Month: January 2022 (Page 1 of 2)

Music Newsletter (January 2022)

January 26, 2022 /

Welcome to the first Music Newsletter! Over the next six months, we will use this newsletter to share the process of hiring a new Music Director and updates about what’s currently happening in the music ministry (keep reading to meet our newly hired interim Music Coordinator!). Sign up to receive all future Music Newsletters here!

We hope to hire a full-time Music Director by August 2022. We prefer to and prioritize hiring a Music Director who also serves as the Choir Director to suport an integrated and comprehensive music ministry at Foothills. To make this hope of a full-time combined Music and Choir Director a reality, we need to raise $30,000 early in 2022 beyond our current budget and receive additional pledges of about another $30,000 (for a total of $60,000) for 2023. The capacity to fund and offer a full-time position is crucial to attracting the strongest candidates who possess the musical skills and personal qualities prioritized by our congregation. 

In Fall 2021, we worked with Periscope Theory, a Fort Collins-based firm, to develop a music survey that would help us understand the congregation’s priorities for the Music Director position and Music Ministry at large. Since then we have hosted several listening sessions, each with groups of 3-8 congregants representing every aspect of music at Foothills. Based on what we learned from the survey and listening sessions (summaries of which you can find below), we will convene an inclusive search committee to write the Music Director job description. We will announce members of the search committee in an upcoming newsletter.

Introducing our new Music Coordinator!

We are thrilled to welcome Jennifer Jolly, who many of you may recognize from her guest performances on Christmas Eve and in one of our fall 8:30 services, as our Music Coordinator!

Jennifer is a classically trained singer with a Master of Music degree, a Bachelor of Music, and experience as a performer and teacher. She will provide and coordinate music for worship services through July, while the search for our Music Director is underway. Jennifer is especially excited to involve the talented Foothills community in worship and is continually grateful for music’s ability to bring meaning and connection to our lives.

Learn more about how Jennifer will be supporting music by reading the full Music Coordinator job description.

Music Survey Summary

102 Foothills community members shared their priorities through the music survey.

Survey participants named strong musicality, effective communication, interpersonal skills, demonstrated leadership, and enthusiasm as the most important qualities for the new Music Director to possess.

Survey participants were evenly split on the most important role of the Music Director, with 20% of participants each selecting:
  • Helping develop, plan, and execute worship services
  • Through many different year-round options for people to engage in music
  • Spreading creativity, innovation, and joy
  • Collaborating in every possible way
  • Through a choir that is both a covenantal practice and a service to the congregation

Music Listening Sessions Summary

We hosted several 75-minute listening sessions, each with groups of 3-8 congregants. Participants in these in-depth conversations represented the full range of involvement in music at Foothills, from choir to congregational singing to children’s programs to participating in online services.
 
In these sessions, a shared vision emerged for a Music Director who possesses the following qualities:

  • Ability to maintain regular, transparent communication.
  • Musicality and training to provide high-quality worship music, offer a variety of musical styles, and excel as a choir director.
  • Understands music is a ministry and spiritual resource that should be accessible to all – across generations, skill levels, and musical styles. 
  • Possesses the heart of a teacher who can facilitate varied experiences for engagement with music.
  • Understands WE are the church and can develop a program that brings everyone into the fold.
  • Can facilitate opportunities for children of all ages.
  • Has the professional maturity, self-awareness, and sensitivity to hold clear boundaries.
  • Approachable, accessible, and inclusive. 
  • Ability to organize and showcase talent from the congregation and larger Fort Collins community. 
  • Invested in learning about and is aligned with the culture and values of our church.

If you have any questions about the Music Director search process so far or moving forward, please hit reply or contact Kelsey DiAstra, our Creative & Communications Manager who is acting as the administrative facilitator for the search process. You can email Kelsey at kelsey@foothillsuu.org.

Thank you for your investment and collaboration in this exciting process!

In partnership,

Rev. Gretchen Haley, Senior Minister
Kelsey DiAstra, Creative & Communications Manager

With Gratitude for the Life of Bob Molison

January 14, 2022 /

Dear Foothills friends and members, 
 
We are writing to let you know that beloved long-time church member, Bob Molison, died this past Saturday, January 8, at the age of 86. Bob passed away peacefully in his sleep. He is survived by his beloved wife, Ann, their daughter Laura, son Chris, and their grandchildren Kayla, Ally, Alejandro, and Javier, as well as his sister, Mary, and many other extended family members.
 
