It’s been a while since my last report. I’ll try to catch you up on the high points of WUU Board business. I’ve been enjoying the newly invigorated early services on Sundays now that we’ve moved forward with our new two-service focus. In the new year, we will task a group with the development of an evaluation process to gather information from congregants about this initiative. You will hear more about this in the winter and spring.
Most months since last January the Board has been reviewing the progress of our Strategic Goals by hearing from the committees responsible for each initiative. Early this fall we completed our first round, covering the five goals, and we are about to repeat the process beginning in January. These reviews give the Board the opportunity to assess how we are doing on the Goals and offer feedback. We received excellent reports from Social Justice in September (Jessica Sapalio and Helen Hansen) and the Leadership Committee in October (Linda Lane Hamilton).
The Board and our Minister have been busy with the process of replacing Suzanne Huddleston, our Financial Assistant, due to her resignation. We have been very grateful to have our Treasurer, Dave Banks, slide over to take up the duties of Financial Assistant in the interim and then to have Vicki Hall volunteer to take on the duties of Treasurer. Please thank them when you next see them. Rev. Laura and the Personnel Committee have re-evaluated and finetuned the Financial Assistant job description and are about to begin interviewing for a replacement. Dave Banks has been a real trooper, continuing on with his daily duties despite the sudden loss of his wife, Virginia, after fifty years of marriage. Thank you so much for going above and beyond, Dave. We’ll all miss Virginia.
A newly formed Safety Committee has met often over the past months in order to develop an overall plan for campus safety, including building security, fire prevention and inspections, kitchen safety and other important controls. Fred Gilbertson heads this group and would welcome any comments and suggestions you may have.
On a personal note, I’ve become a grandmother over the Thanksgiving Day weekend. No question about what I’m grateful for this year—my new granddaughter! Those of you who remember Roxanne as a little girl, she’s now a new mom and Justin is the proud dad. Everyone’s doing well.
Respectfully, Jessica O’Brien