Welcome to the 2010-11 church year at May Memorial Unitarian Universalist. Your Board of Trustees has been hard at work throughout the summer including attending a special retreat at the end of August to set our goals for the coming year. There is always so much to do during the church year with issues of finance, RE, programming, social justice and community outreach to consider. If a member of our nominating committee approaches you to serve on the board, give it serious consideration. It’s an interesting job.

Be on the lookout for information from our Trailblazers Group in the weeks and months to come. This group has committed to a three-year effort to enhance growth and vitality at May Memorial. The Trailblazers and the board worked together during the summer retreat to set some achievable goals to grow our numbers and improve our health. Members of this group include Jean Wahlstrom, Jennifer Hamlin-Navias, Andrea Wandersee and Pete Shambo, Alexa Carter and Harsey Leonard. Seek out any of these folks if you have ideas to share.

In October the board will hear from our Precapital Campaign Committee on how we might best go about completing the needed repairs and renovations to our building. This committee, consisting of Randy Case, Erwin Reiner, Vicky Schipper, David Ashley and John Allen, has been meeting since winter to decide which projects need to be done and how we might pay for them. This committee's report will help us decide how to proceed in the coming year.

We are seeking a chair, or perhaps two, to take on our Stewardship Campaign this year. Gary Droege and Jennifer Newman did a great job last year and they stand ready to act as advisors to this year’s leaders. We all know that Stewardship is an essential aspect of church life. The earlier we get started on this program, the better it will be for all of us. Please consider volunteering your services.

We have three terrific conferences taking place in the Syracuse area in October. October 15-16 will see the Women’s Spirituality conference at May Memorial, October 22-23 will feature the NYSCU annual meeting and conference with Gini Courter at First UU, and on October 29-30 Kate Braestrup will make a return visit to our area at the Social Justice Conference. Registration brochures are available for all of these events. What a feast of ideas and stimulating personalities. Clear your calendars now to take part.

I look forward to another year of community and fellowship at May. See you in church.