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Staff Board Report
March 14th, 2023
Introduction From Rev. Chris
Hello Dear Board,
I am sending you all love in these waning days of what has been an odd winter.
With one sixth of 2023 already gone, and the summer coming fast, I am so grateful for where we are and all we have done this year, so grateful for our staff team and all they continue to achieve, so grateful for you all and all our leadership.
It has been and continues to be a wonderful year.
I just had a bit of a break and travelled to Austin TX for a little fishing trip, a little time alone. Every once in a while both Lauren and I like to have little solo jaunts to refresh and rejuvenate, and this one was very needed.
I warmed up with 80 degree days and 60 degree nights, caught a lot of very beautiful fish, and ate lots of delicious tacos and barbecue.
And I return refreshed and ready for this next chapter of the year.
So much is underway, and so much is to come.
Here in the next part of this report, I will share about a new program in town called Belmont Welcomes, I will also share an update on the Trans and nonbinary welcome task force, I will discuss the possibility of renting space to the Belmont Library, I will also touch on some vital recruiting efforts underway, I will also touch on the Installation coming on May 7th, and then finally I will discuss the Committee on Ministry and the work of feedback and communication within the congregation,
And then there will be reports from our wonderful staff.
Belmont Welcomes
The Belmont LGBTQ+ Alliance (which is full of First Church folks including me, Fran Yuan, Leslie Talmadge, Jess Hicks, Gladys Unger and more) has launched a program called Belmont Welcomes. This is an initiative to help deepen and make more visible the welcome of LGBTQ+ people in Belmont by inviting businesses and community groups in Belmont to join Belmont Welcomes, and post stickers in their doors proclaiming that their institutions welcome and support LGBTQ+ people, their families and their allies.
You can read more about the program here.
We would love a motion and vote to officially endorse our support and participation in this program.
We have already made a donation, so all that’s left is a bit of a discussion and putting up the stickers, should we vote yes to participate.
Trans and Non-Binary Welcome Task Force
The task force met again and had some fruitful and fascinating conversations. One of the results of those conversations was that we will host a similar training as the one we did as a task force for the staff and another for leadership, opening it up to you all on the Board and all our committees.
We will be in touch about the dates and details, but this seemed like the helpful next step, especially as the training was fruitful and fascinating.
We plan on having similar trainings and explorations regularly. More on this all soon.
Library Rental
Janice and I have had some fruitful and fascinating conversations with the Belmont Library about the possibility of their renting some space form us temporarily as they construct our new library.
They will be renting space from a number of places, and we will most likely house some office space (room seven in the RE wing) and some windows of reservation in which they can host programs in the library, parish hall and classrooms.
I am confident we will find an agreement which will not impinge our programmatic needs, will help out the library which we love, will bring lots of people into the church, and will make us some extra rental income. More on all this as it develops over the next month.
Volunteer Recruitment