Evergreen Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
www.evergreenuu.org / 360-659-6621 / evergreenuu@comcast.net
2019 - 2020 Annual Report
Table Of Contents
President's Report to the Congregation, 3 Minister's Report to the Congregation, 5 Leadership Development Committee, 8 Endowment, 9 Stewardship, 10 Worship Committee, 12 Safety Committee, 13 Building & Grounds, 14 Communication, 15 Common Ground Choir, 17 Greeters, 18 Adult RE, 18 Covenant Circle, 19 Green Team, 20 W.I.S.E., 21 Women's Group, 22 Men's Circle, 22 Marysville Community Lunch, 23
President’s Report to the Congregation for the fiscal year 2019-2020 Ken Rines, President of EUUF Board of Trustees Name
This has been a challenging year for our Fellowship, our country, and our world. As our church year draws to a close, we have transformed temporarily to a virtual fellowship. We, as a Board, agreed to adopt practices to make our meetings as productive as possible. We realized that our ability to work together was essential to our effectiveness as your board of trustees. We, the Board Of Trustees of the Evergreen Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, covenant for the 2019-2020 church year to: listen actively have the courage to participate fully (even if we don’t feel articulate) come prepared (having done our homework/reading) be kind & respectful of others’ opinions (whether you agree or disagree) be mission-focused have an open mind/heart bring laughter & play into the room We continued the practice of using a “Consent Agenda” for routine, non-controversial reports. A link to each report is attached to the Consent Agenda item. Reports are moved to the discussion agenda if requested by a board member. In the fall, the Board held a series of three Open Question Cafes to gather input from the Fellowship on where we are, what challenges we face, and what opportunities we see as a fellowship. These discussions fed into the Board retreat in December. We continued our work on developing RACI charts for the committees and teams of the fellowship. RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) charts outline the duties and expectations of the committees and help clarify the responsibilities associated with different roles. These RACI charts have been used several times by staff and volunteers to simplify the process of determining who to talk to about various issues. The Board completed RACI charts for the Endowment committee and the Stewardship committee. Completing RACI charts for all standing committees is a goal for the Board, but some of this work was pre-empted by more time-sensitive issues in the second half of the church year. At our December retreat, the Board coalesced around a Vision of Ministry and developed a set of Open Questions for the fellowship for 2020-2021. The Vision of Ministry (guidelines for staff work for the church year) is: 1) Work with the Leadership Development Committee to develop congregational team leaders to discover and seize opportunities to live out our Mission more fully. 2) Work with those team leaders to coalesce around appropriate opportunities to fulfill our Mission. Our Open Questions for 2020-2021 are: 1) On what one or two efforts should we as a congregation focus our energy and resources to fulfill our Mission? 2) In what ways are our current facilities well-suited to fulfilling our Mission? And what challenges do our current facilities pose to fulfilling our Mission? Expect to hear more from the Board next year as we solicit your ideas on these Open Questions. Throughout the year, the Board attended a webinar series hosted by the UUA on Small Congregations. These webinars offered a fascinating perspective on how other congregations have navigated difficult times and embraced unexpected opportunities. In March, we acted on recommendations from the Safety Team to advise the staff and the worship team to work on a hybrid in-person service with live webcasting. As the coronavirus pandemic worsened, this experiment rapidly transformed into all-online services via Zoom. The Board has continued to monitor the situation and added additional guidelines such as shutting down the building to all activities except for the Marysville Community Lunch, which now uses the parking lot to deliver meals to community members. Along with the rest of the congregation, the Board has been amazed by the speed and success of the staff, Worship Team, and other volunteers in transforming our services into online formats. We are grateful to be able to have such wonderful people as part of our Fellowship. Between the pandemic and the recent protests against police violence, our situation is dramatically different than what anyone could have predicted at the beginning of the church year. As we move forward to next year, I am excited that we have such a dedicated team helping us all navigate these unprecedented times.
At our December retreat, the Board coalesced around a Vision of Ministry and developed a set of Open Questions for the fellowship for 2020-2021. The Vision of Ministry (guidelines for staff work for the church year) is: 1) Work with the Leadership Development Committee to develop congregational team leaders to discover and seize opportunities to live out our Mission more fully. 2) Work with those team leaders to coalesce around appropriate opportunities to fulfill our Mission. Our Open Questions for 2020-2021 are: 1) On what one or two efforts should we as a congregation focus our energy and resources to fulfill our Mission? 2) In what ways are our current facilities well-suited to fulfilling our Mission? And what challenges do our current facilities pose to fulfilling our Mission? Expect to hear more from the Board next year as we solicit your ideas on these Open Questions. Throughout the year, the Board attended a webinar series hosted by the UUA on Small Congregations. These webinars offered a fascinating perspective on how other congregations have navigated difficult times and embraced unexpected opportunities. In March, we acted on recommendations from the Safety Team to advise the staff and the worship team to work on a hybrid in-person service with live webcasting. As the coronavirus pandemic worsened, this experiment rapidly transformed into all-online services via Zoom. The Board has continued to monitor the situation and added additional guidelines such as shutting down the building to all activities except for the Marysville Community Lunch, which now uses the parking lot to deliver meals to community members. Along with the rest of the congregation, the Board has been amazed by the speed and success of the staff, Worship Team, and other volunteers in transforming our services into online formats. We are grateful to be able to have such wonderful people as part of our Fellowship. Between the pandemic and the recent protests against police violence, our situation is dramatically different than what anyone could have predicted at the beginning of the church year. As we move forward to next year, I am excited that we have such a dedicated team helping us all navigate these unprecedented times.
