Year: 2022 (Page 5 of 11)

In Case of Emergency: A letter from Rev. Gretchen

August 12, 2022 /

Dear ones,

 

If you were present in the building for services this past Sunday, you may have noticed a flurry of activity in the entrance area during the sermon, including the arrival of emergency services.  One of our members had a medical emergency which required urgent attention. We are grateful to report that this member is now doing well and has fully recovered. We are also grateful to our two community members who are medical professionals who were able to be there for support and help transport them to medical care.

 

This was not the first time that we needed to call in for emergency help on a Sunday morning, and it certainly won’t be the last.  What is different, however, is the times we live in, and our shared awareness of all the things that might go wrong in a communal gathering space. Which in turn makes moments like this raise anxieties, and for some, questions about how we respond. 

 

Our staff team is constantly updating our emergency and crisis response procedures, especially in light of changing world realities, and also due to our changing building situation. We are preparing to offer an updated training for our regular Sunday morning volunteers and our choir to run through these procedures. 

 

In the meantime, and for everyone, I want to make sure you know that if anything is occurring that might endanger the community, we will stop the service and alert everyone present, and initiate our emergency response, including evacuation when appropriate. Our administrative staff person on Sundays (most often Jenn Powell) knows and is empowered to immediately alert the worship leader for any such concern, and to initiate evacuation whenever needed. 

 

This same staff person will ensure that when the situation is – like it was this past Sunday – about a particular individual, that appropriate help is provided, including calling 911 when needed, and that the individual’s well-being is followed up on after the service. It is natural and a positive part of our community that we all want to make sure someone is ok when there is an incident, and at the same time keeping the numbers of people directly involved helps maintain calm and clarity – a little like Kristen’s sermon on Sunday, which was fittingly titled “finding calm in the chaos.”  

 

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. And, if you are someone who would like to join our Sunday hospitality team, or our caring team – both of whom are critical partners when incidents such as this occur – please reach out to Jenn Powell at jenn@foothillsuu.org. 

 

In partnership,

 

Rev. Gretchen 

The Building Bulletin: August 2022

August 12, 2022 /

There are more and more people in fluorescent vests and hard hats moving around our grounds every day. We are finally in the construction phase of our project!!  

The new electrical transformer has been installed, and the old transformer has been removed. Switching the building over to the new transformer began on Wednesday and should be complete by the time you read this. While it sounds like all that’s involved is to flick a switch, it turns out to be much more complicated.  ike every project big or small, there are always unknowns to be discovered. The loss of power during the switch has been disruptive to our staff. While we are working hard to minimize disruptions to our community, we will all inevitably have to make adaptations and adjust to interruptions in our usual day-to-day throughout this big and exciting project. We are grateful for their and your flexibility and patience.

Since we’re now in the thick of things and there is more to see on site, the BET has begun meeting weekly in the construction trailer. Representatives from the contractor and the architects get together with us to talk about details that need addressing, progress, and scheduling. Despite all we’ve gone through to get to this point, we never run out of things to discuss.

The removal of the old transformer has opened the way for demolition and earth moving. Over the coming month, the breezeway and the mechanical shed will be removed. Some preliminary work will be done in the basement entry to the RE building and some interior demolition will be done in the administrative area. The earth movers will be working next week to remove the tree stumps and do other preliminary digging.

There is a bit more asbestos remediation that we need done in the social hall. The soffit over the glass doors and the back wall of the sound booth need remediation before we can demolish the exterior wall and run new conduit. The work is scheduled for September 5th and 6th.  As a reminder, the air quality is tested before the workers leave the site, so you can be reassured that the air is good to breath after the work is completed.  

It is very exciting to see work occurring. Please remember that this is now an active work site. For your safety, stay outside of the fenced area and be aware of your surroundings when you visit the building. Our completion date is scheduled for May 18, and our move in date is May 23.

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Racial Justice Resources

July 21, 2022 /

Thank you to the Foothills’ Racial Justice and Healing Ministry (RJHM) for compiling the below racial justice resources. Click on the image category to see a full list.

Join the RJHM’s email list to stay up-to-date on events, learning opportunities, and calls to action!

Channeling Our Queer Ancestors

July 19, 2022 /

Pride started with an uprising. In 1969 New York, drag queens, lesbians, gay men, and other gender non-conforming people fought back police attempting to arrest them for wearing “gender inappropriate” clothing – which was illegal at the time.  

For a good portion of my life, I couldn’t imagine what it must have been like to worry about being arrested simply for existing. But in the past few years, I’ve realized that world isn’t very far away. With every new headline about the latest wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation, I hear Black queer poet Audre Lorde’s words: “My silence had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you.”

In Florida, the literal intent of the law is silencing – to stop conversation and education that is anything other than cisg and hetero. In Texas and Missouri, the intent is both silencing and threat – to make parents afraid of caring for their child, to make children afraid of listening to themselves, to make healthcare workers afraid of doing their jobs.

Florida and Texas are grabbing the most headlines, but there are dozens of other states making similar moves right now.

My own city of Fort Collins, Colorado, is not safe from the anti-LGBT+ legislation, rhetoric, and violence sweeping the nation. Our local school district faces unfounded accusations of recruiting kids and youth via queer clubs and education about gender and sexuality. There are campaigns to make support and education less accessible for our kids. 

Without counteraction, these efforts to make it scarier and more shameful to be a queer person, especially a queer youth, will work. Even if people don’t literally go back into the closet, they will work hard to pass – to appear as though they conform to traditionally limited ideas of gender and sexuality. 

