Dear NUUC Friend ,
By now you might have heard the exciting news that after years of diligent effort, we are now positioned to complete the final phase of our building expansion capital campaign, based on the design plan and assumptions outlined in the brochure you can access by clicking here.
On April 10, our congregation voted to approve this project based on a “close the gap” goal of $474K. That number includes a generous matching gift of $200K. We are very excited to be able announce now that another generous donor has stepped forward with a $100K gift in response to the matching gift. Now we only need $100K more to realize the full matching gift, and only $374K to achieve our ultimate goal. We are hoping you might be able to join with us to reach this goal in whatever way you can.
If you did not make a pledge in 2019, or if you were not yet a part of our community at the time of our initial campaign, we are hoping you might make a pledge now. We also want to offer our most sincere gratitude to those of you who have already pledged and already made gifts towards our campaign. We are hopeful that you might make an additional pledge at this time to help us with this final phase of our campaign.
Please participate even if you can only offer a small gift—broad participation helps us know that we are on track with our aspirations for our congregation’s future and shows our matching gift donor our solidarity with their commitment. For this reason, I am personally pledging an amount that represents 20% of my annual compensation.
Please let us know your preferences about being contacted about this campaign for by either completing the enclosed form and mailing it back to us, or filling it out online at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NUUCCapital
And as always, please contact us with any questions you have along the way (board@nuuc.org).
We can do this together!
Sincerely,
Rev. Susan Ritchie, alongside your NUUC Board of Trustees
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The Rev. Susan K. Smith is will be our special guest on Sunday, May 1. She will preach for the main worship service, and then join our own Rev. Joan Van Becelaere for the discussion of "Suppressed and Sabotaged: The Fight to Vote."
Rev. Dr. Susan K Smith is the founder/director of Crazy Faith Ministries and is the Director of Clergy and Resource Development for the Samuel Dewitt Proctor Conference, Inc. She is a local activist and concentrates on anti-racism work, voting rights and education, and policing issues.
Click either here or on Rev. Smith's photo above to see a video of Rev. Smith addressing the UU Justice Ohio annual assembly.
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Special NUUC Social Justice Event THIS SUNDAY!!!
On Sunday, May 1 at noon, please join us at NUUC (in person, or online) from 12:00 to 1:30 pm to view a new video from Brave New Films titled:
SUPPRESSED AND SABOTAGED: THE FIGHT TO VOTE 2022
If you are attending in person, enjoy some delicious brunch foods in Fellowship Hall between worship and the video/discussion.
After the video, we will hold a discussion about the video with Rev Dr Susan Smith, author and Rev Joan VanBecelaere, retired Director of UU Justice Ohio.
The best way we can ensure the freedom to vote is by working together to expand knowledge about voting and facilitate opportunities to register and cast a ballot.
We will have signup sheets from the Ohio Voter Rights Coalition and UUJO to seek volunteers to:
- Ensure that potential voters understand the process, including any new procedures.
- Help register young adults to vote for the 2022 and 2024 elections.
- Sign up to offer rides to the polls for those who need assistance. Especially if mail in ballots are curtailed in Ohio under any new laws.
- Volunteer to email and/or call Ohio voters to remind them about registration deadlines, mail ballot procedures, etc.
- And more!
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Mowing at NUUC-We Need Some Help! |
For this mowing season, the Building and Grounds Committee (B&G) again plans for NUUC to handle the mowing ourselves using the same approach as last year. Doing the mowing internally will avoid us having to contract out the mowing and save about $4,250 in the budget.
Our plan is for the B&G Committee to handle the mowing on a rotating basis with some help from the congregation. B&G Committee members will mow 3 weeks of each month, and the 4th week plus sometimes the 5th week will be handled by a different volunteer from the congregation. This approach will spread the work so each committee member will mow about once a month, and each congregational volunteer would mow just one time during the season. Our approach will keep everyone's work commitments reasonable.
The areas to be mowed include the church yard (bounded by the driveway and the parking lot plus the yard around Nielsen House. In addition, part of the southern field at the rear of our property and the west side of the parking lot are included.
We got a zero-turn riding mower about 4 years ago, which we use for almost all of the mowing.
The mower’s cost was totally funded by a very generous donation from Gary and Ruth Rusk, plus a generous donation from John and Lynn Foreman. Having the zero-turn mower continues to make a big difference in our mowing efforts. It has cut our mowing time in half and some volunteers even say the mowing is now fun! If you are not familiar with using a zero-turn mower, we will give you some brief training for about 15 minutes that gets you familiar enough with the mower to comfortably mow the main parts of the yard. For a few small, tight areas, which the zero-turn mower cannot handle, you would finish up using a self-propelled push power mower. People who haven’t used a zero-turn or even a riding mower, have done well using the zero-turn mower. We also have had a few people who prefer to use the push mower to mow the entire yard instead of the zero-turn mower, which does provide one with more exercise.
We would like to get 1 or 2 volunteers from the congregation each month to mow one time in the season. The mowing season runs from the end of April through early November. This year volunteers from the congregation only will be needed beginning in the last week of April through October. Three of those months will contain 5 weeks and require 2 volunteers, so we need a total of 10 volunteers.
Please consider volunteering to mow one time this season. If you would like to help the church handle the mowing, you can see the mowing sign-up schedule posted at this weblink: tiny.cc/NUUC-mowing . To get scheduled, contact Bob Keith at bobkeith@zoho.com or 740-369-1919. You also can contact Bob if you have questions or would like more information.
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Sunday Morning Volunteers And Treasurer Also Needed!
Both our online and in-person Sunday mornings are busy! We'd love your help making Sunday morning a good experience for everyone. We looking for volunteers to help with in person greeting, coffee hour hosting, and online Zoom hosting (no experience necessary, training provided!). Sign up by clicking here!
Also, we are looking for a new Treasurer to oversee our financial operations. The board is currently looking to hire a book keeping service to handle routine accounting, but we need someone to supervise the book keeper and keep an overall eye on our finances and budget (both regular and operating budget and capital campaign). Experience in finance and knowledge of Quick Books or equivalent programs needed. Let minister@nuuc.org know if you are interested.
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Mindful Writing: May 15 (the third Monday), at 7:00 pm via Zoom—Share your written thoughts or simply listen. All are welcome! No critiques, just encouragement. The Zoom link will be emailed well before the meeting. Please contact Marty Keith if interested. martykeith@zoho.com
Wednesday Noon Check In
Join us using the regular NUUC zoom connection at noon everyday Wednesday for informal check- ins and chat with your fellow members. Write minister@nuuc.org for a direct link.
Soul Matters Small Groups
We currently have three different Soul Matters Small Groups virtually meeting, for regular in depth check ins, and for exploring together different spiritual themes. New members are welcome at any time, write to minister@nuuc.org
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Brown Bag Books: Meets at church the third Tuesday of each month.
NUUC's Women's Group: Please contact Marty Keith for more information and the Zoom link. martykeith@zoho.com
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