UUSS welcomed 20 new members during the worship service on December 10th, 2023. Here are photos and a few facts about each new member.

Lisa Messineo (she/her)

Lisa Messineo is a “Big Sister” with the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of the Capital Region. She works in human resources and data analytics, and has decided to join UUSS because she appreciates the opportunity it provides to find peace and a moment to reflect outside of day-to-day life. Lisa also enjoys bicycling, brewing kombucha, reading, and spending time with her dog Lizzie.

David Pritchard (he/him)

David Pritchard is a semiconductor engineer who enjoys playing classical guitar and doing calligraphy. He had been seeking spiritual community, and has found UUSS to be a loving, open minded community that fulfills that desire. He also admires the amazing history he has learned about this congregation and about Unitarian Universalism. An interesting fact about David is that he has lived overseas in Malaysia and Germany, and he can speak intermediate German.

Jennaca Jones (she/her)

Jennaca enjoys working in graphic design and social media management, and spending time singing, playing piano, painting and Irish dancing. She has recently become involved in the UUSS LGBTQ+ group, and she also volunteers with New York State homeland security.

Jennaca has found the unwavering love, acceptance and support from everyone at UUSS to be particularly meaningful to her, and she is joining this congregation because of that, as well as because she has found a sense of belonging here and she is interested in taking on a leadership role in the future.

An interesting fact Jennaca shares about herself is that she loves competing in pageants, and she is the 2023-2024 Miss Saratoga County.

Janae Stogden (she/they)

Janae Stogden enjoys arts and crafts and loves trying new crafts and sharing her knowledge and experience with others who want to learn. Janae began attending UUSS to sing in the choir, and is now also part of the LGBTQ group and the tech crew.

They appreciate the sense of community and belonging and the fact that UU values align with their own, and explain that they are joining because “This space and people have brought me so much joy and comfort, and I strive to spread that to others.”

Jenifer Pritchard (they/them)

Jenifer Pritchard works with the NYS Department of Health, and has interests in reading, arts and crafts, cooking, Tarot, Dungeons & Dragons, and volunteering.

Jen has taken the lead on creating the new LGBTQ+ group at UUSS, is a regular in the tech crew, and has also become an advisor of the UUSS Youth Group. When asked about things they find meaningful at UUSS, Jen notes the “welcoming community, services, and tons of opportunities to get involved.”

Jenifer explains that they are joining UUSS because, “I have found a community with this congregation and have felt welcome since the day I started attending service.”

LB Hannahs (any/all)

LB is the parent of Elliot Malivuk-Hannahs and Theo Malivuk-Hannahs, and is joining UUSS for the community, activism, and support, and for the religious education program. LB is a consultant, educator and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion practitioner, and has interests in public speaking, facilitation and conflict resolution.

Kendra Sena & Tim Wientzen (she/her & he/him)

Kendra Sena describes herself as an attorney, parent, justice-seeker, do-gooder, Spanish speaker, chicken-keeper, list maker and organizer. She has also gone to Space Camp! Tim Wientzen is an English professor at Skidmore College who once played drums in a punk band. He also enjoys gardening, composting, cooking, music and reading.

Parents of Lila and Felix, Tim and Kendra are joining UUSS in part because of its religious education program. Kendra has also appreciated the opportunities for meditation, for participating in justice initiatives like the UU the Vote work last year, and the feeling of welcome and friendship she has found here. Something Tim has found particularly meaningful at UUSS is the meditative intention, particularly the effort to affirm both grief and joy.

Eve Jean-Pierre & Mike Fagerstrom (she/her & he/him)

Mike and Eve are parents, along with longtime UUSS member Leah Fagerstrom, of Fiona, Aidan and Declan.

Eve is a licensed massage therapist and certified nursing aide, and outside of work she loves to swim. In fact, it was through synchronized swimming that Eve met her best friend Leah, who has become a lifelong connection of love and support. Eve believes in the energy of nature, and says, “the water gives me such peace. I appreciate that I can be a part of this congregation and I can hold these beliefs.” As a victim of abuse, Eve also needs a place of healing, and feels blessed to have found that here.

Mike works in software development and web development and design, and loves music and gaming. He has casually attended UUSS on and off since 2002, but is joining now, along with Eve, because they both appreciate the community and the feeling of acceptance. Mike says, “it is the only public place where we are open about our family relationships, and that support is important to me.” Being agnostic, Mike also finds it meaningful to be able to raise his children in a place where they aren’t told what to believe, but instead are encouraged to explore and develop their own values and beliefs.

Char Larson (she/her)

Char’s religious background is Lutheran and Buddhist, and she is excited to become a member of UUSS because of its open atmosphere. She enjoys spending time interacting with nature, animals and plants.

Donna & Gary Lessard (she/her & he/him)

Donna and Gary Lessard have been exploring UUSS for a few years, and have decided to join because the values that they try to live out are shared here; Gary and Donna appreciate that these UU values are emphasized during worship services, and also that they can feel spiritually connected through the services.