Looking Back On The 2019-20 Church Year Life Transitions This past congregational year, we had a number of deaths in our congregation: Frank Moore, Jackie Swyer, Richard Rousse, and Roger Johnson have all moved on from this life. And, we also welcomed a new marriage into our midst: that of Dave Speights and Nancy Guidry. In the midst of these transitions, may we continue to cultivate this beloved community, that it may hold all of it ever more nourishingly. The goals that the Board set for this congregational year are: Goal #1: Create a roadmap that will lead to a sustainable Religious Exploration program and a full-time minister. We will experiment with a mix of whole-congregation worship, “second hour RE” (class/group options available after the worship service for folks of all ages), resources for families for the weeks between Sundays, and some evening gathering/worship options. The whole while, we will invited input on the process - and were grateful to those that shared their insights. In looking at how the congregation can once again afford a full-time minister, it became clear that two primary challenges lay in our path: The need for an updated mission statement that speaks to the current enthusiasms of the congregation. The need for more focused attention on what could be grouped under the umbrella of “organizational ministry”: integrating new members, creating a welcoming environment, encouraging a sense of community, encouraging growth, broad involvement in planning and conducting programs, nurturing lay leadership, and ministering to various age groups. (The congregation has been without a Membership Committee since Barbara Johnson resigned as chair - and was understaffed for awhile before that.) To address the former, the Board set a goal for this year regarding a new mission statement (more on that below). To address the latter, the Board set a couple of goals for this coming year regarding some focus on leadership and program development. There is more on that below, as well. Goal #2: Foster transformational actions based on our values that deepen our engagement with the wider community. This past year, we gathered data on folks’ involvement in various organizations and had intended to help coordinate greater congregational involvement in the sorts of activities that align with our mission and values. However, the final part has been put on hold as we complete our new mission statement. Goal #3: Engage in a process of re-imagining our mission as a Fellowship. We’ve been working together since January on identifying Evergreen’s current: core values (the positive and negative values that we live out habitually in our daily lives) bedrock beliefs (those beliefs to which we turn in times of crisis) motivating vision (the answer to the question, “What is it about my experience of Unitarian Universalism that the broader community (be that downtown Marysville or Snohomish County or the state of Washington or the Salish Sea Basin) cannot live without?” It’s been wonderful to get to be a part of a lot of rich conversation - and hear about other rich conversations! - along the way. I’ll also acknowledge that, in kicking off the part on Evergreen’s motivating vision, I proposed that the Fellowship adopt a pre-written covenant to support folks in some adventurous visioning - and the wording of that covenant did not work for a number of folks. So, we slowed down the entire process - which I think will actually benefit the richness of the visioning as well as the final mission statement. The adjusted plan at this point is to continue visioning through September, then follow up on the mission, and then approve it sometime around January. Looking Ahead To The 2020-21 Church Year Given the pandemic that’s going on - to say nothing of the current protests and the upcoming election - there is a lot on the horizon that is unknown. But it is helpful to have a plan in place as a baseline - it can be adjusted, and that’s way easier than starting from scratch. I’m glad that the Finance Committee and the Board Of Trustees opted to increase funding for Evergreen’s Office Administrator - to move from working 18 hours each week to working 24 hours each week. This will make possible some bigger improvements to the website and just general operations - including freeing other staff up from some of the administrative duties that had been taking time away from their other responsibilities. Alli has been hugely helpful in making the transition from in-person worship services to being an entirely-remote congregation. And it is that kind of administrative support that will aid us going forward. The goals that the Board set for this coming congregational year are: Goal #1: Work with the Leadership Development Committee to develop congregational team leaders to discover and seize opportunities to live out our Mission more fully. As noted above, many of the key challenges at Evergreen might be collected under the umbrella of “organizational ministry.” As the Leadership Development Committee (LDC) is the body at Evergreen that is fully-staffed and works in this area, Evergreen’s paid staff will be supporting their work in this area this coming year. Goal #2: Work with those team leaders to coalesce around appropriate opportunities to fulfill our Mission. Once the LDC’s work has gotten underway and we have a new mission statement, the next step will be to put the two together! Looking Forward To Next Year! I noted last year that Evergreen feels much different than than it did when I arrived - and that is once again true. There has been continued healing and gathering readiness to move on to the next chapter of the Fellowship. I’m excited for what this next year will bring!
