As I begin my fourth and final year as president of Tri-County Unitarian Universalists, I am quite happy to report that the state of our beloved community is thriving! We have much to celebrate today!

While we began March of 2025 with 89 members, we now have 100 members (that is an amazing 12%+ increase in one year's time!) This achievement is the result of all of our efforts to welcome people who walk through our doors, into a truly unique religious community in Central Florida. We come as seekers, looking to connect spiritually with others who share our values. We come to live our best lives with integrity and to live in this world compassionately.

We are a community built around relationships. This is the secret sauce that helps our little mighty engine run. Together we have built a culture of connection. We come to this community not as consumers expecting to receive, but instead as co-creators of beloved community.

Each week we are inspired by our minister, Rev. Kristina Spaude, to live our values and do the work that is ours to do, in a deeply troubled world. But we don't only come together for Sunday worship. Together we have co-created a ministry that touches us in many ways, on multiple days.

Amazingly, our relatively small congregation offers us opportunities to be together almost every day of the week if we choose. Over the past year we had monthly forums and potluck dinners; Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's gatherings; biweekly meditation; The Great Decisions class; our first ever Pride event; game nights; a Middle Eastern luncheon; a monthly well-attended women's group; a monthly book group; a weekly online news group; chalice circles; monthly bagel breakfasts; a new grief group; the Friction Farm concert; a theatrical performance of Love Letters; a camping group; a BBQ; a Pineapple-forward Tropical luncheon; and the amazing performer Tret Fure who is coming here soon!

And that's not all — we also have the multiple weekly community gatherings over coffee or breakfast. I believe that we are up to five groups now where members and friends can stop by to chat at will, no formal agenda, just the understanding that there is a group of people who share your values and, as the song goes, "where everybody knows your name." In these historically lonely times, that is quite a feat!

I am not even including here all of the informal invitations to have lunch together, to join each other at the movies, or at a park or a museum or even to be with one another in times of need and in times of celebration. There is even a new group that enjoys kayaking together.

Unfortunately, we also lost a few members over the past year too. Some moved to be closer to family, others to follow a faraway dream. Sadly, we lost to death our beloved members Jerry S., Robert A., and just recently, Ginger D.. We must also remember our dear friend Karen K.. Each of them helped to shape who we are becoming in this congregation and we will always remember them.

We treasure the legacies of those that we have lost and we continue to form deep and lasting friendships with the people that remain. We have co-created something very special here. And wonderfully, there is something naturally magnetic about what we are building — it draws in other people who believe in our shared values and are also seeking community and a sense of belonging. More than one person has told me that there is a special energy in this community.

This year we became "Sanity Island" — a snug harbor in a sometimes turbulent sea — and as we heard our Stewardship Chair report, we exceeded our pledge goal by over $12,600! Some superheroes don't wear capes; they sometimes wear hula skirts and carry around tropical birds like our mascot, Jerry! Thank you Pat F. and the Stewardship Team!

The Board of Trustees, our Treasurer Trish S., our finance team and all of our responsible team leaders, have worked hard to be good stewards of our finances. The board takes our fiduciary responsibility seriously and we are committed to live within our means while honoring the generosity and the dreams of the members who support us.

Last year and in the year ahead, we will continue our unique shared minister arrangement with The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Lake County (UUCLC), which permits us to have a full-time dedicated minister for worship three times a month and part-time for pastoral care and guidance. More recently we have expanded our collaboration with UUCLC to respond to Florida legislative issues that sometimes collide with our UU values.

We are also good stewards of our land. This year our garden keepers have revitalized the Memorial Garden with native plants, developed a pollinator garden, and a Tortoise Harborage.

I am particularly proud that, as good stewards of the planet, this year we installed a solar system which includes 71 rooftop panels producing 28 kilowatts of power! That avoids adding 14 metric tons of pollution into the atmosphere every year. This carbon offset benefit is equal to a small forest of almost 700 trees. While living our values we are also realizing a significant cost savings in our energy expenditure. Thank you to Vice President Bruce T., our friend Susan E., and the Green team for helping us achieve this important goal!

Inside our sanctuary, we take delight in a growing, more accomplished choir, and enhanced worship music with piano, organ and drum accompaniment. Much thanks to Tom Z., who is now in his second year with us as our contracted music director.

We have also emphasized safety and well-being in the previous year. Some of this was achieved by the Safety Team that instituted a fire drill, a tornado drill, and CPR training. We have recertified our status as a Unitarian Universalist Association Welcoming Congregation, thus renewing our intentional and ongoing commitment to be explicitly inclusive and affirming of our LGBTQ+ members and friends. In these particularly trying times, we recognize the suffering of those who are marginalized and our congregation has responded to their individual needs by enhanced support of our minister's discretionary fund.

We have also increased our outreach to the world outside of our walls. We have collected hundreds of dollars in donations for the Martin Luther King, Jr. scholarship fund, the Central Florida Farmworkers, the 30 Palestinian Villages in the West Bank depicted in the film "No Other Land," and other Fifth Sunday initiatives. One unique service that we provide to the community is a Rummage Sale where, this year, about 37 volunteers worked each day, securing a record $5,326 in fundraising donations for this congregation. All items that were not purchased were donated to local charities who may also benefit from our largesse. It takes a lot of volunteers to run a small but mighty congregation. Over the past year, we have realized much volunteer growth especially with hospitality, worship leaders, chalice lighters, and building and grounds maintenance. In this beloved community almost everyone with the capacity to help out finds a place where their talents are cherished.

Today, I would like to highlight the success of our Communications Team. Earlier this year the Board of Trustees recognized that we attract hundreds of new people to our website each month. For many, the website is their first introduction to who we are and what we do. Accordingly we contracted with Ken P., a professional website developer, to create a visitor-targeted website that I am happy to say will be launching to the public very soon.

The Communications Team has worked closely with Ken to make this happen, but they have also worked diligently on our internal communications systems. Team members have come together to write for and put out an informative and inspiring monthly newsletter. They also established a process for publicizing our events through multiple methods including pulpit announcements, twice-a-week email messages, a listing in our weekly order of service, and press releases to the surrounding community. It hasn't always been easy work, but they are streamlining our processes and fulfilling our goals of keeping our beloved community aware of the multiple opportunities for participation. If you are still looking for a way to share your creativity and talents, the Communications Team is a great place to enhance your skills and be the first to know about what's going on. They particularly need strategic thinkers and flyer makers.

This has been a very exciting year indeed. Ours is a community of relationships, not transactions. In truth, we are not interested in what you can do for us — we are interested in how you can be with us. Everybody comes with their own talents and an inclination to learn from one another. Just by being together we have learned to do great things. And let me assure you, there are many wonderful things on the horizon.

As I enter my final year as board president, following three years of service, I'm thinking of this year as a capstone — an opportunity to bring together what we've learned, strengthened, and achieved as a community. My hope is to help ensure continuity, deepen trust, and leave the board and congregation well-positioned for the leadership that follows.

Thank you for being on this journey with me!