2019 Unity Annual Meeting Minutes

February 10, 2019

Attendees:  Dale Pettigrew, Chris Caramona, Virginia Febringer, Patrick Murphy, Erin Murphy, Tom VanDuyne, Kimber Hawes, Mike Hawes, Dennis Gibson, Ginny Hout, Jason Dockery, Katie Dockery,Carol Kimbell, Laura K. Stephens, Sue Taylor, Scott Thieman, Debra Stone, Steve Rood,Leslie Towwnsend, Monica Corrado, Franklin Taggart,Dan McGuire, Arleen Kramer, Arleen Brown, Theodore Roess, Marilyn Gaurity,Judy Albright, John Albright, Joellen Fulton, Pat Achinson, Susan Pomeroy, Joane Harrison, Andrea Hooley, Judy G. Hart, Corina Hartzog, Pam Timms, Amy Augenstein, Jordan Augenstein, Sue Augenstein,Bigfoot Goforth, Jody Burrows, Marilyn Weatherspoon, Lois Rellergert, Sandra Pilkington, Mike Purcell, Cath Purcell, Debi Lale, Tom Lale, Chris Russert,Claire Marshel, Robert Marshel, Mira Valencia, Dick Ducic, Jan Ducic, Grace Cooley, Lisa Faust, Steph Thieman, Amy Alexander, Leane Gabel, Brenda Carey, Nancy Peltola, Steve Henke, Will Moore, Robert Hudgens, Anne Hudgens, Gerald Gates, Lil McBrien,  Peggy Christiansen.

After the Sunday Service, the Annual Meeting was called to order at 11:06 a.m. and

Gerald read the Opening.  A quorum was declared.  A head count of 70 was declared, not all got signed in.

The 2018 Annual Meeting Minutes were approved by consensus.

Laura Stephens volunteered to be on the Nominating Committee for the next Council Members.

Consensus was reached to welcome the new council members. Jordan Augenstein, Corina Hartzog and Sue Taylor will begin their new two-year terms.

Staff Reports were presented in a slide show (written reports attached here).  .\

The meeting was adjourned with a group singing of the Peace Song.

2018 Highlights from Spiritual Leader

OUR UNITY CENTERS US

Weekly Sunday Services 

• 39 talks by Peggy
• 3 talks by Franklin
• 4 talks by congregants (John Z, Randy M, Mike H, Julie L)
• 6 guest speakers – Deb Brandon, Jeff Finlan, Jan & JD, Swami Beyondananda, Mary Dravis-Parrish, Lynn Kendall
• 5-talk series & discussion on Unity Principles

IN LIGHT

Special services  

• Burning Bowl
• Earth Day
• “Balloons Belong in Church
• Pet Blessing
• Christmas Eve Candlelight Services

Community Gatherings

• Monthly drum circles
• Monthly movies
• Buckhorn Retreat
• Game nights & variety show
• Sunday lunch bunch

AND PEACE

• 52 Tuesday Heart Talks

averaging 12-20 people every week

• Prayer support
• Helping hands for congregant challenges

ALLOWING US TO RECOGNIZE

Classes

• Deep Listening
• Encountering the Jesus of Matthew
• Monthly book groups

OUR GOD WITHIN

• Individual spiritual counseling
• Responding to crisis calls
• Guided meditation

AND TO RADIATE THAT LOVE

Unity Volunteers

• Fort Collins Rescue Mission
• Christmas caroling at transitional housing
• Driving youth for “Sproutin’ Up” program

Unity Gives

• Giving Tree
• Organic food share for local family
• Monthly donations local organizations

TO THE WORLD

Crop Walk Team raised $ towards eliminating hunger—both locally and around the World.

Guatemala Team sent 2 Unity teams to our village partners in La Bendición

• Provided 100 Days for Girls kits
• Sponsored Honey Processing Workshop
• Funded repair of village water cistern
• Provided $2000 in medical supplies
• Helped build a new community kitchen
• much more!

Preschool/Sunday School 2018 report

Licensing for preschool completed in November with approvals by the State of Colorado Licensing Division, Larimer County Health Dept. and the local Fire Department.

A big THANK YOU to all that helped to get the playground, equipment and building ready.

