SFUU Pillars
A meeting of the active pillars in 2021:
Top (L-R): Joan Lacktis, Barb Munn, Andy Cramer,
2nd Row (L-R): Marsha von Dessonneck, Mary Piette, Amy Evans, Ken Evans, Jim Robison
3rd Row (L-R): Maureen Bauman, Laura Koerner, Bob Niblack, Karen Morse
Bottom (L-R): Stevie Rea, Ceci Dalton, Ann Dennison
The highest honor that SFUU gives each year is called “The Pillar of the Church Award.” The Board of Trustees has entrusted the selection of the awardee(s) to an ad hoc committee of the former Pillar award recipients. This Committee has established minimum criteria for the eligibility for the award as follows:
Must have been a member for at least 5 years
Must be a member in good standing per our by-laws
Has displayed a depth of service to SFUU
Has displayed a breadth of service to SFUU
Has demonstrated leadership in our congregation
Although all active pillars meet to discuss who most deserves this award, it is the most recent pillar who has the honor of presenting the award at our annual congregational meeting in June. The growing list of Pillars is displayed on a plaque in the SFUU foyer.
2024 Pillar of the Church Award
presented to Carol Koons by Jennifer Warner
Carol Koons SFUU Pillar of the Church Award, 2024 The highest honor that SFUU gives each year is called “The Pillar of the Church Award.” Per the Board of Trustees’ direction, SFUU’s active past pillars met in early May to select the recipient of this year’s award. To be eligible for this award, you must have been a member in good standing for at least 5 years. In addition, you must have displayed both depth and breadth of service to SFUU, including demonstrated leadership in our congregation.
Once you receive this award, your name goes on a plaque in the foyer and onto our Pillar’s web page. As the newest pillar you also are tasked with assembling the past pillars next spring to select the 2025 pillar, and honoring the selectee during next year’s annual congregational meeting, as I am doing now.
This year’s pillar came to SFUU seeking a spiritual home in the wake of the 2016 election. A “yes, I will kind of person”, once she commits to a task, she brings her whole self to it, and does it with a smile. Concerned about promoting our core values in the 2020 election, she steered a highly successful UU the Vote effort here at SFUU, giving our congregation opportunities to work on getting out the vote and celebrating the work we do. She continued this work for the 2022 midterms elections and for the upcoming 2024 election, partnering with Indivisible Auburn. She has many contacts in the larger community (such as Indivisible Auburn) and welcomes them as partners in our endeavors. She promoted NorCal Resist’s Holiday Program to us, initially partnering with Bethlehem Lutheran Church. More recently she partnered with Placer Advocates for Students and Parents to keep us abreast of what is happening with our local School Boards.
If any of you have participated in any social justice event in the past few years, you have this person to thank for organizing and promoting these events. In the midst of the pandemic, severe attrition left Social Justice directionless, but she stepped up and took on the mantle of leadership when no one else would. Truly, there would be no Social Justice Committee at SFUU without this Pillar of the Church. She knows how to make things happen - she is a calm, organized, practical, welcoming, and creative captain of the Social Justice ship. If you haven’t guessed it yet, Carol Koons is this year’s Pillar.
As a people-person, Carol is interested in talking to members old and new and interacting with the children in our Church family. As a member of the SFUU Welcoming Team, she serves as a Greeter on Sunday mornings, and volunteers to teach Children’s RE. She is a valued member of the Mission Earth Team, volunteers weekly with the Auburn Interfaith Food Closet, and over the years has shared speaking talents with us during Sunday worship services. Carol was instrumental in overseeing our beloved Millee Livingston’s care during the last month’s of her life. She has served on the Search committee through two ministers - anyone who has served on a Search Committee knows that this time-intensive commitment is a true labor of love. To repeat Carol’s words from a recent worship service reflection:
“As Unitarian Universalists we are called to respond. And, for me, responding is so much more than duty or obligation. It is work that nourishes my spirit. Part of that is the joy in the feeling of community, of working with others, knowing that I am not alone but a part of something much bigger than myself. Another part is the feeling of authenticity and vitality when I am living in congruence with my values.”
Carol, you are a living example of how to step into the challenge of service to this community. Congratulations Carol Koons, Pillar of the Church.
Below is a list of all the Pillars of the Church
Click on the Pillar’s name to read about each pillar’s contribution to SFUU at the time of their award
2024: Carol Koons
2023: Jennifer Warner 2022: Vicky Jungers
2021: Suzanne Borth
2020: Barb Munn
2019: Stevie Rea and Jim Robison
2018: Mary Piette
2017: Robert Archer and Janie Evans
2016: Marsha von Dessonneck
2015: Val and John Bowman
2014: Ken and Amy Evans
2013: Karen Morse and Bob Niblack
2012: Andy Cramer
2011: Ann Dennison
2010: Dan Dahl
2009: Joan Lacktis
2008: Maureen Bauman
2007: Laura Koerner
2006: Ceci Dalton
2005: Carol Arvay
2004: Anne Seeley
2003: Tom Ferrel
October 2001: Al Thym
November 2000: Linda Olsen
May 2000: Don Bowen
February 2000: Jacki Carr
October 1999: Don Kelly