Wy'east UU Community Board Meeting Minutes September 9, 2024

Monday, September 9, 2024 7:00 pm

Wy’east UUC Board Meeting Minutes

Check-In: Meeting called to order at 7 pm

Present: Kathleen S., Diane A., Larry B., Marcy S., Debra T., Leslie B., Matt L., Jan H., and Anne W.

Absent: none

August Meeting Minutes Review and Approval: Approved August minutes. Marcy will send to Gigi to link to congregation

Ongoing Small Group Events:

The picnic that Diane A. organized went well and she may have another one soon.
There is a sign up at the Welcome Table for people who want to start a small group.

R.E. DRE Job Search and RE Status:

Matt talked about the status of RE and the DRE position.
- Currently we have a mix of youth from occasional teenagers, three 9-11 year olds, and one 4 year old.
- Anders is doing Bible stories with 9-11 year olds currently, which is age appropriate for them, but not the younger student/s.
- How do we make RE accessible to all age levels?
- Staffing RE with enough volunteers is a concern.
- It is hard to plan lessons because you never know who is going to come week to week.
- Drag Queen Story Hour was well attended, but no one came to RE after those events.
- Currently, the Bible curriculum is what is planned and Anders has volunteered to teach it. It is a UU curriculum.

Discussion:

Marcy, who attended the RE, mentioned that the content and subject matter was not developmentally appropriate for preschool age, in her opinion.
It is extremely hard to manage all the age levels in 1 room.
Could we have a “Sign-Up” or RSVP to see who is going to attend or not each week, so we have a better idea of how to plan?

Matt is happy to take the role of DRE, be in-person at RE, and schedule the adults each week to volunteer, but that is about the extent that he would be able to do. He is okay if the board wants to post the position and see if there are other options for the DRE.
- Several board and RE members will discuss this option in a small RE group and come to board via email or next meeting.

Committee on Ministry:

Click here for report
Talked to several different groups to ask how they see or would want to see the vision statement reflected in their group. Here are a few highlights from their talks:
- At the membership committee, a member commented on how we are an older population in our community, and how could the older adults of the congregation be used as a mentor to others
- Also a member commented that there is also a possibility that Wy’east may not grow and that we may want to discuss the possibility that we may have to close down and should have a process for doing so.
- Another member noted how volunteering is the glue of our congregation and we should continue to offer volunteer opportunities.
- A member mentioned how before Covid we would directly serve the food at Lilac Meadows and how that created community outside our congregation, and maybe we should return to in-person volunteer service here.
The committee wants to decide on metrics to guide their work on the vision statement so that they can see where they are in the next 9 months in regards to where we are at in going toward our vision statement as a congregation.
- Each year we should look at how we are doing as a congregation.
- Question from board member: how will you pick metrics to measure such hard to measure qualities?
  - They are not quite sure what the metrics are yet, but having the metrics would help make sure we are going toward our goals as a congregation.
  - Meeting our budget could be a metric
The question the board needs to focus on now is how does Wyeast become a “thriving, diverse, multigenerational Unitarian Universalist community”
- Youth numbers have declined in the last few years.
There will be a small group to be formed to figure out what the metrics will be to see if we are doing all the things that we can to see that the vision statement is being met.

Discussion from the board–

One board member said that they don’t want to be a church of solely elderly, but intergenerational that we all can support, motivate, and learn from each other. We need the youth and young families.
Another board member says we currently aren’t making the metric of member numbers because members are on the decline at Wy’east, and would like to see more youth and intergenerational services.
Another attendee saw our congregation as “small, but mighty” and that we are still recovering from the pandemic along with other churches.
Another board member also feels the need that we need more young families and youth to continue to grow as a church.
These are big questions that we won’t have the answers to in 1 night.

Minister’s Contract: Diane and D’on will receive the electronic contract and file it.

Minister Report: Rev. Leslie has been on summer vacation/leave for July and August, so no new report.

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