The first thing you notice about Steve Hirsch is his smile. It is a lovely smile delivered with a glint in the eye whether he’s talking about his latest (non) hairstyle or the long hard slog of the Search Committee. At its core it shows a delight in learning and working with people, two hallmarks of Steve’s volunteer life at UUCSS.
Steve and Beth Blevins came to UUCSS in 2003 with some desire to find a religious education for their somewhat non-religious son Isaac. UUCSS had a spiritual underpinning that nurtured Beth and an intellectual and humanist outlook that Steve felt comfortable with. For many years, Steve was on the Worship Committee and especially enjoyed working with guest ministers and lay leaders and watching how they constructed sermons and led worship. He is also a long-time member of a Sunday Support team. After taking some time off from volunteering during Beth’s cancer recovery, Emily Tien asked him to join the Search Committee. When Maggie Hayes shared her own positive experiences of working with a great group of people he agreed to join.
“Well the search process was a bit bureaucratic”, he said – a complete understatement delivered with a smile. But in the next breath he explained how great it was to learn more about the church and about his fellow team members. When asked why he volunteers, Steve said, “Church only exists because people put in the effort to make it work.” Because of Steve and his fellow committee members we have a new minister and a path to move forward as a congregation and we thank him for it.