This year we gathered, from 15 congregant households’, heartfelt statements sharing why they pledge to QUUF.
Here is what they had to say:
Jean Walat
I joined QUUF about 20 years ago, soon after I landed in Washington state. I pledge to QUUF because, in the end, this community and what I’ve gained from being part of it, are an essential part of my intellectual, social, and spiritual life here in Port Townsend. Pledging is my way of ensuring that I’m not taking QUUF for granted, and of acknowledging how much effort goes into keep it alive for members, friends, and the community.
John Collins & Carol Graves
For the past 19 years we have been active members of QUUF. It has been our religious home, providing spiritual enrichment and meaningful, stimulating activities, and lasting friendships. We have enjoyed helping the fellowship grow and thrive. We are aware of the importance of generous pledges and consider ours to be a necessary line in our budget.
Diane Haas
I contribute time and money to QUUF because it is my faith community of choice. I believe that we co-create this community by engaging interpersonally and in the myriad of activities. All of this gives me opportunities to learn, to grow and gives my life purpose and meaning.
Jen Stankus
During my childhood it was instilled in me that some amount of every paycheck, no matter how small, should be given to others. Tithe is the word my mother used. Giving a portion of my income reinforces my gratitude for my good fortune and reminds me that others have needs greater than my own. I pledge to QUUF because our fellowship has contributed much to my family and to the life of the larger community of Port Townsend. As a 25-year friend/member of QUUF I know that our liberal creed, Religious Education program, social justice activities, Adult Learning Program, arts, events, and lectures enrich us all.
Karen and Gary Forbes
We pledge to support QUUF because it is a beacon of religious liberalism, a home for diverse opinions and beliefs, and an important source of support for the larger community we love. We are grateful for the close relationships we have formed with other members over the years, and the solid moral and ethical grounding this community has given our (now adult) children who grew up in the fellowship. As a long time RE teacher and youth advisor, I continue to witness the growth and development of youth within that framework, knowing that QUUF is helping to launch good people out into the larger world.
Sandra Smith-Poling
QUUF is part of my family. I pledge and support QUUF to keep it vibrant, healthy, and functioning. I am a member of several book groups, discussion groups, in charge of the aesthetics committee, and chair of the art affinity group. I am grateful to have many friends among these groups. As friends, we need to support each other and the umbrella of QUUF that provides us the means to build and continue our important relationships/friendships. Supporting QUUF as members, friends, or guests keeps this wonderful community thriving. If QUUF wasn’t here, there would be quite an emptiness in my life. I hope everyone will support QUUF as much as you are able.
Cecilia Flickinger
I pledge because our community thrives on the time, talents, and treasure from each of us who receive the goodness we share at QUUF. Beloved community is created when we give from our heart and our passions knowing we receive much more from the events we design. There’s satisfaction knowing I’m contributing to the employees who give so much of their talents and time for the programs we love. Michael and I have a fixed income and have two special adult children we save for their future and still gladly give what we can. Please give generously. Give.
Sherry Modrow and Brian Rogers
In a time when issues divide us as a society and as a congregation, the two of us continue to place high value on having a liberal religious presence in our lives and in our community. Seven years ago, the vibrant Quimper UU Fellowship was one of the key elements in our decision to move to Port Townsend. We pledge financial support for QUUF each year. It is a form of accountability through which our individual values and beliefs join a pool of goodwill, drop by drop and dollar by dollar. We pledge this year in hopes that the values we share as a UU community in Port Townsend are greater than the issues that divide us.
Anna Maria Wolf
I started regularly attending QUUF in 2016 and became a member shortly after that, along with my son Moe. In the last seven years we have been through a lot of changes and this fellowship has proved invaluable for my family. I have watched Moe go from a 12-year-old to an amazing and independent 19-year-old, long with much support and acceptance from everyone at QUUF. The RE program is something that was profoundly helpful, and visiting different places like a Buddhist Temple, a Mosque and a Baptist Congregation was inspiring and so educational. OWL was also life-changing and a very positive experience for Moe as was the youth group and youth services. The things Moe learned from here are lifelong skills, and I will be eternally grateful for this opportunity for both Moe and myself. Moe was able to be a delegate in 2022 at the General Assembly and went to several workshops through UU that helped with interpersonal skills and communication, which were also life-changing opportunities.
I personally pledge to QUUF for all these reasons and because I support love, acceptance, diversity and want to support QUUF in this way. In a nutshell I joined because I believe in diversity, equality, fighting racism, counteracting white fragility, fighting for animal rights and for supporting transgender rights as well as other LGBTQ causes. In the world we are living in I am glad to be a member of an organization who fundamentally supports these important causes, which are basic rights and to be part of a larger group that fights for what is right. That is why I remain a member and pledge to QUUF and am very grateful to be able to do so. ‘Whether you are a member, nonmember, friend or just want to offer support I would definitely recommend supporting this fellowship!
Peg Hunter and Patrick Johnson Even before we moved from Montana to Port Townsend seven years ago, we had attended QUUF a few times while we were here on vacation. QUUF became one of the primary reasons we were excited about moving to Port Townsend. We knew that QUUF would offer us spiritual connection, an opportunity for intellectual growth, a loving community, and a forum for stimulating discussion and activism. We pledge every year and will continue to do so in support of QUUF, which feeds our souls, supports our values, and provides us with a core group of wonderful friends. We believe it is important to ensure that QUUF flourishes. We know that our contribution is essential to maintaining our investment in this sacred space, in our dedicated staff, and in a liberal religious presence in the wider community.
