September 22, 2020
Dear beloved UU Casper Community,
In July, I was elected as your new President of the Board of Trustees. So far, it has been a pleasure to serve in this capacity. The Board’s foremost responsibility is to uphold the spiritual purpose of our ministry and to represent the membership in conducting the business of the church. Members of the Board initiate goal planning for the ministry that help fulfill our purpose. The board members commit to our own spiritual development and work in covenant with one another.
September was a busy month for me. My favorite thing I did all month was attend the annual conference for Wyoming Interfaith Network. I was impressed by the varied representation of faiths amongst the panelists during the event. The conference’s theme was “Restoring Hope: Combatting Racism Through Interfaith Work.” The panelists were largely composed of activists for justice, doing the hard work to create opportunity and help marginalized peoples. In case any of you have a lot of time on your hands and would like to check it out, the recordings are on Youtube here: https://youtu.be/JS5kMiH0_CA.
I encourage everyone in the congregation to feel free to contact me about business or issues that need the attention of the Board of Trustees. My email address and phone number can be found at the bottom of this week’s newsletter or in the directory. Unless it is an emergency, please stick to the following office hours for phone calls or texts related to UU Casper business. I appreciate this respect and it will better enable me to serve you.
Cindy’s hours:
Monday through Friday 5 PM – 6 PM Saturday 10 AM – 6 PM
The Board has discussed goal setting for the 2020-2021 year and we came up with the following three goals:
- Casper community outreach,
- Maintain and Build Spiritual and Community Connections with Members and Friends, and
- Provide opportunities for leadership development.
The board will be brainstorming some strategies to pass over to the relevant committees. We welcome anyone with ideas to please discuss them within the relevant committees or share with a board member.
Upcoming themes of the month for programming are:
- October: Vision
- November: Family
- December: Well-being
The programming committee is still brainstorming themes for the coming year. If you have ideas you would like to submit, please contact Programming Committee Co-Chair Elizabeth Otto.
Many of you are understandably wondering about our criteria for reopening the building for larger gatherings like Sunday services. Primarily, we are looking to the UUA’s guidance, although of course we are keeping in mind our own congregation’s unique needs. The UUA’s guidance states that the public health criteria they’d look to for shifting a congregation’s primary focus from online to in-person are the following:
- multiple weeks of reduction in infections,
- adequate testing,
- sufficient personal protective equipment available,
- contact tracing programs in place throughout your county and state, and/or
- a widely-available vaccine.
(Source: https://www.uua.org/safe/pandemics/gathering-guidance)
The source above also provides a good explanation for why we might want to use more stringent criteria than schools and businesses around us.
So far, my time as board president has been interesting and productive. I look forward to serving you for the rest of this year (July 2020 – June 2021). You all provide me with such joy. Again, please do not hesitate to contact me during my business hours or to send me an email. Together, we keep our community alive.
Love and many blessings to you,
Cindy Wright
President of Board of Trustees, Unitarian Universalist Community of Casper