Search Status -- Two meetings to gear up for the "Find a Home" phase of our collective journey are generating great energy for relocating our church home. Thanks to everyone who participated! Here's what's underway: 

With support from our consultants, a strong team of dedicated volunteers has stepped up to begin the process of assessing available properties for relocating once the sale is final. The Site Selection team, co-led by Kathy Leoni and Elissa Foster will use criteria compiled with input from a large number of Unity North Shore members and stakeholders prior to the onset of Covid. They will also consider our changing needs, our fluctuating size and our current income levels as they consider available properties. They will look at properties for rent and for purchase, as well as space-sharing opportunities in the area. 

In addition to the Site Selection Team, five others are beginning work. They are:
Interior Design, headed by Sharon Meyers
Finance, led by Cathy Mathis
Communications, headed by Martin Taylor
Move Team, led by Ruth Runeborg
Special Meetings Team, headed by Susan Flynn. 

It’s important to note that these are simply the beginning steps of locating available properties. We will continue to keep you updated along the way as the teams progress. Also note, in accord with our bylaws, we will only sign a contract or lease agreement after gaining approval from our voting members.

Status of Sale
The purchaser's plans for our property (Kensington School) were approved by the City of Evanston's Design Review Committee on April 12. Kensington is currently working on an easement agreement with our Williamsburg Co-Op neighbors, and awaiting approval from the City for zoning variances, and the Illinois Department of Transportation for approval on new entry/exit points. 

Throughout late 2021 and 2022 our congregants were invited to participate in a series of events organized by Rev. Greg Coles for the purpose of helping us navigate our church sale and move. One of the steps in this process was peer interviews which asked the following three questions:
1) What are your three wishes for UNS?
2) What is the boldest step UNS can take in the next 1-2 years?
3) What is the next doable step UNS can take?

You can download the raw data from the interview responses in the link below. The responses are color-coded by theme. There are 5 themes that are very consistent with other feedback we have heard.  By far, the 3 most common themes were around engagement within UNS and expanding to embrace the community.  The themes below are organized by  estimated duration (e.g. Sunday services are the easiest to change.).
 
1.  Energize Sunday services with improved music, dancing, etc.  It was noted by 5 people, most commonly in the "Top 3 Wishes" section.
 
2.  Shorter term, engage the congregation in developing our vision / plan for moving forward.  This was most common in the "Doable Next Step" section, noted by 6 respondents.
 
3.  Longer term, drive engagement within UNS through classes, programming, etc.  This theme was noted by 12 of 18 respondents, most commonly in the "Top 3 Wishes" section.
 
4.  Expand our reach to the community to drive interest and growth, especially among younger people.  This was the most common theme overall, highlighted by 14 people, with 20 ideas in the "Top 3 Wishes" section and 8 people listing something about this theme in their "Boldest Move" section.
 
5.  The final theme was around the location of our RPH, though there was no clear consensus about what people wanted to see / do.  The responses were generally very generic, such as "lease a nearby space", so it is difficult to glean any takeaways.

Help us find our next spiritual home by taking a minute to complete this survey:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/UNS_RPH_Follow

​Thank you!

If you visit UNS in person these days, some parts of it may look different that what you remember.  This is to update you on what has been accomplished in the past 3 months, by a team of volunteers, coordinated by me [Ruth Runeborg].
Philosophy for Downsizing:
 
I accepted the position as head of the Move Liaison Committee and asked several individuals to join me.  Currently, the Committee consists of Jan Beladi as Board Representative, and Lisa McDonald. We have held one meeting on Jan 11, 2022 which was a walk-thru of the entire building and all storage spaces (except the outdoor shed).  Our philosophy is to release items that we are not using or have extras of, and that is accomplished by either selecting non-profit organizations in Evanston that can make good use of the items, or by offering them to the UNS members who attend in person, via a table in the back of the sanctuary, for love offering.  After that, items are given either to Goodwill or the CCE Rummage sale (which benefits Chicago area social service agencies). Those items that are broken, damaged or contaminated have been released via metal, fabric, electronics or regular recycling or in rare instances, trash.  I have also consulted on specific questions with relevant UNS attendees, such as Chet Stroyny, Paul Heiden, and Jeanne Spiro.
 
