Day: November 15, 2019

I’m writing to let you know that Kathryn Boyle, our Office and Facility Manager has submitted her resignation notice. Kathryn has been with us for over a decade, and she has been a critical steady presence of care and commitment, especially over the transitions of the last few years. If you’ve ever helped put on an event, or helped with Sunday, or called the office for basically anything — you know how important Kathryn’s presence has been for Foothills.  

Kathryn has grown tremendously during her time with us, and with that we can only be happy for her that she has found a position that is a wonderful opportunity for her. When I met with her, I told her that while I was already grieving her absence, and already wondering how the heck we would figure things out without her, I am sincerely happy for her and support her in taking this move. Below you’ll find a note from Kathryn where she shares more about what’s next.

I know that many of us will want to say goodbye and thank you to Kathryn, so we hope you’ll join us on Sunday November 24th (at the 8:30 and 10:00, and between the services) when she will be with us — without any work duties! Come for hugs and thank yous, maybe a few tears, and lots of good wishes.  

As I said, we have a lot to figure out with her absence, and we are just beginning to figure out a plan for interim coverage until we can fill the position more permanently. Once we have more information, I will be in touch. For now, if you are able to step up and help with hospitality over the next few weeks, that is deeply appreciated! If you aren’t already a part of our hospitality team, sign up here.  

Let me know if you have any questions.

In partnership,
Rev. Gretchen 

Dear Foothills Folks,

It is with mixed emotions that I would like to tell the congregation that I will be leaving my position as Office and Facilities Manager at Foothills.

I will be starting a new career as Administrative Manager and Provider Relations with Seniors Helping Seniors of Northern Colorado. I am looking forward to this growth opportunity with the foundation I have gained here. Maybe I’ll see some of you at this great program.

My last official day will be Thursday, November 21; however I’m hoping to see you Sunday, November 24th for hugs and goodbyes. 

In my time with Foothills, I have had the privilege and pleasure of knowing so many wonderful people. This job has allowed me to grow both personally and professionally, and provided me with the flexibility that I needed at times in my life. It has also given me so many opportunities to serve, as well as be supported by this community. I truly love you all and will miss you.

I’m looking forward to seeing you all this Sunday and next week. 

With gratitude,
Kathryn Boyle

Katie Watkins

Katie believes the best things in life are the result of collaboration and diverse perspectives coming together to produce something greater than any individual could. She is passionate about systems, efficiency and collaboration for better community outcomes. She loves dreaming up the big picture and drafting the roadmap to make it happen. She has a background in operations, fundraising, communications and program development, as well as over a decade of nonprofit management experience in Northern Colorado.

Her greatest joy in life comes from her family. Her husband, Steven, a principal at Wellington Middle School, and daughters Emmaline and Esmae are the lights of her life. Together they love mountains, music and all kinds of food. She is passionate about women supporting other women in all stages of life and especially through the critical moments that make or break us. She believes that one of the most important things in life is to be kind.

Being outdoors makes her soul come alive. It always roots her in gratitude and is one of the reasons she loves living in Fort Collins.

This year a number of Fort Collins Lutheran churches were anchor sponsors for the first Multi-Faith Home build at The Habitat for Humanity Harmony Cottages site on the SE corner of Taft Hill & Harmony. There are a total of thirteen congregations involved in this project including Temple Or Hadash (reform Judaism) and the Islamic Center, as well as our own Foothills Unitarian Church. The Habitat Harmony Cottages site is platted for 48 high quality, energy efficient homes with solar PV arrays including mostly site-built duplexes and a few single family homes which are built at Poudre High School through a special student program, then transported to the site. The home being built through the Multi-Faith project is for Iman and her two children, who are refugees from Syria (photo). You may have been fortunate enough to have been introduced to Iman and her children in July when she visited our church service or at the Habitat Multi-Faith picnic in August.  

Foothills support of this project has been enthusiastic. Our July share the plate collection was for this project and collected almost $3000 which was matched by Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church. We’ve had over forty members sign up for the Multi-Faith build group events & updates, thirteen attendees at this summer’s picnic and seven participants in Foothills volunteer day build this past Tuesday (Nov. 5^th) (photo). 

On our Tuesday volunteer build day, we had beautiful, sunny, crisp, blue sky Colorado fall weather. After a briefing and safety talk we broke into two groups including both Foothills volunteers and a few other volunteers, each under the guidance of an experienced construction staff member.  One group (Foothills members: Jane and Anne Aspen, Kay Williams) did “blocking” and similar tasks in one of the Poudre High built homes that is nearly finished. Blocking involves installing 2”x4” blocks that fit between the vertical studs to provide attachment points for kitchen, bath and laundry cabinets (see photos). The other group (Foothills members: Tom Saults, Katy Kohnen and myself) worked on framing and also setting a large horizontal support beam on a partially framed duplex (see photos). We had the great pleasure on this team of working with Haley one of the future home owners, an extremely personable, hard working single mom with a 5 ½ year old son.  Haley is excited for the opportunity to move into and build community in a good neighborhood with other children including some her son’s age. We broke for a group lunch about noon, and enjoyed pizza provided by Sara Steen who’s schedule did not allow her on-site participation. The work was fun and rewarding. The camaraderie was great as was the instruction and supervision. At the end of the day we were tired but pleased with the progress. The consensus was that we were each able to contribute, to learn something and had a good time doing it. Also, we were all glad the work hours were limited to 9am–3pm, and all agreed that we have a new appreciation for professional construction staff that typically start much earlier and end later. 

This was truly an enjoyable and rewarding volunteer activity. If you enjoy hands-on volunteer work I’d encourage you to check it out. Group build days are booked through the end of this year but there are individual slots open and also a wait list which often has a few slots that open last minute.

On-line registration is very easy. To volunteer as an individual or small group go to https://fortcollinshabitat.volunteerhub.com/account/signin Scroll down to create a new account, log in and then search for volunteer days of interest. Click to sign up or join a wait list. Construction days are Tues, Thur, and Sat. There are also other volunteer opportunities such as helping at the Habitat Restore and as a Restore Truck Assistant. You can also contact the Habitat Volunteer Coordinator, Abby Krstulic at akrstulic@fortcollinshabitat.org or 970-488-2610 if you have questions about the login to their site or about volunteering individually.

– Dan Siegfried, Foothills Member

Katie Watkins

Katie believes the best things in life are the result of collaboration and diverse perspectives coming together to produce something greater than any individual could. She is passionate about systems, efficiency and collaboration for better community outcomes. She loves dreaming up the big picture and drafting the roadmap to make it happen. She has a background in operations, fundraising, communications and program development, as well as over a decade of nonprofit management experience in Northern Colorado.

Her greatest joy in life comes from her family. Her husband, Steven, a principal at Wellington Middle School, and daughters Emmaline and Esmae are the lights of her life. Together they love mountains, music and all kinds of food. She is passionate about women supporting other women in all stages of life and especially through the critical moments that make or break us. She believes that one of the most important things in life is to be kind.

Being outdoors makes her soul come alive. It always roots her in gratitude and is one of the reasons she loves living in Fort Collins.