Minister’s Report To Congregation Rev. Thomas Bozeman
To address the latter, the Board set a couple of goals for this coming year regarding some focus on leadership and program development. There is more on that below, as well. Goal #2: Foster transformational actions based on our values that deepen our engagement with the wider community. This past year, we gathered data on folks’ involvement in various organizations and had intended to help coordinate greater congregational involvement in the sorts of activities that align with our mission and values. However, the final part has been put on hold as we complete our new mission statement. Goal #3: Engage in a process of re-imagining our mission as a Fellowship. We’ve been working together since January on identifying Evergreen’s current: core values (the positive and negative values that we live out habitually in our daily lives) bedrock beliefs (those beliefs to which we turn in times of crisis) motivating vision (the answer to the question, “What is it about my experience of Unitarian Universalism that the broader community (be that downtown Marysville or Snohomish County or the state of Washington or the Salish Sea Basin) cannot live without?” It’s been wonderful to get to be a part of a lot of rich conversation - and hear about other rich conversations! - along the way. I’ll also acknowledge that, in kicking off the part on Evergreen’s motivating vision, I proposed that the Fellowship adopt a pre-written covenant to support folks in some adventurous visioning - and the wording of that covenant did not work for a number of folks. So, we slowed down the entire process - which I think will actually benefit the richness of the visioning as well as the final mission statement. The adjusted plan at this point is to continue visioning through September, then follow up on the mission, and then approve it sometime around January. Looking Ahead To The 2020-21 Church Year Given the pandemic that’s going on - to say nothing of the current protests and the upcoming election - there is a lot on the horizon that is unknown. But it is helpful to have a plan in place as a baseline - it can be adjusted, and that’s way easier than starting from scratch. I’m glad that the Finance Committee and the Board Of Trustees opted to increase funding for Evergreen’s Office Administrator - to move from working 18 hours each week to working 24 hours each week. This will make possible some bigger improvements to the website and just general operations - including freeing other staff up from some of the administrative duties that had been taking time away from their other responsibilities. Alli has been hugely helpful in making the transition from in-person worship services to being an entirely-remote congregation. And it is that kind of administrative support that will aid us going forward. The goals that the Board set for this coming congregational year are: Goal #1: Work with the Leadership Development Committee to develop congregational team leaders to discover and seize opportunities to live out our Mission more fully. As noted above, many of the key challenges at Evergreen might be collected under the umbrella of “organizational ministry.” As the Leadership Development Committee (LDC) is the body at Evergreen that is fully-staffed and works in this area, Evergreen’s paid staff will be supporting their work in this area this coming year. Goal #2: Work with those team leaders to coalesce around appropriate opportunities to fulfill our Mission. Once the LDC’s work has gotten underway and we have a new mission statement, the next step will be to put the two together! Looking Forward To Next Year! I noted last year that Evergreen feels much different than than it did when I arrived - and that is once again true. There has been continued healing and gathering readiness to move on to the next chapter of the Fellowship. I’m excited for what this next year will bring!
I’m glad that the Finance Committee and the Board Of Trustees opted to increase funding for Evergreen’s Office Administrator - to move from working 18 hours each week to working 24 hours each week. This will make possible some bigger improvements to the website and just general operations - including freeing other staff up from some of the administrative duties that had been taking time away from their other responsibilities. Alli has been hugely helpful in making the transition from in-person worship services to being an entirely-remote congregation. And it is that kind of administrative support that will aid us going forward. The goals that the Board set for this coming congregational year are: Goal #1: Work with the Leadership Development Committee to develop congregational team leaders to discover and seize opportunities to live out our Mission more fully. As noted above, many of the key challenges at Evergreen might be collected under the umbrella of “organizational ministry.” As the Leadership Development Committee (LDC) is the body at Evergreen that is fully-staffed and works in this area, Evergreen’s paid staff will be supporting their work in this area this coming year. Goal #2: Work with those team leaders to coalesce around appropriate opportunities to fulfill our Mission. Once the LDC’s work has gotten underway and we have a new mission statement, the next step will be to put the two together! Looking Forward To Next Year! I noted last year that Evergreen feels much different than than it did when I arrived - and that is once again true. There has been continued healing and gathering readiness to move on to the next chapter of the Fellowship. I’m excited for what this next year will bring!
Our first meeting was October 15, 2019. We started with homework of reading the timeline for Leadership development Team written by The Reverend Dr. James Kubal-Komoto: Clarifying what is needed: July - Sept. Build relationships with potential leaders: Oct – Nov. Match leader to upcoming open positions: Dec. Organize participation in leadership training for congregational leaders Jan. – June. Make the path to volunteer a leadership opportunities clear: year-round In November 2019, we identified positions to be filled. We got a list of current members and a list of committee chairpersons. In December 2019, we practiced interviewing each other using guidelines based on "Conversation Structure" and "Conversation Roles", from the video "Cultivating a Culture of Service in your Congregation." In January 2020, we made a plan to have conversations (meet for coffee etc.) with potential leaders. In February 2020, we continued to narrow our search and continued to talk to potential leaders. In March 2020, we started to invite potential leaders to be on the slate of nominees. We decided to limit the scope of our committee to being a nominating committee. In April 2020, we agreed on a partial slate of nominees. We agreed on 2 candidates for each of the remaining positions. The last two positions were accepted by phone. An email was sent to the committee announcing the acceptance of the nominees. Leadership slate for 2020-2021 (all agreed to serve): Board of Trustees Vice President - 3 year - Ann Kelleher Secretary - 2 year - Sally Malan Member at Large - 1 year - Tom Gaskin Member at Large - 2 year - Marilyn Boskis Leadership Development Committee Member - 2 year - Ann Atkinson Member - 2 year - Sue Pace Endowment Committee 3 year - Chuck Taylor, second term
Leadership Development Committee Carrie Kaeding, chair Members: Ray Mutchler, George Beykovsky, Amy Sells Haist, & Joy Lauderbaugh
The purpose of the Endowment Committee is to manage the EUUF Endowment Fund as provided for in the By-Laws. The current members of the Endowment Committee are Chuck Taylor (3rd year) Marijo Duprey (2nd year), and Bob Heavey (1st year). Terms are 3 years in length. Effective July 1, 2018, the $10,000 corpus of the EUUF Endowment Fund was invested in the UU Common Endowment Fund. This is a professionally managed fund that manages not only for safety and yield but also follows an active program of Socially Responsible Investing (SRI), which consists of making investment decisions that reflect UU values and contribute to positive social and environmental change. More information about this fund may be found at https://uucef.org/about/. As of July 1, 2019, the value of our investment was $10,597.07, a net return of +5.8%. The current pandemic has had a significant negative effect on the value of investments. As of May 15, 2020, the value of our investment was $10,133.29, a net change of -4.4%. For comparison, in that same period the Dow Jones Industrial Average return was -11.0%, and the S&P 500 return was -2.7%. Our two-year return has been a +1.3%. The committee has monitored the performance of the fund through quarterly investment calls. As prescribed in the Endowment Investment and Distribution Policy, no funds have been distributed from the Endowment Fund during this period.
