CVUUS’ work and reach are only possible through our shared commitment and generosity. We are reliant upon one another to invest in our staff, to keep our beautiful  and welcoming church proactively maintained, and to sustain our dynamic and responsive  programming. This spring we asked you to pledge or donate to support CVUUS. We’re very close to reaching of our campaign goal of $362,000! Thank you! We are deeply grateful for your thoughtfulness, engagement and help.

As we are having only one campaign this year (we have omitted the “close the gap” element), and because the results of our campaign inform our budgeting process, we appreciated that as many of you as possible made your pledge by the end of April as others can continue to come in.

If you need help with your pledge or have any questions, please feel free to contact Mary Hadley at mary@hadleykids.com.

Your generous support helps us to literally “keep the lights on” and also kindle the light in our collective congregational spirit and allow us to truly put on our Love in Action! Spotlights . Make a Pledge here.

On behalf of the Stewardship Campaign Team,

Heidi Sulis, Steve Maier, Mary Hadley, Jean Terwilliger, Mary Conlon, Hannah Sessions

CVUUS Board Perspective

It’s April and as usual it’s also time for CVUUS to ask you for your support for our annual budget. Our Finance and Personnel Teams have been working hard to come up with a budget for July 24-June 25. It is a futuristic budget that is designed to responsibly reflect the Congregation’s wishes and aspirations for the future. During this past year we have received input from two consultants, Mark Ewert and Paula Cole Jones, as well as sage advice from our two Ministers about future directions for CVUUS. There is much more to do but we believe that the budget represents a beginning towards furthering our recently approved covenant on the proposed 8^th principle as well as our own mission statement.

To that end, the budget includes funding for a part-time communications assistant (Jess Danyow), increasing our music budget and making our Music Director (Ronnie Romano) a half-time position. We have also added funding to support a Ministerial Intern (Tom Morgan) who will provide invaluable social action ministry in our local community and in our congregation.

We have also added a cost-of-living adjustment to the salaries of our dedicated staff, who throughout the pandemic and beyond have provided the solid support that we have needed to maintain our basic services and increase the use of our building by outside groups.

This means that we will need everyone to consider increasing their pledge for the coming year. While we recognize that not everyone is able to increase their pledge, the Board believes that if we all reflect deeply upon what CVUUS means to us both as individuals and as a collective organization which wishes to support and further progressive values in our community, in our country, and in the world, we will be able to meet our Stewardship Campaign goals.

During April you will be able to make a statement (your pledge) about what CVUUS’ future should be like. Not everyone wants to talk about money, but we must recognize that without it, we cannot accomplish our goals. Our community does incredible work, and every dollar of every pledge goes to work making love visible in our world.   Alan Moore, CVUUS Board of Trustees

Standing on the Threshold of Our Future

The 2023 canvass was led by John  Barstow and Kate Gridley. They said YES to running the canvass because, for starters, they could model the living, breathing example of  “coming in from the cold…to the warmth of community … back in through the door…” and because they love this community. They used a woodblock print that son Charles made after he found an actual door in a piney wood in the middle of an island off the Maine coast. He was young. He thought he had found a magic portal. Kate and John look forward to putting fun into fundraising. They led the service on Sunday January 29^th  to introduce the theme: Standing on the Threshold of Our Future which featured an enlargement of the woodblock to be colored as we went and the “Quint-Essentials” singing Go Tell It in the Valley based, with respect,  on the African-American spiritual Go Tell It On The Mountain. Kate and John led worship again on March 5th and hosted an April Fool’s Celebration Potluck in Fellowship Hall) and kept us apprised throughout April when you could make pledge.

Creating Ripples to Amplify Love in Our World

“What better a time than on the heels of a two-year pandemic to remember the ways that our community exists to love, to comfort, to challenge, and to nurture in a myriad of ways.  When we could not worship together our work continued, and our collective efforts were a powerful and  reassuring constant, as ripples across a surface. When making your pledge in 2022 we invited you to provide 3 words summarizing CVUUS and collected responses from each of us as the canvass progressed to celebrate all the ways that the good work of CVUUS ripples through our hearts, our communities, and across generations!”  2022 Pledge Drive Chair Hannah Sessions for the CVUUS Board