Hear from New President and Building Chair at the May 21 Annual CongregationalMeeting

It's that time again - time to elect our new board, which will include a newpresident; Carol Kerr has reached the maximum of three terms. The board candidatesare: Charles Haskell, president; Ron Crane, first vice-president; Peter vanden Beemt, second vice-president; Dayla McDonald, secretary; Warren Mathews,treasurer; Rebecca Crawford, Bronwen Jones, and Pat Parkerton, members-at-large;Phyllis Kory, member-at-large for a one-year term; Edna Bonacich and Anne Gustafson,nominating committee.

Carol Kerr will automatically fill the position of immediate past president,and Patricia Wright and Marv Pulliam will remain on the board serving the secondyear of their terms as members-at-large. Remaining members of the nominatingcommittee are John Fels, S.J. Guidotti, Linda van Ligten, and Victor Paddock.

Most reports are in the packet everyone who attends will receive. MinisterJudith Meyer and President Carol Kerr will give oral reports in addition tothe ones in the packet. After the officers are sworn in the new president willoffer some thoughts about where we might be heading.

Warren Mathews will present the treasurer's report as well as the budget report.(For good news on the budget, see "Splinters from the Board" on page 5.) Thecongregation will have an opportunity to discuss the planned budget and votewhether to accept, reject, or amend it.

Ron Crane will describe the status of the capital campaign, and Alison Kendall,Building Committee chair, will give us the up-to-date news on where we standwith our construction plans for phase one of the building program and our designplans for phase two.

As usual, lunch will be available for sale in Forbes Hall.

- Carol Agate

 

Stewardship -- What a Difference a Plan Makes

Who am I? Why am I here?" Those memorable and humorous words were uttered by1992 vice presidential candidate James Stockdale. Last month's guest speakerPeter Henrickson spoke them again, in all seriousness, as his opening remarksfor a sermon he delivered after spending the weekend exploring the importanceof these questions with leaders of our congregation.

The author of "Financial Management in the Church" said that these questions,among others, reveal the heart of why we're in community with each other. Hesaid that when we - you, me, our leadership - create a community, we start byfiguring out what we want to be and what we need to become it. When we articulateour desires, we can plan and turn them into reality.

I'll tell you a story that exemplifies my own desires for this congregation.I was having a conversation about our community with a dear friend who's cometo this church longer than I, when this person said, "I come to church on Sundays;I like it here. But if you ask me, 'Am I connected to this community?' I thinkthe answer is 'Not really.' "

In my heart I want this person's answer to the question to be a resounding"yes." I think we, as a congregation, have a long way to go to enable that.But here's where the vision thing comes in.

Imagine adding someone with professional experience in creating a caring andcompassionate community on our team at UUCCSM. This person could day-in andday-out focus on helping us help each other. He or she could help us figureout what gifts we have that support other people and how we can use them forour own development and others' too.

Imagine a staff person, not a congregant with a day job who has good intentionsyet struggles to find time to focus or has to drop out periodically, to workon a big project that will always take priority over volunteer work: a staffperson who comes to work and has eight hours a day to focus on supporting ourgreat volunteers who do social justice work, membership and leadership development,communication and more.

Might we have a stronger community after three years? Might some of the peoplewho walk through our doors and "join" our church only to leave a year or twolater, stick around instead? Might we have an even healthier RE program, Faithin Action program, and music program? I'd love to find out. Wouldn't you?

I've told you my dream. Will you tell me yours? Then, how about if we figureout how much it will cost and see if we can make it happen? Let's make a communitythat supports our personal transformation and has a demonstrable impact on theworld at large.

- In faith,
Jacki K.Weber

 

Lucia Cargill is a Public Health Specialist Who Provides Aid for the World'sPoorest

Afew hours after the tsunamidevastated Indonesia on December 28, 2004, church member Lucia Cargill got anurgent e-mail message from a physician friend there. Eleven young Indonesiandoctors, all members of an adventure club, were heading for the rural west coastarea of Aceh. They needed help. Right away. They were carrying only backpacks.

"The message said they were going directly to the coast nearest the epicenterof the quake to assist the survivors, but had no money, no equipment, and noidea how they were going to pull it off," recalls Lucia, a new member of ourchurch and case manager for Vitas Hospice's West Region.

Lucia, a registered nurse with a Ph.D., medical anthropologist, and publichealth specialist, is president/executive director of the non-profit AmericanOverseas Medical Aid Association (aomaa.org). Organized in 1962 in Chicago,now based in L.A., the association provides direct aid, materials, and servicesto people in need, technical advice to local non-profit groups, and advocacyfor local professionals working to alleviate poverty and suffering in ruralareas in the U.S. and abroad.

In two days, Lucia and her board of directors raised $1,000, sent it to Indonesia,and then developed a network of organizations contributing small grants. Togetherwith Indonesian professionals, they organized a local non-profit, called IBU4Aceh."("Ibu" means "mother" so the name translates as "the mother who cares for Aceh.")

Cutting the road through to Meulaboh with the military, the medical team startedwork in an abandoned vocational school. "The 11 doctors and 39 other volunteershandled the dead and stitched up the living," says Lucia. They soon recruited120 more volunteers, including psychologists and teachers, to work with thechildren in six camps.

During 2005 the team saw nearly 25,000 medical patients and over 45,000 adultsand children for psychosocial services, health worker training, mother and childhealth fairs, and community events - all on less than $150,000.

So far in 2006, $144,000 has been raised. More money is needed to continuethese programs and to build a maternal and child health center.