Endowment Committee Chuck Taylor
Mission: Facilitates our annual Pledge Drive each spring to project next year’s resources Duties: Plans and conducts activities throughout the year describing and supporting a culture of abundance culminating in tightly organized pledge drive with celebration of completion. The Stewardship Committee, Chuck Taylor, Michelle Valentine, Ryan Weber, Nancy Guidry, Dan Hall, Pastor Tom Bozeman, and chair Tom Gaskin met online once a month from September through June on the second Monday or Tuesday of each month from 6:30-8 pm. The committee selected “Funding Our Vision” in the Fall of 2019 as the theme for the campaign. Prior to Thanksgiving, committee members each took names from the 2019-20 pledge list and sent them thank you notes for their pledge. In an effort to create a “culture of abundance,” Tom Gaskin gave a presentation to the congregation on December 1, 2019 entitled “It’s a Wonderful Life” based on the 1946 Frank Capra film. George Bailey, the Jimmy Stewart character in the film is shown by an angel how dilapidated the city of Pottersville would be if George had never lived. The premise of the talk was what difference would it make if there was no Evergreen Unitarian Universalist Fellowship? In the New Year the committee also arranged for Jennie Lindbergh and David Speights to provide testimonials on the importance of the fellowship in their lives. The committee set March 15 to April 5th for the campaign. A pledge brochure was expertly created by committee member Dan Hall and fellowship member Sienna Brown. On March 1st Michelle Valentine dressed as a chocolate Hershey Kiss and ably assisted by Nancy Guidry, publicized in a fellowship skit, the upcoming pledge drive. Online invitations were sent to potential canvassers. On March 8th Chuck Taylor deftly led the canvass training with Michelle Valentine providing homemade soup and Tom Gaskin wraps from Costco. Including committee members, ten individuals attended the training. Marjorie Duprey, Susan Gaskin, Monda Sosa, Judy Smith and Dave Speights, as well as the entire Stewardship Committee became canvassers. On March 8th Board members, canvassers, and the Finance committee turned in pledge cards getting the pre pledge drive off to a robust start. The committee’s March 15th plan was to have an “Ides of Chocolate,” a fount of sugary sweets provided by the committee to kick off the pledge drive after the service, culminating on April 5th with a cornucopia of chocolate pies to celebrate the conclusion of the campaign. These festivities were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic which forced the congregation to meet online. The campaign nonetheless continued with online pledge submissions. The initial focus was on last year’s donors followed by friends or members of the fellowship who did not pledge last year. The Stewardship Committee members and the other canvassers were each assigned names to contact, via phone or email. As a wrap-up to the campaign, the Stewardship Committee hosted a fellowship service on April 26th. Tom Gaskin with the help of his wife Sue, gave a presentation on the differences between fundraising and stewardship, set in a fictional bar in Everett frequented by a minister, priest, rabbi, and a rabbit. In May 2020 thank you cards were sent to all of the pledgers noting the pledge amount and asking them to contact Tom Gaskin if there were any discrepancies with their intended pledge. One useful byproduct of a momentary diversion from our normal agenda was the willingness of Nancy Guidry (with the help of her husband Dave Speights) to create a welcoming letter to visitors to the fellowship. This letter was sent to fellowship president Ken Rines and office administrator Alli Curtis. The 2020-21 pledge campaign raised $161,180 from 70 pledge units. The average pledge was $2,303. No median pledge was calculated. The 2019-20 pledge campaign raised $157,120. The average pledge last year was $2,381. Historically* over the past ten years: Pledge Amount Pledge Units Average 2020-21 $161,180 70 $2,303 2019-20 $153,949 66 $2,332 2018-19 $151,325 72 $2,102 2017-18 $130,000 — ——— 2016-17 $119,121 78 $1527 2015-16 $181,640 105 $1,735 2014-15 $166,912 114 $1,464 2013-14 $154,978 121 $1,281 2012-13 $150,230 120 $1,252 2011-12 $141,942 110 $1,200 2010-11 $143,240 110 $1,302 2009-10 $124,684 108 $1,217 2008-09 $133,909 110 $1,217 2007-08 $138,957 90 $1,524 *these figures may not reflect pledges that came in after the pledge campaign ended. Tom Gaskin, Stewardship Chair 2019-20
Stewardship Committee Tom Gaskin, Chair
The committee’s March 15th plan was to have an “Ides of Chocolate,” a fount of sugary sweets provided by the committee to kick off the pledge drive after the service, culminating on April 5th with a cornucopia of chocolate pies to celebrate the conclusion of the campaign. These festivities were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic which forced the congregation to meet online. The campaign nonetheless continued with online pledge submissions. The initial focus was on last year’s donors followed by friends or members of the fellowship who did not pledge last year. The Stewardship Committee members and the other canvassers were each assigned names to contact, via phone or email. As a wrap-up to the campaign, the Stewardship Committee hosted a fellowship service on April 26th. Tom Gaskin with the help of his wife Sue, gave a