including the Financial Health Task Force, the Strategic Plan Implementation Task Force, and the Safety Task Force, as well as the creation of a new Communications team and an Aesthetics team. The Financial Health Task Force provided recommendations to strengthen our congregation, with some actions we’ve already taken and others you’ll hear about in our proposed FY26/27 budget. 

Last month, the Strategic Plan Implementation Task Force shared its recommendations with the Board, which we’re currently assessing to inform an updated strategic plan. These recommendations included examining our strategy for growth and community engagement, assessing our existing programs with respect to both current and new members, and evaluating the financial choices we make in relation to our priorities and focus. This task force will share its recommendations at our upcoming annual meeting.

We’ve worked with Rev. Kim and Marilyn Gonzalez, our Congregational Administrator, to assess our focus areas as our staffing changed with the retirement of Robin Pugh, our Director of Congregational Life, and with the end of Rev. Lisa Schilansky’s tenure. This has required us to rethink our priorities, roles, and responsibilities within the congregation to stay strong and focused on what matters most.

Through generous donations, we sponsored and oversaw the construction of our new chancel and accessibility ramps in the sanctuary to make our congregation more welcoming.

And, of course, the Board continues to help manage our congregation’s ongoing operations by guiding priorities and goals for our stewardship campaign and annual operating budgets.

The Board has focused on our goals and on making progress against each goal.  I appreciate all the Board members for their commitment of time, the energy and diverse thinking they bring, and their passion for making UUCWC a welcoming, caring religious community.