Both Donna and Gary enjoy gardening, cycling, and striving to live in sustainable ways and helping others do the same. Gary is also a big music fan, and Donna enjoys cooking, baking, and creating pottery.

Carolyn & Geoff Lundy (any & any)

Carolyn and Geoff Lundy have been UUs in other places, and are excited to join this congregation because they feel they have found an active, inclusive, spiritual, community that they can both contribute to and benefit from. Geoff says that the worship services spur him to rethink himself, and Carolyn loves the diversity and warmth she has encountered here.

Carolyn, who is an administrator at Skidmore College, loves to cook and bake, and to express her love through those endeavors. She also enjoys writing, and has trained as a professional clown! Geoff has a myriad of interests, including reading, singing, drawing, painting, carving, and using his handyman skills.

Berk Geveci (he/him)

Berk Geveci is a manager and a developer at a software company, and his team focuses on building visualization software for scientific applications aimed at solving major challenges such as climate change and fusion energy. Outside of work he enjoys woodworking with old hand tools, playing guitar, doing photography, especially with old film cameras, hiking, kayaking, and being in and learning about nature.

Berk and his wife Tamara and children Anna and Emre have been attending UUSS for over ten years, and Berk has decided to sign the membership book because he appreciates the community of curious minds that support each other in searching for meaning, and realizes that UUSS is his spiritual home. Berk also practices Zen Buddhism and is a member of the Kingfisher Buddhist Sangha.

Berk has a fond memory of his most spiritual moment, a time sitting around a fire, carving a wooden spoon with a group of fellow-minded folks.

Margie Allen, Linda Anderson, & Matthew Anderson (she/her, she/her & he/him)

Linda Anderson is a retired Unitarian Universalist minister as well as a (non-retired) ordained member of the Buddhist Plum Village Community, Thich Nhat Hanh teacher. She and her wife and son, Margaret Allen and Matthew Anderson, moved to Ballston Lake in June to be closer to family. We immediately found UUSS and started to attend. We are happy to continue our UU affiliation with this congregation. One of the most meaningful things to me about UUSS are the worship services, and in particular their authentic beauty, wholeness, and messages. They nourish my spirit.

As for hobbies, talents, interests, Linda has lots of them, including photography, the arts (theater, film, literature, poetry, dance, music, etc), kayaking, pickleball, tai chi, and drumming. She’s also done a lot of work with end-of-life issues and trauma. She is currently the Response Coordinator for the UU Trauma Response Ministry. An interesting fact — Linda spent a good part of her teen years hanging out at the stage door of the Broadway play Funny Girl, where she got to have an odd relationship with Barbra Streisand.

Matthew was raised Unitarian Universalist and UU congregations are where he feels at home. He likes to read books about supernatural phenomena. He’s interested in the science of food, particularly as presented by Alton Brown. He enjoys photographing the animals he finds around the backyard. Visiting museums and making picture books with stories give him pleasure. Matthew would like you to know that he has Asperger’s Syndrome, which is on the autism spectrum.

Margie (hard “g”) Allen worked as an open-heart critical care nurse for 22 years and then served as a UU minister with our congregations in Westport CT and Stony Brook NY for a total of 15 years, plus two earlier years in hospital chaplaincy residencies in Chicago. Margie grew up on the Hollins College campus in Roanoke VA where her poet father taught English. She has one surviving sibling, Elizabeth, who lives with her spouse, Joel, in Troy. That proximity was a major factor in Margie’s family’s recent move to Charlton NY.

In Charlton Margie has been busy taking the first steps in restoring the substantial perennial gardens on the property. She’s finally doing the same kind of work on her own body which has also become weedy and overgrown over the last twenty years. Margie loves flower and vegetable gardening, preparing and eating wholesome meals, rowing, kayaking, lake swimming, folk music, and exploring her Ukranian, Jewish and Celtic roots. Also the family’s Tibetan terrier, “Jampa” (pronounced Jahm-pah) the New York Times Cooking section, poetry, trees, and snow.

“What luck,” she says, “that we landed so near to such a vital UU congregation with stellar ministers, superb worship, clarity of purpose, and a diverse, open-armed cadre of fellow UUs.”

As Linda and Margie are retired UU ministers, they and Rev. Lynn and Rev. Wendy are in the process of creating a Covenant of Right Relationship together, as is the recommendation and best practice of the UU Ministers Association.

Jim Bray (any)

Jim Bray is a retired scientist who enjoys ballroom dancing, playing tennis, biking, swimming, reading, and continuing to learn about the world through his interests in science.

Jim and his wife Roberta have recently headed to Florida for the winter, where Jim plans to attend UU worship services in either Sarasota or Bradenton. Jim decided to officially become a member of UUSS this fall because of the diversity of philosophies in Unitarian Universalism, and he looks forward to returning to services here in the spring.