presentation on the differences between fundraising and stewardship, set in a fictional bar in Everett frequented by a minister, priest, rabbi, and a rabbit. In May 2020 thank you cards were sent to all of the pledgers noting the pledge amount and asking them to contact Tom Gaskin if there were any discrepancies with their intended pledge. One useful byproduct of a momentary diversion from our normal agenda was the willingness of Nancy Guidry (with the help of her husband Dave Speights) to create a welcoming letter to visitors to the fellowship. This letter was sent to fellowship president Ken Rines and office administrator Alli Curtis. The 2020-21 pledge campaign raised $161,180 from 70 pledge units. The average pledge was $2,303. No median pledge was calculated. The 2019-20 pledge campaign raised $157,120. The average pledge last year was $2,381. Historically* over the past ten years: Pledge Amount Pledge Units Average 2020-21 $161,180 70 $2,303 2019-20 $153,949 66 $2,332 2018-19 $151,325 72 $2,102 2017-18 $130,000 — ——— 2016-17 $119,121 78 $1527 2015-16 $181,640 105 $1,735 2014-15 $166,912 114 $1,464 2013-14 $154,978 121 $1,281 2012-13 $150,230 120 $1,252 2011-12 $141,942 110 $1,200 2010-11 $143,240 110 $1,302 2009-10 $124,684 108 $1,217 2008-09 $133,909 110 $1,217 2007-08 $138,957 90 $1,524 *these figures may not reflect pledges that came in after the pledge campaign ended.
Support for Services: The worship team which included the worship committee leaders, worship associates, and other collaborating individuals and groups has: Assisted with all of the services at the fellowship, by providing a worship associates who coordinate the elements of the service and select appropriate readings. On about ½ of the Sundays when Pastor Tom is not in the pulpit we have Arranged for speakers Selected hymns Coordinate issues related to audio / visual The worship team has also met in sessions to train over best practices and to creatively vision for specific worship series. A special ad-hoc group was organized to produce “experimental services” during the month of April, 2020. In March, 2020 we started meeting to worship in a virtual setting and the worship team has been in working with Pastor Tom, the Zoom volunteers and others to provide a consistent and recognizable worship experience for the congregation. We have not received an accounting of our budget in some time and hear through the grapevine that some of our budget was used for other purposes, so we really don’t know the status of the worship associate line item in this year’s budget.
Worship Committee Marilyn Bosckis & Mike Mallory
The Safety Committee consists of three people: the minister Tom Bozeman, the President of the Board of Trustees Ken Rines and Member Barbara Johnson. Our mission is to ensure the safety of Evergreen UU Fellowship. That includes the building and grounds as well as the members and friends and other user groups. Among the accomplishments this year were: An earthquake drill in coordination with the RE An Unwanted Intruder presentation by the Marysville Emergency Preparedness Team Active Shooter all-day training attended by Board President Ken Rines and Safety Committee Member Barbara Johnson An inventory of First Aid equipment A Safety training session for Greeters and other interested members Tasks to develop for the next year include Strategizing for safety procedures when we are able to have in-person gathering; The “UUA GUIDANCE ON GATHERING IN-PERSON WHEN COVID-19 SUBSIDES.” Safety Training of Greeters and Worship Committee members on new safety procedures when Evergreen resumes in-person gatherings. As there are many unknowns due to the current pandemic, we will need to remain flexible in our future planning.
Safety Committee Barbara Johnson
First I would like to recognize the work of Roger Johnson. His assistance with elevator issues, fire department compliance and general troubleshooting was invaluable, He will be missed for both his help and his everyday good humor. As has been typical for the last few years there have been few improvements to our facility primarily because of budgetary constraints. But there were some accomplishments: We were able to work with the elevator service contractor to bring us into compliance with Washington L&I inspection requirements. Dedicated volunteers were able to track down and remedy the leak of ground water into the west end of Beaman Hall. Several work parties cleaned up lawns and gardens last summer and fall. Shortly we expect to replace the baseboard heaters in the Nursery. As we look forward to the coming church year we are facing some interesting issues: Our building is closed to gatherings for the foreseeable future. Not only can we not meet as a fellowship but we have also lost our NA and AA renters and the income they provided. With social distancing requirements, organizing volunteer work parties is problematic. As a result lawn and garden maintenance has been neglected. A reduction in the proposed building and grounds budget necessitates cutting back on some needed maintenance and upgrade projects. Our building needs painting. Gutters and downspouts need repair. A pro-active “before it fails” replacement of the aging roof top electric furnace would be desirable. But even if we did not have budget constraints it seems ill advised to undertake these major projects until we know when we will be able to meet again in our building.
