I am a retired middle school English teacher, married to Frank Quijada, and mother of Gabby and Miguel who grew up in the VUU Congregation.
In the 30+ years we’ve been members of VUU, I have taught RE (now Faith Formation), co-facilitated the High School FF class, helped with YRUU, and mentored three Coming of Age young adults. I served
on the RE committee, the Heart and Hand auction committee, the Nominating (now Leadership Development) Committee, and was a member of the VUU Women’s Group. Frank and I coordinated VUU volunteers for Paz de Cristo for many years. Before the pandemic I was a member of the Sunday morning flower committee. I have worked with Beverly McCormick and others for Racial Justice, including co-facilitating a Beloved Conversations class and its follow-up, Continuing Conversations.
With Jim Horton, I am co-chair of the Capital Planning Committee (currently on pandemic pause) and have just agreed to be VUU’s liaison to Valley Interfaith Project. In 2019, I was an active member of the Immigration Team that arranged for VUU to host asylum seekers, and I continue to volunteer at the IRC Welcome Center. I am an active member of the VUU Page Turners Book Club and Connections Circle #4, and I volunteer monthly with iHelp.
My focus will be to find someone who can help VUU continue to strengthen our work for social justice and our ties to other organizations and denominations doing that work. I believe strongly in VUU’s mission statement: Love is our doctrine, service is our prayer, and justice is our calling. Our next minister should be called join us in that work. I am honored to be part of the team helping to select her/him/them.