By Emilie Haertsch
In September 2024, