First UU Church was awarded the competitive Chalice Lighter Call grant

First UU members shown at the sound booth with the new equipment are designer and builder, Bill Heberer; minister, Rev. Sabatino; and Corbin Krug, audio-technician.

The First UU Church was awarded the competitive Chalice Lighter Call grant from the Ohio-Meadville District last summer. With this grant, the First UU hopes to serve many individuals by developing satellite congregations in surrounding rural communities throughout western Pennsylvania. In August, David Petras, OMD Board President, presented the congregation with a check in the amount of $3,050. With the First UU Endowment Fund’s $4,500 contribution and a special congregation collection, the first phase of this project began. These monies were used to purchase and install state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment in our church sanctuary. During this phase, the audio-visual station was designed to blend with our worship space and pulpit. While becoming proficient at recording sermons, Rev. Joan M. Sabatino has been meeting and developing relationships with individuals in potential satellite locations. In addition to serving satellite congregations, the audio-visual equipment in our sanctuary permits First UU to serve current members who are homebound and those involved in our Religions Education Program by providing an audio compact disk of the sermon each week.

The second phase of this project will include the purchase of additional equipment including a video camera for our sanctuary, and a projector and screen or television and disk player for each of the satellite locations. Another possibility we are considering is the purchase of state-of-the-art hearing enhancement equipment for our sanctuary. Funding for this second phase has been agreed to by the First UU Board and Endowment Committee. Reaching out for possible future grants is also a possibility.