The Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica

Featured Articles - July, 2003

“Getting Involved” is Finished; Pick One Up in the Church Office

You have responded to the interests survey, so committee chairs may contact you about your expressed interests. We have also developed another way for you to get involved. Thanks to the hard work of Liz Fuller, with assistance from Melinda Ewen, Carol Agate, Marie Kashmer-Stiebing, Warren Mathews, Scott Roewe, and LuAnn Darling, we now have a publication called “Getting Involved.”

The idea behind this publication is to serve as a reference to let members know what the church offers them and what they may offer to the church. It will be a publication in constant flux, so it will be kept as up-to-date as possible. Webmaster Liz Fuller will put it on the web site and update it frequently. The booklet itself has been created as simply a listing of activities on 8-1/2 x 11 paper, with no graphics so pages can easily be changed as the information changes.

Church activities are divided into three categories. The first is committees and councils, the groups that do the work of the church on a long-term basis. The second category is task-oriented volunteer opportunities. These can be done on a one-time, or as-needed basis. The third is activities and special interest groups. These are more social than work oriented, and bring together people with specific interests.

An example of the first category is working on the committee that puts together the annual de Benneville weekend. The second category is doing a workshop at de Benneville. And the third category is attending camp. Each listing includes a contact person.

Hard copies of “Getting Involved” are available in the church office, or you can read it online and download your own copy.

Survey Responses Have Come in; Data are Entered and Published

As of June 15 we have received 175 completed surveys. Data entry of the initial responses has been completed and information will soon be distributed to various committee chairs, event coordinators, and activity leaders. Surveys from new members and anyone else who responds later will be added on an ongoing basis. Anyone who wants a copy of the survey to complete may pick one up at the church office or send me an e-mail and I will send a copy in return. Thank you to everyone who has provided the church with knowledge of your skills and interests. I hope that you will find new ways to become involved in the life of the church. I’m sure the church will benefit from your generosity.

-- Kathy Cook

The Stewardship Story Continues with Jacki’s Second Installment

As this newsletter goes to print, informal stewardship talks have begun; and though we’ve only had one weekend of sessions — two more will have been held by the time you read this — we wanted to begin to reflect a few of the thoughts people have shared with us as they relate to stewardship.

There’s an overall sense that we need to communicate better on a variety of stewardship-related topics:
° “Why do we need to be more generous?”
° “We’re dipping into savings accounts to cover our annual operating budget?”
° “Tell people what’s going on in the church. If they knew all that was going on, they’d give increased financial support.”
° “This is my religious home. If I’m at home and see a messy house, I clean it up. If I’m here and see paper on the ground, I pick it up. If I’m at home and I see I need to do more financially, I’ll do more. If I’m here and I need to do more financially, you just need to ask me.”

And there’s also a sense that greater consciousness with regard to stewardship issues leads to a more enriched spiritual life:
° “I like the idea of thinking of ‘caring for the church, our community and our future’ in the context of considering my own contribution to the church.”
° “Practicing giving in youth religious education not only teaches the kids about stewardship, but it ends up teaching the adults as well.”
° “Giving away 15% of the weekly offering has given me a sense of our role in the larger community.”

Finally, we’ve received very specific feedback on what people want (and don’t want) with this fall’s pledge drive.

With even this preliminary report in, our path is clear: keep the dialogue going and expand it. That’s what July and August are about -- if you’re on a committee or you’re a committee chair, you’re next.

Thanks to everyone who has joined the discussion so far. I find that every stewardship conversation I have with a fellow church member deepens my connection to this church. I hope you feel the same.

In faith,
Jacki K. Weber

Our Members Step Up to Help Step Up on Second

For 20 years, she worked as a technician at a Valley aerospace company. Then she was laid off, a victim of the economy. When her job fell apart, so did her world. No longer able to cope with life, 40 years old, she suffered a major depression, and eventually joined the homeless wandering the streets of Santa Monica.

A typical story, perhaps — but one with an untypical happy ending. This woman now is employed in a Marina del Rey hotel in maintenance/housekeeping, rents an apartment, and attends Santa Monica College engineering courses, all thanks to the help and support she has received from Step Up on Second since 1995. “It’s a lifesaving place with amazing people,” she says.

Founded in 1984 by Susan Dempsey, a community activist whose son suffered from a mental illness, Step Up on Second at 1328 Second Street, Santa Monica, provides meals, some rental housing, job training, and various programs each year to over 1000 men and women recovering from diagnosed mental illness -- severe depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia. Our church provides a dinner at Step Up on Second the fourth Saturday of each month.

