April 2018
Dear Chalice Lighter,
Sky Island UU Church is located about 80 miles southeast of Tucson on the Mexican border in the small city of Sierra Vista. We serve an area of more than 6,000 square miles with a population of only about 126,000 people. The congregation was established in 1997 and since then has grown to 75 members with half-time ministry. We purchased a building in 2014.
Our church has a vision that includes creating community through a caring ministry and building bridges with people from all backgrounds and beliefs, joining forces for the common good. The funds from Chalice Lighters like you will help our congregation move forward in that vision. We will use the funds raised to expand our minister’s time from ½ time to ¾ time and to increase the capacity of our building. The additional ministerial hours will provide more opportunity for our minister to build bridges between our congregation and the wider community, and to strengthen our internal programming needed to grow into a full service church. We are adding a new minister’s office, which will allow us additional RE space in the current minister’s office.
In addition, we are addressing a few safety issues such as creating a designated storage room and adding two emergency doors on the east side of the building. We are increasing the youth RE space to serve the increasing numbers of people looking for a religious tradition that is diverse and open. With two rooms, we will be able to separate the older “students” from the “beginning learners” allowing better focus on the different age groups. All of the members and friends of Sky Island UU Church thank you for your donation and extend the invitation to visit us in the future to see first-hand what we have accomplished.
Sincerely, Jerry Beale, President of Sky Island UU Church
Please respond now with your contribution to help our neighbor congregation in Sierra Vista. You can submit your donation online. You may also write a check and mail it to PSWD Chalice Lighters, 7511 Greenwood Avenue North, #414, Seattle, WA 98103-4627. If you send a check, please write PSWD CL in the memo line of your check and on the payment envelope. Contributions for this call will be accepted through May 21, 2018. Any donations received after that date will go toward the PSWD Chalice Lighters Undesignated Fund. Ten percent of each call reimburses regional expenses to administer the program. If you have any questions, email pswdchalicelighters@pwruua.org. Thank you for your generosity!