I happen to be writing this on the day of our amazing Yard Sale, and I’m full of admiration for how many of you came together to make this event so successful. As you may be aware, we begin taking in donations months in advance (and figuring out where to store them). Our core Yard Sale crew spends weeks sorting and pricing items.

Then a week before the event, they enlist more helpers to ferry items from their storage in Summit House into the main building. Finally, today was the big day! The crew was here getting set up around 6am, shoppers were lined up well before the doors opened – then at 8am it all started.

One of my favorite parts about the yard sale is how it gives us a chance to interact with the community. The folks who were shopping may not set foot in our building any other day of the year, but hopefully they enjoyed their time today, talked with our amazing volunteers, walked away with a good feeling about our congregation, and maybe even found some great bargains.

It is a nice way for us to be more visible in the community, both among UVA students and non-student community members. And, of course, it is a great fundraiser for the church. But it takes a tremendous effort to pull it all off – thank you so much to our (hard) core Yard Sale team, who have put in countless hours of work, and to everyone else who donated, volunteered or shopped.

Another meaningful event that I attended recently was Westhaven Community Day. Rev Tim organized a group of us to attend the event and staff a table. We handed out UU resources and talked to folks walking by (kudos to the non-introverts who were really good at this, and those who have learned to do it). As with the Yard Sale, a lot of the folks who came by to chat with us may not actually end up joining our congregation, but it is important that we are there in their neighborhood (so close to where our building is). It demonstrates that we are part of a caring community, and will show up for our neighbors.

As the summer comes to a close, I’m looking forward to all the great traditions we observe in the fall, from Water Communion, to the Service Fair, to the Elder’s Brunch. Watch the newsletter for more details in the coming weeks.

Finally, our Mosaic team is geared up to focus on voting this fall – in many shapes and forms. If you are not already on their mailing list, you can get more information here. This will include a goal of 100% of our congregation’s registered voters actually voting this fall, learning and activities with our faith-based partners, and supporting three important Virginia constitutional amendments (check out the sermon from 8/16).

As always, it is great to be in community with you all.

Submitted by: Carol Gardner, President