{"id":55,"date":"2014-07-05T19:49:27","date_gmt":"2014-07-05T19:49:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/uutampa.org\/search2014\/?page_id=55"},"modified":"2014-11-03T15:36:31","modified_gmt":"2014-11-03T15:36:31","slug":"our-board-of-trustees","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/uutampa.org\/search2014\/our-board-of-trustees","title":{"rendered":"Our Board of Trustees"},"content":{"rendered":"

Meet our Board of Trustees members:<\/p>\n

\"bot_2014\"<\/a>
From left to right; back row: Jodi Pecoraro, Bill Blymiller, Mary Satterwhite with John Powers behind her, Chuck Smith, and Roger Polsyn; Front row: Doak Mansfield, Randy Gainforth, Kim McDonald, and Pat Benedict<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"2014-10-05<\/a>Pat Benedict, Treasurer,<\/strong> first came to the UU Church of Tampa in the spring of 1997 with her soon-to-be husband, Ed. They were seeking a minister to perform their wedding. Ed had a friend who attended the UUCT and invited them to come and meet the minister. Having been raised Catholic, Pat had never heard of Unitarians, so she had no idea what to expect. Not only did the minister marry the Benedicts, they continued to attend services and became members in November of that year. Thanks to the caring, supportive, loving community here, they have found a home.<\/p>\n

Since her retirement from teaching in 2005, Pat has become actively involved in many aspects of the church. She is in her second year on the Board of Trustees and currently serves as Treasurer. She chaired the Search committee for our previous settled minister, Sara Zimmerman. Other areas in which she has served are the Membership Committee, co- chair of the Stewardship drive, and co-chair of Capital Campaign in 2009. She also helps with organizing the annual auction and other fundraising activities.<\/p>\n

\"Bill<\/a>Bill Blymiller, President<\/strong>, currently Board of Trustees President, is a 12 year member of the UUCT. His background is in electronic technology, instruction, and business. He has been busy since joining and has chaired several committees and served on many more. This is his second tour on the Board, having been Secretary, Treasurer, and Vice President in his first tour. Bill is a little grumpy in his old age, and perhaps says controversial things (or things that are not quite right, although often humorous) and causes some upset (and frequent laughter), but he is quick to apologize for any distress and is full of the best intention. Well, as he puts it, at least pretty good intentions. Bill has retired from GTE, raised two children with his wife Harriet, and says he has \u201cno real life outside the Church.\u201d (That\u2019s Bill\u2019s sense of humor. His kids and grandchildren wouldn\u2019t agree.) He means well. With that, everyone would agree.<\/p>\n

\"Randy<\/a>Randall Gainforth, Vice President,\u00a0<\/strong> joined the UUCT in February 2010, having retired about two years previously from Hillsborough County after working there for over 30 years. He had lost many of his significant social connections and opportunities to help others and make a social contribution. He found that the UUCT provides such connections and opportunities again. Here he has found the people with whom he wants to surround himself and his family, and there are always many things that need to be done.<\/p>\n

The most pressing need of the UUCT is stability and reflection during a long transition to the new settled minister. Another need is the growth of leadership to match the growth in membership and the growth of the programs that the UUCT offers. And the UUCT has an ongoing need to facilitate a sense of belonging and contribution for all of its members and friends. For Randy that is the central purpose of this church.<\/p>\n

Randy has been married for 31 years and has a 15 year old daughter, whose league softball team he coaches. He is a Tai Chi instructor and teaches and attends four to five classes a week. He has served for 20 years on the board of the Florida Adlerian Society, a psychology group of like-minded people that has monthly meetings and hosts a conference every March. For the past seven years Randy has been building a private practice for mental health counseling in Temple Terrace. In his spare moments, he enjoys the outdoors, walking, bicycling, kayaking, and golfing.<\/p>\n

\"kim<\/a>Kim McDonald<\/strong> joined UUCT in November 2012 and is a new member on the Board of Trustees. She has been involved with HOPE and the Membership and Social Activity Committees, and she is presently on the Interim Minister Transition Team, a Chalice Circle leader, and a Worship Associate. Kim is married and is a self-employed Licensed Mental Health Counselor. She is an active member of the Taoist Tai Chi Society, serving as a Set Leader and as Webmaster for the Temple Terrace location.<\/p>\n