Below is an update on each area of the UNS building. 
 
The Bookstore Area
Karl Remien disassembled the (rusty) white grid wall structure that was on the west brick wall; the Lindner team moved it out the back door for metal recycling. The books have been removed from the Book Swap area; paperbacks have been donated by Lori Willer to a women’s jail program that requests paperbacks of a spiritual nature. Remaining Unity books were consolidated with the UNS lending library, with extra copies given to Rev Christina for the Unity Nashville library; other hardcover books were sold at Secondhand Books, with the (small) funds given back to UNS.
 
LUT Teaching Materials and Books; Lending Library
Rev Kurt reviewed all the various class manuals, current ones were kept, older ones were disassembled and recycled.  Books were boxed, and extra copies were provided to Rev Christina.
The Lending Library was also boxed with extra copies were provided to Rev Christina.
Both of these collections had been located in the YFM Office on the bookshelves.
 
Kitchen, Pantry and Décor Closets, plus Atrium Garden Chat storage
The décor closet housed vases, tablecloths, and glass candles. The gold, purple, silver and aqua tablecloths have been folded and boxed with the assistance of Rose Johnson. A select variety of table vases has been retained. Most of the glass candles have been offered for donation or have otherwise left the premises.
The kitchen cabinets have largely been downsized by Sharon Meyers, keeping a small number of essentials, and providing useful items to several recent immigrant families she works with. Another beneficiary is the Brazilian chef that she/we know. The decorative glassware has also been somewhat downsized—more to come! 
The major change is the pantry:  the two rusty, contaminated shelving units were removed (again, Karl + Team Lindner for metal recycling) and newer units (recently emptied from YFM closet) were moved in. All the paper supplies have been organized and boxed; if unused by the time of our move to storage, we expect to donate them to Interfaith Action.  Other items (coffeemakers, etc) have been downsized and either recycled or donated. All the dry goods (crackers, cookies, etc.) were rancid after almost two years and were donated to Ruth’s squirrels.
There is still much to be accomplished in the kitchen, pantry and Atrium areas.
 
Social Events/Fundraisers
Supply boxes for each event (chili cookoff, Gala, etc) were removed from the YFM closet, reorganized, cleaned/washed, and repacked.
 
YFM Storage Closet
Kate Jordan has done several walk-thrus with me, identifying items that were donated and never used; all of these have been appropriately released.  All items she identified as curriculum related have been retained but not yet boxed up for move/storage.  All VCR tapes were given to Goodwill; books were removed and separated into curriculum-related (for Jasmine’s review and put in the YFM office or on shelving just outside that office) or children’s books (currently on the buffet tables for further review).  Halloween and Easter decorations were retained but downsized; costumes and hats were washed and bagged, currently hanging on children’s coat rack.
A large number of non-YFM items were removed (Unity t-shirts, scarves, Marshall Fields paper bags, etc) and appropriately released.
Four rusty, contaminated metal shelving structures were taken apart (Karl and Ruth) and moved outside for metal recycling. Two smaller wheeled tables have been temporarily moved in.
 
YFM Classrooms
The metal storage cabinets in each classroom have been emptied of supplies; offices supplies from YFM have been consolidated, reviewed, tested and sorted into 5 classroom storage kits, with an additional supply box for the YFM teacher.  Surplus supplies have been donated to Family Focus via Rose Johnson.  Art supplies (paints, markers, glues, tapes) were sorted and tested by a friend of Ruth’s (Diane S, an elementary school art instructor); they are now labelled and boxed.  Two north classrooms have had their rusty metal cabinets moved out by Team Lindner to metal recycling.  The large south classroom has had two deteriorating low tables replaced by two newer adjustable height tables. ACIM classroom has been appropriated for boxed storage.  YOU Room has been visited, but only (rancid) cookies were removed.
 
Nursery
The contents of the room have been reviewed, and I have talked with Hanna about room equipment and usage, but nothing has been removed except for the stuffed animals (contaminated) that were sitting in the crib.  I’m hoping to have Joyce Davidson’s assistance with downsizing this room.
 
