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Discovering Tucson
by Katherine Conover
Tucson Jewish Community Center (JCC) – This center has many activities going on all year long and a full fitness center and pool (check https://www.tucsonjcc.org/). But for a short excursion, the sculpture garden offers much to enjoy. There is a wide variety of styles, from very modern to more representational. The entrance to the JCC features a very dramatic piece related to the Holocaust. In the garden, pieces range in theme and style. You can pick up an informative brochure at the welcome desk when you enter the JCC that will guide you and inform you on your walk through the garden. Be sure to also check out the small gallery inside the JCC for one of the rotating exhibits. Exhibits both inside and out are free and open to the public.
If you are hungry, there is a small coffee shop at the JCC, but it is rather Spartan. For something more special, check out Harvest, just a couple of miles up River Road from the JCC. It is a Tucson original and offers very good food, a nice view of the city and an excellent and extended Happy Hour. You can check it out at: http://www.harvestonriver.com/.
Red Cups, New Members,
and Table Grids
Newcomers are now being asked to take a red cup for coffee in Goddard Hall after services. It was real enthusiasm red cups were introduced at UUCT as a way for newcomers to self-identify themselves and for the rest of us to greet them. The idea came from Nebraska by two newcomers themselves, Kathy Hueser and Lynnie Bradley. Red cups were used in the Unitarian Church of Lincoln as one of the many ways of making newcomers feel welcome and growing the church. Thanks congregants for embracing this idea!
Know someone interested in joining UUCT? Direct them to New UU classes the last Sunday of the month, facilitated by Administrator Mary Weise, and encourage a visit with our own Rev. Lyn prior to joining. Book signings will now be held regularly, the first Sunday immediately after church in the sanctuary.
New Members of Our Congregation
Please welcome these new members to our congregation. You can find their photos posted on the board in the church vestibule. Please get to know them and greet them by name.
Georgia Conroy
I was attracted to this church because I value the Welcome Statement at the beginning of each UUCT service above all else. These words galvanize me greatly each time I hear them. I consider them an expression of the most important universal law -- the law of unconditional love in both inner and outer life. No other spiritual group in my experience has been able to dare me so directly and immediately to my face, and for this, I thank this church.
I hope to bring my sense of appreciation and "seeing" of the unique skills and talents within this community, with the hope that my own creative offerings will bring even more adventurous and thoughtful works--whether through music or art, or social justice.
If there be only one hope to have for this community, I'd want everyone to be empowered -- to more fearlessly and openly explore their own thinking and doing in small study and creative groups--and to come together to share these explorations in a safe place.
Linda French
I have been a pledging friend of UUCT for the past ten years and have been ushering for the past two years. I decided to join because I am enthused by Reverend Lyn and feel the church is going in a positive direction. I have been a UU since 1976 and was very active in the First Universalist Church of Denver. Last October I had a serious car accident and am still recovering. It will be several more months until I will be able to drive again. Since the accident I have moved to Fellowship Square, a senior community on East Broadway.
Other New Members
Other new members this month are Cathy Baldwin, Rena Turner, and Pat McDaniel.
Table Grid for Goddard Hall on Sundays
In its ongoing attempts to make the UUCT campus more welcoming to newcomers and new members, the membership committee proposed a grid for table display space in Goddard Hall on Sunday mornings. Those aspects of congregational life in which newcomers tend to demonstrate the most interest; such as membership, religious education and social justice; are assigned tables nearest the doors of Goddard. (Note the Goddard table grid below:)
Announcements
Earning Money for UUCT Painlessly
Do you ever place an order on Amazon.com? If you do, are you signed up for smile.amazon.com? By signing up to support UUCT on Amazon, you can earn a donation for our church every time you place an order. According to Amazon, UUCT has received $107.23 as of Feb. 2017. But overall, Amazon has contributed almost $38 million to various charities! If everyone in our congregation signs up for smile.amazon.com,
surely we could be getting a larger percentage of this amazing charity.
LGTBQ?
Would you be willing to share your story, past and present, with our high school OWL students (comprehensive sexuality education at UUCT) as part of a panel? The class is on March 5th from 1:30 to 2. Contact Carolyn for more information, cvaldes@cox.net
Congregational Town Hall - March 5
The UUCT Board of Trustees will hold an important Town Hall Meeting on Sunday, March 5 after worship service and lunch. The topics will be the upcoming ministerial search process (with PWR consultant Reveremd Anne Hines), a proposal from the Board for a governance process and plan, and information about searching for a new director of religious education. See article on page 1.
