10/02/2019 by Shannon Day

Reflections from Board Trustee-at-Large- Tony Ricardi

Happy Fall, Beloved Community! Even though I absolutely love Seattle summers and think we were unjustly cut off too early this year, fall is my favorite season. I love the vibrant gold and ruby trees lining the streets on my commute to work, the earthy and familiar city-kid smell of fresh rain on asphalt, and the little blue jackets I fasten around my dogs to keep them warm on our crisp morning walks. I love flannel and coffee and horror movies and sad poetry and every other reason there is to be cozy in these next few months. If you

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09/25/2019 by Shannon Day

News from the Racial Justice Change Team

Summary Notes About the “WSUU Equity Workshop: Strategies to Promote and Sustain a Culture of Inclusivity and Equity” By Kerrie Schurr and Tony Ricardi, Board Liaison to the RJCT Below are some observations the two of us put together, and therefore it is limited to two individual white people’s perspectives. For a more complete understanding of the workshop and the momentum of this work at Westside, we encourage more conversation and sharing with other participants of the workshop. Richard Kim, our Cultures Connecting presenter, began the workshop with storytelling and a photo slideshow of his childhood, sharing from the heart

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09/18/2019 by Shannon Day

Board Update – Jade Lowry, President

We have a new renter!! A wonderful nonprofit serving a great need for preschoolers will be sharing our building and replacing Sweet Pea preschool as of October 1st! We are thrilled to welcome Leaps and Bounds of Washington and Jamie Huizinga, Executive Director (https://www.leapsandboundswa.org/). They offer pediatric therapy services to preschoolers, including occupational and physical therapy and sensory social groups. They are adding this space as an expansion to their existing office, to accommodate the waiting list they have for families seeking this kind of support for their children. Jamie and her therapists will rent the same first-floor space that

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09/11/2019 by Shannon Day

Lift Update 9.13.19

Though there isn’t a lot to report, the Lift Committee felt it was time to update our community on what has been happening. First, the Lift Committee, despite the lack of noticeable progress, has not been sitting on its laurels.  Judi Finney, in particular, has been hard at work staying on top of the company providing the lift.  We are waiting on the replacement doors to change out the doors which swing the wrong way.  We have been given several times when the doors were supposed to ship and then supposed to arrive.  When those dates passed, Judi reached out

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08/28/2019 by Shannon Day

Update from the Board 8.30.19

Hello, Beloved Community, We have another great update in our progress to bring our called minister, Rev. Christopher Wulff, to us from Canada! Our R-1 Immigration Visa application has been assigned a case number through USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services)! Also, our 2019-2020 Board has met for one trust-building and planning retreat, and two regular monthly meetings. R-1 Visa Update   With our R-1 Visa case number assigned, we are now in a holding period waiting for a site visit from our USCIS case manager. This pre-adjudication visit will not be announced. The purpose will be to affirm

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08/21/2019 by Shannon Day

Update from the Board of Trustees – Jade Lowry, President

What is the board focusing on this August, you ask? Transparency – One focus is how to be more transparent with our work, and as collaborative as possible with the broader congregation! We’ve talked about how to be present; how to communicate and keep those channels open; how to document and present what needs to be available for public record; and how to best listen and understand the needs and desires of the congregation. Hopefully you will see evidence of this; and we will share our ideas as we go. Listening – We want to hear from you! We are

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08/14/2019 by Shannon Day

Hello from north of the border! – Rev. Christopher Wulff

It’s been a little while since we’ve seen each other, hasn’t it? I miss you all so very much! I’m finding this liminal time between the vote to call in May and my beginning to serve as your minister to be a very rich opportunity for practicing appropriate boundaries, as we persist a little while longer in this state of “Go! Wait, not yet!” Have you ever had an experience like this, where you wanted to dive right into the pool, but felt like you were waiting forever for the lifeguard to blow the whistle? It’s not my strength, but

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07/24/2019 by Shannon Day

Transition Working Group Announcement

We are pleased to announce our Transition Working Group to help us navigate through the time until Rev. Christopher arrives at Westside. Since the R1 Visa (Religious Leader Visa, Canada to the US) Process typically takes a minimum of 6 months, the individuals above, in addition to our Board, will be available as resources to the congregation during our transition. The specific roles of the Transition Working Group will be to maintain a healthy and vibrant congregational community in our gap time by (1) serving as the primary liaison to Rev. Christopher, (2) ensuring we are abiding by the rules

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07/24/2019 by Shannon Day

Minister’s Musings Among the Mountains – “Final Thoughts…”

Nearly 3 years ago I wrote my first column in your online news. This was a section from that column: “I am a strong believer in ‘church’ being a joyful as well as serious experience. Laughter and delight is a powerful antidote to the feelings of powerlessness and despair that can come creeping into our lives otherwise. I hope we’ll be able to experience some joyful and spontaneous moments as we begin our work.” Well, I still think that sentiment is true for us all. Laughter and joy are still with you as Westsiders but the utter seriousness of these

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07/17/2019 by Shannon Day

Update from the Board 7.19.19

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

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