Lucia grew up in Alabama, Texas, California, Okinawa, and the Philippines.Her father taught flying. He was one of the first Air Force fighter pilots tofly F-100s over the Pacific Rim after WWII. "Part of my history and commitmentto social justice comes from exposure to these social environments and diversepeople," she believes.

"I have a three-track career: clinical nursing, public health research andnon-profit work, and academic research and teaching." She is Adjunct Professorof Anthropology at Cal State University Fresno, where she presented the DistinguishedLecture for 2006 on April 27, speaking about local responses to emergenciesand disasters, and to the grassroots partnerships that may enable people indeveloping countries and rural areas to help themselves.

A divorced mother of four grown children, two sons and two daughters, Luciamoved here in 2002 and is now looking for a research position at UCLA or Rand,"hoping to settle down, and slowly working on my nurse practitioner license."She is artistic, a metalsmith and jeweler working as technical advisor on themovie, "Nefertiti." She is working on a book on healthcare and aging in America,and loves to garden.

 

"$o Much to Do, $o Little Time" Silent Auction Raises $5,000

In the spring of2005 we were facing a budgetary crisis. During a town hall meeting about ourbudget, Leslie Reuter proposed launching an entirely new fund-raising effortwith the goal of adding $5,000 to the funds for our church's 2005-2006 operationsbudget.

After the summer Leslie started recruiting volunteers and considering how theauction should be organized. Ideas were drawn from the following UU churches:UU Fellowship of San Dieguito (in Solana Beach), Orange Coast UU Church, UnitarianSociety of Santa Barbara, and the UU Church of Studio City.

From November through March, Leslie and cochair Kathy Cook solicited donationsfor sale, developed ideas for the fundraising event, solicited donations ofgoods and services, planned the auction, arranged the items for sale, createdthe many gift baskets, prepared the bid sheets, and worked to recruit a largegroup of people to help with the actual auction.

The auction was held the last weekend of March, with a clearance of leftoveritems the following two weeks. The auction was a great success. Over 57 memberswere successful bidders, with many more participating by donating gift items,services, and gift certificates, as well as by buying the fair trade coffee,tea, and cocoa, the UU impulse items, craft items, snacks and lunches, and posters.We received 26 donated services and enough gift items to create 97 gift baskets.The church office donated a table, an entertainment center, and a TV. Sevenart works were donated and two craftspeople shared the proceeds from their wares- Jacki Paddock offered jewelry and Myra Wald offered crocheted hats. Therewere a total of 136 auction items resulting in a net sale just over $5,100.

More than 40 volunteers helped Leslie with this fundraising effort. They are(in no particular order): Kathy Cook (a special thanks to Kathy for being thecochair), Charles Haskell, Christine Haskell, Katie Malich, Lisa Fischer, DianeBrooks Ludowitz, Keith Ludowitz, Sandra Trutt, Karen Patch, Rich Cook, MarvPulliam, Myra Wald, Jacki Paddock, Julie Gilliam, Margot Page, Melinda Ewen,Sherry Handa, Rhonda Turner, Bayard Storey, Nels Hansen, Amy Lacombe, Lucy Lacombe,Katie Gross, Carey Gross, Clayton Coleman, Greg Coleman, Ron Crane, John Fels,Gerrie Lambson, Audrey Lyness, Marge Zifferblatt and her daughter Ellen Stuart,Rob Briner, Helen Burns, Joanie Wilk, Jerry and Sue Moore (thanks for the pens),Betty Grant, Carol-jean Teuffel, Carol Kerr, Ofelia Lachtman, Marie Kashmer-Stiebing, and Jim Cadwell. Leslie extends her apologies to anyone whose nameshe may have inadvertently omitted.

Leslie hoped the fundraiser would involve the church as a community, and shewas gratified to see so many members contributing in so many ways. Thanks toeveryone.

- Charles Haskell and Leslie Reuter

 

General Assembly will Wrestle with Pacifism vs. Pragmatism

Condemnation of the war in Iraq is not particularly controversial among UUs.But how about our attack on Afghanistan?

It seems that the plenary session debate this June at the UUA General Assemblyin St. Louis may be between the pacifists and the pragmatists. These are thelabels being attached in the lively e-mail discussions taking place prior toGA.

This is the first year there have been serious online discussions before GA,maybe because it's an issue on which there is disagreement. It used to be thata few congregations would have meetings to discuss the GA resolutions, but mostdidn't. Now interested individuals don't have to search for people in theirown church who want to talk about the issues; they just go on line and joinone of the many discussion groups.

GA resolutions don't generally stir much controversy beyond the wordsmithingthat goes into drafting resolutions. After all, most UUs advocate stem cellresearch, prison reform, and support for farm workers, and are concerned aboutglobal warming. But, although we have found no controversy in advocating peace,we do differ on whether there is such a thing as a just war.

This year's proposed study issue is: "Should the Unitarian Universalist Associationreject the use of any and all kinds of violence and war to resolve disputesbetween peoples and nations and adopt a principle of seeking just peace throughnonviolent means?"

This study item asks us to go beyond simply supporting good things as mostpast items have. It is proposing we seek answers to questions like these: Shouldwe adopt a specific and detailed "just war" policy to guide our witness, advocacy,and social justice efforts? Should we reject violence in any form?

To see all the proposed questions, go to page 4 at http://www.uua.org/ga/ga06/TentativeAgenda.pdf.If you would like to provide input, your delegates are Bonnie Brae, Judith Meyer,David Denton, Karen Patch, Amelia Harati, Jacki Paddock, Haley Paddock, MarvPulliam, and Carol Agate. Catherine Farmer will also be attending.

- Carol Agate