Our Unity Cooperative Preschool is going well.  We have two classes, Pre-Kindergarten (4 & 5 yr. olds) and Primary (3-4 yr. olds).  Parents are in the classroom on a regular basis.

Sunday School is growing and going strong.  Our Nursery teachers are Julie Legg, Katie Dockery and Jennifer Moore.  The 3-4-5 year class is taught by John Hansen and Debby Jump.  Claire Marshel and Cini Bow have been teaching the 6-7-8-9 class and Stacy Thompson is leading the Uniteens/Y.O.U. group.

2018 Music Report

We continue to enjoy beautiful music at Unity of Fort Collins through singing together, the

Tunitics choir, the Unitics band, the Unity Mens Singers, special performances by our own

members, and the gifts of guest musicians from near and far. We have also been treated to

music, poetry, stories and more in our quarterly Unity Coffeehouse performances, and in our

second annual Unity Variety Show.

Here are some of our musical highlights for 2018:

Visiting Musicians:

Shawna Hodges from Unity of Jacksonville, Matt Carroll from New York City, Rekha Ohal from Denver,

Jan & JD from Aspen joined by Marcy Baruch from Denver, The Magnie Family Band from Fort Collins and St. Johns USVI, Jeffrey James from Madison Wisconsin, Cary Morin from Fort Collins

Many thanks to the musicians from our own congregation who share their talents so generously.

Peggy and the Tunitics,Unitics band:Terry Meyer, Cory Carroll, Tim Wade

Vocalists:

Kirsten Bolton, Ruth Pendergrast, Amy Augenstein, Jordan Augenstein

Instrumentalist:

Susan Bomar

Thank you all for a wonderful musical year!

Franklin Taggart

Office Manager Report for 2018

Highlights:

• Created a van use policy/contract & checklist
• Created guest speaker agreement/contact & checklist
• Surpassed 400 NL subscribers
• Went to a ½ page bulletin to save money and trees
• Created and posted comprehensive Art Wall guidelines
• Discovered how old our boiler actually is (installed new in Dec. 2003)
• Discovered how long Unity has been in this building (since 1975)
• Got a lot of, very much needed, painting done in the building – the nursery, the art wall, both west bathrooms, and one wall in the Big Room
• Installed a new sanitizing dishwasher in kitchen for preschool
• Took care of our hail/wind damage insurance claim for our roof and some other stuff (fence, gazebo, mini library, down spouts, etc.)
• And did the usual stuff like taking care of: supplies, Facebook account, weekly bulletins, updating contact lists, NL each week, keep website up to date, online calendar, Paypal account (for CCs) management, building use management (by Unity folks and others), field inquiries via phone, in person, email, welcome packets,

Intentions:

To make the transition as smooth and easy and heart-full as possible

Prosperity Report

Highlights:

• Total net income is $22,813.
• We ended the year in the black, mainly due to the year-end matching challenge.
• The matching challenge raised $28,100!
• Final on the Preschool licensing: Expenses were offset by designated donations and King Soopers card income.
• We distributed over $1400 to Families In Need (all was donated by Unity congregants).
• We kept expenses fairly even (comparable to last year).
• Our biggest expenses this year were major repairs due to hail damage, which was covered by insurance except for a $10,000 deductible.
• Note that a $34K check (approx) will need to be cut to Assurance Roofing once we get their final invoice, and, that should be offset by a final payment from Church Mutual Insurance for the claim.
• Proceeds from key fundraisers throughout the year:
• $685 from Book Sale
• $1715 from Yard Sale
• $641 from Swami Beyonananda
• $260 from Soup for the Soul
• $180 from Variety Show
• $896 from Craft Fair/Bake Sale.

Unity has continued to tithe $100/month to community organizations.

January 2018              Realities for Children

February 2018            Days for Girls

March 2018                 Animal House

April 2018                    The Nappie Project

May 2018                    Fort Collins Rescue Mission

June 2018                   Trees, Water, People

August 2018                Heifer International

September 2018         Crop Walk

October 2018              Unity Prayer Shawl Group

November 2018          Project Linus

December 2018          Hour for Peace

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT

All is well.  Our community and our finances are thriving!