Complete your out of area contact card (OACC) and distribute copies to each family member . Put copies in your vehicle/or Go-Bags (more on this later). Your out of area contact should be more that 100 miles form here and capable of doing text.
Post emergency phone numbers in a visible location.
Teach your children how and when to call 911.
Prepare for Fire: Check your insurance coverage and exclusion limits. Make a photo and written inventory. Store off site. House fire: create an evacuation plan and meet-up area (see OACC above) Wild Fire: Look at how you will evacuate. Identify a family/friend who can provide shelter.
Prepare for Severe weather: Start a stock pile of emergency supplies (more on this later.) Make a plan of where you can go if there is prolonged power loss.
Learn your community Warning Signals King County and Snohomish County have alert systems. Add them to your phone.
Find out about Disaster plans at your workplace, your children’s school or childcare center, and other places your family visits regularly
In coming months we will address the following: Water, Grab and Go Kits, Important documents, and Get 2 Weeks Ready. For more information look at the following links:
Safer Congregation Response Team Update – August 2025
As a congregation, we strive to promote and nurture a culture of respect and consent to keep children, youth and adults safe from sexual abuse, harassment or misconduct while participating in congregational life.
The WUUC Board has taken several actions in support of this goal:
The WUUC Safer Congregation Response Policy received final Board approval on 4/16/25 and is now available on the WUUC website in the Policy section under the Resources/Governance Documents tab. The Response Policy gives us the tools to respond promptly and appropriately if the safety of our congregation is violated through an act of sexual misconduct.
The Safer Congregation Response Team (SCRT) is designated in the above policy to implement response procedures upon an initial report of misconduct.
The Safer Congregation Response Team members were selected by the Board and are: -A member of the Board of Trustees: Lane Owsley -The Minister (in an advisory role): Rev. Dan Lillie -Three members at large: Cora Goss-Grubbs, Kerrie Vespaziani and Jan Radoslovich -One auxiliary member TBD, representing RE/children’s programs to be called upon in the event that the complaint involves a child or youth.
The WUUC Safer Congregation Rights and Responsibilities document was approved by the WUUC Board on 6/28/23 and is available on the WUUC website in the Other Documents section under Resources/Governance Documents tab and will be posted in key locations around the church. The Rights and Responsibilities is essentially a code of conduct that lays the foundation for affirming and nurturing a culture of consent, respect and accountability within our community.
You have the right to report violations of your safety or the safety of others, and to have your concerns or allegations be promptly and thoroughly addressed. Reports can be made directly to the SCRT via e-mail (safe@wuuc.org) or by contacting any individual member of the SCRT. Additional resources for reporting allegations of misconduct are Board of Trustees members, the minister, or a Lay Pastoral Associate.
Questions? Contact any member of the SCRT: Lane Owsley, Cora Goss-Grubbs, Kerrie Vespaziani, Jan Radoslovich or Rev. Dan Lillie.
We welcomed multiple new members to our church recently. The May & June newsletter will both feature bios from our new members so our community can read and welcome these wonderful people to our community at WUUC.
Denise and Kip Wyatt, Zachary Frazer
Kip and Denise moved here from Baltimore a little more than 11 years ago, and their nephew, Zachary, joined us about 2 years ago from Wisconsin. Denise has been a practicing UU since her early 20s, and Kip, the son and grandson of Methodist ministers, began to attend the First Unitarian Church of Baltimore with Denise when they started dating. Zachary was asked to check out the WUUC on our first visit and then decide from there, and well, he has a round badge! Kip is a master finishing carpenter who currently works at Emerald’s Heights as a project manager and Denise has been practicing labor relations for more years than she wants to admit, and is currently the Employee and Labor Relations Manager at Community Transit. Zachary is in search of what his next steps look like, work or school.
Denise and Kip enjoy camping with thier 1962 Scotty Serro and trying out new cast iron recipes, while enjoying the great outdoors and new sights. They have recently purchased a used sailboat and updated their kayaks so we’re hoping this is the year of water! In spare time Kip likes to play guitar and make stuff, while Denise is gardening, quilting, or crocheting. Zachary is the resident gamer. And their house is filled with furry love – with two blue heelers.
Susie Smyth
Susie was raised in Southern California. She became interested in occupational therapy in eighth grade when she took an aptitude test suggesting OT. Susie specialized in the early intervention program with high risk infants and toddlers from birth to three, seeing the children within their homes within her private practice. When Susie’s son, Scott, and daughter, Alexi graduated from high school, Susie’s and her husband Jack were free to move away from the busy So Cal area to Humboldt County in northern California, where she continued in the Early Intervention Program. Many years after Jack’s death Susie met and married Ray Tucker and returned to southern California. When Ray retired, they moved to Corvallis,OR. Following his death, Susie’s children wanted her to be closer to them, so she moved to western WA last fall. Her claim to fame: the summer Susie graduated from high school, she was Mickey Mouse at Disneyland!
