On Sunday, June 8th, UUCW Board President, Melissa McKeon announced the establishment of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester Legacy Fund, an endowment established to assist in the long-term viability of the congregation. The Fund was established by a generous gift from UUCW Minister Emeritus, Rev. David Miller and Linda Miller. Following the announcement, David Miller shared remarks prepared by both Linda and himself. Those remarks are below.
SECURING OUR FUTURE
For David and me, the Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester has been a big part of our lives for the last fifty-five years.
When we moved into the church parsonage on Oregon Trail in Holden on August 1970, our son Matthew was six months old. He grew up attending our Sunday school and participating in the church youth group and the Our Whole Lives sexuality education program. He was bosom buddies with Nancy and Win Hancock’s son Scott. The two of them served for a time as the church custodial crew under the supervision of Andy Hegedus.
We have made many good friends in the church over the years. I have particularly fond memories of good times spent with members of our church’s chapter of the Unitarian Universalist Women’s Federation. One of them, Lil Young, had a camp by the lake in Oxford, Mass., and would invite David and me to join her there for a cookout from time to time. And when the camp needed a new roof, Lil appealed to David to do the job. He formed a work crew with Steve Siter and Bruce Plummer, and they put the new roof on. Lil’s nephew paid for the materials.
Over the years, the church has helped us with various rites of passage, weddings of friends, funerals of friends, memorial services for members of our family.
In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, we joined with other church members to sponsor a Hmong refugee family who had fled for their lives out of Laos, Mr. Chou Moua and Mrs. Ma Ya Vou and their children. More recently we have helped with the resettlement of the Noori family who fled for their lives from Afghanistan.
Throughout the years, our church has been our extended family, a source of meaning, inspiration, and solace in good times and bad. We are grateful for all that the church has done for us and for others over the years.
And we want to do our part to secure the church’s financial future. Now David will tell you more about that.
Linda A. Miller
In the past year or two, Linda and I have become aware that the church is running a substantial budget deficit and depleting the invested funds by taking out large sums of money from income and principle to finance the deficit. Thinking eventually this will precipitate a financial crisis, we began to ponder what could be done to address the problem.
We decided to make a major gift to the church to create an endowment fund, named the UUCW Legacy Fund. The church will be allowed to draw a substantial income from the fund every year, but access to the principle is restricted.
We are doing this because our church provides important services to people in our congregation and the larger community, and we would like to see our church’s finances on a solid foundation so that its future provision of those services is secure.
When people of progressive values and liberal beliefs living in a fragmented society crave connection with a community offering a greater sense of belonging, they turn to our church for the fellowship circles and Sunday worship that we offer.
When people aren’t sure they will have enough to eat until the end of the month, they turn to the food pantry at our church.
When there is a death in the family, people turn to our church and our ministers for help and consolation.
When people want to celebrate the love in their lives and to express it in a wedding event, they turn to our church and our ministers.
When families need a religious community to help with raising their children, they turn to our church’s Religious Exploration Program and the formative experiences we offer for children and young adults.
When people are caught up in life-altering health crises and other types of personal challenges, they turn to our church and our ministers for encouragement, advice, and consolation.
When Alcoholics Anonymous and other Twelve Steps groups need a place to meet and talk about changing their lives, they turn to our church.
Our church offers many additional opportunities for community service, fellowship, and life enrichment, including singing in our choir or enjoying the music in our Sunday morning services, landscape gardening and caring for our church’s yard, gatherings to share thoughts about the books we are reading, a group dedicated to our creativity with fabric arts, and supporting programs of shelter for homeless families.
There is a power for good in our church. We need a secure foundation.
As a contribution toward that goal, in November of 2024 and January of 2025, Linda and I made gifts to the church totaling a little over one million dollars.
That sum will not solve all our problems, but it is a start. We estimate that, in time, that endowment will generate something like forty thousand dollars a year to support the church budget.
Paraphrasing John Lennon, “You may say that we are dreamers, but we’re not the only ones.” At least, we hope not.
Linda and I are in hopes that others may be motivated to make substantial gifts to the UUCW Legacy Fund. Perhaps there is someone else who can contribute $5,000 or $10,000 or $20,000 or $50,000 or $250,000 or $500,000 or even one million additional dollars. Perhaps there are others who have the imagination and the means and the courage to benefit our church in this way. Or perhaps Linda and I are the only ones. We really don’t know.
Stay tuned. Our church leadership is forming a committee to explore the possibilities.
Rev. David J. Miller, Minister Emeritus