A Brief History of the Founding of UUCOV

When six people gathered on March 31 of 1998 and looked around the new world of a UU Fellowship, they hardly knew where to start. But we soon realized that “birth announcements” should be sent and all the friends and relatives of the infant congregation.

On April 19, when our first organizational meeting was held, 20 people responded to the 30 invitations sent to known religious liberals in the vicinity. They picked the baby’s name, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Venice.

By the second organizational meeting on May 17, much of our structure was in place. Thanks to publicity in the newspapers, 27 people showed up for the second meeting to discuss where individuals had come from as UUs and where UUCOV might be going. People signed up to become Charter members of UUCOV.

By the 12th of June we had the 30 Charter members required to affiliate with the UUA, and were prepared to incorporate by the June 21st meeting. A vast crowd appeared and we spent an afternoon answering questions about what we wanted of UUCOV.

By the end of June, the program committee had met, and the date of the first service was set for November 1. We planned on two services a month. That evening we approved the new by-laws and voted to call our monthly newsletter Connection. We learned that could begin our services at the Venice Community Center.

We all decided to keep the momentum and blossoming acquaintances going through the summer and early fall with a variety of social events. By this time, we had sent birth announcements to our fellow cluster churches. In July, the Steering Committee met with two sister congregations, one from Boston and one from Florida District. During the summer we got more ideas from the Bradenton fellowship and the Sarasota UUs. Our first newsletter appeared in August. The night of the August full moon saw a dedicated handful gather at North Jetty Beach in a downpour to keep the flame burning.

On October 17, we had celebrated with a luncheon and honored our Charter members. By this time, all the important papers had been dispatched to Boston, and we were waiting for the WORD! At last it came! Shortly after October 25 our president received a letter from Boston saying that the Board of Trustees of the UUA had voted to approve our application. They welcomed us into fellowship with the UUA and wished us growth and prosperity!

Our October Connection an announced of our first service! We began regular services on November 1, 1998, and have been going steadily since then. At first we planned only two services a month, but it was soon apparent that our members wanted to meet more often than that, both socially and as a religious congregation. So we scheduled picnics and potlucks as well as deciding to hold forums and roundtables on the Sundays between regular services. It soon became apparent, too, that the Community Center was not going to be big enough to hold us. We moved to the Venice Ranch Mobile Home Park Clubhouse on February 14, 1999.

UUCOV People and Events 2015 – 2023