BAJA 4 - Volunteers Needed March 11 and 12
AT THE 2017 TUCSON FESTIVAL OF BOOKS
There will be a new booth at this year’s Tucson Festival of Books. We will be distributing information about our four southern Arizona Unitarian Universalist congregations as well as selling raffle tickets for some great books – all by famous UU writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Beatrix Potter. It should be an excellent way to advertise the UU presence in our region. WE NEED VOLUNTEERS TO MAN THE BOOTH IN 3- TO 4-HOUR SHIFTS ON SATURDAY AND SUNDAY, MARCH 11 AND 12. If you love the book festival and would like to be part of this effort, please contact Susan Rock at susanrock44@gmail.com. WE NEED YOU!
Join Us for Wednesday Fun - Landscaping
The landscaping team has been very busy working to improve the visibility, safety, and access to our property. In recent months, we have trimmed trees, cleared brush, and introduced new plantings to beautify the front of the church and increase visibility to the UUCT sign. We delivered 2400 lbs of landscaping waste to the Speedway Recycling and Landfill facility to be turned into mulch to benefit our local community.
We’ll be tackling landscaping issues on the west side of the property to encourage exploring the maze and visiting the memorials. Additionally, we'll be removing brush from the perimeter of the childcare area to improve safety.
We are the Landscape Team, volunteering a couple hours each week to maintain and improve our landscaping. We’d love to have your help, whether it is for an hour of weeding or as a regular volunteer on our landscaping team. For more info please email Barb Ricca at landscaping@uuctucson.org
Where does the money go that I give to the church?
by Liz Ravenwood (UUCT Vice President of Finance, Board of Trustees)
In the last newsletter we featured the “step up” ladder on donations – some like it, some do not. It was proposed only as a consideration from those more experienced than I, so please don’t find it offensive. It was provided to let you know how many members were giving and how much, and asking you to consider if you could give more. We are wide-ranging in socio-economic placement as well as in our personal financial obligations. If you cannot give more, we understand that you need to take care of yourselves first. The last thing we want is any dysfunctional feelings of guilt or resentment. We do want to be healthy and loving – and being financially healthy is a part of that, but you need to be in sound financial health in your personal lives too.
You can find reports from the Finance Committee and the Board of Trustees on our web site (Click here). Here’s the latest from the Finance Committee (Click here). You’ll need to log in first to get to these links, and you get your password information by contacting webmaster@uuctucson.org or ask a UUCT friend on how to do this. But here is our latest budget adopted in December, (click here). Remember that the meetings are open and you are welcome to attend. We’re all about complete transparency.
Clearing up some misunderstandings…
In the fall we had a “catch up” campaign to meet the budget for the last 6 months of fiscal year 2016-2017. Remember the budget that we voted on at the annual meeting was only for 6 months because we had some unknowns with changing staff, interim minister, etc. and we wanted to be able to prepare a balanced budget for congregational approval. As it got closer to the last half of fiscal year 2016-2017, we needed to address that budget, so Margot Garcia and the Finance Committee worked hard, came up with the dollar figure required, and, many thanks to you members, we made that goal. Some of us have forgotten that the pledge was for the last half of that year (Jan-June 2017). Our current stewardship campaign is for fiscal year 2017-2018.
The reason the stewardship campaign might seem early to you is that the Finance Committee is preparing the budget for fiscal year 2017-2018. Our annual meeting to approve next year’s budget is April 30 and our bylaws dictate that we send out notices 2 weeks before that. To be able to prepare a balanced budget, the Finance Committee needs to know what our pledges are so that they know how to make the numbers work.
An urgent call…
We fully respect you giving what you can and feeling good about it. We fully respect that everyone has a different way of managing their personal budgets. Personally speaking, if I were to low-ball the income required from the stewardship campaign, our church would be operating on a very tight budget. Maybe, I am the minority here. We would be doing without many cleaning supplies, upkeep, bug extermination, and the facilities temperature would be a lot less comfortable. Brian would yet again be paying for his own trip to the annual music conference; there wouldn’t be money for piano tuning, no money for hymns, no money for speakers, no money for a defibrillator as requested for our aging congregants. NOW… I would be willing to bet that isn’t how you want the church to run. The serious issue, is that my rough estimate of a low-ball budget is about $180,000 and our current pledges are only at $78,389.00 from 44 pledging units. It simply costs that much to run a church. So, IF you can, and as soon as possible, get your pledges in for the amount you feel comfortable with. Yes, be informed. Use the above links and educate yourself as to how the money is spent. Go to finance meetings. Ask a member of the Finance Committee. The information is yours with which to make an informed decision about how much you can give for fiscal year 2017-2018. But please, do it as soon as possible. We’d actually like to have the number in by mid-March and then we’ll be making reminder calls. We love you, we love this church, and we certainly want to be in good financial health.