Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Los Gatos

Sunday Services Committee Report for 2005-2006

The Sunday Service Committee is under the UUFLG Sunday Service Programming Trustee and the position of chair may be delegated by the Trustee with Board approval. Nan Bixler served as Chair for this Fellowship year. The Committee was comprised of lay leaders and worship associates who worked with Interim Minister Nancy Roemheld and guest speakers to put together the order of service lay out which was sent to Administrative Assistant, Adrienne Gormley to produce the weekly order of service. DRE Kari Sparks also worked on the TFAA component of the service and gave the A.A. other information from RE Music Chair Phyllis Reid arranged music for the service. The Minister, DRE and Music Chair worked with the committee on a regular basis. Much of the committee work was accomplished through email, but regular monthly committee meetings were held through the year and will continue until the 2006-07 Interim Minister arrives to make her support needs known.

The current committee is planning July services because the July newsletter deadline is June 20th. Rev. Nancy’s last service with us is July 2nd. With Rev. Nancy, the nine volunteers serving as worship associates or lay leaders and good support from the DRE and music committee, the year has gone smoothly. A Chancel committee was formed by the Sunday Programming Trustee, Lynn O’Keefe, and has been taking responsibility for visual enhancement. Volunteers are working in pairs for a month at a time.

Worship Associates and Lay Leaders include Julie Doyle, Hollie Dunham, Linda Krenicky, Walt Main, J.J. Martin, Lynn O’Keefe, Katie Rall, Bill Scarvie and Chris Washburn.

Rev. Nancy, Kari Sparks and Phyllis Reid have drawn in many volunteers to provide music, TFAA, and readings from both adults and children. Notable among the adult musicians are pianists, Ruth Webb, Wanda Alexander and Phyllis Foxcroft. Also, the Recorder Group, the Greenbough Singers, Norm Crane, Dave Peyton, Joe Rafferty , Phyllis Reid, Kari Sparks, and Ruth Pfaff. Children and youth who have shared their talents include Dean Marchant, Alexandra Robertson, Jenny Heath, and Kelly Smith.

Seminarians from Starr King School for the Ministry have been guest speakers as well as lay people who have something inspiring to share. We offer an honorarium of $150. plus mileage for those who come from a distance. Some of our lay leaders have created in-house services which have tended to be intergenerational.

Respectfully submitted,
Nan Bixler, Chair

UUFLG Finance Committee Report April 24, 2005

Below is a table showing the Building and Grounds Projects scheduled for this year. We have completed several and hope to complete most of the rest by the end of the year.

Bob Bixler, Building Committee Chair

Fix Leaking faucet in womens restroom Tabled 14

UUFLG List of Building and Grounds Work Items
As Of 5/04/06

Item#	Priority	Status	Est Compl Date	In Charge Person	Item
Building Items
13	3			Ann & Others	Build new signs for the building
8	5	Working on it	&npbs;	Dwight Y	Fix playground gate, paint table.
6	6	Low priority		Bob & Jim	Replace yellow glass in Sanctuary
12	7			Dwight & Bob	Add a door to the east utility yard to close off the tools and build a storage shed to hold the wheelbarrow
9		Investigating		Bob B	Replace or repair any damaged planks in the deck
18				Jim Stahl	Paint stripes on ramps at doors
19		Completed		Replace burned out fluorescent lights & broken covers
20	1			Bob & Richard Bixler	Repair kitchen and attic leak damage
21				Bob & Irv	Finish weekly timer on H/AC system
22				Ann C	Have roof checked by professional roofer
24				Signs to direct people to Front Door
Completed Items
1		Done	11/1/2005	Bob B	Put up list of weekly Custodian tasks
2	4	Done	11/1/2005	Bob B
3		Done		Irv Y	Procedure to report needs
4	8	BOD say next fiscal year if funds available		Bob & Others	Rearrange kitchen to add dishwasher
5		Done		Lou Y	Reupolster Piano bench and chairs on stage.
10			Irv Y	Investigate options for hearing impared
11		Closed - No interest		Ann C	Get input from DRE re needs in classrooms
1	Done		Bob & Irv	Fix Piano leg and get dolly for it.
15		Done		Bob & Irv	Fix H/AC for automatic weekly timer operation
16		Done		Jim Stahl	Check Gutters and Downspouts
17		Done		Jim Stahl	Replace Hindges on fence gates
18	23	Done		Bob & Dwight	Install awning over deck
19		Done		Jim Stahl & Lou	Reupolster Piano bench and chairs on stage.
20		Done		Jim Stahl	Reupolster chairs in entry hall
Grounds Items
1	3			Ruth W	Develop an overall plan for the grounds
2	1			Ruth & Bob	Get a functioning automatic watering system
					Involve the hired gardener in the design of 1 above

