Extra Effort Pays Off
  Good things are happening at the UU Congregation of Central Nassau, Garden City, N.Y.

  By taking a look at what was really needed to bring our struggling congregation back to life, we began to grow. We looked first at what has become the most direct route to our doors, our Web site. Almost every person who walks through our doors has found us through the Web site.

  We have made an extra effort to welcome our guests on Sundays. Our minister, the Rev. Hope Johnson, hosted several small group dinners for newcomers to meet and speak with members and leaders of the congregation. More of our leadership has attended and hosted conferences and workshops. We hosted a small-congregation workshop last year.

  We have also continued to work on our physical home. A great deal has been done to make UUCCN a place to share meaningful times with people we care about. The most important addition is Rev. Johnson, our part-time consulting minister for 2003-2004, who has agreed to stay on as our full-time minister for the next two years.

  The quality and quantity of programs has grown significantly: UU theology and history, articulating our UU faith, great books, the writer within, poetry discussion, Tai Chi, Garden City Chamber Music Society, Little Peoples Nursery School, artists group, Yoga, and Way Off Broadway.

  The enthusiasm is such that we have recently had some very well-attended and lively committee meetings. People are coming out and sharing the responsibility and rewards of participating. We have learned that if we nurture it, it will grow.

  Joanne Melosh Dezego, Trustee, UU Congregation of Central Nassau, Garden City, N.Y. (106 members)

UUs and NPR
  The eight congregations in the Houston/Galveston area have been underwriting detailed announcements on National Public Radio year-round for 11 years. We started them as part of the UUA Growth Program in 1993. We have had good success. A moderately frequent answer from visitors has been that they heard about Unitarian Universalism on public radio. Our announcements also refer listeners to the Yellow Pages and to our cluster Web site, uuhouston.org, to find the congregation nearest to them.

  Our member congregations contribute $5 per member per year, providing $8,625 annually to purchase drive-time placement. I believe that our success is in part due to the regularity of our 30-second program announcements and 10-second traffic announcements from one station that reaches the entire metro area.

  One indirect measure of listenership is the number of visits to our cluster Web site. Over 11 years there have been 2,654 visits. I would be happy to provide information to others.

  David May, dsmay@sbcglobal.net, Coordinator for public radio underwriting for the Houston-area cluster

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