11/11/2020 by Shannon Day

November Message from the Board President

This fall has felt like a real grind. Resources and energy have been limited, stressors have been high. We’ve all been functioning under the weight of huge uncertainty and often grim realities for months on end. It’s a lot for each individual to hold and any community to weather.  Although I wasn’t totally conscious of it, I realize now that, on some level, I was hoping the election would be a massive relief. Instead, the way it played out was tense and grueling and it’s become clear that a sense of relief is further off into the horizon than I

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10/21/2020 by Shannon Day

The Foundations of our Covid Gathering Policy

Dear Westside Members and Friends, We are finding ourselves faced with such an unusual set of circumstances and no easy answers. Like many of you, our board members feel the wear and tear on our tolerance and stamina as this pandemic wages its storms on us. Like many of you, we are grasping for ways to feed ourselves with human connection. And like many of you, we are trying to find a path for how to strengthen and nourish the bonds of our community. What we do have as a vital resource, is our collective wisdom as a congregation. And

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10/20/2020 by Shannon Day

Reflections from the Board

The Blessings of the Binder Keepers – Shelley Webb, Board Treasurer In my In my 20’s, after a failed three-month career as a middle-school math teacher but before I knew what I wanted to do next, I landed a job as customer service representative #4 of what would later become a national DSL company. DSL was the hot, new, high-speed, low-cost way of connecting to the internet in 1999. It was a furiously growing start-up, and the training was pretty entertaining. There was none, really, just a lot of spoken words. When we hired service reps #5 and #6, talking

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10/07/2020 by Shannon Day

Update from the Board and Minister on in-person gatherings

Dear members and friends of Westside, As we enter the fall season, many of you may have questions about our plans for continuing to come together as a community and specifically about the possibility of having in-person meetings with proper physical distancing and masks. The board is committed to considering how we function as a community with a focus on caring for the safety of all of Westside’s members and on making decisions with equity in mind. Taking into account differing health and safety concerns and access needs, we have concluded that church activities must continue without in-person contact. This

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09/23/2020 by Shannon Day

Update from Board President 9.23.20

It’s hard to know where to start right now. At every level and in every direction, there are complexities, moving pieces, and areas that need time and attention. This is no less true in our congregation, as we emerge from our years without a settled minister in this time of great upheaval.  I am so grateful for the time our board has taken over the summer getting to know each other, learning to work together, building a foundation of trust, and digging into our work. As we prepared for the board’s final retreat, each board member brought forward what we

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06/17/2020 by Shannon Day

Q&A from Our Annual Meeting 2020 from the Board and Finance Committee

Thank you to all who attended our first online Annual Meeting, and helped us to make it a success! There were several questions asked in our chat and with raised hands through the meeting. While we tried to answer them during the meeting, this might be helpful for more clarity. The Board and Finance Committee welcome your inputs and questions if you’d like to follow up on any of these points! (board@wsuu.org, finance@wsuu.org)   Once Rev. Christopher’s visa is approved, what are the next steps? We are thrilled that USCIS has approved the R-1 visa! To actually get the visa

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06/17/2020 by Shannon Day

Addressing Access Issues for General Assembly Delegates

After one particularly harmful General Assembly experience for many people of color and those with access struggles, collective voices requested and demanded accountability from our Unitarian Universalist Association.  A Special Review Commission was convened.  In presenting their final report (https://www.uua.org/sites/live-new.uua.org/files/060322_src_final_rpt.pdf), this gathering of beloveds shared this spiritual reflection and faithful commitment upon which they agreed:   This is not about nametags This is about people This is about relationships This is about power This is about how we treat each other This is about communication This is about the assumptions we make about each other This is about human limitations

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06/10/2020 by Shannon Day

Some things I’ve Learned from our Finance Committee

… in this role as board president (Jade Lowry) Westside has been fortunate to have had a long line of committed volunteers with strong budgeting skills supporting our financial health. And this year was no exception! Our board benefited enormously from the deep and thorough research work and budget planning this year’s Finance Committee offered (Paula vanHaagan—chair, Shelley Webb—treasurer, Alan Mendel, and Shannon Day). They took the time to meet with us and made incredible spreadsheets to educate us about the important details of Westside’s budget. Below is what I’ve learned about triple bottom lines, how a budget is a plan,

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06/09/2020 by Shannon Day

President-Elect, Vanessa Shaughnessy’s Address from 2020 Annual Meeting

My Dear Westside, it’s an honor to be your next board president! I’m humbled by the work of my predecessors, and deeply grateful for lasts year’s board navigating us through a time of so much upheaval, while still moving forward with increased transparency, connection, and deepened commitment to justice. It’s amazing to me what they’ve accomplished. We’ve been without a called minister for almost exactly 5 years, and there have been times that have tested us deeply. But I’m incredibly proud of the ways this congregation has grown. We are at the threshold of a new beginning, and we’ve built

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05/20/2020 by Shannon Day

Changes in Congregational Care Clusters – Thomas Terence and Jade Lowry

Many thank you’s to our Cluster Facilitators, who have helped us to connect and support one another as we transitioned into the new normal of pandemic world. We set up these clusters as an emergency measure to hold the community and focus on care, and they have been serving their purpose. Now we are in a place of needing to set ourselves up for a long haul. Our journey ahead has many unknowns. Given the generally good place we are in now with the health and well-being of most of our congregants, our care needs are actually more about social

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