To volunteer to usher or contribute flowers, you can follow the simple instructions below. To go directly to the volunteer sign-up page click here.
For online signup, follow these simple steps (no need to memorize them):
- Click the signup link above. (The signup page will appear.)
- Peruse the calendar listing of available slots.
- Find an open slot.
- Click “SIGN UP” next to the open slot.
- (On the next page,) enter your email address, then confirm it.
- (On the next page,) enter your name and phone number.
- Click “SAVE and DONE” (or to cancel, click the X at the top).
Easy peasy! No login is required. Your personal info is not shared.
Tip: when you get to the hospitality signup page, save it as a bookmark.
How Do I Sign Up?
Please sign up here, to be an usher or contribute flowers, and thank you very much for volunteering! If you have trouble using this web service to volunteer, then send email hospitality@fculittle.org .
Every church member should sign up for four Sundays a year. Consider it your “service is our law” contribution to our church community, helping to keep the engine running at our beloved FCU.
We are no longer using the hospitality signup board in the Vestry.
What is Hospitality?
A group of hospitality volunteers perform duties that provide a sense of order, comfort, community, and beauty for our in-person Sunday services.
The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way we do our in-person Sunday morning services. The number of volunteers needed and the types of jobs we need them to do will vary depending on the traffic light status for our service.
Green - Five or more volunteers needed: one to provide flowers for the sanctuary, two ushers, one or more persons to do coffee hour setup, and one or more persons to do coffee hour cleanup.
Yellow - Four volunteers needed: one to provide flowers for the sanctuary, and three ushers who will seat congregants in a socially distanced manner as well as their usual ushering duties as detailed below.
Red - One volunteer needed to provide a nice photo of flowers
To read more about our traffic light system that signals what sort of service we will be offering on any given Sunday given the current pandemic status, click on this link FCU Reopening Plan 2021-22.
An additional helpful document can be found here: How to Do Offertory.
What if I already signed up and can no longer serve?
The best thing to do is to find someone who can take your place, then go back to the web service you used to sign up by clicking this signup link again. Scroll down to the date you signed up for, and in the far right column use a pull down menu that reads “MY SPOTS” to edit your spot, enter a swap request, or remove your commitment. If you have trouble doing this, then send email to hospitality@fculittle.org
What is the Hospitality Lottery?
In the event that all of our hospitality positions are not filled voluntarily for a service, our congregation has voted to participate in a lottery system where the Deacons select someone to fill one of the needed volunteer positions. If you are selected though this process, you will need to find a substitute for this duty in a timely manner if you are unable to serve.
Hospitality Job Descriptions
Depending on the type of service we are offering on any given Sunday, we may need anywhere from one to five volunteers for hospitality. The type of service we are offering the following Sunday is always prominently visible on FCU’s website home page at https://www.fculittle.org
The types of hospitality jobs are: flowers, ushering, coffee hour setup and coffee hour cleanup.
Usher’s Instructions For both Yellow and Green services:
- arrive at the sanctuary at 9:30 am or earlier
- make sure both street facing doors into the sanctuary, and the side door by the office administrator’s office are unlocked and open; make sure the handicapped entrance is unlocked and the button to open the handicapped entry door from the outside works.
- turn on lights in the sanctuary and the hallway by the side door and the volunteer center if they are not already on.
- find and collate the printed Orders of Service (OOS) and Community Matters (CM) documents and divide them up among the ushers present for handing out to congregants. Sometimes these are located in the Volunteer Center, sometimes they are in the sanctuary near one of the Foster Street entrances.
- Ushers need to review the way in which the offertory is collected before the service begins. In a Yellow service, the ushers must decide among themselves which two will do the offertory before the service begins. Follow this link for a description of how to do the offertory.
Usher’s Instructions For Green Services Only:
- unvaccinated people to those who chose to do so wear masks in the sanctuary, including unvaccinated children over the age of 2. Fully vaccinated people need not wear masks indoors. Masks are available for those who forgot their own.
- congregants may seat themselves in the pews as they please. Hand out the paper versions of the OOS and CM as people enter the sanctuary, or help with the QR code to get an electronic copy if needed.
