June 18 - Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church

Wow, What a Year!
Every year at this time,
besides feeling a bit exhausted
and eager for some
summer respite, I reflect back on
all that has been accomplished
and feel such a sense of reward.
I also feel so much gratitude to
be a part of this wonderful staff
team where I get to work for an
organization whose members are
so generous with their talents and
resources. Our congregation is
well served by a dedicated, intelligent,
generous, and enthusiastic
staff team that is also truly reflective
of the attributes of our
members.
I am particularly grateful for
those staffers who report directly
to me. What a joy and honor it
is to lead each of them. They deserve
much credit for the smooth
running of the church operations:
Stanley Brooks, J. Brooks-Washington,
Anna Cremarosa, Kim
Hayden, Rick Jimenez, Miguel
Mendoza, and Venny Rodriguez.
I also want to express my gratitude
for our two weekly office
volunteers, Judy Wallace and
Michelle Shechtman. This year,
due to economic factors, we did
Summer Sunday Fun for Children & Youth
Summer Sundays begin June 28
Although we pare down in the summer months,
with only one service at 10 a.m., we still offer exciting
activates for children and youth! If you plan
to be here a good part of the summer, please sign
your child up at the Lifelong Learning table. We
have two wonderful leaders for our lower elementary
group, former childcare staff members, Brittany
O’Dell and Doreen Ng!
We also want to offer a program specifically for
our older youth in grades 6-8, based on The Simpsons,
but it requires that they come to church!
Please consider attending this summer when your
family is in town. Sign up for our summer program
at the lifelong learning table.
not fill the empty administrative
assistant position. When
staff became stretched too thin,
I called on the congregation for
volunteers to help in the office.
The response was overwhelming!
Thanks to the dozen-plus members
who responded and offered
to help, from one-time projects
to longer, weekly commitments.
From that plea, came Judy and
Michelle. They are amazing.
They both do general office work
and Judy is particularly helpful
with weekly accounting processes
and Michelle is particularly
helpful with graphic and publications
projects.
My life was full this past year
both as a church member and
employee. My marriage last June
was a highlight of the year and
of my life. And I am so proud,
both as a member and staffer, of
the work our congregation did to
defeat Proposition 8.
While I had several professional
goals last year, my priority goals
were to finish my Nonprofit
Management Certificate program,
oversee the completion of
the Neighborhood House renovation,
and support our
first Neighborhood
Green Fair. As always,
a few unexpected
things crept in too.
As of this writing,
the Annual Meeting
is still a week away.
I predict that we will
successfully elect new
Board of Trustees officers
and trustees and
Nominating Committee
and Committee on
Ministry members. I
predict that the congregation
will approve
the balanced budget
presented by the
Alyssa Bellew, Administrator
Board—with, no doubt, a healthy
dose of brouhaha beforehand—
we are UU’s after all. And while
each contingency hopes for no
budget cuts to their beloved programs,
I feel very satisfied that
the budget reflects our mission
and vision and is fair across the
board, allowing us to successfully
run all our programs next year
with no layoffs and no deficit.
There aren’t many churches that
can make that claim. Considering
the economy, we are doing very
well. This is mostly due to the
generosity and financial commitment
of our members.
Each year at this time, in honor
of our congregation’s good
work and lively spirit demonstrated
at the annual meeting, I publish
this writing by Molly Ivins—
“It’s not the symphony of voices
in sweet concert I enjoy, but the
cacophony of democracy, the brouhahas
and the donnybrooks, the
full-throated roar of a free people
busy using their right to freedom of
speech. Democracy requires rather
a large tolerance for confusion and
a secret relish for dissent.”
I wish you all a restorative summer.
Still smiling,
Alyssa
Neighborhood News Page 3