2025 Mill Creek Annual Meeting Notice - Unitarian Universalist Society of Mill Creek

Posted on May 15, 2025 Posted By: Office Administrator Categories: News

We are a community that invites you to awaken to love.
Unitarian Universalist Society of Mill Creek
— 2025 Annual Meeting Notice —

Date: Sunday, June 1st, 11:00 am (after church service)

Purpose: The purpose of the annual business meeting shall be to hear reports of officers and staff, to elect new trustees as applicable (see nominee slate below), to adopt an annual budget, and address any business that comes before the congregation.

How to attend the meeting: The meeting will be offered in a hybrid format: in-person in the church sanctuary, and livestreamed via Zoom. The meeting will be preceded by our regular Sunday worship service. If you choose to join the meeting via livestream, the link is the same one used from week to week.

How to vote at the meeting: Voting at this year’s meeting will be done in-person only. This means that, while anyone can attend the meeting either in-person or virtually, only those present in-person who meet voting eligibility requirements will able to vote.

Voting Eligibility: Church bylaws state that each member shall be entitled to one vote who: (a) has attained the age of 18 years or has completed the Coming of Age program on or before the date of the meeting at which the vote is to be cast; and (b) whose request to be admitted or readmitted to membership was recorded in the records of the congregation at least 35 days before the date of the meeting at which the vote is to be cast; and (c) has made a financial contribution of record during the twelve-month period preceding the meeting at which the vote is to be cast.**

**If you are unsure of your pledging or contribution status, contact the church office by calling 302-369-2712, or by email (mailto:administrator@uusmc.org) .
By-Laws Requirement

Please make plans to attend the Annual Meeting. Our By-Laws require one-fifth of the eligible members to attend the meeting to achieve quorum. Based on our current membership roll of those eligible to vote, this means that we need a minimum of nineteen(19) eligible voting members to attend for the meeting to be official.

However, we encourage ALL members and friends to attend.
Click Here to Read the Mill Creek By-Laws (https://www.uusmc.org/wp-content/uploads/UUSMC-ByLaws-revised-June-2-2024.pdf)
Slate of Nominees:
Board of Trustees and Nominating Committee
Board of Trustees – Janice Buckwalter
Janice Buckwalter has been a member of Mill Creek since 2014. She is active in church committees and participates in a Chalice Circle. Currently, Janice organizes the Annual Service Auction and oversees the Pastoral Care Committee. She was also a member of the Ministerial Search Committee. Previously, she was a member of the hospitality committee, a greeter and organized the Memorial Garden/Meadow Bench project. Outside of church, Janice is a member of the League of Women Voters, Indivisible Highlands and Beyond, Lions Club Pike Creek -Green Hills, Hagley Handworks Group and the Mary Campbell Center Parent Advocacy Group.

After the Service Auction of 2025, Janice is planning to step down and mentor a new Service Auction chair for 2026. Becoming a member of the board as the church welcomes a new minister is an opportune time for Janice to assist in exploring new ideas in growth and financial stability for the congregation through the leadership of the church.

Janice was an Occupational Therapist for 41 years and practiced primarily in pediatrics specializing in sensory processing within clinic based, home based and school-based settings. She also worked in adult care via rehab facilities and home care. In addition, Janice advocated for families of children with special needs. Prior to a career in Occupational Therapy, Janice worked as a cytotechnologist. Janice received an AA degree with a concentration in Biology from the University of Delaware as a prerequisite for completion of a certificate in cytotechnology from
Thomas Jefferson University. Later, she went on to complete a BS in OT at Temple University.

Janice is happily retired and lives in Newark, DE. She fills her days with crafts, day trips, church activities, volunteer organizations and enjoying family and friends. Janice has 2 adult sons, David, of Landenberg, PA and Philip, a resident at the Mary Campbell Center, Wilmington, DE.
Board of Trustees – Diana Saunders
I have been a member of Mill Creek for over 20 years. I joined the church with my two daughters in 2004 (ages 4 and 6). These same daughters are now 25 and 27 and live in Boston (soon to be residing in Nashville, TN), and Madison, Wisconsin. My mother, Roberta Headley, joined Mill Creek in 2006 when she and my Dad moved to Delaware, and was an active member of the Social Justice Committee, choir, and the RE staff.

