By Gillian Hunt, President of the Board of Trustees
It’s the last week of June and the last few days before the end of our church year, and by extension my last few days as Westside’s Board President. What a year we’ve had (although far from the “odd” mentioned in the title, the wordplay was too good to pass up)! We marked the ten year anniversary of the shooting at TVUUC, we approved a revamped Endowment Plan and a long-awaited revision of the bylaws, xeriscaped and rededicated our Memorial Garden, reaffirmed our commitment to being a Welcoming Congregation, as well as other accomplishments seemingly smaller but that will have an impact on congregational life. I’ve seen new faces from people who have come and stayed and heard from new voices within the congregation both in worship services and religious exploration spaces.
During our June Board meeting, we voted to select the Highlander Research and Education Center as our next Share the Plate Partner. The Highlander Center is a social justice leadership training school that was in the news back in March when white supremacist vandalism and arson destroyed a building housing thousands of documents and items spanning decades of the center’s history. The funds raised will help support their grassroots organizing for economic justice and democratic participation as well as offset the costs involved with recovering from the setback.
As I transition into the position of Past President I look forward to further collaboration with the Board under the kind and capable leadership of Chris Edkins. I also look forward to the Stewardship Team setting in motion the plans we had made for the sustainability of Westside before our brief hiatus for the last few months. It’s been a pleasure and privilege to be able to use my strengths to lead the Board this year and I’m proud of the Board and the congregation for what we’ve been able to accomplish this year. Here’s looking forward to further finding out what we’re capable of, and using our warm hearts, open minds, and caring hands to accomplish our goals within Westside and our community.