Do you have photos of Boone UU Fellowship events? Craig Fischer is compiling a database of pictures taken at Boone UU, for inclusion in the events this year to commemorating the 50th anniversary of the signing of our Fellowship’s charter. Old and new pictures are wanted. If you have digital pictures, please send them directly to Craig. If your photos are printed, Craig will borrow them briefly, to scan them and with your permission make digital copies. In both cases, Craig may do a little follow-up with you to identify, to the extent possible, the people and events in the photos. If you can share any images, please contact Craig via email.

The Social Action Committee in collaboration with Adult Forum is initiating “All Boone UU Reads” starting Sunday, January 26, 2020.  The book is The Faces of Poverty in NC by Gene Nichols. It was published in 2018 so the information is up-to-date and very relevant to the current situation in our state.  The SA Committee’s thought is that by reading this book together, the Boone UU community can establish a framework in which to study and discuss how we might plan our outreach going forward. The plan is to read a chapter per week and discuss it each Sunday during the 9:30 am Adult Forum.  For Sunday, January 26, Connie Green can email the first chapter to you. Contact her at greencr1983@gmail.com if you are interested.

A small group of us met today after Sunday Service on January 19th and were able to discuss what each person hoped for with the group. The group of interested women are of all ages. We made a few decisions. 
1. The BUUF WOMEN'S FORUM will meet 2x/month- the 2nd and 4th Sundays, after Church Service. On the 4th Sunday, we will attend Serendipity pot luck and meet immediately after.  We will be meeting in Founders House, either downstairs or upstairs. 
2. This is an OPEN GROUP and attendance is not  mandatory. Each session will include a separate topic, so that all might join-in at any meeting. 
3. Our first meeting is NEXT SUNDAY, January 26- upstairs in Founders House after the potluck lunch, or bring a plate upstairs. 
4. ": Self-nurture in an Overextended Lifestyle".  We will discuss the following:
     a. Describe yourself with 10 Adjectives that do not involve roles you have with other persons (not wife, mother, partner, teacher etc. ) ;
     b. What are 3 nuggets of wisdom that you would offer our younger women of today regarding the topic. 
A handout from the book Circle of Stones, Judith Duerk, was circulated.

​Questions! Contact Katie Mack at kmack18477@juno.com.

ATTENTION MEMBERS & FRIENDS:

Put February 2 on your calendar for a special Boone UU congregational meeting after the service. The board is asking for your input and approval for two expenditures related to maintenance of our buildings and grounds, as laid out in the remainder of this email. Please bear with the length of the explanation that follows; we want to give you as much information as possible about what has precipitated this. 
 
As many of you know, during a period of high winds just before Thanksgiving one of the large white pines that line the western edge of our property fell on the roof of the Playhouse. Fortunately, no one was hurt and Kathy Parham was able to call someone immediately to remove the fallen tree; she also secured temporary patches/tarps for the portions of the Playhouse roof that were damaged by the fall. We contacted our insurance provider, who came to check the damage and issued us a check for just over $6000 in mid December. After subtracting expenses already incurred for tree removal and repairs to one of the Playhouse porch supports, we have approximately $4500 left from insurance, and two main options for how to use it: to fund repairs to the existing roof, or to replace the existing roof completely.
 
After reviewing estimates for both repair and replacement of the Playhouse roof, the board has voted to recommend replacement rather than repair of the current roof. This is based on several factors: 1) the age of the current roof (it is over 20 years old) means it's likely to need replacing within the next 5-8 years regardless; 2) estimates for the cost of repairs varied widely but some were as high as $5000; and 3) we got an estimate of just $7000 for a new metal roof from a contractor (High Country Energy Solutions) that has done work at the Playhouse before and comes highly recommended. The board felt strongly that an investment in a new roof, the cost of which would be offset substantially by insurance money, was in the best long-term interest of the fellowship. 
 
This accident has also spurred the board to consider options for removal of some or all of the white pines along our property. The Playhouse was open at the time the tree fell and it was very lucky that no one was hurt in the accident. We discovered that the tree that fell was not healthy, but this was not obvious prior to its falling, and the arborists who have come out to look at these trees and provide estimates noted many others in similar weakened condition. This is due to the trees being spaced too close together, stress from being directly adjacent to the parking lot, and long-term backfill around their roots that has encouraged rot. We've obtained estimates for removal of only some of the pines, the lowest of which was $4000, and estimates for removal of all of them, the lowest of which was $7000. The board has voted to recommend removal of all the white pines, to prevent any future accidents and damage to our buildings. We also noted that removing the trees is likely to help keep our roofs and gutters clear, as pine straw has been the main factor in clogs and backups. The Sacred Spaces/Buildings and Grounds committee would then work on plans to replace the pines with lower-growing foliage that would not pose any similar hazards to the fellowship buildings.
 
Both longtime and new members are likely wondering what effect these expenditures will have on Boone UU finances, and we will have a full financial report available for you approximately a week before the congregational meeting. However, one reason the board has decided to recommend both of these expenditures is that our fellowship has seen a fairly substantial budget surplus in the first half of the current fiscal year (June-December 2019), even after payment for both the building inspections and the new roof on the Founders House. We believe that making investments in the long-term maintenance of our buildings and grounds is both responsible and -thankfully- feasible given the insurance money and our much-improved budget outlook.
 
If you have any specific concerns or questions that you'd like addressed before the February 2nd meeting, please write to me, Catherine Fountain (catherine.fountain@gmail.com) and Dottie Baker (dbaker996@gmail.com), chair of the Sacred Spaces/Buildings and Grounds committee. We will answer them as best we can.
 
Finally, I'll note that if you cannot be present at the February 2nd meeting, please talk to your Boone UU friends and make plans to give one of them a proxy vote; this is often important to ensure that we have a quorum. We will continue to announce this meeting in upcoming Boonitarian Blasts to make sure it's on everyone's radar.