On June 7, the congregation gathered for the 2026 UUCF Annual Meeting. Members voted to pass the proposed budget and for new congregational leaders. Four congregants also received special awards for excellence. Details are below.
Congregational Awards
UUCF leaders selected the following members for the congregation’s top awards:
Founders Award – Steve Gold
The Founders Award recognizes long-term, outstanding service and dedication to the UUCF community. Steve Gold received the award from the Board of Directors for years of dedicated membership and exemplary service to the congregation. He offered wisdom, calmness, and a sense of perspective when he served on the board and as board president. He faithfully supported UUCF’s financial health by serving on the Finance Committee and the Future Giving Team, and has been an essential part of UUCF’s spiritual life through his decades of devotion to the UUCF Choir.
Bruce H. Birnbaum Award – Tom Hettenhouser
The Birnbaum Award recognizes volunteer service to UUCF above and beyond the call of duty. This year, the UUCF Coordinating Team honored Tom Hettenhouser “for being that unique volunteer who can always be counted on to selflessly help with anything that’s needed.” Tom’s generosity, reliability, and willingness to support others make a real difference in the community. Tom has chaired the annual hypothermia shelter effort seamlessly for many years, and serves as a critical AV team member. His dedication, selflessness, and willingness to help have made a lasting impact, and UUCF is fortunate to have such a gracious volunteer as a congregational lay leader.
Howard & Agnes Sollenberger Social Justice Award – Marcia Simpkins
The Sollenberger Award recognized distinguished service in the promotion of social justice in the world. The Social Justice team selected Marcia Simpkins for this award for her amazing dedication to connecting Family Ministries with Social Justice through the food and immigration justice ministries. Since 2020, Marcia helped organize monthly Food Drives and remains UUCF’s liaison with Baileys Crossroads Mutual Aid. Her creativity resulted in putting banned books into Little Free Libraries, leading to UUCF’s Unstoppable Stories Banned Books Festival. This year, she organized a transformative youth trip to the border and taught a high school immigrant justice curriculum in preparation for the trip.
Rev. Bill Welch Religious Exploration Award – Marcia Tugendhat
The Rev. Bill Welch RE Award recognizes sustained service and dedication to Religious Exploration for the children and youth of our community of faith. The UUCF RE Committee (REC) presented Marcia Tugendhat with this award to honor 10 years of dedicated service to UUCF’s RE program. She not only taught fun and informative classes at a variety of age levels, but also taught online classes during the pandemic and co-chaired the REC post-pandemic, helping to re-vision and rebuild a new RE program. Marcia mentored Coming of Age youth, helped orient new teachers, and always exemplified loving kindness to the children, youth, and parents of the congregation.