Dear Friends,
When I was asked several months ago if I would consider serving as the
President of your Board of Trustees it came as a huge shock to me. I had
never considered doing it, and was doubtful I was the person for the job. I
had to think long and hard about it and met with your former President, Tari
Lee Muth, to learn what the job entails. She spent several hours with me
going over many details, and I’ll be forever grateful to her for taking the
time and effort to educate me and she continues to bolster me up when I
need it.

What I have learned in this short period of time is lots of dedicated
volunteers spend many hours of their lives working on behalf of our
beloved community. I am a small piece of that, and I can tell you the
volume of work that needs to be done every day far exceeds anything I
imagined. Our community is full of selfless, generous and loving people.
They show up every day and are continuing to provide amazing leadership.

As all of you know with the ending of Rev. Joe’s ministry, we have a
challenging time ahead of us but once again many of you have already
stepped up to help us move forward and my gratitude for each and every
one of you is immeasurable.

In the last few weeks, we have signed an updated agreement with our
prospective buyers of our meeting house that protects us from unnecessary
costs; we have also signed an agreement with two engineering firms that
will assure our new location will be safe and sound (thanks to Sue Fisher
and the hard work of our New Home Task Force); our Social Justice Team,
under Lucy’s strong leadership, is working on ways to help defend our
status as a sanctuary for immigrants and that team is also going to Albany
on March 25th to push for passage of the Medical Aid In Dying Act.

Jamie, our RE leader, is continuing to bring new children to our community
and has a major fundraiser planned for us this summer. Get your walking
shoes on because we will be walking to raise money for our special RE
program.

The list is endless of our teams and committees who serve all of our needs.
These are just some of the reasons I knew that if I didn’t take this position, I
would regret it. This community has been a part of my life since 2011, and
I would have been lost many times without the love and support of my UU
friends.

It’s time to give back. I will do my very best for all of you and please know I
need your ideas, your concerns and even your criticism when you think I
need it.

Holding you all in a loving embrace,
Tena
Your grateful Board of Trustees President