 
Healing Room and Bridge Storage Room
The Healing Room’s equipment has been removed (massage table returned to Janice Terry; recliner chair and yoga equipment to Vivian Morrison); the Healing Room is currently being used by Dr. Karl Remien for local clients.
The Bridge Storage Room’s items have not been retrieved, but the books, manuals and cards and card dispensers have been boxed.  The card tables remain.
 
Garden Room and Stage
About 15 broken Garden Room chairs were removed from the stage and furnace room and put out for metal recycling.  One Garden Room table was found to be collapsing, so that too was put out.  The stage has two upright pianos that we are working on finding homes for.
A tall (sagging) particleboard cabinet outside the YFM Office, and a particleboard display cabinet (from Bridge storage room) were deconstructed and/or collapsed and were removed to trash.
 
 
Sanctuary Storage Spaces:

1. Prayer Room/Music Room:  UNS was gifted 8 drawers of sheet music from Unity Northwest. Both Bruce Moore and I reviewed this collection. We determined that the music was largely not “new thought” music and was mostly xeroxed copies.  These were recycled; original sheet music was donated. The music sung by the UNS choir plus “platform” music was boxed for storage. Other sheet music (classical, pop and musicals) was put out for donation. Two new four drawer file cabinets, plus a 2-drawer file cabinet remain.
2. Candle Closet:  Rev Kurt reviewed the collection of candle holders and different sizes of candles; candles not needed were put out for donation. The remainder were categorized and boxed; candleholders are being de-waxed and wrapped for storage. The closet still contains candle oil, and wax remover. Battery operated candles still need to be boxed.
3. Behind the Unity Wings:  a very tall Christmas tree plus two long garlands and two large wreaths are stored there.  All Christmas decorations have been put in labelled plastic boxes. Twelve red wall hangings with gold glitter trees were returned to Jeanne Spiro, who made them.  Near the south end, there are music stands, speaker poles and microphone stands.
4. Floral Closet:  Also contains the wireless microphone receiver.  The autumn decorations were given to Rev Christina, since UNS has one new large fall display. The rest of the floral decorations need to be reviewed.
5. Welcome Desk:  brochures have been boxed; lost and found has been disseminated.
6. Sound Booth and cabinets:  archival materials have been removed; old sound equipment outside the doors was taken to electronics recycling. Remaining equipment needs to be reviewed by Karl and Paul Watkins.
7. Children’s Areas: TBD
8. Usher Cabinet: Needs to be reviewed

 
 
UNS Historical Preservation: 

1. Archival Materials:  There were 11 boxes of archival materials, mostly located in the Floral Closet.  This included everything from mortgage information for the initial construction to Board minutes and many photographs.  Our congregation includes a retired archivist, Valerie Browne, who graciously assumed the two-and-a-half-month task of sorting and organizing six of the boxes (non-Bd minutes), as well as reserving some duplicate materials for the Evanston History Center.  Our congregation has also included Kristin Gwinn-Becker, Ph.D., CEO of HistoryIT, now located in Portland, ME. Kristin has generously offered the services of her company, at a much-reduced rate, to digitize and make searchable, UNS’ archives.  These eleven boxes, plus cassettes and CDs of services, and building blueprints, are on their way to HistoryIT. 

 

1. Sanctuary Seat Plaque project:  Chet Stroyny has volunteered to remove the commemorative plaques on the back of some of the sanctuary seats.  The plaques will be stored in a 3-ring binder using plastic holders (for baseball cards, for example), 9 per page, in alphabetical order. All of the supplies to carry out this task are in a green bag in the Storage Room.

We haven’t reported much since the congregation voted to approve the sale simply because there hasn’t been much to report. Shortly after the Sept. 26 meeting at which we approved the sale of our property to Kensington School, Rev. Kurt hosted a meeting to introduce the buyer, Chuck Marlas, to our Hillside neighbors. The buyer made a good point that he’ll be around and invested in the community long after this sale, unlike the Starbucks across the street, which is leased. He assured the neighbors they would have his phone number and would be welcome to call him directly with any concerns they had.
 
