President’s Letter
Partnership Yields Fun and Results at UUFM
Pandemic times mandate creativity, innovation and constant experimentation at UUFM. For nine months our staff, board, committees and teams have been hard at work striving to function effectively in new ways. The challenge is not just to COPE in the midst of lament, but, in our re-inventing, we seek to renew – to discover new ways of being whole. And, of course, “failures” are our friend. It means we are trying, learning and trying again.
It helps me to acknowledge change as a constant; the duality of loss and renewal. Things will NEVER be the same again. They will be different. How different remains to be seen. Our losses and pain are REAL. I try to own and use our losses. For me, it helps to discard the morose and engage the challenge of new beginnings with curiosity, wonder, good humor and with partners.
A recent example of UUFM innovation (and a decision to find fun and friendship with partners in our work) was the Board’s decision to issue a Write-Down Stewardship Challenge to our Stewardship Task Force. Acknowledging the important role of Stewardship to the vitality of our church, Board members committed to participate by offering to write a “pledge letter” that captured our stewardship beliefs and commitments and proposed a friendly competition asking Task Force members to each do the same.
Tony Flipovitch leads our UUFM’s Stewardship Task Force. Challenge members sent all Letters to Tony by Oct 23. Tony blind-copied all letters to our Judge. Rev. Rita’s husband, Jeff Lowry, who has been active on the Stewardship Team at the UU church in Buffalo, NY, kindly agreed to be a partner, by serving as our Judge. Jeff provided all participants an evaluation checklist in advance and subsequently read and scored each letter.
Challenge Team members met by Zoom in advance of the Board’s regular November meeting for the “Reading of the Winning Letter,” a short discussion of what participants learned in the process and a brief illustration of ways to improve an already strong letter. Tony announced that Stewardship Task Force member, Mae Gagnon, was the author of the winning entry. Mae was presented with a basket of fresh fruit and chocolate. Enthusiastic comradery was palpable.