Building & Grounds Paul Miller
Mission Statement: The Communication Committee supports and facilitates communication within the congregation and to the larger community to provide information and invite participation. Vision Statement: In a healthy and vibrant community, communication is a two-way street. In order to strengthen our connection to the wider community and ensure an informed congregation, the Communication Committee: ● solicits and encourages congregants to provide text and/or photos that reflect our identity and promote current events ● meets the needs of members and friends through a variety of communication methods; offers opportunities for familiarization with technological tools ● provides frequent and timely processes for feedback regarding day-to-day experiences, activities, and needs at the Fellowship ● bridges communication between leadership and congregants; offers services for teams and committees to effectively and readily accomplish their goals; supports leadership collaboration in achieving their objectives. Mari Budlong is the chairperson of the Communication Committee and works closely with Alli as the Office Administrator to streamline processes for communicating, to offer congregants and leaders opportunities to share their offerings and requests, and to create the newsletter, re-started in August 2019 and released every 6 weeks in time with Pastor Tom’s worship themes. The newsletter was printed when we were meeting in-person, and continues to be printed for those who request it; the newsletter is primarily accessed online, and is full of hyperlinks for exploration. We worked to make a coherent and well-planned website with up-to-date information, photos, and offerings, and continue to work on it regularly to make it a hub from which congregants and community members alike can learn more about goings-on at Evergreen. We use the website, the Weekly Update, whole-congregation e-mails, the newsletter (every 6 weeks), the wayside pulpit (the reader board at the front of the church on the corner of 4th and Columbia), the Facebook page (public) and the Facebook group (private), e-mail, and Twist (for congregation leaders) to share information and invite participation. We have been recording sermons and posting them online for a few years; in late autumn 2019, we had decided to try/practice live-streaming services to try to offer services to congregants who are homebound or traveling or otherwise not able or willing to physically attend services. We talked about it more in February, and tried it out early March using Facebook Live and a Chromebook. We were immediately plunged into the stay-home orders due to the coronavirus CoVid-19 pandemic, and all meetings, gatherings, worship services, coffee hour and events moved to virtual spaces, mostly Zoom. We started hosting Zoom training sessions, we called congregants to help them be more comfortable with technology, we worked with team/committee leaders to help them be able to lead their activities over Zoom, and we modified the website and all communications to reflect our changes from in-person to virtual platforms. JW Wenzel joined the tech team as a Zoom host, and we’ve invited more congregants to the team and have started training them in working on running worship rehearsals, slideshow screen sharing, managing sharing during Joys & Sorrows, and taking safety precautions to minimize the possibility and potential impact of disruptors (Zoombombers) by utilizing the Waiting Room and other safety features. We shared safety measures with congregants and led each worship service with a Zoom Practice, a how-to session on basic features Zoom offers that improve the worship service experience for those leading and those attending. We have created a working document available to all congregants on how we ‘do’ virtual church now, with resources for technology tools, contact information for technology support/help within the congregation, and current technology programs we’re using as a congregation. Since we’ve moved to a virtual platform, we’ve stopped recording services, but we’re in the process of working to record the audio of the sermon (no copyright laws issues that way) to post on the website like we used to. We have worked to reach out to as many congregants as possible to try to include them in the online Directory and make sure their contact information is accurate, which helps both leaders and congregants reach out to each other much more easily. We also give instructions on how to use the online directory. We have worked with people to improve their sound, including the accompanist to try to improve the way her synthesizer (electric keyboard) sound with her singing, as music quality and availability is a high priority for congregants. We worked closely with the Mission Planning Team to create visuals for the mission planning process (Values, Beliefs, and Vision [extended through early Fall]) to help bring to life the work of the planning team and the congregants through the whole-congregation and small group conversations and include them in the newsletter. We’ve worked with the Pastoral Associates to develop a Needs and Resources Survey to help connect congregants and what they need during the pandemic stay-home and phased approach to reopening time, as well as with what congregants have to offer. Mari Budlong
Communication Committee Mari Budlong
able or willing to physically attend services. We talked about it more in February, and tried it out early March using Facebook Live and a Chromebook. We were immediately plunged into the stay-home orders due to the coronavirus CoVid-19 pandemic, and all meetings, gatherings, worship services, coffee hour and events moved to virtual spaces, mostly Zoom. We started hosting Zoom training sessions, we called congregants to help them be more comfortable with technology, we worked with team/committee leaders to help them be able to lead their activities over Zoom, and we modified the website and all communications to reflect our changes from in-person to virtual platforms. JW Wenzel joined the tech team as a Zoom host, and we’ve invited more congregants to the team and have started training them in working on running worship rehearsals, slideshow screen sharing, managing sharing during Joys & Sorrows, and taking safety precautions to minimize the possibility and potential impact of disruptors (Zoombombers) by utilizing the Waiting Room and other safety features. We shared safety measures with congregants and led each worship service with a Zoom Practice, a how-to session on basic features Zoom offers that improve the worship service experience for those leading and those attending. We have created a working document available to all congregants on how we ‘do’ virtual church now, with resources for technology tools, contact information for technology support/help within the congregation, and current technology programs we’re using as a congregation. Since we’ve moved to a virtual platform, we’ve stopped recording services, but we’re in the process of working to record the audio of the sermon (no copyright laws issues that way) to post on the website like we used to. We have worked to reach out to as many congregants as possible to try to include them in the online Directory and make sure their contact information is accurate, which helps both leaders and congregants reach out to each other much more easily. We also give instructions on how to use the online directory. We have worked with people to improve their sound, including the accompanist to try to improve the way her synthesizer (electric keyboard) sound with her singing, as music quality and availability is a high priority for congregants. We worked closely with the Mission Planning Team to create visuals for the mission planning process (Values, Beliefs, and Vision [extended through early Fall]) to help bring to life the work of the planning team and the congregants through the whole-congregation and small group conversations and include them in the newsletter. We’ve worked with the Pastoral Associates to develop a Needs and Resources Survey to help connect congregants and what they need during the pandemic stay-home and phased approach to reopening time, as well as with what congregants have to offer.