My involvement with the church includes being spokesperson on the recent Ministerial Search Committee, serving on the Worship Committee, teaching RE classes, singing in the church choir, and playing the flute at church services. In addition, I’ve given two sermons, and have participated in many church social events. These events have given me an opportunity to get to know members of the congregation better. I will attend the UUA General Assembly in Baltimore at the end of June.

(cont’d.) Having taught for over 25 years, I recently retired. I taught math to middle school students for the first half of my career, and multiple subjects to upper elementary students for the latter half. My undergraduate degree is from Dartmouth College in Psychology, and I have a Masters degree from Bank Street Graduate School of Education in math education.

Most recently I taught fourth and fifth graders at Wilmington Friends School. I participated in a number of Quaker retreats, and served for two years as clerk of the Lower School faculty. As I gained a better understanding of Quakerism, I noted the many similarities between Unitarian Universalist faith and practices, and Quaker faith and practices.

I would like to be on the Board for the following reasons:
*I believe that especially in this current year, we need to work together in community to 1) stand up for democratic principles, 2) support and participate in efforts to make up for the many injustices experienced by and continuing to be experienced by people in marginalized communities, and 3) support and participate in efforts that promote movement towards fair and just societies.
*I would like to work with our new minister and our congregation to enable growth as well as the strengthening of connections within our faith community.
*I gained valuable experience being on the Ministerial Search Committee.
*I have time in my schedule to devote to the responsibilities of being on the church Board now that I’ve retired.

Thank you for taking my nomination into consideration.
Nominating Committee – Matt Nolan
I’ve been a part of the Mill Creek community since 2004, after first attending the UU Church of Wilmington starting in 1991. Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of serving on the Board of Trustees from 2007 to 2009 and again from 2023 to 2025. I’ve also been involved with the Social Justice Committee and have enjoyed singing in the choir, where I found both joy and connection.

I live in West Grove, PA with my partner Marina and our two daughters, Lauren and Kate. When I’m not at church, you might find me in the kitchen—many folks know me for my fire-roasted garlic soup, which I’m always happy to share! Mill Creek has long been a source of inspiration and community for me, and I’m excited to support its continued growth and connection through the work of the nominating committee.

Nominating Committee – Lee O’Brien
Lee O’Brien was born in Webster City, Iowa, and grew up on the family farm that raised corn, soy beans, sheep, feeder cattle and hogs. Lee attended public schools and the Congregational Church. She graduated from Iowa State University with majors in French, English and Education and then achieved a Master’s in Library Science from the University of Michigan. She worked at the Des Moines Public Library while her husband finished his PhD and then they moved to Towanda, PA, where he was employed by DuPont. During the Towanda years she worked at a planning commission library and the Towanda Public Library. While her son was growing up she volunteered with AAUW and was a founding mother of the Towanda Area Women’s Center.

The family moved to North Star, Newark in 1986. Lee worked at the Cecil County Public Library as Associate Director for 27 years. During that exciting time for libraries she contributed to building and renovation projects, library automation and development of countywide internet access, and public access computing and training projects for the County’s 6 branch libraries and a bookmobile.

Retirement and widowhood have become the challenges of her current life stage. Lee joined Mill Creek in 2019 as a seeker and has enjoyed participating in Adult RE activities, Wednesday afternoon zoom circle, and the Social Justice Committee as secretary. She volunteers at the Hagley Library and also enjoys birding, swimming, and OLLI. Having family and adult grandkids nearby in Jersey is a joy! She’s especially interested in seeing that people never lose their public libraries and the Freedom to Read.

Nominating Committee – Suzanne Smith
In December 2019, seeking community, I first attended Mill Creek. Raised Presbyterian, but being unaffiliated for many years, I felt at home at here. In 2022, I joined and am active on the Hospitality Team, the Social Justice Committee, and recently joined the Membership Committee. As a retired librarian, I keep my nose or ears in books and belong to three book groups. As a member of Moonflower Garden Club and on the board of the Delaware Federation of Garden Clubs, I try to keep learning and growing. Most Thursday mornings, April – October, I can be found helping in the cut flower garden at Coverdale Farms. My cat Rusty (nearly 18) and I live peacefully in Pike Creek.

Our mailing address is:
*|LIST_ADDRESS|* *|END:IF|*

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences (*|UPDATE_PROFILE|*)
or ** unsubscribe from this list (*|UNSUB|*)
.

*|IF:REWARDS|* *|REWARDS_TEXT|* *|END:IF|*