Congregational Treasure. Oct. 1, 2018. Longtime member Dave Anderson has been involved in myriad activities at UUCF. In addition to participating in Music & Arts programming, with Rebuilding Together and on the audiovisual team, in the past year or so Dave led UUCF’s search for an upgraded database.
“He spent a lot of time working with the staff to establish what we needed and then found the systems that were available that best matched the needs of most of the staff,” said UUCF Administrative Coordinator Mary Foster. A committee of staff and volunteers, including Paula Prettyman, sifted through and evaluated the options and then selected Realm, an upgrade of ACS, the congregation’s previous database. Dave familiarized himself with Realm’s capabilities and how the congregation could use them, and has been integral to the congregation’s transition from ACS to Realm and Realm’s rollout to the congregation.
Dave is also involved with UUCF’s Climate Action Group. In early 2016, as the group considered its next steps after the Paris Climate Conference and how to implement energy efficiencies at UUCF, Dave volunteered to lead the congregation’s Paris Pledge Initiative, an effort to reduce greenhouse gases to zero by 2050. He also worked with UUCF staff and committees to secure funding for this major initiative, including applying for and receiving a $5,000 Fairfax County grant, the most the county grants to a community group.
As part of this process, Dave and others researched and pursued an energy audit for the UUCF campus. The audit ranked necessary energy efficiency projects by budget dollars saved in the shortest amount of time and reductions in greenhouse gases. Once the audit was completed, Dave sought additional monies from UUCF to fund the installation of energy-efficient windows in campus buildings and the switching of campus lighting to LED bulbs.
Dave worked with the energy auditor and contractors on the projects. As the work progressed, he sought volunteers from the congregation to help develop educational materials for the congregation as well as someone to collect and track utility use and costs following the projects’ completion. While there are other energy efficiency projects recommended by the energy auditor that are necessary for UUCF to completely fulfill the Paris Pledge Project goal of zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, through Dave’s leadership of overall project, UUCF has made great strides in this area.
Jean Wright, who worked with Dave in the Climate Action Group, said, “Achievement of progress made thus far has been due to Dave’s impressive project leader skills and abilities, including scheduling, interviewing, communicating, researching, team building, troubleshooting and project oversight. Dave made a complex undertaking … look easy.”