Anne and Wayne Pair
Anne Pair grew up in central California nourished by her congregational church’s youth group and handbell choir, before moving to Ohio and then the east coast for school and to start her career in education. When she moved to Washington state in 1995, she joined the handbell choir at the university Congregational church, but exchanged her bells for drums when she married Wayne in 2002. Anne retired from her job as a school psychologist in 2023, to devote more time to her daughters, Charlotte and Lucy, creative writing, music, writing get out the vote postcards and gardening. In 2024, chagrined at the result of the presidential election, Anne and Wayne attended a service at WUUC, where Anne’s writing and Wordle buddy, Pamela Denchfield attends. The service was both calming and restorative, and she and Wayne have been attending ever since.
Wayne Pair was born in Atlanta, GA and grew up in Houston, TX. He studied Computer Science at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, TX. Right after college in 1987, Wayne moved to the Seattle area to escape the heat and see some real mountains. In 2002 Wayne married Anne and they have two daughters who light up their life everyday, Charlotte(20) and Lucy(16). Wayne retired from a career in the IT industry in 2015, and used his newfound time to get more deeply involved in music. Wayne enjoys composing music and playing both piano and upright bass. Wayne and Anne attended their first service at WUUC just after the 2024 election and have really enjoyed the like-minded and welcoming congregation.
Erin and Tristan Tidwell
Erin is a Puget Sound native. Her household includes her two kids, Aurie (pronounced: arr-ee) (19) and Tristan (15), three cats, and a tortoise. She has bachelor’s degrees in history and East Asian studies, and masters degrees in international studies and Teaching. She works as a lead technical writer and content designer for a software company. Outside of work, Erin writes fiction and spends a copious amount of time volunteering with Snohomish County 4-H’s technology program.
Tristan is a freshman at Innovation Lab High School in Bothell. He’s active on his school eSports team and in his 4-H robotics team. He also shows his cat in 4-H. He’s into Pokemon, Star Trek, and DnD
Laura Hume
Laura moved to Washington from Texas in August to be close to her kids — a Freshman at University of WA and a Junior at Western Washington. She has been a consultant in the Talent space for over 30 years, and she just started a new job with Kyndryl (a big tech firm that was a spin-off of IBM.)
When she isn’t helping employees become rockstars at their jobs, she is likely buying furniture for her new unfurnished rental in North Redmond or walking her two mini-bernedoodles while listening to trashy books on Audible.
The Advocates for Social Justice will be sponsoring a Special Collection during the service on April 16 for Farmer Frog, which cultivates programs, school gardens, and hands-on learning to nurture communities. Farmer Frog’s programs support over a dozen school gardens in the state, work with several sites in urban and rural communities, and partner with Washington state indigenous communities. The Snohomish county didn’t renew Farmer Frog’s lease for the Woodinville property so they are now in the process of moving the whole farm from Woodinville to Snohomish over the next year. Our collection will support this enormous project. More information can be found here. If you’d like to give your time instead of or in addition to your money, there are also opportunities to help at the farm at their weekly work parties: Events (farmerfrog.org).
In February the Special Collection raised $564 for Communities of Color Coalition (C3), which educates and advocates for social justice and human rights, especially for people of color and other under-represented groups that have been systemically oppressed. They do this through a transformational process that centers and supports those who are closest to the problem in developing and implementing the solutions necessary for systemic change. Our collection went toward their comprehensive rental assistance program.
The ASJ Committee thanks WUUC members and friends for their generous support of our monthly special collections, which take place during services on the third Sunday of every month. Instructions for giving are posted during the service, and you can also donate anytime the following week at https://onrealm.org/wuuc/-/give/now, or by sending a check to WUUC at P.O. Box 111, Woodinville, WA 98072. Please make checks out to WUUC and write “ASJ Special Collection” in the notes.
I am excited by the way that 2023 is starting off!
First, one of the biggest and most interesting events in our year-long exploration of Curiosity is happening on Sunday, January 29: a Fireside Chat with Mónica Guzmán, the author of I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times. Mónica will join me in the afternoon for a public conversation about her book: what inspired it, what she learned through the writing process, and how people are responding since it was released early last year. Most importantly, we will talk about why and how we should cultivate curiosity in ourselves. There will be time for Q & A after the conversation, so bring your questions, your curiosity, and a friend with you to this awesome event with a truly inspiring person.
Then in February, the Curiosity express goes full steam ahead as we form Curiosity Clusters! What are Curiosity Clusters, you ask? These are book study groups of 8-10 curious people who want to take a deeper dive into Mónica’s book. They will begin in late February and run for seven sessions. I’ll be sharing more information, including how to sign up, soon.
I really hope curiosity catches on here in our community. It is not just a way to find things more interesting. I see it as a way to address one of the deepest problems our society is facing today: ideological division, which leads to dehumanizing, hate, and, in the most extreme cases, violence. This is a justice issue. Depolarizing the extreme ideological divides, connecting across differences, and seeing the humanity in people who think and act differently: these are ways to create a fairer and more just world. A safer and more peaceful world. A world with more respect, compassion, and love. Curiosity is not just a way to find things more interesting; it is a powerful tool in building a better world. I hope you will join me in cultivating curiosity in ourselves and others. After all, I believe curiosity is contagious!
