Deb Weiner is the Volunteer of the Month for December. Deb and her partner Janne Harrelson first came to UUCSS in 1997 when their daughter Lucy was 3 months old, looking for a place that would provide a foundation for ethical thinking and behavior where they would feel welcomed and accepted as a lesbian couple. Although UUCSS was going through a period of crisis at the time, it had just been accepted as a Welcoming Congregation by the UUA and Deb and Janne felt very welcomed. They were attracted to the music program, and the children and youth in the congregation, and decided to join the church. Deb’s first involvement as volunteer came two years later when she joined the interim minister search committee. The committee members had a great experience and after the committee’s work finished, they formed the Women’s Book Group, which continues to meet at Deb’s house (and welcome new participants) to this day. Deb has served as an at-large member of the Board and a member of Rev. Liz Lerner Maclay’s ministerial relations committee, taught elementary-age RE classes, and has been a member of the Deaf Access Committee since the early 2000s, where she helps to ensure that we have an interpreter each Sunday and at all-church events. Currently, Deb leads the Sunday Support teams, which provide ushers, greeters, coffee-set-up and other support to enable our services to run smoothly. Deb encourages new friends and members to consider joining a Sunday Support team as an excellent way to meet people.
In March 2010, Deb and Janne were one of the 10 couples who got married at a ceremony in D.C. sponsored by UUCSS and the Universalist National Memorial Church on the first day same-sex couples could get married in D.C. Deb is immensely grateful that the church made it such an amazing event for her and Janne. Deb also feels that it has been a privilege to raise her daughter at UUCSS, which was was there for Lucy every step of the way. For Deb, UUCSS is and has been a community that provides her with connections to diverse group of fellow thinkers, explorers, and seekers.