“We have a wonderful partnership with the Unitarian Universalist Church,” says Penelope Schlesinger, vocational services team leader with Shannon Brown. “They have been so supportive of our program, both by providing their monthly donations of a dinner for all of the membership, but also in being an excellent customer of our catering service. The Unitarians really model what we look for and whom we look to in our local faith-based community.”

Cathie Gentile, chair of our church’s Hunger Task Force, comments, “I realize a monthly commitment to Step Up is a lot to ask. Unfortunately, the government’s so-called ‘social safety net’ that was supposed to materialize just didn’t. Agencies like Step Up are really struggling to feed a population that has a difficult time appealing to the public for assistance. Homeless, mentally ill individuals do not generate warm fuzzy feelings in our population. Step Up offers them a place with so many valuable services. Contributing this one dinner every month is a small but important way we can help Step Up keep offering these services.”

About 40% of Step Up on Second’s clients live in shelters. The rest live at home, or, in the case of the homeless woman from the aerospace industry, rent one of 30 apartments owned by Step Up on Second. (She plans to move out on her own next year.) All of them are receiving treatment, mainly at local mental health centers. Many work in job training programs sponsored by Step Up on Second at the Farmers Market and in local offices.

For several years, the organization has also offered job training in the making and selling of sandwiches at its Fresh Start convenience store. During the past two years, Step Up on Second has expanded this food service into a flourishing catering business. “We saw a huge opportunity to get more people involved in job training programs,” says Penelope. “Our catering service offers whatever people request, including barbecue specials, sandwiches, fruit platters, roasted chicken, Portobello mushrooms, ziti, lasagna, and lots of vegetarian specialties.”

The catering service prepares food for between eight and 300 people five to 10 times every week. In addition to individuals, Step Up on Second has catered events for the American Cancer Society, the City of Santa Monica, Eli Lilly Drug Corporation, First Federal Bank, First Presbyterian Church, Loadstar Management Corporation, Madagascar Music, Malibu Kiwanis Club, Malibu Little League, Maxi Productions (Santa Monica Film Festival), and many other corporate clients. Delivery service is available, and a week’s advance notice for catering service is advised. Sal Cirnigliaro and Kareim McKnight oversee the program, and can be reached at Fresh Start Catering, (310) 394-6889, Ext. 50 or Ext. 16. More information about Step Up on Second is available from its website, http://www.stepuponsecond.org.

-- Paula Bernstein

High Praise for de Benneville After First Weekend at Camp

I have always longed to be a part of a caring family who enjoyed having a summer get-together in the mountains. I think I have found my new family during our church weekend at de Benneville Pines. It was indeed a feast for my soul.

From the assiduous prep work done by Marv Pulliam, Elle Long, Carol Agate, and Kris Langabeer to the great home-cooked meals, to the many volunteers coordinating all kinds of activities, I am sure every kid and kid-at-heart from ages two to 81 found it hard to say goodbye to the 2003 church camp at de Benneville Pines.

I’ve heard our attendance of 110 was the largest Santa Monica church group in memory. A gift was presented to Peggy Kharraz, who has been the registrar for the event for the past 15 years. Actually, it was a rain check — for a de Benneville lap robe that is being made.

It was fun to sit across the lunch table with Judith Meyer and be able to connect informally. Her discussion group drew the largest attendance of any. Other workshops included discussions, exercise, and crafts. I did a session called “Finding Your Bliss.” There was yoga, hiking, and aerobics. Swimming included both the heated pool and, for hardier souls, the lake. The hot tub was a popular attraction, as was the traditional campfire. We enjoyed it even though the Forest Service banned outdoor fires and we had to gather around the fireplace in the lodge.

Arts workshops included tie-dying, making personalized pillows, landscape sketching, and cookie decorating. There were a poetry writing workshop and a class on Islam. In addition to sing-alongs on Friday and Saturday evenings, we had Kerry Thorne and Karl Lisovsky strumming and singing away on the porch for most of the day. And then there was the perennial favorite, dam building. I heard how Dean Voegtlen has been gathering a crew of adults and kids to build another dam each year. Chris Brown did a variation on last year’s watermelon seed spitting contest by using cherry pits this year. They travel further, he explained.

Continuous activities included ping pong, bubble blowing, chess and bridge playing, and working on the jig saw puzzle that sat on the porch all day.

I especially enjoyed meeting the other half — those who go to the early service so I rarely see them. My whole being felt nourished and satisfied. How blessed I am to call this rich, diverse, loving community we share my spiritual family.

-- Suzanne De Benedittis

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