I wonder what awaits us in the rest of 2023? And I wonder, too, what will choose to make of it? I’m looking forward to a curious start to the new year.
– Jan Radoslovich, WUUC Board VP and Liaison to Ministry Council
“In the Soup” by Rev. Robert Walsh (Reading at the 10/23/22 Worship Service)
My dictionary says the word minister is etymologically related to the word minestrone. I am not making this up. They are both derived from a Latin root that means to serve.
The image of ministry as minestrone is particularly apt for the ministry church people do all together that makes us a ministering congregation. Each bean, each vegetable, each piece of macaroni or pinch of spice gives not only its substance to the soup but also its spirit, its texture and color, its flavor and aroma. Each person offers a unique set of gifts, and if we do our job of organizing well, each gift will be creatively matched with a need—so that the whole becomes a warm, nourishing, life-giving religious community.
All who serve the church and the principles and values we hold dear are ministers. If you are doing part of that work, you are doing ministry, no matter how unlikely that may seem. You are in the soup—the minestrone of ministry!
The “In the Soup” reading seemed like the perfect introduction to what the Ministry Council has been doing for the past several months. The Ministry Council works collaboratively with the Minister in the management and oversight of WUUC ministries and programs in accordance with the mission of the church while abiding by policies as specified by the Board and the congregation. The Ministry Council consists of Ministry Leads, Board Reps for meeting facilitation and notetaking, and the Minister.
For the past 7 years, the Ministry Council has been organized and operating under the “Three Umbrellas of our Ministry” – Community & Engagement, Transformation & Action, and Sustainability. The Ministry Council felt it was time to revisit this model, to literally spend some time “in the soup” of our work. How are the umbrella groupings working? What is our understanding of the Ministry Council mission? Is the Ministry Lead role effective in providing communication, collaboration, troubleshooting and oversight between ministries and with the Board and Minister? What changes need to be made to improve the functioning of Ministry Council in supporting the Ministry Leads and ministries of WUUC?
From April through August, 2022 the members of the Ministry Council focused their meeting time and efforts on addressing these and other questions about the Ministry Council model. We also sought and received input from Ministry Council alumni. A few outcomes of our work together:
We agreed that the Ministry Council model is working well, but that the Umbrella Groupings needed to be revisited.
We reviewed and clarified the mission of the Ministry Council and the roles/responsibilities of the Ministry Leads.
We reduced our meeting frequency to every other month, and will continue to meet virtually by Zoom.
We developed the “Seven Umbrellas of Ministry at WUUC” and confirmed or recruited Ministry Leads for each umbrella grouping.
Here are the new “Seven Umbrellas of Ministry” and Ministry Leads that were approved at the October, 2022 Board Meeting:
Sustainability – Ministry Lead: Marcia Sprang. Ministries include: Building and Grounds (BAG), Endowment, Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology, Stewardship, Woodinville Country Day School, Building Rental, MarCom (Marketing/Communications)
Justice and Service – Ministry Co-Leads: Cora Goss-Grubbs/Pam Green (rotating)
Ministries include: Welcoming Congregation, Climate, Racial Justice Task Force (RJTF), Land Acknowledgment, Economic Justice, Blood Drive
Worship and Music – Ministry Lead: Donna Johnson. Ministries include: Worship Leaders, Zoomkeepers, Camera/Sound Techs, Choir/Special Music, Earth-based Services/Celebrations, December Labyrinth
Lifelong Learning – Ministry Co-Leads: Skylar Hopkins, Director of Religious Education/Rev. Dan Lillie. Ministries include: Nursery/Preschool, Kindergarten, Elementary, Jr. and Sr. Youth Groups, Our Whole Lives (Lifespan Sexuality Education), Adult Religious Education, UU Identity Formation (Denominational Affairs Team yet to be formed)
Membership and Hospitality – Ministry Lead: Amy Genova, Membership Coordinator. Ministries include: Membership Team, ComCom (Internal Communications, E-mail Distribution Groups), Ushers and Greeters, Coffee/Social Hour Support
Social Connections – Ministry Lead: Tevina Flood. Ministries include: Engagement Groups, Social Events, Small Group Ministries, Pondering Groups, Connections Groups, Recurring Small Groups, Men’s and Women’s Retreats, Camping Trip
Care and Support – Ministry Lead: Rev. Dan Lillie. Ministries include: Lay Pastoral Associates, Care & Concerns Team, Support Groups
This Ministry model is an experiment and will continue to be evaluated as implementation progresses through the church year. If you have questions or feedback for the Ministry Council, please contact any of the Ministry Leads, Board Representative Jan Radoslovich or Rev. Dan Lillie.