The primary concerns raised by neighbors were regarding traffic patterns. Listening to those concerns, the buyer has proposed changing the parking lot entrance and exit. This new plan requires additional approvals before it can be submitted for Evanston City Council approval. Not surprisingly, this will delay the closing date of our sale. Our attorney LaVon Johns is finalizing an amendment to our sales agreement with revised deadlines for the due diligence process. (It also stipulates that, in the event the new parking plan is not adopted, the sale must proceed based on the original plan.) Our projected closing date is now September 2022.
 
In the meantime, on our end of things we’ve been seeing through our process with Rev. Greg Coles to collect input from our congregants about our desires as we move forward, both literally and figuratively. (If you weren’t able to participate in a one-on-one interview, please take a few moments to respond to the prompts and the end of this message.) 
 
Rev. Greg is compiling all responses with feedback from his two workshops to be incorporated into our strategy for finding a new home. The two areas of focus at our January 8 workshop with him were: revamping our Sunday morning service to create a more dynamic and immersive experience; and looking for a beautiful new sanctuary space that is appropriately sized for our current congregation.
 
Most recently, Rev. Kurt and board members met with our consultants on January 11 to update projected space needs, and clarify how potential properties will be identified so the church search committee can begin looking at new spiritual homes that are within our financial reach.
 
There are abundant opportunities to become involved in all these discussions! If you’d like to work with Rev. Kurt on our Sunday Creative Team, or if you’d like to help our “church search” committee, please contact June Lash at juneannlash@gmail.com
 
We have heard your desire for more communication on these issues, and we will strive to put more frequent updates going forward.
 -----------------
If you weren’t able to participate in a one-on-one interview, please take a few minutes to answer the following four questions and email your responses to unityinevanston@gmail.com by Sunday, January 16.
Question 1: Reflecting on your time at UNS, describe a peak experience of feeling engaged and alive.
Question 2: If you had three wishes for UNS, what would they be and why?
Question 3: What is the boldest step we could take over the next two to three years?
Question 4: What is the most do-able first step we could take?

Ruth Runeborg is heading up what we are calling the "Move Logistics Committee." This team is responsible for identifying and implementing a plan for what physical items currently owned by and stored at UNS to move, store, or release as we relocate. 

Other team volunteers include Lisa McDonald, Jeanne Spiro, and Jan Beladi.

The team is in the process of meeting in person to review the contents of the sanctuary and office level to make disposition recommendations (keep/store/donate/recycle/release). When there is more clarity on the Children's Education program they will review the contents of the lower level for disposition recommendations. Subsequent sessions will be on Zoom.

Meanwhile, the team is looking for volunteers with time and skills to carry out specific tasks. If interested in volunteering please contact Kate at KateJordan @ unityns.org

​October 9th, 2021
Dear Ones,
We are pleased to announce that at our Unity on the North Shore Special Meeting on Sunday, Sept. 26th 2021, a majority of our members voted to accept an offer on the sale of our property to Kensington School. 
With this announcement, we are introducing you to the owner of Kensington School, Chuck Marlas.  A family-owned business, founded in 1969 and nationally recognized for excellence, Kensington School is a private nursery, preschool and kindergarten serving children and families in the suburbs of Chicago.
A number of factors make the Kensington sale attractive: In addition to longevity and commitment to the area, the proposed sale requires no zoning changes.  Kensington properties are characteristically attractive and we believe will enhance property values for our Hillside neighbors.
In partnership with Chuck Marlas, our Alderman, and representatives from the City of Evanston, we will host a Hillside Town Hall Meeting Tuesday, October 19th from 6:30-8 p.m. in the Unity North Shore Sanctuary. We ask that those who attend be vaccinated. Masks and physical distancing between householders will be required.  The meeting will be live-streamed on Unity on the North Shore’s FaceBook page.  You can submit questions in advance by emailing revkurtunityn@gmail.com.  If attending in person, you will be allowed to ask one question and will have one minute to state your question.
Please see the Q&A below for further details about the sale of the property. 
Hope to see you at the Town Hall meeting.
In service to the highest and best for all,

Reverend Kurt Condra and the Unity Board of Trustees
Unity on the North Shore
3434 Central Street
Evanston, IL 60201