September President’s Report
by Helen Hansen, WUU Board President
Welcome Rev. Jude. We are so glad to have you at WUU. Rev. Jude has met individually and in small groups with many congregants and has already inspired us with sermons and encouraged collaboration with intentional listening. Please join me in thanking him for his presence.
Please join me in gratitude for the WUU Staff, Board, Program Council, and Worship team who worked together to provide meaningful leadership, ministry programs, and Sunday worship from January through July.
What’s New
The newly formed Religious Education/Lifespan Faith Development Task Force (Rev. Jude, Rachel Delbos, Andy Cason, Linda Lane-Hamilton, Helen Hansen, Anne Stevens, Jackson Verburg, and Dave Wilcox) has created a strategic plan to rebuild our program for children and adults. The task force met with families after the service August 24 and will recommend hiring a half-time director of religious education (DRE) to the Board at the September 9 meeting. Please contact Rachel Delbos if you have ideas or would like to volunteer to work with the young people or adults. This is a time in history when reinforcing our UU values in every possible way is critical.
The Green Justice Initiative has been identifying plants on WUU property, is starting a book club, and has placed the bin in the foyer to collect soft plastic. Please watch the Spiral for ways to participate in this important work and contact PJ Fameli for more information.
WUU has been named a 25+ Honor Congregation by the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). We are proud to have given the full requested amount to the UUA Annual Program Fund every year since 2000. We were also recognized as a 2025 Leadership Congregation. This matters because the UUA provides congregations with support and resources. Please check the UUA.org website to discover the many ways our UUA assists WUU and other congregations. Our UUA representative from the Southern Region, Tyler Coles, and the ministerial transitions team director, Christine Purcell, have been invaluable in assisting our search process resulting in the hiring of Rev. Jude. Rev. Tyler will be leading our Leadership Retreat in September.
Rental agreements have been signed for this year.
Church of God will continue to use the main building on Saturday afternoons.
Ixora Montessori will move out of the RE wing into Fahs House as soon as the Parker House renovation is completed for the Williamsburg Friends. Gratitude to the Campus Improvement Team (CIT) led by Les Solomon and Jim Hall for their hundreds of hours of work on the Parker renovation, saving WUU many thousand dollars.
The new Montessori Forest School will be using room 106 Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, for a class of 6- to 9-year-old children.
Challenges
Financial sustainability – In order to maintain a balanced budget, the Close the Gap Task Force and Stewardship committee will be providing opportunities for us to provide the revenue needed to fund our building, staff, and programs.
Volunteering – In order to have a vibrant congregation with a focus on our mission – to serve – your talents and time are valued. You are encouraged to be creative – invite a small group of friends to have a brown bag lunch at WUU, offer to work with children in the RE program, join a committee or small group (they are all listed on the website). WUU is stronger when we all participate.
Join justice work wherever and whenever you can. Kate McGaw is our WUU Social Justice chair and welcomes your participation and ideas.
*********************
Contact the WUU Board President by e-mailing boardpresident@wuu.org.