Recent updates from your Board of Directors.
Music and COVID: Returning to Singing Together
At our meeting this week, the UFP Board approved the following COVID-19 and music policy, to enable Resonance, the Occasional Singers and any other small groups to rehearse and perform in the Sanctuary under these specific conditions:
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When the Local COVID-19 Risk Index is at Moderate:
Resonance and other singing groups are welcome to meet at UFP to rehearse based on the following precautions:
- Rigorous self-screening to attend, modelled on the Peterborough Singers approach,
- All participants properly masked at all times (N95 or better masks, properly worn),
- Social distancing in effect,
- Doors and windows open for ventilation, and,
- No indoor social time before or after the practice. (Outdoors is fine, it’s all about air exchange indoors and amount of time together.)
Resonance and other groups can perform at UFP in-person services with these same precautions. (Distancing is desirable while performing too, but what is practical/possible needs to be determined.)
When the Local COVID-19 Risk Index is at High:
Resonance and other singing groups can still meet to rehearse at UFP, for a maximum of 1 hour, based on maximum care with above noted precautions.
Resonance and other singing groups can be recorded live together in the rehearsal space for use in on-line services.
Note: At High, our services are online, with only the service delivery team in the Sanctuary.
Additional note: The 1 hour time at High is based on the CO2 monitoring we have done to date in the space to check air exchange in real world conditions. With additional testing in a live rehearsal, this might be improvable.)
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At VERY HIGH, we do not gather. The Board includes two members and lovers of Resonance, and we look forward to singing with many of you again soon.
Please email any clarifying questions to me, Ben, and I’ll share the answers.
— Ben Wolfe, President, Unitarian Fellowship of Peterborough
Services will be online Again until the end of november, as COVID is at extreme levels Locally
Dear UFP beloved community:
As everyone watching the trends in the data has sadly been anticipating and preparing for… COVID spread is extreme in the local community, with hospitalizations now matching their highest peak weeks from April and January.
We are into our third week online. We do not like it, any of us, but we have (as we have to) put our heads and hearts into being ready for this and being all we can be for each other. Our Creative Worship Team has responded to the uncertainty of service planning week to week by declaring we will be online-only for Sunday services through the end of November. We have some truly wonderful services and other events coming. Do join in!
We will meet in person in some other special ways. Note especially that Jessica Smith and our RE team have planned a fall outdoor event, “Grounded in Love,” for October 29th.
Coming next on Sundays — I’ll be speaking on October 23rd, on the theme “Our Work is Loving the World.” Jessica Lindeman offers us some beautiful live music that morning. Rev. Peter Boullata will be back in the pulpit on October 30th and November 12th.
How can we love and support each other through this disappointing time, and all the stresses a COVID winter may bring? That’s a question every part of our community.
— Ben Wolfe (President), for your UFP Board

Past Notes From the Board
COVID Update: Oct. 6 — Levels are “VERY HIGH”
Local COVID levels have gone from Moderate to High to VERY HIGH and still rising in the last two weeks. It is frustrating and disappointing and we are trying to make the best of it.
COVID SAFETY UPDATE: SEPT. 28
Well, it’s not a shock that cases have been rampant due to many factors including schools starting, a flood of large gatherings, COVID exhaustion and reduced protective standards, change of seasons, and how much all of us want to get back to normal. The curve was turning upward a week ago and is now a…
In Transition
Dear UFPers, It’s happened. Our beloved Rev. Julie Stoneberg has completed her time with us in ritual and thanks. And your Board, Transition Team and Creative Worship Team and others have been meeting, together and in our individual roles, to map out a plan for the coming transition year. We hope and expect to have…
We Do Not Have An Interim Minister — So, What Does That Mean?
It’s official — like about two dozen other congregations across North America, our Fellowship has completed the Interim Ministry search process this year without matching with an interim minister. This is not the outcome we wanted, and it is also not a major surprise. Interim Ministers are in unusually short supply this year due to…
AN UPDATE ON OUR INTERIM MINISTER SEARCH: WE DON’T YET HAVE A “MATCH”
On Wednesday, to our disappointment but not complete surprise in this COVID-complicated year, UFP learned from the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) Transitions Office that we do not have a match for Interim Minister in the first round of the search process. A second round of matching congregations with Ministers begins Monday. About half of the…
Our New Officers, As We Enter Into a Year of Transition
Last Friday, UFP’s 2022-23 Board of Directors met for the first time in this unique transition year. Our formal business was to choose our Officers for 2022-23, as required by our Bylaws. And here they are: President: Ben WolfeVice-President: Aukje BykerTreasurer: Joan HigginsonSecretary: Scott DonovanPast President: Steph Wildheart Board Members: Tracy Galvin, Mundy McLaughlin, Julie…
Transition Time Is Upon Us: An Update from your Board
An Update from your Board Regarding Rev. Julie’s Departure
message from the Board | Jan 22, 2022
Dear Beloved Community, I am sure that the news from Rev. Julie that you just read was difficult to hear. We have all been so well ministered to and cared for by Rev. Julie, with so much heart work, that it will no doubt be sad and difficult to see her move on. As…
Message from the UFP Board | December 17, 2021
Hello Beloved UFP Community! As I am sure you have heard, things are changing again in our pandemic world. At this week’s Board meeting, acting on advice from the Safe Gathering Committee, we made an unavoidable decision based on the presence and spread of the Omicron variant. We are suspending in-person indoor services and meetings…
OPPORTUNITIES TO BRING IN YOUR PROOF OF VACCINATION
Your UFP Board along with the Safe Gathering Committee is happy to share with you that dual-platform services could be happening as soon as December 5th.
There will be opportunities over the next month to participate in dialogue and learn more about what the services will look like when we all return.
GREETERS NEEDED FOR DEC 5TH, DEC 12TH, AND BEYOND
Your UFP Board along with the Safe Gathering Committee is happy to share with you that dual-platform services could be happening as soon as December 5th.
There will be opportunities over the next month to participate in dialogue and learn more about what the services will look like when we all return.
HERE COMES RE-OPENING
Your UFP Board along with the Safe Gathering Committee is happy to share with you that dual-platform services could be happening as soon as December 5th.
There will be opportunities over the next month to participate in dialogue and learn more about what the services will look like when we all return.