Monthly messages and special updates from your Board of Directors.
Re-opening?
In our last message to the congregation about reopening, the Board let you know that we would not reopen before October 4 at the earliest, and that we would update you in September. Well, it’s September, and the Board has decided that we will not be reopening for in-person Sunday services before January at the earliest. In addition to the potential risks, the elevator construction is making it impossible to meet in the building.
We recognize that this creates a continuing sense of loss of our familiar ways of gathering in community. We miss one another’s presence, and faces, and perhaps especially, singing together.
To address this,we are forming a team to work on how to reopen, when to reopen, and what we can do to maintain our sense of community while we wait for the right conditions. We heartily welcome your participation on this team, especially if you have an interest in finding alternative ways to meet, or have ideas about how to share music. Please contact Heather-Lynn if you’d like to help with this.
We expect over the fall to be imagining new features within our online Zoom meetings that allow for more participation, but which may require more technology. Anyone with an interest in exploring tech options or providing tech support (recording/editing/videography/etc) is encouraged to contact Ben Robins or Rev. Julie.
When will we re-open?
The UFP Board has decided that we will not return to in-person services and meetings until at least October 4. UFP’s committees and groups should continue to meet on-line as well. A memorial service may be allowed if we are able to meet the safety protocols.
The Board will be monitoring the situation and will reassess this decision regularly, knowing that the decision to re-open will need to be made jointly with Beth Israel.
To arrive at this decision, the Board met with UFP’s leadership, researched protocols and trends, and consulted with Beth Israel. Safety and inclusion were two of the highest considerations.
Should you decide to gather socially, the Board encourages everyone to follow public health guidelines and help keep each other safe during this time. Reach the Board here.
Past Notes From the Board
Moving Forward as Beloved Community During COVID-19
On Sunday we held our first on-line service at the Fellowship. The uplifting feeling of being supported in our community was not diminished by the few tiny technical glitches. Nearly 60 devices were logged in to the meeting, quite a few from outside Peterborough. Many of these represented 2 or 3 people participating. In the…
Online-Only Services
Leadership at the Unitarian Fellowship of Peterborough has decided to suspend in-person gatherings starting this Sunday, March 15 for at least 2 weeks, moving to online services instead. We do this because of the rapid spread of COVID-19 and the risk it poses to our community, and in alignment with the advice of the Unitarian…
March 8: Community Conversation — “How We Care for Each Other”
Among the deepest reasons for belonging to a religious community — is the care, connection and community we offer each other. When has the Unitarian Fellowship of Peterborough met your need and longing for community and care? When have we fallen short? We often talk about outreach — and we do so much social justice…
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…
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…
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…