[printprofilepic]During the Second World War, my mother, a widow with two sons, supported us by working as first, a riveter, then a teacher. Raised on a farm, her vision was to continue as a teacher, and at the end of the war, she left us with our grandparents and went off to college to get a degree. There she met my future stepfather whose vision was also to escape the farm, and to become a university professor. Visions changed and merged as they met and decided to marry.
For the next ten years he worked toward an eventual PhD degree in literature. My stepfather supported the growing family (including two more brothers) using a combination of GI Bill proceeds, teaching assistantships, summer jobs building roads, and a loan payback from one of his brothers who had bought out his share of the family farm. My mother made most of our clothes, canned the proceeds from the family garden (tended by us older kids), and kept the household going. By 1955, my father had his degree, plus a new job, and the family had a nice place to live, our first TV, and our first (used) family car. He found that work as a technical writer at the new Sandia Labs paid much more than what he was offered to be a full-time professor, although he did continue teaching, working as an adjunct professor at UNM.
We four boys learned a valuable lesson: hard work leads to a better life. By the time I was a mid-teen, I had a strong vision of where I wanted to go and what I wanted to be.
Over the last couple of years, our church, led by the minister and several visionary members, has developed a strong idea of where our community should be going. The current end-state of that shared vision is a new church building with a strong professional staff. It will take a lot of work and financial support from the entire Congregation.
The Board, and other members of the church, recently met for two days with Mary Gleason, our UUA consultant. She shared with us a number of positive ideas of how we can reach our goals, but also pointed out a number of challenges that we have. One of the conclusions is that we need to tighten up our financial procedures and policies.
Our Steward, Dianne Wilburn, along with other members of our financial team (Don Neeper, Joyce Nickols, Steve Tenbrink, and Helen Finney) have worked hard towards defining a preliminary budget for next year. The budget includes upkeep and support of our current building, staff salaries and benefits, support for programs including RE, the hiring of a new DRE, the start of a payback schedule for our parking-lot loan, and the small beginning of a savings program towards our new building. When finalized, copies of the next year’s proposed budget will be available if you wish to see it.
Our yearly pledge drive will begin in March and I urge you all to think closely about what your vision of our community is, and what you want to get back from your church. Based on that, please give serious thought to your pledge. I also urge you to get your pledge back as soon as possible so that we can begin to define our final budget in time for the Congregational approval at our Annual Meeting on May 1.
Dean Carstens
2010-2011 Church President
