Active Minds, Meeting online in 2022

The beginning of the Active Minds group is not clearly marked in the historical records of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Charlottesville, but it does appear to be the first sustained group activity designed to particularly engage elderly members. Wayne Arnason reviewed past Annual Reports, looking for mentions of Active Minds and noted that the 1999 Annual Reports referenced an Adult Religious Education program on “Aging as a Spiritual Journey.” But the only reference to Active Minds he found in the early years of the twenty-first century was the following item, contained in the Annual Reports for the church year 2010-2011.

Active Minds

Chair: Mo Paul

Members: Marcia Aleksiewicz, Jack Bartley, Jan Bernhard, Konrad & Perella Busse, Patricia Charney, Thomas Crowell, Elizabeth Evans, Carl Howe, Joan Hunt, Virginia James, Nancy Lewis, Jacqueline Olshefski, Sallie Kate Park, Carolyn Silver, Patsy Swindler, and Sally Whaley

1. 1. Overview: Our gathering functions are similar to a covenant group. We have a topic for discussion each week, often led by the minister. Our interests are usually reflected in the simple fact that we are all aging or aged.
   2. Accomplishments: Our group does not focus on accomplishments but rather acts as a sympathetic support group.
   3. Goals: Most of our goals lie behind us. However, financial and moral support for the church remains a constant among all eighteen of us.

In the following year there was no Annual Report for the Active Minds group, but it was included in the list of groups who were part of the Community Life Council. Further details must rely on the memory of various individuals.

Beverly Ball remembers “I had the Opportunity of attending the 1st. mtg. – It was held in the Social Hall, &, yes, David Takahashi-Morris was a leader.  It was right after I’d totaled my car & I received a ride from Janice Walker.  Also, it was during the time of the 1st. round of Covenant Groups, when Shirley Paul was leading a Group at (Westminster) on Pantops.  Shirley probably could give you a Time Frame, (or, Laura Wallace who was in Shirley’s “Implementation Team”, preceding the beginning of Covenant Groups.)”

Rev. Leia Durland-Jones remembers that the Active Minds started meeting when the Women’s Alliance was beginning to fade away. It was a new daytime group that could include both women and men. She also recalls that Rev. David Takahashi-Morris played a role in the starting of the Active Minds group.

Greta Dershimer remembers that Dick Dershimer and Mo Paul worked together in planning the meetings of the Active Minds group, and that Rev. David Takahashi-Morris met with the group on a regular basis. She also remembers David Takahashi-Morris mentioning in a sermon that he frequently included the group of elders comments and ideas in his final sermon.

Elizabeth Breeden remembers that the Alliance had faded away by 2006.She thinks that perhaps the less active Women’s Alliance and the early Active Minds group co-existed.

Some “hard facts” do exist to set some limits on the possible timing of the beginning of the Active Minds group. Rev. Takahashi-Morris started his work with our congregation in July 2001. Dick Dershimer died on November 21, 2007. The Active Minds group began after July, 2001 and several years before November, 2007. We can therefore pinpoint the the initiation of the Active Minds group around 2004 or 2005. (If current congregation members are able to add information to delineate the date more closely, we would welcome their input.)

Transitions to the Present Day

As other Interim and Settled Ministers arrived to serve as ministerial leaders, the involvement of ministers with the Active Minds group meetings diminished to only periodic participation. The Active Minds group continued to meet weekly, selecting their own leaders, and managing their membership and procedures independently. On occasion the group took an interest in issues relevant to congregational concerns and advocated for particular changes.

For example, in 2017 when the church Board decided to drop the IMPACT membership dues from the recommended budget, the matter was raised in an Active Minds meeting as a personal concern by two members who were part of the congregation’s IMPACT Network. A letter was drafted by the members and sent to the Board. Subsequently it was proposed to the Social Justice Council that the Impact dues should be paid by an annual Social Action Collection. That process persists to the present day. This was a clear example of the Active Minds group’s shift from a sole focus on personal concerns about aging to taking a more active role in issues of importance to the congregation as a whole.

In March 2020, when the Covid pandemic hit and the church building closed , church leaders wondered how to maintain contact and provide support for the more vulnerable members of the congregation (elders, and those living alone or in assisted living facilities, without internet access, or unable to drive). A Phone Tree communication system was proposed and established, and the Active Minds members were the first group incorporated into the Phone Tree (PT), along with an Adult Religious Education group called the Theme Study group. Both groups met weekly during the day, with members who were mainly elders or retirees and identified as more “vulnerable” to the pandemic.

Some of the Active Minds (AM) group members continued to meet weekly on Zoom from March 2020 through May 2022. Several members from the Theme Study group joined the Active Minds meetings. Over time active membership declined to around eight regular attendees, several of whom were fairly new members of the congregation. In the Spring of 2022, as the number of Covid cases dropped and restrictions were lessened, AM Zoom membership began to increase. At the same time, former members of Active Minds, who had not participated in Zoom meetings, due to lack of internet access or technical discomfort, began to ask for a return to live meetings of Active Minds.

Most of the AM Zoom members were not comfortable with shifting to live meetings at that point. It was proposed that a live meeting could be held outdoors on an alternative day of the week to provide an opportunity for former AM members to meet and renew their contacts with others. The live meetings have begun and are occurring once or twice a month to begin with. It is hoped that eventually the dual types of meetings will return to single weekly meetings in the church building. Active Minds meetings will continue for the foreseeable future, and new members are always welcome.