Board Member of the Month – Jan. 2022 (Kristi)

Meet Your Leaders!

Did you know that our community is led by an all-volunteer Board of Trustees that meets monthly? Anyone is welcome to attend our meetings and learn how UUCPA is governed. In an effort to make the Board more accessible to the entire community, we will feature one Board member each month in our weekly update and on our website.

This month, Kristi Iverson, our Social Justice Portfolio holder, is featured.

What are three interesting facts about you?

  • I studied ballet for 14 years and wanted to be a ballerina.  I even chose my college based on where I could study ballet.
  • I lived in France for two years during and after my undergraduate work.
  • I met and married my husband, Bill Hilton, at UUCPA!

Why did you join UUCPA?

I felt I had found a community where I could explore, and my son could be exposed to, many different spiritual beliefs.  The church also gave me the support and enjoyment of a larger community of spiritual seekers.  I joined UUCPA in 1991, so have been a member for 30 years now!

What made you join the Board?

I am about to complete my second six-year term on the UUCPA Board, so as of May 2022 I will have served for a total of 12 years.  I joined because I was asked to do so and because I wanted to learn more about the church and to have a voice in key decisions that affected me as a member of the congregation.

What is your portfolio area?

My portfolio area is Social Justice, which encompasses both the work of the Action Council (UUCPA’s social justice leadership team), of which I am currently the Chair, and also the work of the Green Sanctuary Committee.  I provide a monthly report to the Board on the activities of these two committees.  Along with Dick Duda, I also represent UUCPA on the Steering Committee of Multifaith Voices for Peace and Justice (MVPJ).  If you are interested in social justice work, please reach out to the Action Council at ActionCouncil@uucpa.org.

What is something you would say to the congregation?

I have been deeply grateful for the companionship of the members and friends of UUCPA over the 30 years since I joined the church, but especially over the past two years of the Covid-19 pandemic.  I found my work with the church expanded and deepened during this time and I think I would have been lonely without you all!  Being able to attend small groups, classes and other events online allowed me to participate in more activities than before.  I hope you, too, are taking advantage of these online offerings.  I miss gathering in person, as I know you do, yet it seems we must be patient for a bit longer in order to do so safely and comfortably.  I especially miss the shared Second Sunday lunches and the auction party! 

I also want to thank everyone who participated in the many UU the Vote activities in 2020!  It was very inspiring to see, and fun to make new friends while writing postcards and letters on Zoom!  And best of all, we made an impact in getting out the vote!

Over the years I have been a member of several small groups at UUCPA and have found this to be the best way for me to get to know people more deeply.  If you are not yet involved in a small group or committee, I would highly recommend doing so!  If you need help figuring out what works for you, feel free to reach out to me a KristiIverson@uucpa.org.

What’s one way you hope to see UUCPA fulfilling its mission in the coming years?

My dream is that when we return to meeting and worshiping in person again, we will be a congregation full of gratitude, love and joy; that our worship services will be lively and interactive; that we will leave behind our tendency to be quiet and sedate, in favor of giving full voice to our love and joy in being together and in celebrating what Unitarian Universalism can bring to all of us and to our wider community.

I also dream that each visitor who walks through our doors – whether physical or virtual doors- will be welcomed fully and invited not only to join with us in what we are already doing, but also to suggest to us new endeavors, new ways of worshiping, new ways of being in community.  This type of welcoming involves meeting each new person where they are in their journey, not assuming that this new person is like the rest of us (like me!).  It also requires that we be curious about each new person, that we try to learn more about the visitor before launching into a description of what UUCPA has to offer.  And it involves becoming aware of aspects of our language and/or tone that might be offensive in some way to this new person, perhaps due to differences in race, gender identity, ability, or socioeconomic status.  This is not an easy task, but I believe we can help each other as we learn how to be deeply, radically welcoming.

When is the next Board meeting, and how can I attend?

Our next meeting is Wednesday, January 26 at 7:00 pm. You can attend by emailing brooke_b@uucpa.org and asking for the Zoom link.