Ellen Dustman
Being a relatively new member to QUUF (I joined at the beginning of COVID), I took considerable time to contemplate the act of making a pledge. I consider donating (or “pledging”) to be a spiritual practice, so I took it quite seriously. The other spiritual practice that is very meaningful and fulfilling to me is offering my service to others, especially those in need of actual help, not just “prayers and blessings”. Through my service on the Pastoral Care team I have come to see directly the TLC that is so willingly offered by so many congregants to so many people, not only in our fellowship but to the community at large. It is only natural for me to “put my money where my heart is” and financially support an organization that reflects the values that are of paramount importance to me. Of course I want to help financially sustain this fellowship which does so much good for so many people. And then I am also left with the question, “If not me, then who”?
Camille Speck
I was not raised in a church, although my family was never poor in Spirit. My daughter joined QUUF before I did when she started attending RE classes with the neighbors at age 6. I was lazy about sending her—if it seemed she needed to sleep, I didn’t wake her early on Sunday mornings. When I saw how much it distressed her to miss a Sunday, I started paying attention and making sure she went. And then I decided to attend a service, followed by the new member orientation. I was moved by the range of experiences people brought to QUUF and the depth of thought and feeling people put into their decision to be here. I realized I had found my spiritual home, one that filled a need I didn’t know I had. I have been a member of the RE Committee for about 7 years and I personally pledge to ensure the congregation remains vital and has the resources it needs to foster our QUUF community and the important work that QUUF supports beyond the walls of our sanctuary. I love being part of a creedless religious community, where I am in relationship with people who celebrate different beliefs and experiences in love and respect.
Nan Toby Tyrell
I have been a member of QUUF since. 1992 after moving here from Burlington, Vermont where I attended a Unitarian fellowship under Gary Kowalski an amazing minister. I discovered a new fellowship here filled with open, curious, honest and kind people who opened their homes and hearts which supported and encouraged my growth. I still treasure those early relationships with woman and men and gave me a deeper belief in the power of covenant groups, social justice programs, and the ALPS programs.
I joined all of Bruce Bode’s poetry workshops as well as teaching with Kathy Stevenson in the RE program where I was inspired by all the experiences the children had learning about different religions and cultures. Being a part of Quimper has enriched my personal life and brought me so many joys. I appreciate all our music and hope I can continue to support this congregation as it changes and grows, imagining a new beginning.
Julia Cochrane
I have been a member of QUUF for over 25 years. QUUF is my second home, and it is more secure and stable than the home I sleep in. It is the place I go for solace and nourishment. I cherish QUUF, and as such I work to nurture all that QUUF is.
One of the ways I nurture QUUF is by being involved with many of her parts. I have been involved with teams on every council and use my skills to further their work. I have taken notes of meetings, washed dishes at many events, cashiered or data entered for other events, cleaned floors, bathrooms, RE, and the kitchen. All these activities are how I show my appreciation for the mission, people and facilities of QUUF. I also pledge money as well as time.
And what are the benefits I reap from this involvement? As a parent it was the place, I trusted the spiritual development of my child and other children in my life. I knew that my daughter was not being indoctrinated and told to either believe in something or she would be damned. I also trusted that being raised a Unitarian Universalist would inoculate her from the lure of easy answers and cults. As an activist, QUUF provided allies, space, resources. QUUF incubated the original
local PRIDE, the Port Townsend Peace Movement, The Poetic Justice Theater, and gave meeting space to Amnesty International, Occupy, Jefferson AIDS Services, and many other groups that have enriched my life. The Shelter Program at the American Legion was started on the floor of our then sanctuary, now Fellowship Hall, in conjunction with 3 other congregations. We used a UUA grant to rehab one of the Haines Street Cottages. We built a tiny home that is still inhabited by an individual with low income. Within QUUF we have developed groups that have changed the landscape of our community such a Native Connections with the Chetzemoka Trail and the Chimacum – We Are Still Here project, and Green Sanctuary with Meaningful Movies.
As a member of QUUF I joined other faith traditions to create the Jefferson Interfaith Action Coalition which is the organization that founded and grew the Winter Welcoming Center. Spiritually, I have been nourished by the diversity of Sunday Services over the years. Our various ministers, our youth, guest speakers like Joseph, and of course the broad range of lay speakers we have during the summer months. Over the years I have learned what it means to be a humanist through my involvement with AHA. I have also found a Buddhist practice here that allowed me to relax enough to trust my fellow practitioners, and to grow in the silence I loved from my years with Quakers. I have also been nourished spiritually by the art and music that QUUF brings into my life on a weekly basis. Intellectually I have grown in skills and knowledge from ALPS classes and book groups, and thousands of hours of conversation with people from all sorts of backgrounds. Life without QUUF would have been so much narrower and boring!
So for all these reasons and many more, I prioritize my contributions to QUUF above all other organizations that I am involved with. This is the foundation that the rest of my life is built on. This is what makes my other community involvements possible. That is why I pledge a meaningful chunk of my income to QUUF.