Usher’s Instructions For Yellow Services Only:
- make sure you know which two ushers will handle offertory duties and review what those duties are before service begins. Here’s a link to How to Do Offertory.
- in a Yellow service, two ushers stand in the sanctuary by each one of the two Foster Street entry doors, one usher stands by the door to the left of the chancel as you face the chancel.
- Worship Associates will assist the ushers as needed after their own before-church duties are completed. It would be best to put these “extra” usher volunteers at the two most heavily used entrances.
- As congregants come to enter the church, everyone over the age of 2 must wear masks indoors at all times. Masks are available for those who forgot to bring them.
- Congregants may seat themselves by following this simple guidance for seat selection: direct them to sit in front of a green dot found on the seatback of any pew.
- When the service ends, there will be no reception line next to the chancel. The service will let out into the side yard for a social hour (no food or drinks) weather permitting, or down in the dining hall.
Flowers
- in Red mode, send in a photo of flowers and your short dedication (if any) via email to hospitality@fculittle.org
- in Yellow or Green mode, bring a flower arrangement of your choice to the sanctuary at least fifteen minutes before the beginning of the service. These can be professionally made, or an artistic creation of your own making (we’ve had some lovely arrangements that didn’t even have flowers in them!). On the Wednesday before that service at the latest, send in your dedication (if you want to have one) to the church office administrator (if any) for inclusion in that week’s Order of Service (OOS).
Coffee Hour Hosts (Green services only)
Coffee hour set up and clean up hosts prepare and clean the room used for our after-church coffee hour when we are doing services in Green mode. Both setup and cleanup require at least one volunteer, but more to assist that volunteer are welcomed. Until further notice, Coffee Hour will occur in the downstairs dining room.
Set up occurs entirely before the service starts. Arrive early enough to complete the necessary tasks before going to the service. The necessary tasks include:
- setting up at least one table covered with a clean table cloth,
- making the coffee and pouring it into the decanters, and making hot water and putting it into a decanter used just for water,
- setting out the tea bags, cups, spoons, sweeteners, and creamers. Be judicious in the quantity of creamers because any leftovers must be discarded by the clean up volunteer.
- Lay out simple snacks available for this purpose from the kitchen’s storage cupboards.
- Other treats and beverages may sometimes be donated from congregants or as leftovers from church events. Put out whatever serving and eating utensils are necessary to consume these donations.
- Make sure to put only gluten-free snacks in the serving ware marked gluten-free.
Clean up occurs after coffee hour ends, so plan to stay late after the service.
- Gather up the leftover food and either dispose of it, send it home with congregants, or take it home. Do not leave it in the church refrigerators or on the cabinets unless there is a plan to have someone come and take care of it.
- Dump leftover coffee down the drain with any leftover hot water.
- Put away all the unused tea bags, cups, spoons, and sweeteners. If there are leftover creamers, discard them.
- Gather up all the used utensils, cups, dishes and serving vessels and clean them, either in the dishwasher or by hand, and put them away where they belong. If you use the dishwasher plan to return later and unload it and put the cleaned dishes away.
- Rinse out the coffee maker.
- Clean and put away the tables.
- Clean the kitchen counters, the sinks, and the floors.
- Take the used tablecloth(s) and dishtowel(s) home to wash and dry them and return them to the church later.
- Turn out all lights and close the doors as you depart.
What is a Hospitality Coordinator
An FCU congregant volunteers to serve as our Hospitality Coordinator, providing order to the Hospitality volunteer process in a number of very important ways. The Hospitality Coordinator works independently but in cooperation with the minister, the Deacons and the Standing Committee. The term of service is open-ended. When the current Hospitality Coordinator is ready to pass their duties on to the next Hospitality Coordinator, a new volunteer is sought and trained for the position.
The current Hospitality Coordinator is Jackie Clement. Jackie is a long time member of our congregation who felt called to serve as a UU minister and in due course was ordained here before leaving our area to serve congregations elsewhere, most recently in Illinois. She is now retired from pastoral ministry, and has moved back to our area and resumed her membership in this congregation.
If you have any questions about hospitality, Jackie would be happy to help you.
Questions?
If you have general questions regarding how you can support hospitality for our worship experience please contact one of the hospitality coordinators. Reach the coordinators by email at jclement@uuma.org .
