Present: Janice Zerfas, Emily Hecht, Dorothy Long, Jim McConnell, Lisa Dalgleish, Amy Eklund, Chris Sirotiak, and Dave Sarra.

Minutes of October meeting were unavailable.

Newsletter: It was noted that Joan B. really enjoyed receiving the newsletter. Dave has found that he can’t keep up with the newsletter by himself. There are lots of things going on but he doesn’t have time to track people down for reports. Chris stated she would organize request for information for the newsletter.

A question was raised about the availability of the directory. It is online and about half a dozen copies are in the office. Dave found some names that need to be updated. The login is “****” and the password is “******”.

Season of Remembrance concert: Since the septic system is now fixed Dave will contact Lauren Pelon. The time of the concert was discussed and he will ask if a 2p time would work to avoid conflict with the supper hour. He will e-mail the board after he receives a reply so the rest of the plans can be worked out.

Amy will contact Bob Milne and finalize the arrangements.

An official resignation from Dick Berndt has not yet been received.

Back up babysitter: We are still in need. Mike Laborn sprained his arm. Emily H knows someone who can do it. A background check will need to be done and we need to set up the system for paying for it. Dorothy will give
Dave the debit card number.

Religious Leader Contract: It was decided to remove the word “interim” from the title. It is for 18 Sundays thru June. Jim has 22 scheduled through June but he will include 4 “free” guest speakers. Many felt that $400 was not enough for the travel expenses but if more is needed paragraph 10 will cover this.

Ministerial Relations Committee: Harvey volunteered. Suggested names for the remaining vacancy included Linda, Jean, Julie, and Heartha.

Copier: A proposal was submitted by Gretchen for a Kyocera 1820 copier for $495 from The Copy Image. In addition there would be a $95 cost for service. This would be good for parts/labor/service for 1 year or 100,000
copies. Amy moved/Chris seconded that we proceed with a one month trial of the machine proposed. Motion passed.

Dave submitted the RE report electronically. This year our children’s Religious Education program is covering festivals and celebrations of faiths around the world as they occur. We began with a class covering some of the
beliefs of the Aboriginal peoples of Australia. Their beliefs in dreamtime go back as far as anyone can tell, perhaps over 40,000 years! We followed that with a class on Confucius and the National Teachers’ Day holiday celebrated
in Taiwan (September 28) and China (October 4). We touched on Catholic sainthood with the feast day for Saint Francis of Assisi (October 4). We then had a class on the life and beliefs of Zoroaster, one of the earliest believers in monotheism, as the feast days of Gahambar Ayathrem (October 12-16) celebrate the creation of plant life. Our students watched an animated video of Ramayana, the ancient Hindu epic poem of good versus evil, in order to understand the reenactment of the poem during the Dussehra festival (October 17). We learned why several celebrations dealing with the dead occur at the same time of year: Halloween (Celtic, October 31), All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day (Catholic/Christian, November 1), and the Days of the Dead (Aztec, November 1 and 2). Our
students created and drew their own Rangoli on the BUUF driveway as part of our understanding of the Hindu and Sikh New Year Festival of Lights called Diwali (November 5). We’ve already spanned a good part of the globe (Australia, China, Italy, the Middle-East, India, Europe, Mexico, and North America) and created a timeline that puts a small part of the religious history on this planet into a rough chronological order. Although we’re not focusing on Unitarian-Universalism this year, each week we compare some of the tenets of the faiths studied with our seven principles. Confucius said, “All human beings are alike at birth,” and stressed education. Zoroastrians practice a three-fold path described as “Good thoughts, good words, good deeds.” Diwali symbolizes the vanquishing of ignorance with the light of knowledge. We also discuss polytheism, monotheism, sainthood, beliefs in the before- and after-life, and other concepts as they apply to UUism and to each of us individually.

Jim reported that several new people are now coming regularly and he thought it would be good to offer some sort of UU class to them such as Basis of Uuism/Vision and have Lisa participate as well. He checked with the Orlandos recently and they expressed an expectation to be attending again soon. He would like to do a movie night on a Friday night. There was an idea for ice skating and then a movie hosted at Emily’s house soon.

Dorothy presented the treasurer’s report. The income from the auction was $2464. $158 was brought in by the kids sale of comestibles. Since the dishwasher was donated, the money was assigned to the kitchen renovation
costs. The amount in the report for Building Improvement includes the building permit. We have received several donations toward the mount and Dorothy will keep asking for special donations. Pledges are coming in about
as expected.

Lisa stated we have been having some regular visitors and our average attendance is 33. The plastic cups we bought ARE dishwasher safe.

Amy/Dorothy moved to adjourn. Motion carried.