\"jodi\"<\/a>Jodi Pecoraro, Secretary,<\/strong> is serving her second year on the Board of Trustees. She has held Unitarian Universalist principles all her life, but discovered that UUism expressed her beliefs only three years ago! She is an elementary school teacher, an avid sailor,\u00a0 serves as the Aesthetics chair,\u00a0 and works with Chuck Smith on the Buildings and Grounds committee. Jodi attended the General Assembly in Providence this past summer, absorbing all she could, and finding that she truly loves \u201cher people.\u201d As she puts it, \u201cWe ARE the religion of LOVE!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"2014-10-04<\/a>Roger Polcyn<\/strong> has been a Unitarian Universalist for 44 years and a member of the UUCT for 28 years. He and his wife Jae have been members of six UU churches and he has served on the board of five of them, including an earlier six-year term at the UUCT. Roger has served on various committees, was youth advisor at two churches, and was finance chair and headed the pledge campaign for five years at the UUCT. In addition to serving on the board, his major interest has been the development of the Community Conversations.<\/p>\n

\"john_powers\"<\/a>John Powers<\/strong>, born in Boston, Massachusetts, moved to Saint Petersburg to begin his higher education at Eckerd College. He currently works at Moffitt Cancer Center as a Research Associate working on therapies for leukemias and lymphomas. He and his family have been members of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tampa (UUCT) since the fall of 2009. They sought a church that shared their views on spirituality, was child-friendly, and open to all faiths, and they found it in the UUCT. In their time here, they have filled new roles in our growing community. Erin, his wife, has worked as a Religious Education (RE) teacher, became part of the RE Board, and is now the Director of Religious Education. John, too, has served on the Worship Associate team, the Worship Program Committee, as an unofficial member of the RE Board and a teacher in RE, and now on the Board of Trustees. Being a more recent addition to the church and a father of three school-aged children, John had not worked directly on a board or policy governing board before, but he has worked in collaboration with multiple groups of individuals in his profession and understands well how to keep a flourishing and productive group together on a task. The strengths John brings to this new role are his research and technological skills, and being a conscious listener in a group. Of course, with all strengths come weaknesses, and John admits that his greatest weakness can be his opinion and his propensity for wanting it heard in a group setting. Overall, although John has three children and a moderately demanding job that can at times detain him, he is always open to discussion.<\/p>\n

\"Mary<\/a>Mary Satterwhite<\/strong> first attended the UUCT on Mother\u2019s Day, 2012, and joined in the fall of that same year. Since joining, she has chaired the Social Activities Committee and the Hospitality Committee, and is a Vice Chair of the Stewardship Committee. She was elected to the UUCT Board of Trustees in the spring of 2014 with her term beginning September 1, 2014. Before leaving work on disability in 2007, she had been the Director of the Temple Terrace Public Library, where she worked for 37 years. She has been married for 43 years. She and her husband are the proud parents of three cats and two large dogs (all rescues).<\/p>\n

\"chuck_smith\"<\/a>Chuck Smith<\/strong> has been a member of the UUCT for 3-\u00bd years, prior to which he was a member of the UUC of the Lehigh Valley (PA) for 33 years. He is a retired Professor of Mechanical Engineering, having taught at Purdue and Lehigh Universities for a total of 40 years. Chuck now lives in Lutz, Florida, about 15 miles from the UUCT.
\nAt his and his wife Christine\u2019s previous UU church, he served on the Board of Trustees (3 years), as Chair of the Buildings and Grounds Committee (2 years), and as Chair of the Long Range Planning Committee (3 years).<\/p>\n

He has served on the UUCT Board of Trustees one year (of a three year term). In addition to the Board, he is very active in the buildings and grounds area.<\/p>\n

Outside of the UUCT he teaches one distance-education course per semester at Lehigh University.\u00a0 He enjoys teaching, yard work, surfing (on a surfboard), travel, and playing with his grandkids, who all live within four miles of his home.<\/p>\n

Click Board of Trustees<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meet our Board of Trustees members: Pat Benedict, Treasurer, first came to the UU Church of Tampa in the spring of 1997 with her soon-to-be husband, Ed. They were seeking a minister to perform their wedding. Ed had a friend who attended the UUCT and invited them to come and meet the minister. Having been … Continue reading Our Board of Trustees<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-55","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uutampa.org\/search2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/55","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uutampa.org\/search2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uutampa.org\/search2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uutampa.org\/search2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uutampa.org\/search2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/uutampa.org\/search2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/55\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1776,"href":"https:\/\/uutampa.org\/search2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/55\/revisions\/1776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uutampa.org\/search2014\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}