Probably like most of you, I keep waiting for the weather to turn but all it seems to do is rain. But this morning, I felt the slightest hint of a drop in the temperature. I think it was only 80° when I stepped outside. Not quite refreshing, but made me want to get a pumpkin spiced something and call it for what it is: autumn. Like it or not, we’re here. One of my favorite things about autumn is the fall foods.

On that note, it was nice to see everyone at the most recent potluck. Getting together over food helps build a sense of community, and I appreciated the effort that went into making the event a success. More than anything, what we need now is camaraderie and community.

When I took office, one of my goals was to help steer our community through some troubled waters. It helps that I have been church president before. Towards the end of my first term, I felt like I had a better handle on the job. Now I get to put what I learned before into practice. What I see as “troubled waters” are a bunch of things that I’ll address here in this letter.

First, using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, is shelter. For quite some time we have needed some rehab on the building, but the work requires certain things to fall into place. Top priority is the roof. Hopefully by the time this letter is read, we’ll be able to report on some concrete news about the roof and where we go from here. Once the roof is fixed, we can immediately focus on the air conditioning to make the building temperature more tolerable. Lastly, once all of that is together, we can work to get the wind insurance back. Both the insurance and the air conditioning were tied up with the roof, and since it looks like we are on the path to getting the roof started, we are also on the path to having our shelter become safer, more comfortable, and protected.

Another priority that we are working on is with the safety of the congregation. As you know, election season is upon us, and this is a good time to make sure we do our community service by voting and encouraging others to do so.

I was recently at a fundraiser for our very own Joe Vinson and his campaign for open and clean government. It was inspiring to be in a room full of truly joyous people, filled with optimism, singing for a better day — literally singing. While I left that event feeling hopeful, I was also reminded that not everyone feels the same way. Not everyone in our political landscape thinks like we do or appreciates our point of view. That’s great and makes the world more interesting. Nonetheless, it’s also important to keep an eye out for each other and be aware of your surroundings, including at UUCP.

You should know that the board is doing our best to make sure the congregation is safe at all times, which includes a few recent safety measures we’ve started, but the best defense will always be vigilance. As I mentioned in my last letter, if you see you or hear of anything that you think is odd, please let someone know. Even if it seems like nothing, it might be worthy of note. The safety of the congregation is a top priority, and we are doing our best to keep UUCP safe. If you have any reasonable suggestions, feel free to reach out to me.

Speaking of safety, I had the pleasure of sitting in on a CRE meeting the other day, and the work that is being done with the children is very commendable. It is great to see so many kids coming now, and our volunteers are doing a great job teaching the curriculum and looking out for the little ones. New safety measures are being implemented to better assure the safety of the children. I can assure you now, though, that the kids are in safe hands. We owe a lot to everyone who has been helping back there. We are still searching for a paid CRE coordinator (see the We’re Hiring ad toward the back of this newsletter). In the meantime, our volunteers and paid childcare provider are doing great work, and I wanted to mention that.

One of my other priorities was to allow for the work of the board to be more transparent. To do so, I plan to hold a series of short Town Hall meetings via Zoom for members of the congregation. Of course, if you see me and have something to say, pull me aside. However, I know that it may be easier for some to talk in another format. You can always reach out to me in person, but you can also email, call, Zoom or whatever with any lingering questions or complaints. With that in mind, holding Town Halls seems helpful. You will see announcements for those in the coming days.

Lastly, one of the things that our congregation has done very well historically is be community- minded. With this in mind, we will begin JUST Pensacola House Meetings very soon. Currently, I know of meetings that will take place at an individual home and at the church itself. Keep your eye out for announcements about those meetings (see the calendar in this newsletter). I do understand that it can be frustrating sometimes to work for change and to see the change happen slowly and

incrementally over a long period of time. Sometimes we walk away from the large gatherings feeling less than satisfied, but as many of you know, this is what democracy looks like. Lots of voices, lots of meetings, lots of compromises, and sometimes concrete actions. Sometimes not.

These victories are hard to accomplish and certainly hard on the organizers within the walls of our congregation and those outside. Nonetheless, for things to get better in our larger community, UUCP being involved is important. One of the things that I have always appreciated about JUST Pensacola is that our involvement puts us in direct contact with a diverse array of congregations across the city. Many of us do not have those opportunities outside of this kind of organizing, and to me that is some of the most important work that we can be doing right now.

Getting together, talking to each other, and trying to find common ground will bring us closer to progress. If there is anything Unitarian Universalists are known for, it is this: staying engaged, being on the front lines, and not losing faith that a better world is out there. The path might be messy and filled with our mistakes along the way, but if we continue and learn from the past, we can do our part to make a better world.

These are certainly interesting times, but we are also very interesting people. This would be a good moment for us to rise to the occasion. If you ever need anything, or have any suggestions, feel free to reach out to me. Until then, I’ll close with the immortal words of the late Bo Davidson: “It’s a Great Day to be a Unitarian Universalist.”

Sincerely,

Scott, UUCP Board President