The HUUC Board of Trustees has set the following dates:
Sunday, May 16, at 1:30 p.m. Town Hall Meeting: The Board will share the proposed budget with the congregation.
Sunday, June 6, at 1:30 p.m. Annual Congregational Meeting: Our meeting includes key reports, elections, voting on the budget, and special recognitions.
2021.
Heritage Healthy Cooking Class Food Distribution, summer 2020
Heritage Healthy Cooking Classes have been coordinating a food distribution for almost a year. We plan to bring the distribution to a close at the end of May. Our last official food distribution will be Thursday, May 20, 2021. We are deeply grateful to LaSoupe for the hundreds of pounds of food that they have rescued and given to us. We look forward to the possibilities of offering “re-skilling” cooking classes to the church and to the community. These food distributions have been an important way to help nourish HUUC members and non-members on many levels. Serving those in need is just one important part of the food distribution. Our goals are to help reduce food waste and to minister to ANYONE who desires a food box, regardless of need.
A team recently cleared and seeded the raised beds behind the church! Watch for new life coming up in those beds and in the food boxes! Community gardening is a great way to create community and to help reduce waste.
Knowing how much food is wasted in America each year is only the first step toward tackling a problem that is bigger than the simple monetary loss. The reality of food waste in America is that we live in a country in which more than 54 million people are food insecure (18 million of which are children) according to 2020 data collected by Feeding America. These numbers are up sharply due to the effects of the pandemic and economic downturn. Reasons for food waste range from production and supply, to our tendency to over-purchase, to the unrealistic aesthetic standards we have come to expect from our fruits and vegetables and prepared foods.
We can all play a part in reaching the national food waste reduction goal – to reduce food waste by 50% by the year 2030. Learn more at the Food and Drug Administration page on reducing food waste.
We are in the process of looking for a new church administrator. Perhaps you can help? Being part of our HUUC community, you know best about who we are and hopefully know someone who is looking for a fulfilling job opportunity at Heritage. If you know someone who might be interested in this position, please share this information and ask them to submit their resume to us at:
Our Church Administrator is responsible for the ongoing and effective operation of the church office and building. The Administrator is responsible for a broad variety of administrative tasks with minimal guidance: managing office procedures and facilities, scheduling, purchasing, and bookkeeping services. This position requires knowledge of major office-related computer applications including database management. Excellent communication skills with a calm and professional manner are necessary.
The role is expected to be a 30-hour work week with flexible schedule and a competitive salary. To learn more about the role, visit a Google Drive with the Full Position Description. The application deadline is March 15, with an anticipated decision date around April 15. Start date would be May 1, 2021
If you have questions, contact the Administrator Search Group at:
February 23, 2021.
The following policy shall be reviewed monthly by the Board of Trustees. The purpose of this policy is to assist church groups and individuals with planning.
Posted 5/26/2020. Last revised by the Board on 1/11/2021.
Karen Hager
Thanks to our wonderful Interim RE Search Committee, Kay Inskeep, Melissa Dunlap, Chad Inman, Katie Kpaeyeh and myself, I would like to introduce you, or reintroduce you, to our Interim Religious Educator. We had some great applicants and are hopeful some will apply for the settled position when we get to that point. The committee did an amazing job and found a very qualified candidate that was recommended to and approved by the Board of Trustees. Karen Hager will be our Interim Religious Educator from January 1 through June 30, 2021. Karen got her start in religious education leadership right here at Heritage, where she, her husband Monte, and their son Ben were members from 2007 through 2009.
Karen and her family moved to Blacksburg, Virginia in the fall of 2009. Karen was quickly hired as the Director of Lifespan Faith Development at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Blacksburg, Virginia. She is a UUA Credentialed Religious Educator. Over her 10 years with UUC she has doubled the number of participants in the program through a combination of new curricula, family and multi-generational activities, and widespread support from her congregation. Karen has also written and published numerous religious education curricula for various preK-12 age groups which are used by hundreds of congregations across the country. Karen also trains other religious educators in the UUA Renaissance Module. Karen’s leadership has maintained children and youth participation levels at UUC through virtual religious education programing since March of this year.
