Greetings, and happy mid-summer to all!
I realized it’s been three weeks since our last update, and I want to let you know of the ongoing effort and activity going in to this transition time, and preparing for our gap time between ministers.
The Transition Working Group has all their members identified, and they are already diving in to important background research related to the R-1 visa process, meetings with our district support people, and possibilities for hiring a contract minister during our gap period. They will share an update soon in the Westside Week with more information. In this busy summer month, they are ensuring that all the group’s members are up-to-date before they report out to the congregation. We are grateful to all who are serving in this group!
And a little update on Rev. Christopher! He has a particularly full month this July, wrapping up his current work with the UUA. He has expressed his happiness that the 501c3 approval came so quickly, and he has been working with the immigration lawyer Westside has retained, to ensure all the detailed documentation is in place for the R-1 visa application. He also continues to express his great excitement about being with us. We are continuing to have limited communications with him at this time.
Our new board met on Saturday, July 13th for our retreat, where we began to create a foundation of trust, to examine Westside’s governance structures, and to identify priorities. We are grateful to Cara Mathison for facilitating our day and capturing key points of our discussions!
The board will meet on the third Thursdays of the month this year, to best accommodate schedules of the board members. Anyone is welcome to attend! Our first meeting is this week, July 18th, where we will meet with Laura White for an update on the Transition Working Group; identify our overarching goals for the year; and address business items including:
- our rental situation
- the formation of a personnel committee
- right relations
- reforming a Leadership Assembly, and
- planning for equity training.
If you have any questions, concerns, insights, or ideas you would like to share, I invite you to be in touch with me or any board member, or to talk with Laura White or Judi Finney related to transition topics.
All the best,
Jade
Board President