Bob and Ann have been active members of Foothills for three decades and were connected in Unitarian Universalism since the 1960s when they were married by the Rev. Jack Mendelsohn at the historic Arlington Street Chapel on the Boston Commons. Since arriving in Fort Collins, Bob has been a centerpiece of the Foothills choir, including serving as interim choir director on more than one occasion. He helped find and hire a number of our music staff, and he was always willing to jump in and help support and guide Foothills’ music ministry over the years. Bob has also been a dear friend to many in our community, and will be especially missed by his Tuesday lunch crew.  
 
Bob has a long history as a teacher and renowned choral director. His influence spans generations and across the continent – with a career that has taken him from Hawaii to Maine, and everywhere in between. His loss will be felt just as expansively.  
 
You can find Bob’s full obituary (featuring a fabulous photo of Bob conducting choir) here. Please do take a minute to share memories about Bob on the linked site, as we know it will be meaningful to his family and to the many others who have known, loved, and learned from Bob.  
 
Although we have known of his health challenges, Bob’s death comes as a shock to us all. Adjusting to this new reality will take time. At the family’s request, we have waited until today to share this news with you in order to allow them some needed space with their grief and overwhelm. At this time, emails or cards are the most helpful way to express your care to Ann. Mail can be sent to: 
 
909 Centre Ave Unit 220
Fort Collins, CO 80526
 
Bob was beloved at Foothills and will be deeply missed. It’s hard to imagine Foothills without him, and especially hard to imagine the choir without him. Ann is committed to holding an in-person memorial with as many people who would like to be there as soon as such a large gathering is safe. We all hope that will be some time this spring or summer. As you can imagine, it will be important to have music, and choir, as a part of this service in honor of Bob’s legacy and his love of and passion for music. We will let you know as details about this service become clear.
 
With love and gratitude,
 
Revs. Gretchen, Sean, and Elaine

f you are holding grief and would like a listening ear, please do not hesitate to reach out HERE.

The Building Bulletin: 2021 Year in Review

January 14, 2022 /

Building Year in Review

The building project had a productive 2021. Last January, we had 50% design completion. We now have 95% construction documents, have passed several important milestones in the city permitting process, and are planning the actual construction! Here’s a summary of where we were, where we’re going, and what’s coming up next.

Early in the year, the Building Expansion Team (BET) worked on refining budget estimates. We talked about phasing – what items could be delayed without adding future costs and still provide immediately necessary space. The result was a modified building design that removed the original design’s curved wall, left the sanctuary basement unfinished, and replaced some materials with more cost-effective alternatives. We put together a packet for a congregational meeting held on February 21st.

The congregation voted to go forward with our building design at the February meeting. There were many comments at the meeting, ranging from bathrooms to solar panels. To better understand congregational priorities, we held a series of focus groups led by our architects. All the comments received at the congregational and group meetings were considered and answered.  You can read the comments and responses here. Ewers Architects made additional design modifications to address some of the concerns. The most significant change was to reorient the sanctuary to maintain the view of the foothills.

Over the summer, we began the process of obtaining city planning approval. This is an approval of our site plan, utilities, sidewalks, tree removal – everything except the actual building. This was a long process of submittals, comments, and resubmittals.  We held a public hearing, and our site plan was approved. We now move to the approval of our final development plan. We completed the first round of review on December 14th. This allows us to make the application for a building permit. The architects are currently assembling our application.

Other accomplishments this year include:

    • An audio/visual contractor was selected with the help of Rev. Christopher Watkins Lamb to help us design a sound system and ensure that any wiring necessary is done as a part of the construction.
    • BET members were available at the church open house held in July. We led tours of the new building site to help people understand where the new spaces will be. We received many great comments.
    • Our contractor, Pinkard Construction, has been reviewing costs and collecting bids from subcontractors. We should have a ‘final’ estimate by mid-January.
    • We received loan approval from FNBO.
    • An art advisory team identified spaces for art in the new building and made recommendations for selecting and displaying art in the future.
  • We hired a commissioning agent along with firms to do construction testing and asbestos remediation.
  • We developed an IT plan with the help of Richie Nelson, a congregant and board member.  

