Welcome
Location
Sunday Services
Religious Education
Programs
Monthly Calendar
CUF Links

Minister's Pages
Meet Our Minister
Monthly Message
Past Messages
Selected Sermons

Who We Are
Vision Statement
Organization
By-Laws
History
Strategic Plan: 11-16Strategic Plan Overview
Social Action &
Zambia Partnership
Creative Corner
Mt. Vernon Info
Cape Girardeau Info

UUA
UU Central Midwest District
Community
Regional UU History

 

An excerpt from the Southern Illinoisan, May 18, 2002:

The Unitarian Fellowship of Carbondale has launched a capital campaign fundraising drive to finance the construction of a new building that will be located at Parrish Lane and Sunset Drive.
    "This is an incredibly exciting time for the Fellowship," said congregation President Ann Ruger. "We're bursting at the seams in our current building now (301 W. Elm St.), and we look forward to a time when we can make our programs and facilities available to many more people across the region."
    Some of the activities taking place in the current building include committee meetings, potlucks, seminars, book and film discussion groups, yoga classes, choir and folk orchestra rehearsals, and meetings of the Sierra Club and Alcoholics Anonymous.
    The goal of the capital campaign is to raise $600,000 in pledges from members and friends, toward the $1.5 million building.  The remainder will be made up of existing and additional gifts and grants, and a mortgage.
    "Throughout its fifty-year history, the Fellowship has worked hard to help address the needs of the community and the region, and we see this new facility as one more way we can serve these needs," Ruger added.
    The design of the new building uses greenery, natural materials and natural light to give the space a sense of connection to the surrounding land. The Fellowship Hall is designed to provide a simple yet elegant contemplative atmosphere, and to be a place that welcomes people of all ages and inspires a feeling of community warmth.
    "The proposed building is a structure, and however superior the proposed building may be to the current building, the building is only a building," the Rev. Sasso reminds us. "A congregation lives in its members and staff, inits services and programs, and in its action in the world.  The bricks and mortar, or the redwood siding may be home of the congregation, but it cannot be the life of the congregation."