Groundbreaking July 5, 2009
Welcome to all thanks to all for your input on this project.We collected your ideas for months, finally had a ballot which was available for several Sundays, then came up with a plan which was widely viewed.
Today is a big day! We are ready to start moving the soil and beginning the process for our new, more visible and friendly entry. Special thanks to Mike Malinowski, architect and friend of our congregation who has guided our process and been very helpful. This week the planters and soil will begin to be removed making way for a wider walkway and then the new visible canopy marking our entry.
In addition to the support and input of the congregation, which Colene has talked about, I would also like to specifically thank the core group of people who have labored long and hard to bring this project to where it is today. Work on this project started a good year ago. As you may recall, we had a congregational workshop - Searching for the Future - in april 2008 where one of the things we brainstormed about was how we envisioned UUSS moving forward into the future. After the workshop was over another group - VIA (Vision Into Action) - was created to "hold the energy" - to make sure the ball didn't get dropped and that we didn't lose the momentum and direction of the workshop.John McMillan was involved with VIA and got together a subgroup to work on a modest campus beautification project
As I think many people know - these projects don't "just happen", and there are always quite a few people working behind the scenes - fleshing out ideas, surveying the congregation, working on the details, leading conversation, making posters, coordination food, etc. So there are people who deserve very special thanks and who include John McMillan, Colene Schlaepher, Bob Oyafuso, Ginger Enrico, Mike Malinowski and Barbara Hopkins.
The hands of others lifted us from the womb, and the hands of others will lower us into the grave. It was the hands of others that built this church nearly a half century ago. Today our hands join theirs in building a new entry, a new point of welcome, to this church.
May we succeed, as our forbears did, in making this a welcoming place and may this project succeed in making us into church builders.
Amen and blessed be.