Right Relations Survey Results!

From the Right Relations Phase One Team — Thank you to the 60 people who responded to our Right Relations survey — woohoo! The input we received is very helpful. The majority of voters chose congregational training as a foundation for working with our covenant. We also received seven alternative responses, and many thoughtful comments. We learned some important things from your input, especially regarding our covenant. Here are some of the informative comments, and look for more Westside Week articles with Right Relations updates! Congregational Training — Maybe the first priority should be more general education about what this

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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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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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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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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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Rev. Christopher’s Schedule

With the birth of baby Benjamin in July, Rev. Christopher has 12 weeks of family leave to use. Instead of taking this all at once he will be taking it gradually over the next several months. This will include periods of half-time work and some weeks of full leave. We are grateful that he is able to spread this leave out over time as our shared ministry begins to take root. He has put great thought into how to balance and prioritize his time during this transition. The board will be working closely with him to cover the needs of

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August Letter from the President, Vanessa Shaughnessy

Summer is nearing the end and we’re on the verge of our new church year.  So much hard work has been done to pave the way for Rev. Christopher’s final move to Seattle. Huge thanks to the valiant co-chairs and the team of the Transition Working Group, who signed up for what was expected to be a few months and have faithfully guided the transition for over a year, navigating through a great number of challenges and bringing us to the final phase—the Wulff family’s relocation to Seattle. In the last couple of weeks housing has been secured and plans

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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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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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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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