(415) 776-4580
175th Anniversary Celebration and Auction Success Story
December 9, 2025
Our celebration of 175 years as a thriving San Francisco community leader was an historic success. We enjoyed learning about our history from former ministers Diane Miller and John Buehrens in early October worship services. Then on October 26, almost 200 people joined together for a delicious lunch after Vanessa's inspiring worship service. See photographs of the day here. Results of the silent and live auctions were also record-breaking. The auction items contributed by church members raised $20,350 for the operating budget, and the Fund a Need auction raised $166,000 to be used to replace the carpet and cushions in the sanctuary. The Fund a Need results were augmented by a generous contribution of $105,000 from Steven Gerard, the husband of deceased church member Trudy Lionel. Congratulations to everyone!
175th Celebrations and Auction were a Huge Success
This last month we had a full three weeks of celebrating the First Unitarian Universalist Society’s 175th Anniversary. There was a banner out front to tell the world and birthday cakes after service. Former minister, the Rev. Diane Miller, flew in from Kansas to launch the celebrations with her memories and stories from her ministry 50 years ago (watch here). The Rev. John Buehrens preached on October 19th (watch here), and he also gave a lecture on the ministry and legacy of the Rev. Horatio Stebbins (watch here). All of these events can be found in our archives on Youtube if you missed them (click here). Then last Sunday, on October 26th, we gathered for a worship service with a proclamation presented by Mick Del Rosario from the office of Stephen Sherril, our District 2 Supervisor (one of three we’d have before the end of the day), a reminder of some of the great works we do in our work as a congregation, and a sermon by the Rev. Vanessa Southern (watch here), and then our annual Auction!
​
At the Auction, professional auctioneer and church member Gary Lorentzen and his son Peter donated their services to us. The results were amazing! Our Auction and Fund a Need netted $80,839. The Fund a Need portion raised about $65,000 before adding Stephen Gerard’s generous Fund a Need Anchor donation of $75,000 from the estate of Trudy Lionel, long-time UUSF member and Stephen’s generous additional offer of a $30,000 matching grant, so we made our goal! Thank you so much, everyone. Let the beautification begin!!
​
A big thank you to the 175 Celebration Committee: John Buehrens, Linda Enger, Judy Payne, Gayle Reynolds, Jack Delo, Greg Stevens, Milo Hanke, and Gino Fortunato. Linda Enger, Judy Payne, Alicia Cover, and Jonathan Silk collaborated on the slide show, invitation and guest list. Judy Payne coordinated the well-planned luncheon, with its stunning decor. Jack Delo did the line drawing on the coffee mugs that Milo commissioned for us. Many pitched in on set up and take down, including Sue Anthony, Gayle Reynolds, Keith Hollon, June Johnson and Athena Papadakos plus Scott Benbow, Carmen Barsody and Les James. Richard and Laura Davis, Linda Enger and Jack and Sherry Delo donated the wine for the luncheon. Gino chaired the Auction and obtained the proclamations. Cheryl Deaner co-led the Auction, especially the successful Silent Auction online and the Celebration check in crew Lori Gudos, Pete Bradley, Jonah Berquist, Riki Panganiban, Stephanie Gowin and Hanna Hart, and Sunday tablers Ruth Dummel, Monica Moore, and Julia Wald.
​
Special thanks to staff members Jonathan Silk, Laura Ludwig, Suzy Bernahola, Alicia Cover, Dan Barnard, Rob Delao, Matias Pineda and Francisco Castellanos whose support and heavy lifting made the celebration possible.
The biggest thank you of all goes to our Auction and Fund a Need donors. We couldn’t have done it without you!