On our Reform of the Foundation in our 61st year
I’m excited about our self-reformation project. We have all talked in different ways at different times about the need for more coherence in our congregationalism and its commitments to self-governance. We know the pastors need support of a confidential nature – and also a way to receive the blessings and benefits of evaluations. We also know that volunteers need direction and TLC. It’s very exciting that we have a proposal from Lindsay Telg, created while she was moderator for a simplification of our governance structures. If you want a copy of it, please call me or Lindsey and we will get it to you.
Our new Executive Director
Many of you already know Lindsey Telg as our former moderator and as a seminary student in care with our congregation, on her way to ordination. You may not know that she is also our Executive Director. We have long known that we needed more administrative help to maximize our volunteerism and minimize confusion.
With Dar’s retirement (again) and Catherine Cake’s taking a new job, the path opened to make a significant change in our staffing. Thank you Lindsey, for being the right person in the right chair at the right time. And yes, we are hiring an accounting firm to replace Catherine, for accounts payable. Accounts receivable are in Lindsey’s capable hands.
Volunteers needed for summer camp with kids in our community
We have a request for adults who have a skill and who might want to work with VPK to 5th graders in the summer camp on the east side of Gainesville, Gainesville Empowerment Zone Family Learning Center, located on the property of Metcalfe Elementary. Gainesville Empowerment Zone operates as a preschool, afterschool program, and resource center for families that reside in the east side of Gainesville. They are a big staple in the community, hosting food drives, family literacy night, and support group for parents. They will have a summer camp program running from June 8 – July 31. Zakara has volunteered to have the ReadingPals program continue sessions there so students won’t suffer from the dreaded ‘summer slide’. Trish White, the site manager is looking for volunteers that are interested in bringing in their talents to teach the kids varying life skills and hobbies. Please visit their volunteer page on their website. I have volunteered to tell stories and teach the kids how to tell stories. (Have a beginning, a middle and an end.) Please reach out to Zakara Skerrette at zskerrette@unitedwayncfl.org if you would like to know more information.
I know that quite a few of you know how to teach music or dance or walk a labyrinth or tell a story or throw a baseball or change a tire or change the oil or make a picnic table. I will never stop marveling at the number of skills involved in our own internal school!
250th Anniversary on July 4th
Most of you are aware that our nation is celebrating its 250th anniversary this July 4. Warren Goldstein will be organizing a panel of historians from our congregation to talk about how they are seeing this wonderful and perplexing event. We’re not sure we know all the historians in the congregation! Please contact Warren with any names or ideas for July 7 Sunday Service. We will hold a seminar that day with a panel of historians. Let Warren know of your interest at Warren.Goldstein@gmail.com.
Save the Sunday, August 9
Don’t miss the service on August 9 when The Rev. Gary Neal will be leading a 9 o’clock conversation and preaching in the Sunday service, also singing with that marvelous voice of his.
Steal an Egg – Just kidding
A story someone just told me. She is a Vietnamese refugee.
‘’I have a vivid memory as a child under the Khmer Rouge, where my mother woke me up at 3 am to feed me a boiled egg mixed with rice. She did not turn the light on and lied to me that all I ate was just rice. Because she has stolen that egg for her kids. She took a great risk, and she knew that kids’ honesty can be deadly if someone asked what we ate. I knew I ate more than just rice. But I remember the feeling of my mother joy of sharing this stolen egg with us. I usually don’t need to ask for food for my children but now I must. Thank you for not shaming me. And it’s hard to steal eggs in Gainesville.”
I think we all know that our budget has a line for feeding hungry children. We also know that there are a lot of hungry kids in the summertime. Thanks for bringing food, to each of you who contribute so generously – by writing grants, thanks Nettie Maguire, by packing backpacks and delivering food. (Nettie also brings Sybil a bone most Sundays. . .)