Monthly messages and special updates from your Board of Directors.
November board message
The board would like to bring everyone up to date on the exciting progress in defining our new relationship with Beth Israel. This extract from the Joint Statement of Intent agreed to by both congregations explains why we are considering this change.
“Beth Israel has aspirations for a community where congregational size, resources, and leadership capacity are sustainable. They desire to assure a home for Judaism in Peterborough well into the future. The Unitarian Fellowship wants to feel settled, for the long term, in a place they can call home. They imagine that a greater degree of control over property related matters would allow for a more palpable sense of ownership and place”
All our discussions have recognized and addressed the main desires of the two communities as expressed in the Joint Statement. All our discussions have been rooted in a mutual level of trust, fairness, and cooperation that guides us at every turn. We have now settled on the main points of the structure of a new, richer relationship.
Details remain to be worked out, but the net result will be that UFP will have no increase in operating costs and will be able to assume more control over building use, so that it feels more like our home. Beth Israel will be able to focus more on outreach and programming and less on building issues.
Questions? At the Big Brouhaha Beyond Budget meeting on December 8 we will discuss details and answer questions about this and so much more, so mark your calendars and plan to attend.
— Guy Hanchet, on behalf of the Board of Directors
(Photos: Ben Wolfe)
Our Budget Meeting on Dec. 8 Will Be Much More Than That — Plan to Be There!
This week we received the disappointing news that our application for a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation to make the downstairs more accessible was not awarded. Only about one in three grant applications is successful, so we are not unprepared for this news. If you attended the informational meeting on September 15 you heard a bit about ‘Plan B.’
Mark the December 8th budget meeting on your calendar. The meeting will certainly be interesting since it will include discussion of Plan B, progress on redefining our relationship with Beth Israel, progress on our Planned Giving Campaign, and how all this fits together with our Long Range Financial Planning.
If you have questions or comments on these topics you are welcome to talk to me or any of our Board members.
— Guy Hanchet, on behalf of the Board of Directors
Past Notes From the Board
Finding Our Way Home — Accessibility, Our Relationship With Beth Israel, and This Building
An Update from our September 15th Special Meeting On September 15th the Board called a special meeting to report on and explore the accessibility challenges we have faced since the stairlift failed a year ago. As background — we are waiting for word on a major Trillium grant application we submitted in June (with Beth…
September 15: A Congregational Information Meeting on Accessibility
This Sunday, following the service Accessibility is an important value for us. The Board has called a meeting to consider possible steps and financial commitments we might make to improve accessibility. We have been exploring a renovation project that would create a more welcoming main floor as we continue to work with Beth Israel toward…
Catch up on our ‘BIG QUESTIONS’ at next week’s AGM
The Fellowship Annual General Meeting is after next Sunday’s service, May 26, with a simple lunch provided. It’s more than a meeting this year. The Board and Co-Visioning Task Force are taking it as an opportunity to connect and catch up in community around some of our “big questions.” You probably know we’ve been working…
Update on the Stairlift
The Board, indeed the whole congregation, continues to be deeply disappointed by the fact that our downstairs hall is not accessible to all. We would like to bring you up to date on progress to correct this issue. As you know we have been trying to limp along with the unreliable stair lift for some time,…
Our 3 Areas of Focus This Year
Members of your Board of Directors would like to bring you up to date on the three main areas of our focus this year: Planning, Policy, and Governance. We are still paying attention to the details but we want you to know that we are putting a higher priority and more time on the long-term…
Building Bridges Between UFP and Beth Israel
As far back as 2004, when UFP first signed a lease arrangement with Beth Israel, people were imagining possibilities between our two communities. The intention was that sharing space created an invitation to get to know one another and swap stories about our religious traditions. Our relationship, it was imagined, could be enriching as much…
Where is Home?
For the first thirty- odd years of our Unitarian existence in Peterborough, we were wanderers. We met weekly in places and spaces all across town, from school libraries to a former billiards hall. The first and only building we owned and was a decommissioned Salvation Army church on Chamberlain Street. We weren’t there long before…
Recognizing Our Choir Director, Welcoming our New RE Assistant
Since January many of us have been at work putting others to work on your behalf. This will not be news to you if you’ve been attending Sunday services, but since March we have officially installed a new choir director and a Religious Exploration Facilitator. Introductions first! Linda Clarke is a professional musician and choir director, among…
CoVisioning With BIS, and Long Range Financial Planning
I’m excited about two recent initiatives at UFP which have the power and promise to shift things within our community. What’s really brilliant is the interconnections between them and that they are happening concurrently, which gives them all the more capacity to affect change. Both endeavours have been on the drawing board for a long…
A Note on Process
Organizationally and culturally, churches can be placed on a continuum somewhere between two extremes. Parish churches, typically less than 100 members, are relationship-based and close, personally. Everyone knows one other. Business gets done word of mouth. While they can be rewarding for the level of personal integration and strong sense of belonging, growth and outreach…
Last Sunday the 2018 Budget Passed Unanimously
Last Sunday, December 10, we met as a congregation to review and endorse a budget document for 2018. It was an ordinary event in that it happens every year and we manage the consequences regardless. But this year felt extraordinary because of the commitment so many of you made to engagement in the process. It…
2018 Budget Summary
Over the past two years our congregation has been experimenting with and implementing new ways of engaging in important dialogue. The Community Conversations group has hosted many programs that supported us using an array of group process tools and workshop types. With this behind us, and budget time approaching, this September felt like an appropriate…