Social Justice Committee May 2006

May 2005 - An organizational meeting of the SJ Committee was held May 29 with ten people in attendance and it was decided to hold monthly meetings after Sunday services.

July 2005 - We read and approved the SJ Charter and made the following decisions:

1. Continue UUSC fair-trade coffee sales at Coffee Hour the first Sunday of each month.
2. Join UUA in adopting global warming as a SJ focus.
3. Begin collecting used printer cartridges as a fundraiser and environmental project.
4. Create a SJ table at Coffee Hour where we can disperse important social justice information.

August 2005 - It was decided by the committee to choose Habitat for Humanity as our local project, and Rosemary Stasek's mission in Afghanistan for women, . . . a little help, as our global project.

Sept. 2005 - Margo and Kelly Smith presented their ideas on a youth project that would be done to raise funds for . . . a little help. They will make and sell bracelets, cards and treats at Coffee Hour.

We began sign-ups for the Habitat for Humanity work day in October. We clarified and made decisions regarding Share the Plate, our Fellowship endeavor to raise funds that would both support charities in which we believe and our congregation.

Sept. 2005 - We had a showing of the film, "Caribou Migration", to inform the congregation regarding the effects of drilling for oil in the Arctic Wilderness.

At our first Share the Plate, $788. was collected for flood relief in Transylvania.

It was decided to support UUA-UUSC flood relief in the Gulf Coast individually.

Oct. 2005 - Eleven participants representing UUFLG worked at the Murphy Ave. building site for Habitat for Humanity.

The girls from our youth group reported much success with their sales in support of . . . a little help.

It was decided to conduct one Share the Plate Sunday every other month beginning Nov. 13th. We chose to have Rev. James McCreath speak on behalf of Habitat for Humanity and a significant contribution to both Habitat for Humanity and UUFLG was reported. Other significant Share the Plate Sundays include one in January and one in March in support of Hospice of the Valley.

No meetings were held in December or January; however, there was a successful Habitat for Humanity work day.

Feb. 2006- The last meeting of the Social Justice Committee was 2-12-06. (The Social Justice Chair, Pam Rhodes English, had to step down due to her husband's illness.) It was decided that Kristina Strand would be responsible for announcing and organizing Habitat for Humanity Workdays. She did so for the May 13th work day. We will try to continue Share the Plate with random volunteers. Wanda Alexander will continue to e-mail significant environmental action information to the congregation.

The Social Justice Committee is hopeful that as the Fellowship grows, more people will take an interest in social justice issues and be able to provide leadership and continuance of these and other programs.

Pam Rhodes English, Social Justice Chair

The Landscaping and Grounds Committee
May 2006 - Ruth Webb, Chairman

We haven’t had any unusual or special problems or projects this year. The members of the committee plan, plant and maintain certain areas of the grounds.

They are

Chris & Hudson Washburn - the berm area and along Blossom Hill Rd.

Ann Campbell, the deck area

Jim Stahl - the Butterfly garden

Jo Cooley - the north side of the building

Ruth Webb - the east property line and the Old Blossom Hill area above the Butterfly garden

Lida Kluzek resigned and no one has been asked to work her area which is the west side of the building.