Except Audre Lorde reminds us that the silence of passing does not protect us. The quick relief of being unseen only perpetuates the notion that we have something to hide. Tamping down whatever weirdness we’ve got makes us all think weirdness is bad and that being queer is scary, threatening, and something to legislate, control, and shame.

When weirdness – by which I mean uniqueness, creativity, and eccentricity – is regular – and actually good. Regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, we all have something that makes us different, freaky, and non-conforming. Thank God. Difference is the universal human truth. Discovering what makes us different and embracing our uniqueness in everyday life makes us truly free.  

Behind all these legislative moves and school board fights, there is fear. Fear of what we don’t know or understand – even fear of our own freakiness. For some, the safest way to respond to these fear-based tactics is to get as closeted as possible until another day comes. 

But for many others, the safest and freest response to this fear is to go the opposite direction. We need to get more visible. We need to get more gay. More queer. More gender non-conforming. More curious, playful, expansive, and joyful. More seen in our gloriously genuine uniqueness.

I say this as a minister and religious leader of Foothills Unitarian, a Fort Collins church founded in 1898. Our congregation and Unitarian Universalist faith tradition have long been clear: being gay, trans, and queer is good and something to be proud of. It means you are part of a history of powerful people fighting for their worth and dignity to be recognized. It means you are working hard to live your truest, most authentic life.  

Even though Pride is over for the year, the need for action is not. Let’s channel our queer ancestors who fought back and said once and for all: we all have the right to be who we are. Free and alive. Queer and beautiful. 

Rev. Gretchen Haley, Lead Minister (she/her)

Foothills Unitarian Church

bemorelove.org 

The Building Bulletin: July 2022

July 14, 2022 /

WE HAVE A BUILDING PERMIT!!!

It was beginning to feel like this day would never come. We had a couple of last-minute glitches, but now the permit is in hand, and we can move forward with the project. Thanks to Pinkard Construction and Ewers Architecture for seeing us through this frustrating process.  

First thing Monday morning, workers from Fort Collins arrived to install the electric transformer. That work was scheduled for one day and has grown into three but should be completed soon.  The gas line relocation is once again delayed. The first draft of this newsletter reported that work started on July 13, but now we can only say it’s expected to start on July 15. In any case, Construction officially begins on July 18th!!!! 

One of the first tasks will be to move our sign on Drake Street. The sign will be removed and stored until it can be safely relocated. We anticipate that its final location will be a little further east. Beyond that, they will be digging trenches for the new electrical conduit and doing some “selective demolition” – removing some roof overhangs and things like that. Heavy equipment should appear in mid-August. Quentin Lowe, our site superintendent, is working in the trailer daily, and the gate will be locked at night.

There is a document online that we will update with the current schedule. Right now, it is sparse, but that will change as work begins. You can find the document at http://foothillsuu.org/construction. If you know anyone that would like to receive our monthly newsletter the link for that is http://foothillsuu.org/buildingnews.  

Good relations with our neighbors are important, and this will be a long project. We shared the links above with our immediate neighbors by distributing door hangers. In the process, we heard some comments that folks might be driving faster than the posted speed and not stopping fully at the sign at the corner of Yorktown Drive and Yorktown Ave. There are pedestrians and children, so please drive slowly and carefully!

As work continues, we will post progress and pictures on the bulletin board in the church lobby.  We will also offer regular opportunities for talking to our construction team and touring the site as soon as activity picks up.

It has taken so much support from volunteers, donors, and cheerleaders to bring us to this point. We are excited to watch the building materialize and look forward to our first service in our new space.

We would like to recruit one or two folks to join our Finishes and Design team! If you are interested, contact Buildingexpansion@foothillsuu.org. Tell us about your experience and why you’d like to join the team.

In partnership and with excitement,

The Building Expansion Team
Chris Bettlach, Jerry Hanley, Peg MacMorris, and Margaret Cottam

You may recall that we have two preconstruction activities: moving the gas line and moving the electric transformer. The gas line work will be completed the week of June 14th. The new location of the electric transformer has been staked out, but the City has requested a different location. Once we relocate, we should get scheduling information from the City of Fort Collins.

We have been asked why we need to move a gas line since the addition will be all-electric. The answer is that the RE building will continue to use gas furnaces until we can complete the RE remodel phase of our master plan. The gas line serving the RE building currently passes through the excavation area and must be rerouted before construction begins.

We have also made progress on obtaining our building permit. The architects have been receiving and responding to comments from the building department review. Once that is complete, other City departments need to weigh in.  

We have completed the recording process, have received comments from the building department, and expect approval from other city departments by June 15th. We received approval from Poudre Fire Authority this week! Pinkard Construction company will begin erecting the fence on June 15. As a reminder, the lower (west) parking lot will be used as a staging area during construction. The entire parking lot will be unavailable. The parking lot and construction site will be fenced for security and safety.

If you attended the June 5 congregational meeting (or read the meeting packet), you saw that our estimates in the areas of AV, City fees, and construction costs are over the amount originally budgeted. The AV and construction overages are largely a result of changing needs and increased material costs due to the pandemic. Pinkard Construction is monitoring suppliers and attempting to purchase materials in advance of anticipated price increases.

Once construction starts, we’ll provide opportunities to visit the site and talk to the managers. The BET is looking forward to seeing work begin and the realization of the vision of our new sanctuary.

In partnership and with excitement,

The Building Expansion Team
Chris Bettlach, Jerry Hanley, Peg MacMorris, and Margaret Cottam

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