Each year at the Annual Congregational Meeting, we recognize the contributions of congregants who have gone above and beyond for our community.
This year, we are recognizing the contributions of the three members of the Policy Task Force. The Policy Task Force took on the multi-year project of rewriting all of our congregational policies, transforming them from a hodgepodge of policies that had been created over many years, with a variety of styles and aims, to a cohesive set of policies that were written in a harmonious way, with current best practices in mind. This was incredibly detailed work that required input from stakeholders throughout our community and research by the committee. This policy overhaul was also one of our major developmental goals.
The Distinguished Service Award is given to someone who has shown an extraordinary level of dedication and service to the congregation. Our 2025-26 Distinguished Service Award goes to policy task force member, Patricia Wright, a previous recipient of our Distinguished Leadership Award. Patricia also served as president of the board from 2015-2017. And she was a member of the bylaws team prior to policies.
The Distinguished Leadership Award is given to a congregant who has shown outstanding leadership in our congregation. The 2025-26 Distinguished Leadership Award goes to another member of the Policy Task Force, Barbara Kernochan, who served as president of our congregation in the 1990’s and recently returned to the board as past president for two years. She’s also been active in stewardship. Previous to her work on policies, Barbara worked on the Nominating Committee.
The Unsung Hero Award is given to someone who works for our community in ways that people might not be aware of but are vital to UUSM. This year, our Unsung Hero Award goes to the third member of the Policy Task Force, John Zinner. John has worked on the policies and bylaws teams. And simultaneously he’s been on the Leadership Development and Nominating Committee, currently as chair. Prior to that, John was on our facilities committee for many years and worked on our successful efforts to become a green sanctuary.
Flaming Chalice Awards are awarded occasionally to persons who provided exceptional service. This year, we’re awarding the Flaming Chalice Award to all seven members of the Ministerial Search Committee. The search process was an intense and intentional process involving many hours, much discussion, and tough decisions. In gratitude for their exceptional service this year, we present the Flaming Chalice Award to: Susan Hendricks, Chela Metzger, Beth Rendeiro, Norm Richey, Shanna Shaked, Cassie Winters, and James Witker.
This year, we have a new award: the Innovation Award. It is being awarded to Jacinda V for her work on Animal Ministry. She worked hard at educating our community so that we will move toward green, vegetarian, and/or vegan commitments as a congregation and advance environmental, animal, and climate wellbeing that are in concert with our UU values. Jacinda has demonstrated unique leadership with the Animal Ministry at UUSM, as well as with animal ministry work at the national level. She was recently elected to the national board of the Unitarian Universalist Animal Ministry (UUAM), which is quite a distinction.