Noe Landscaping maintains the weeding, clipping the olive trees, trimming the shrubs, blowing the parking area clean, and any other physical work Ruth asks him to do.

Bob Bixler maintains the drip system which is very eratic and needs to be evaluated at some future time.

Each area person works in his or her area as they see fit. Ruth tries to oversee the whole garden and call attention to things that need doing.

With us all working a little and with Noe’s weekly maintenance the grounds look nice, colorful, and cared for so that we can all enjoy them.

The Caring Committee Report
Julie Doyle - Chairperson

The Caring Committee put into place this year the concept of using a notebook that is passed among the caring committee members for a month at a time. The person with the notebook is responsible that month for sending cards, arranging hospital visits or whatever the needs of the fellowship members. Included in the notebook are the names and numbers of the folks in the fellowship that have volunteered to help with transportation, do child care, make hospital visits or deliver the caring quilt. This idea was brought to us by Rev. Nancy where it was used by a UU Fellowship in Arizona.

We note the “joys and concerns” given each week at the Sunday Service and in the Newsletter and we follow thru with cards and phone calls. We try to offer temporary, short term services during a time when family help is not available. We assist needy members to access community services when long term assistance is needed and no family member is available to help.

We met monthly, the second Monday of the month for a potluck lunch, sometimes having special guests such as Walt Main who presented to us his work with Hospice of the Valley. We did special outreach for a fellowship member whose husband was dying and participated in a baby shower for a new baby.

Much thanks goes to Lou Yabroff who had led the Caring Committee for many years and is still a very active member. Other involved members include Barbara Kalmoutis, Coralee Linton, Lida Kluzik, Nan Bixler, Phyllis Foxcroft, Audrey Freeman, Phyllis Reid and Jo Cooley.

We hope to create a new pamphlet and spread the word of the work of the committee and hope to reach more members who are interested.

Membership Committee Report

Dear Fellowship Members,

This is a summary report on the activities of the Membership Committee (MC) for 2005-2006.

• The MC committee chairperson this year is Jim Beebe. He is also the liaison to the board.
• Members of the MC are: Jim Beebe, Ann Campbell, Harry Campbell, Marion Peterson, and Lou Yabroff. Ann Walton was a member for part of this year.
• We have met regularly on the 2 nd Tuesday of each month at the Fellowship.
• This year we produced the second edition of the annual UUFLG Membership Photo Directory and distributed it to members. We printed 120 copies this year.
• One of our main goals for this year was the improvement of our process for greeting visitors. We documented the process and formed three teams of 2 persons to take a monthly rotation as greeters. The teams are Jim Beebe and Sharon Graham, Ann and Harry Campbell, and Marion Peterson and Lou Yabroff. We consider this to be a significant improvement.
• We designed a new visitor information card that can be completed by new visitors. The card and some UU brochures are on clip boards so that we can have multiple visitors completing the form without have them wait to sign a single visitor log book. This worked out very well in that it speeds up considerably the information gathering process.
• The MC maintains membership and mailing list information in a database. This year we migrated our membership information to a new vendor’s database system. The database system is MEMINFO and it is designed by UUs for Unitarian Universalist churches and fellowships. We are very pleased with the new database system and in addition it is substantially easier to use and less expensive than our previous system.
• Working with the board and finance committee, and following a board approved and documented process, we removed several members from the membership rolls.
• The MC coordinated the process for honoring 6 members as Lifetime Members as described in our Fellowship’s bylaws.
• In October, 2005 Jim Beebe represented our Fellowship at an information day for community churches at West Valley College.

Respectfully submitted,
Harry Campbell
MC Secretary 2005-2006

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Address: 15980 Blossom Hill Road, Los Gatos, CA 95032
Phone: (408) 358-1212
Email: admin@uuflg.org