October Volunteer of the Month – Karen Eckert

Never doubt the power of our pamphlets. Karen Eckert’s 1979 jogging route went by the Unitarian-Universalist Church of Arlington, Va. and out of curiosity, dropped in, read our material and realized she was a UU. She quickly became a member of UUCAV.

Karen arrived at UUCSS in 1985 with son Raymond and soon to be born Chris after a year in St. Thomas. Fate would have it that UUCSS was the closest UU church to the apartment her family rented. Her son Raymond, ten at the time, was immediately active in RE and Karen became involved in teaching. Karen has taught virtually every grade of RE from the babies to YRUU and even adults if you count Adult Our Whole Lives (OWL).

It is with OWL that Karen has made her greatest contribution. From the initial training in 2002 she has, with only a few breaks, taught middle school or high school OWL classes ever since. Teaching OWL has been one of her great joys. Schools do not teach respect and compassion, but we do. Seeing our youth grow in relation to themselves and each other is priceless to Karen. We are so grateful that she brings so much love to the work of imparting UU values to our children and youth.