2024 CLF Congregational Meeting Materials

Dear Members of the Church of the Larger Fellowship UU,

It is time again for our Annual Meeting on June 16, 2024 at 6:45pm ET.

One of the important tasks we undertake as a congregation is voting for our elected leadership, and my hope is that as many members of the congregation will participate as possible. Accompanying this letter are the bios for the slate of nominees put forward by the Nominating Committee for positions on the Board and Nominating Committee. I invite you to read the bios of the nominees, and vote.

If you are able, please attend our meeting on 6/16/24 at 6:45pm ET and vote at the meeting. If you are not able to attend the meeting, please fill out the ballot and return it in the enclosed envelope so that your vote can be included in our process.

Thank you so much for your participation!

In faith,

Rev. Aisha Ansano, Board Chair Church of the Larger Fellowship

Please fill out this ballot and mail it by 5/31/24 to CLF UU, 24 Farnsworth St., Boston MA 02210 name address

I vote to elect the slate of nominees as presented by the CLF Nominating Committee:

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

• Stephen Tuggle for a three year term

• Erin White for a three year term

• Rev Margalie Belizaire for a three year term

• Julica Hermann de la Fuente for two year term (to complete an unfinished term)

• Rev Lisa Garcia-Sampson for one year term (to complete an unfinished term)

• Darbi Lockridge for Treasurer for a one year term

• Mandy Neff for Clerk for a one year term

NOMINATING COMMITTEE

• Doreen Christiani for one year term (to complete an unfinished term)

• Rachel Wade-Harper for a three year term

YES NO ABSTAIN (do not want to vote)

nominations

The following slate of candidates for election to the CLF Board and Nominating Committee are submitted with care and love by your Nominating Committee,

Doreen Christiani (Board representative), Debra Gray Boyd, and Tie Resendiz de Perez

Erin White (she/her)

Board of Directors for a three year term

Erin was first exposed to Unitarian Universalism by her grandmother as a child. As a young adult she sought out her own UU community and joined the Fourth Universalist Society in the City of New York in 2010. Erin was intrigued when Fourth Universalist alum Aisha Hauser became part of the lead team at CLF and began attending services. Since then, Erin has come to love CLF worship, its publications and the CLF community. She especially values the unique role the CLF plays in our UU faith by providing a home for those not served by brick and mortar congregations.

Erin grew up along the Southern Texas border and attended undergrad in San Antonio before moving to New York. She received her J.D. from Columbia Law in 2009 and her Masters in Social Work from Hunter College in 2018. While she is currently on disability leave, Erin hopes to soon return to the work she feels called to with children and youth in her community. Erin is a past board president at Fourth Universalist and current board secretary for the UU Mental Health Network. She is also active with religious exploration and the racial justice team at Fourth Universalist.

After 18 years, Erin considers New York City her adopted home. She currently resides in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood with her cat River. ¢

Rev. Margalie Belizaire (she/her)

Board of Directors for a three year term

Rev. Margalie Belizaire is currently the minister of the First Unitarian Church of Orlando where she has been serving since 2021. Prior to this post, she was the assistant minister at the First Unitarian Church of Rochester New York. Her theology is that of human connection, that space in between where our deepest selves (one might call it soul) meet and we see one another fully. For her that’s where the sacred happens. Where we can give hope and heal one another’s spirit. She identifies as an agnostic with mystical tendencies.

The Church of the Larger Fellowship holds a special place in Rev. Margalie’s heart, as it is where she first practiced ministry. She served as a Learning Fellow with CLF as part of her training to become a minister. Because of her association with CLF, she learned how to accompany people on their spiritual journey outside of the confines of walls. CLF taught her that ministry can be compassionate and engaging through many platforms. For that, she will always be grateful.

Prior to ministry, Rev. Belizaire was a Social Services Administrator. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, a Master of Science in Administration (with a focus on Healthcare administration), and a Master of Divinity degree. Rev. Margalie grew up in a large Haitian

family in Miami, Florida, where she was raised as a Jehovah's Witness. She left that faith when it became clear that it was not in line with her values and beliefs. She wandered until she, by happenstance, stumbled upon Unitarian Universalism. She has not looked back. ¢

Stephen Tuggle (he/him)

Board of Directors for a three year term

Stephen is an entrepreneur-turned-scholar with experience in nonprofit management. He holds a bachelor’s in accounting, an MBA in strategic management, and is currently pursuing a PhD in entrepreneurship. His academic pursuits focus on empowering minority and justice-involved entrepreneurs. Stephen founded a business services company with clients in nine states and played a role in a religious nonprofit’s management team that successfully oversaw a $3 million project. He contributed his expertise to the boards of two nonprofits aimed at supporting immigrant children and children facing homelessness. In the US, he spent twenty years in anti-war activism. Currently, Stephen resides in India with his partner, where he is focused on participating in community for LGBTQ+ folks. When not working on his dissertation, Stephen enjoys stamp collecting, reading mystery novels, and playing with all the stray dogs in his neighborhood. ¢

Julica Hermann de la Fuente (she/ella)

Board of Directors for a two year term

Julica is a coach, trainer and facilitator for liberation, transformation and justice, and is currently completing her path toward ordination in Unitarian Universalism. In addition to this freelance work, she also serves as the Special Advisor on Justice and Equity at the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. Born and raised in Mexico City, she first became committed to social justice when she came to the United States for college. Since then, Julica has been an anti-racism/anti-oppression educator and trainer in a variety of capacities over the past three decades.