Evergreen's Common Ground provides meaningful anthems and singing support for the congregation in our worship services. We sing special music an average of twice a month. The choir meets for rehearsal Sunday mornings from 8:30- 10 a.m. September through June, on hiatus in July and August. We have accomplished what we have set out to do. We have grown as a cohesive group constantly improving our technique and offering anthems that vary in difficulty and style, endeavoring to stretch ourselves and bring musical offerings that appeal to all members of the congregation. The coronavirus has essentially obliterated our way of doing things and we are striving now to come up with ideas that will enable us to continue to participate in and provide meaningful music for the virtual worship services that will be our reality for the next year. On May 20, the choir is having a brainstorming session on Zoom to discuss some of these ideas. Foremost in our minds is finding a way to maintain our interaction and connection as a choir, with each other, and with the fellowship while observing safety measures. Singing in worship is highly valued in our congregation as a therapeutic and joyful way to satisfy our human need for contact, releasing feel-good endorphins and revitalizing our immune systems. We hope to find ways to continue to do our job as worship leaders.
Common Ground Choir Kathleen Goff, EUUF Choir Director
In August of 2019, Sandra Biggerstaff assumed the duties of greeter coordinator for Barbara Johnson after some one-on-one training. This was just at the beginning of the experiments in alternative worship services. With the help of Mari Budlong, the greeters are given the information that they would need to answer most of the questions that might come up while they were on greeter duty. On the Sundays when multiple options were available a third greeter was added to the schedule. At the suggestion of the greeters, a revised list of duties was put together that incorporated items that had been added to the basic list over the last couple of years. Sally Malan did the majority of the work to make the additions and reformat the information to make it more like a checklist. During this period Alli Curtis came up with a new way of tracking newcomers, and she also created a Google form to use to input the greeter schedule which was then rolled into the main worship grid. In August 2019, there were 18 greeter volunteers. Moving the worship service to Zoom has eliminated the need for a greeter coordinator.
Greeters Sandra Biggerstaff, greeter coordinator
The Adult RE program is a volunteer-driven activity where people step up to offer programs of interest to themselves, and invite EUUF folks to join them. In 2019-20 we had only a few programs offered, including Sarah Taylor's Build Your Own Theology course, and her afternoon creativity classes. Denise Segler offered a drumming class just as the virus shutdown hit. Desmond Smith offered a new installment of Big Questions using Zoom meetings. There wasn't much else offered. We encourage members to make offerings of classes they develop on their own, or that they draw on other resources including the UUA.
Adult Religious Education Desmond Smith
In these challenging times, Covenant Circle Leaders are meeting monthly with their Covenant Circles to help foster fellowship, community, and to offer help to our members as needed to combat loneliness and isolation. In October the Covenant Circle Leaders participated in the Fellowship’s Community Fair with a Covenant Circle Table. We were excited to be able to recruit a few new members to several of our groups. Pre C0VID-19 our five Covenant Circle meetings continued to take place at the fellowship, north Marysville, north Everett and south Everett. Sally Malon, Kelli Sparks and Alonna Chatburn lead the New Comer Covenant Circle on a rotating basis at the fellowship after church on the fourth Sunday of each month. The attendance of this group has gone down since we are now online. As of mid March, we have all been gathering each month with our Covenant Circles online with Zoom. We are fortunate to be able to schedule these meetings using the fellowship's two Zoom accounts and with much technical assistance from Ali, Mari and Sally. Zoom meetings have been helpful for some members since we can gather in the comfort of our homes without traveling. Alonna Chatburn’s north Marysville group remains strong with nine members. They continue to collect socks for the Community lunch Program. Paula Bloomberg’s Covenant Circle of six continues to meet during the afternoon on Tuesdays via Zoom. Georges Beykovsky’s Covenant Circle has experienced changes in membership this year, but they are bouncing back with membership of eleven, since they have welcomed several new members. Sue and Tom Gaskin's Covenant Circle remains robust even though we miss Richard Rouse who died this spring. We have begun a Phone Tree to keep in touch with each other every two weeks to help overcome isolation. Our Covenant Circle Leaders continue to meet monthly for fellowship and to support each other with the challenges we face as leaders to discuss how to meet these new challenges with kindness and inclusivity. We continue to hope for the expansion of our small ministry groups by encouraging and inspiring friends and members to take advantage of the benefits of joining a Covenant Circle.
