Along with my wife Megan Kimball, I joined VUU back in 2006 after a brief search for a spiritual home for our then-growing family. Our three children were, in fact, the driving reason we re-engaged with ‘organized’ religion. We immediately became involved in VUU’s religious education programs, as assistant teachers. We also organized a Roots & Shoots club for families with young children for a few years. We signed the kids up for the Our Whole Lives human sexuality programs, something in which I would later become trained as a facilitator. I’ve been pleased to participate in that role at VUU for the past several years.
A fifth generation Arizonan, I got my bachelor’s degree from Arizona State, as well as a master’s degree from Thunderbird School of Global Management. I’ve enjoyed a 20+ year career in fundraising, which also led me to get involved with VUU’s annual stewardship campaigns and the recent capital campaign. Professionally, I specialized for several years in work on gift and estate planning. In that role, I have focused on helping create endowment funds for organizations and assisting individual donors in realizing their future goals and legacies. At VUU that translated to running for election to the Special Funds committee where I served the congregation for the past nine years, ending last June.
All of this leads me to having a long-term perspective on where we are heading and what impact on the world we as UUs want to have, both for individuals (like the children in our congregation) and for the broader community. This outreach to the community by VUU really blossomed during Rev. Andy’s tenure as our senior minister, and for me, it is something that I hope will also be a focus for our next settled minister.