Committees
Committees do much of the work that keeps our congregation running. There are several committees on which you may serve:
Buildings & Grounds
The committee serves as an advisory body to the UUCNC Executive Board and is responsible for developing and implementing a maintenance plan for the Congregation’s buildings and grounds, including a preventative maintenance program. The Committee will be responsible for ongoing evaluation of the space(s) in which the congregation holds Sunday Worship and other activities. The committee will develop and present (to the Executive Board and/or Congregation as appropriate) recommendations for improvements to the building, equipment, and grounds. Such recommendations shall include cost estimate(s) and proposed method(s) of funding.
Members of the committee serve as leaders for recruitment and organization of volunteers who assist with building repairs and maintenance, landscaping, lawn care, snow removal, and other duties as they arise. Duties are performed through a combination of volunteer labor and contracted services. A minimum of six (6) members shall serve on the Buildings and Grounds Committee with each member being appointed by the Executive Board to serve for three-year terms. The Committee will include a liaison member who reports to the Executive Board.
Caring Circle
Through radical love, the Caring Circle helps UUCNC’s members and friends connect and build a caring and compassionate community, by celebrating the congregation’s joys and by connecting congregants in need with those who can suggest resources and/or provide assistance.
We have also have the following requirements to being on the Caring Circle:
Caring Circle members must complete pastoral care training before joining the committee, but through an annual survey all congregants may volunteer to assist those with specific needs.
To find out agencies able to help beyond the scope of the Circle members, visit the website of New York Connects or call New York Connects at (716) 753-4582, or dial 2-1-1 or visit www.211wny.org.
Communications
The Communication Committee manages internal and external communications by:
- Sharing information with members and friends, through various media, about congregational and denominational activities and ways to be involved through fellowship, celebration, social outreach, environmental action, and transformative justice.
- Promoting and publicizing congregational activities to the wider community through a variety of media, presenting the congregation as a vibrant, welcoming, multigenerational, diverse community enlivened by the power of radical love.
- In all our work, promoting UU values and how they relate to congregational activities.
The Communication Committee’s ministry includes: newsletter design, production and distribution; website design and content; Facebook and other social networking account oversight and maintenance; maintaining the online (Google) calendar; press releases; voice mail, including monitoring/relaying messages; advertising; Constant Contact email system; monitoring/relaying email messages; telephone and Yellow Pages listings; signs; bulletin boards.
Finance
The Finance Committee studies the use of congregational funds in providing opportunities for fellowship, celebration, social outreach, environmental action, and transformative justice. The committee makes recommendations to the Executive Board re: the annual operating budget, proposed fundraisers and other issues related to congregational finances that support a vibrant, welcoming, multigenerational, diverse community enlivened by the power of radical love.
At the beginning of each fiscal year, if the operating budget requires fundraising, congregants are invited to submit proposals for fundraisers. Any fundraiser for any purpose must be reviewed by the Finance Committee, which makes a recommendation to the Executive Board. The Finance Committee manages fundraising guidelines and keeps a master calendar to avoid too many fundraising efforts at any one time, among other considerations.
Reminder about fundraisers:
At the beginning of each fiscal year, if the operating budget requires fundraising, congregants are invited to submit proposals for fundraisers. Any fundraiser for any purpose must be cleared with the Finance Committee, which keeps a master calendar to avoid too many fundraising efforts at any one time, among other considerations.
Leadership Development
We help people to build a caring and compassionate community by:
- Aligning individual talents with congregational needs and by helping people develop their talents; and
- Finding opportunities for congregants to use their talents in service of their values and of the congregation as a whole.
Three committee members are elected at the annual meeting in May or June; members serve two-year overlapping terms. Committee members must be voting members of UUCNC.
Membership
We help connect a diverse, multigenerational group of people by:
- Providing hospitality through welcoming;
- Supporting diversity in all forms;
- Incorporating active participation through social outreach, environmental action, and transformative justice.
Ministry
We help people to connect and to build a caring and compassionate community by:
- Monitoring and encouraging the health of all aspects of congregational life by providing resources, feedback, and noticing and addressing tensions and challenges;
- Providing preventive care and intervention through regular checkup assessments and being proactive in supporting Healthy Congregations practices;
- Providing preventative care and intervention through regular checkup assessments and being proactive in supporting Healthy Congregations practices;
Three commitee members serve three-year terms. One new member is selected each year by the Executive Board from a list of three names submitted by the minister. Committee members must be voting members of UUCNC.
Religious Exploration
The UUCNC Religious Exploration Committee strives to support our congregation in being a vibrant, welcoming, multigenerational, diverse community that nurtures acceptance, spirituality, and growth by:
- Passing on a passion for our faith tradition, with its emphasis on the importance of relationships and developing and sustaining community bonds;
- Promoting values of inclusion, justice, and respect for diverse families, for our global community and for our congregation;
- Offering a program that develops UU identity guided by UU Principles, develops an openness to explore, experience, and deepen spirituality; and
- Offering a program based on the UU Living Traditions that nurtures curiosity, wonder, respect and appreciation throughout life.
Note: Religious Exploration is sometimes called “R.E.” or Religious Education.
Social Action
The UUCNC Social Action Committee engages our congregation in actions that nurture acceptance, spirituality, and growth through collaboration (both within the congregation and with the wider community) on social outreach, environmental action, and transformative justice.
This committee seeks to empower, support and respect the individual and collective leadership gifts and talents of congregants as they develop and build social action projects.
Stewardship
These volunteers plan and implement the annual stewardship campaign to solicit financial and service pledges from members and friends, with follow-up throughout the church year.
Strategic Planning Team
Learning Our Future Together: 222 (LOFT 222 team)
LOFT’s strategic planning team is charged to create and propose a 5-year strategic plan in line with the congregational Vision 222 and Mission 222. The LOFT Committee will meet semi-annually or as needed with the congregation to review and update the mission objectives. The mission objectives are proceeding in accordance with the vision and mission statements, and continue to be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time bound. This plan will include targeted and personal goals, and will evolve based on our progress. Our congregation’s future lies in radical and active engagement inside and outside of our walls to fulfill our vision and mission.
*The designation “222” refers to our beloved new meetinghouse at 222 Temple Street, Fredonia NY.
Worship
We seek to connect people and build our multigenerational and compassionate community by providing spiritual experiences. Our worship services encourage, inspire, inform, and challenge everyone to become “their finer selves set free” through radical love, awareness and appreciation of our place in the interdependent web of life, and our responsibility to promote transformative justice.