In 2016 and 2017 Karen was a consultant, acting in an interim capacity, for the Unitarian Universalist Church of Roanoke, Virginia. In that capacity, Karen helped them through a transition and helped them grow their religious education program participation exponentially. Karen helped them, as she will here, to find a settled Director of Religious Education. Karen has continued to serve in a mentoring capacity to their settled Religious Educator and would be available for potential mentoring at HUUC if desired in the future. Karen looks forward to this opportunity to help HUUC, her old congregation, with our transition to a new Religious Educator.
Please join me in welcoming Karen back to Heritage!
Tamilyn Moore
Board President
To My Heritage Family:
It is with mixed emotions that I write this.
On August 20, 2020, I submitted my resignation and announced my retirement to the Board of Trustees. I will be retiring no later than June 30, 2021. It is with great pride and appreciation that I will have served as your Church Administrator for nineteen years.
I had planned on retiring at the end of this calendar year. But, when the COVID pandemic hit us, I felt compelled to stay a little longer. I wanted to do my part to help Heritage adjust to the new normal. With the continued dedication, determination and imagination of this amazing congregation and its ministers, you are adjusting beautifully.
In the next 10 months that lie before us, I will continue to take care of the business of the church to the best of my abilities. Just as important, perhaps even more, I will continue to be there for you.
With much gratitude,
Denise
In the midst of making phone calls, delivering soup, and grocery shopping for those who are home-bound, our Caring Circle has also been organizing for the long haul.
Over 60 people completed our online Heritage Needs and Gifts survey and the vast majority also volunteered to help keep Heritage connected while our church building is closed. Volunteers are being divided into teams that will expand the reach and efforts of our Caring Circle and be sure that all church members and friends are contacted and their needs met to the best of our abilities.
You’ll hear more about our Heritage Caring Network teams in the near future. For now, if you receive a voice mail, email or other message from someone identifying themselves as a Heritage Caring Network member, please call them back! We just want to be sure you are ok and that you know how to reach out if you need us.
If you want to get in touch with the Caring Circle, send email to Michelle Kelly and Barb Beezley at:
As we continue to be mindful of the safety and security of our members and friends when they are in the Heritage building, we’ve discovered that information for many of our families is incomplete.
Security professionals have urged us to have emergency contact information for everyone who attends programming in our church, especially on Sunday mornings. In January and February, you may receive an information form via email. We urge you to fill it out as completely as possible and assure you that all information collected will remain safe and secure from hacking or other unauthorized access.
Paper forms will also be available at the Religious Exploration recruiting table on Sunday mornings.
Please help us ensure the safety of our Heritage children and youth!
January 2020.
In response to discussion at our annual congregational meeting in June, Heritage UU Church has started placing its financial statements on a password-protected webpage on the church website.
To go to the financial statements, on any church webpage find the main menu bar, point to CONGREGATIONAL LIFE, then point and click on MEMBERS’ AREA. On that page, scroll down and click on the Financial Statements link. This will take you to the Financial Statements page.
You will need to enter the members’ area password if you have not entered it recently. If you do not know the password, please talk with the Church Administrator either in person or by phone.
If you have questions about the content of the financial statements, please talk with Reid Hester, or email him at:
September 2019.
The church has two front doorbells, and it can be a little confusing as to which one you should ring.
If you come to the church for a gathering of some sort and there is no one standing there to let you in, ring the bottom doorbell. It is small, a vertical rectangle, and has a little notice that says “Push Here for Main Building.” This doorbell rings a buzzer throughout the building, so that anyone who has already arrived for your gathering should be able to hear it and come let you in.
(There is also another doorbell—square, larger, and higher—that rings in just the church office, and that is meant for persons delivering packages, etc., during the Church Administrator’s office hours. Don’t ring that one unless you know for certain that the Church Administrator is in. People in the rest of the building can’t hear it.)
If you have questions, please contact our Church Administrator at 513-231-8634, or email her at:
June 2019.