During all this, Ewers Architects and their team of engineers were developing construction documents while Pinkard Construction reviewed the plans for potential cost savings and constructability.

What’s next?

We will continue to work with the city planning department for approval of our final development plan along with the city building department to obtain our building permits. Our contractor will continue to confirm costs and create a more precise budget estimate.

The BET will be refining the schedule, making sure that everything that is the church’s responsibility is completed on time. Soon the architects will provide us with potential color palettes, allowing us to form teams to help select finishes and furnishings. We are still hoping to break ground in March, but the city process is too unpredictable to allow us to plan on a specific date.

We’d like to thank everyone who has helped this year – Katie Watkins and all the church staff, Rev. Christopher Watkins Lamb, Richie Nelson, the art advisory team and all of you who have contributed to the capital campaign, attended meetings, made comments, and provided feedback. This project cannot succeed without you. We are also grateful for our excellent team at Ewers Architecture and Pinkard construction. They are a joy to work with.

Building Expansion Team

Peg MacMorris, Jerry Hanley, Chris Bettlach, Margaret Cottam

buildingexpansion@foothillsuu.org

Plans for MLK Weekend: ‘Visiting’ Milwaukee & Marching Together

January 14, 2022 /

In this moment, I know that many of you are navigating either COVID exposures, have a family member sick, or are yourselves sick. And others of you are medical staff and school staff who are being asked to give so much right now – too much. Please know that you are not alone, and please don’t hesitate to reach out if we can be a support for you in this time.  

I wanted to let you all know that this surge of the virus has come in close. On Monday, both my family and Sean’s family were showing symptoms. With school-age children in our homes who had only just gotten approved for boosters, we both recognized that it was likely a matter of time given the omicron surge. By mid-week, my family’s tests confirmed that we have COVID; my kids and partner are all ill – although doing ok. I am still asymptomatic. We are extremely grateful for vaccines.  

Sean’s family hasn’t yet tested positive but have confirmed that they were directly and repeatedly exposed throughout last week by someone who tested positive, and so we are assuming that their symptoms are also COVID. Tests with omicron are showing more false negatives, especially for vaccinated individuals who may have lower viral loads.  

Given this, we have decided to embrace the wonderful opportunities that being all online offers and invite our 9:00 service to join in worship with the First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee and their lead minister, the Rev. Jennifer Nordstrom. They also meet at 9 am mountain time on Sundays. Actually, they had already planned to join us on January 30th, so this is a great chance for us to have an exchange and experience each other’s worship services and community.  

Our 10:00 service will continue as planned, information on that is below. There will not be an 11:00 online service this Sunday.

To join the 9 am service, you can either go directly to First UU Milwaukee’s live online stream on Youtube at this link or join our usual zoom link here, where we are hoping to simply share their feed and be able to experience it together. However, if there are any issues with the feed into zoom, we will direct everyone over to Youtube with a link in the chat. More information about their service can be found below. 

We hope to offer our breakouts after our 9:00 service, but we will play that by ear on Sunday. If we can’t, or if you’d just like to join First UU Milwaukee, you are welcome to check out their zoom coffee hour at this link (ID: 863 9915 2275, Passcode: uumke) after the service.

You are also welcome to join the 30-minute 10 am service led by our family ministry team. This service will serve as preparation for our participation in the MLK March on Monday – more information is below!

This is a good moment to encourage everyone to get your booster if you haven’t already! Get that improved (KN95/N95) mask on, and avoid public indoor spaces as much as possible.

January is just going to be rough. But on the other side of this is February, and all indications are things should be a lot better by then. We just need to take it one day at a time, ask for help when we need it (e.g. join another church for worship on Sunday!), and remember the gift of being in community through times like this. I am so grateful for each of you, for the ways you show up for each other, and for the world with so much generosity, compassion, and humor. That’s the way forward.