In addition to a Lay Community Ministry degree from Meadville Lombard Theological School, she also holds an MSW from the University of Michigan and is certified as a master life coach. Julica stubbornly believes that liberation is found at the intersection of joy and justice. When not on shift for the resistance, you will find her playing with fabric, planning her week-long costume extravaganza for Halloween, looking for more excuses to frost fancy cakes, and reading optimistic sci-fi and fantasy possibilities of a just and equitable universe.

Julica began her connection with the Church of the Larger Fellowship as a facilitator for the POCI caucus, and has been honored to be both a guest and a guest host on the VUU. She also looks forward to our annual frosting competitions—this is always a highlight of her year! She has been glad to serve on the CLF Board of Trustees and looks forward to continuing in that role with your blessing.

Julica is completing a three-year term on the board and is nominated for an additional two-year term. ¢

Rev. Lisa GarciaSampson (she/her)

Board of Directors

for a one year term

Rev. Lisa serves as the Executive Director of the Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry of NC. She graduated from Boston University’s School of Theology in 2018 and was ordained as a Unitarian Universalist Minister in 2020. She also proudly served on CLF’s Ministerial Search Committee in 2020. Some of her professional passions include movement chaplaincy, theologies of rest, and the rise of the spiritual but not religious in our country. Lisa loves gardening, bluegrass music, and being in joyful, multi-generational movement spaces. She lives with her spouse Ry, her cat Taj, and dog Cooper in Durham, North Carolina residing on Lumbee and Shakori indigenous land.

Rev. Lisa was appointed to the board mid year to fill a vacated term, and is now nominated to fill the remaining year of that term.¢

Nominating Committee for a three year term

Rachel is a Spiritual Director with certificates from Still Harbor, and Cherry Hill Seminary. Her programs centered on liberation, anti-oppression, and interfaith studies. As her vocation evolves, she has had the opportunity to focus on trauma sensitive spiritual practices and working with religious wounding and repair. She is interested in continuing to assist herself and the wider community with the long term effects of trauma.

Rachel has been a UU for the past 20 years in Tennessee and Kentucky. She is dedicated to lay ministry and creating a path for members to share their time and interests with the wider community. Rachel has taught RE, facilitated small groups, served as a worship leader, provided tech support for online worship, and served on the Nominating Committee of her last church.

Rachel was drawn to the CLF at the beginning of the pandemic because of its virtual nature. As someone with invisible illnesses she has found belonging and accessibility in this community. While the virtual format brought her here, the church’s mission and focus on radical inclusion, and anti-oppression work is why she is interested in serving on the Nominating Committee. Rachel is excited to be a part of the CLF because of its willingness to be at the forefront of liberatory work in Unitarian Universalism and the wider community. ¢

Nominating Committee for a one year term

Doreen was raised in a Lutheran faith tradition, but chose Unitarian Universalism in her young adulthood. She joined CLF in 2021, served on the CLF Board of Directors in 2023-4, and enjoys being a member of the Coffee Hour Facilitators.

Recently retired from a career as a Systems Engineer for large computer and software manufacturing companies, Doreen now enjoys assisting computer laymen with home IT projects, providing IT support to her social groups, and working against ageism and sexism in IT. ¢

Rachel WadeHarper (she/her)

Doreen Christiani (she/her)

Mandy Neff (she/her)

Clerk for a one year term

Mandy Neff is a longtime religious educator and curriculum writer with a passion for justice and anti-oppression work, and creativity as a pathway to spiritual exploration. She currently serves as the Interim DRE for First Unitarian Church of Providence. She is a Spiritual Director certified through Still Harbor Chaplains for Justice. Mandy is the daughter of an immigrant to the US, which has informed her perspective on migrant justice and generational trauma.

Mandy was clerk of the Unitarian Sunday School Society, where she explored the origins of the endowment and worked with Edgar Villanueva’s Decolonizing Wealth framework to gather a summit of Unitarian Universalist funding organizations. Mandy was a

recent past president of the New England chapter of LREDA (Liberal Religious Educators Association). She lives and hikes in Massachusetts with her husband, three young adult children, and two pets (the cat doesn’t hike).

Mandy is currently serving a 3 year term on the Board of Directors ¢

Darbi Lockridge (she/her)

Treasurer for a one year term

Darbi has been a pagan-practicing, evangelical Unitarian Universalist for almost 15 years. She lives with her husband and stepson in a National Forest on Tonkawa land, just north of Houston, Texas. She is a member of the CLF because she believes in the work of Unitarian Universalism, and sees UU values most closely held in

this non-standard community. The local UU congregations that she has known over the years are heavily steeped in the local culture of classism, racism, and privilege; she’s still committed to the work at her community UU church, but she needs the spiritual renewal that the CLF provides to remind her of the beloved community’s true potential.

Outside of her spiritual life, Darbi is committed to community service in many forms. She works as a Virtual Assistant. She also makes handmade, custom brooms out of her home shop as well at the Texas Renaissance Festival.

Her interest in serving the CLF stems from her deep calling to serving in all areas that bring her joy. She believes that UUism can change the world, and she the CLF puts us at the forefront of that work. She hopes to help the organization continue to be a flagship of hope and potential for UU organizations of all kinds.

Darbi is currently serving a 3 year term on the Board of Directors. ¢