Covenant Circles Susan C. S. Gaskin
Mission: The Green Team provides a path for action in response to environmental challenges manifested by our respect for the interdependent web of all existence. The Green Team is an active group with a steady membership and participation. There are nine Green Team members. The first half of the year was typical for us but since March 2020 we have made adjustments due to the COVID-19 virus. Until March 2020, we had a monthly meeting with potluck dishes coming from our own vegetable gardens whenever possible. Since then our meetings have been on Zoom. Earth Day Service: We produced an Earth Day service on-line with Green Team members providing the various roles such as the opening, the reading and the closing. We had a panel of our Green Team members talking about how the COVID-19 virus and the resulting “stay home stay safe” directive has changed or enhanced our environmental activities. Solar Panels: these continue to be in our goals and on our agenda. We have saved a significant amount toward this goal. This year we will put this project on hold as we determine what the outcome of the virus will be and the decisions the board will make about the building. Church garden - members of the Green Team are aging and not able to be as participatory in the church vegetable garden, it was much scaled back this year. Irrigation continues to be a problem. Auction participation: the Green Team provided a basket for the silent auction. The Green Team also solicited a donation basket from the Sno-Isle Food Co-op for the silent auction. Auction sustainable dinner: we auctioned off our sustainable dinner again and hosted 12 EUUF members along with 12 from our team, at a delicious sustainable salmon dinner at Valentine’s home again this year. Meaningful Movies: we collaborated again with Everett Meaningful Movies and helped to promote their movie night. We also sponsored the movie The Biggest Little Farm. 350 Everett: we continue to collaborate with the environmental group, 350 Everett in their activities and actions. Styrofoam, battery and light bulb recycling: this has a been a challenge, with the COVID-19 Other collaboration - through membership and participation in other organizations, the Green Team members support The Green Party, The Sierra Club, 350 everett.org, neighborhood associations, the Snohomish Train Watch, and political organizations.
Green Team Jennie Lindberg
This has been an unusual year for the women of W.I.S.E. group Some of us have been together for 11 years now. W.I.S.E. was the brainchild of Donna Witte. She started the group with the idea to gather together women 60 years + to explore this age and stage of life and to discover how they could be more visible in our Evergreen community and the wider community. In 2019 we met in October, November, voted to skip December for the holidays. and met in January and February. Due to Covid 19 requiring social distancing we started Zoom meetings in March. It was a huge learning curve for most of us, but everyone received enough support from Alli Curtis, Mari Budlong and our own Marilyn Bosckis to begin to adapt to the “new normal.” Our October planning and topic selections had to be altered as they did not lend themselves to an online format or to people’s current concerns. Going forward, our meetings focused on how people were adapting, sharing their fears, needs, and ways to support each other. Mostly we found ourselves listening deeply to each other’s experiences. Through this listening, I believe we felt less alone. We began to see the “new normal” emerge as a shared experience. There was practical sharing about how to shop online, make masks and sanitizers, get help, and keep safe. Meeting on line was a difficult learning curve for many, but worth it for the opportunity to see how others were doing and having a place to share their personal situations and feelings. We had 4 meetings from October through February with a high of 17 and a low of 11 attendees with an average of 15 per meeting. We met online in March, April and May for a total of 4 sessions (2 sessions in April and May) with a high of 16 participants and a low of 11. The feedback I received from the group about their online experience included: Grateful to be able to talk with a trusted group about the crisis Found it difficult to manage the technology Didn’t have the computer capacity to participate with video, only by phone Liked not having to drive to attend It has been harder to manage the technology and we have been grateful for the help of Marilyn Bosckis and Mari. I found it harder to gauge the mood of the group, monitor the discussion and encourage those not participating actively to have an opportunity to speak to the group. When we were able to meet in person many of us brought lunch and gathered in the Fireside room to eat and socialize and catch up one on one with individuals before the meeting. We miss this casual time together. We continue to be a welcoming group. We make an effort to personally invite newcomers to Evergreen who are 60 years or older to check us out.
W.I.S.E. Kathy Proctor, facilitator & Sarah Taylor, creativity steward
The Women's Group has been meeting on the first and third Wednesdays of the month. Prior to the pandemic, we were meeting on the 1st Wednesday of the month at the Fellowship for a more formal program and then on the 3rd Wednesday of the month we were casually meeting at Blazing Onion Burger in Marysville for fellowship and conversation. We are continuing to meet via zoom these same evenings. We seem to have better attendance via zoom. We remain committed to keeping this space available for the women in our fellowship.
Women's Group Marijo Duprey
Men's Circle David Thompson
We have been meeting Via WebEx since late March. As of March we are still holding our 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month meetings. We still welcome any man willing to share deeply from the heart and if you receive any inquiries for information please forward them to Chuck Taylor or Dan Hall.
Marysville Community Lunch & Cold Weather Shelter Alonna Chatburn
Marysville Community Lunch has had about 30-35 guests coming to lunch until the COVID-19 outbreak. Following the guidelines that the food bank set for itself, we felt we could give out lunches. The food bank gave out pre-bagged and pre-boxed foods to families who followed a car line (like a ferry line). So MCL decided we would give out pre-packaged sack lunches. They might include sandwiches, hot dogs, stew, soups and protein bars, chips, fruit snacks, carrot/dip, oranges, or bananas and dessert like brownies, cookies, cupcakes or ice cream bars along with a bottle of water and/or coffee. We have been having 20-30 guests. Volunteers have been brave, wearing masks and keeping 6-foot distances as much as possible. MCL has been lucky to have masks given to us so we passed many out to our guests. Thank you to EUUF volunteers and those who have contributed food. We have felt steady community support. The Cold Weather Shelter was open this year with a partnership from Salvation Army (the facility) and Zoe Wlazlak, the director for several years coordinating the volunteers and requesting help on the coldest nights (below 32 degrees). I appreciated those from EUUF who were willing to help staff the shelter on Thursday nights. In total we housed many guests for the season. It was a very rewarding experience!