With love,

Gretchen 

We are thrilled to join First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee this Sunday for our 9 am service. Rev. Jennifer Nordstrom will lead an exploration of the relationship between intention and action. Do you do what you intended to do? Did it have the impact you intended it to have? In this service, we’ll explore how to shoot a straight arrow between intention, action, and impact, and what to do when the path gets a little less direct than originally intended.

Join the 9 am Zoom service*

*We have added a short form to fill out before joining Zoom. This form not only helps keep our worship secure, it also significantly streamlines taking attendance (which we do both for our reporting purposes and so we can reach out for pastoral support when needed). Thank you for being so flexible – this new form saves us about 5 hours a week in staff time, which we can dedicate to other important work! 

You can also watch First Milwaukee’s service on YouTube at 9 am MST (or anytime after).

We would also love for you to join the Foothills Unitarian Family Ministry Team at 10 am for a 30-minute service in preparation for the MLK March on Monday, January 17th. 

Join the 10 am Zoom service

Join Foothills for the Fort Collins MLK March on Monday, January 17th

Foothills members of all ages will gather at the northwest corner of Civic Center Park Monday at 10:30 am for a brief time of spiritual grounding.  We will then walk a half block north to join the march at Washington Park, which begins at 11:00 am.

Register to Join the March!

Together, we will explore the question Why are we marching? Why now in 2022 as voting rights are threatened?” It will include stories from then and now, music, and why we, as Unitarian Universalists, are called to dismantle racism and oppression in ourselves and our institutions.

In preparation for the march, you are invited to join us for a short zoom service on Sunday, January 16th at 10:00 am.

In preparation for the march, you are invited to join us for a short zoom service on Sunday, January 16th at 10:00 am.

Join the 10 am service

Together, we will explore the question Why are we marching? Why now in 2022 as voting rights are threatened?” It will include stories from then and now, music, and why we, as Unitarian Universalists, are called to dismantle racism and oppression in ourselves and our institutions.

Stay up-to-date with our plans for COVID-19 safety at foothillsuu.org/covidsafety.

Convince Them You’re Right, and other ways to (not) fix broken relationships

January 8, 2022 /

There was a stretch of about five years when my partner and I would make every New Year’s resolution a commitment that this would be the year when we would make new friends. Having moved to Fort Collins after living in Denver for nearly fifteen years, with two young and busy kids, as well as full-time busy jobs – we were really good at making acquaintances and professional contacts. But the work of getting past the early stage and into real relationship felt like a mystery we couldn’t crack.  

Life often comes down to the quality of our relationships. How we are able to connect and belong, know and be known by others.We cannot be human alone.  

 And yet sustaining relationships, like in my own example (and that was before the global pandemic!)  is not easy, or automatic. No one gives us an instruction manual, despite it being a core practice of being human.  

Especially when we find places of tension, when trust is tested, when a disagreement feels like an insurmountable divide, and when relationships fracture, we flail.  We turn to the least helpful habits or instincts.  We react with defensiveness or avoidance, especially in these days where grief, anger, and anxiety are so heavy in our collective consciousness. 

Even if it wasn’t officially a part of your new year’s intentions this year, we could all use a relationship check-up – a chance to build that instruction manual we weren’t given but need now more than ever. 

This Sunday, January 9th, we’re kicking off our new series, Re-Assembly Required: A Beginner’s Guide to Relationship Repair & Renewal (and we’re all beginniners!). We’ll look at how to convince someone else you’re right and they are wrong…or maybe, why that’s exactly what not to do if you want to fix a relationship.

It’ll be our first Sunday back all online while we wait out the omicron surge (get your boosters!), so it’ll be a little reunion. Though we hope the change will be brief, there is something kind of sweet about all of us being back in our homes, reaching out in community from wherever we are. Remembering that even when the building is closed, as long as the people show up, the church remains open.  

In partnership and with love,

Rev. Gretchen

Join us Sunday

Join us on Zoom at 9 am or 10 am or watch a broadcast at 11 am (or anytime after) on our website and Facebook Live. Our 10 am Zoom service will include separate time for adults and kids. 

Adult time will include a spiritual practice, a short sermon, and small group conversations. Kid time will include fun, games, and connection around our theme.

« Older posts

© 2025 Dispatches from the journey of Foothills Unitarian

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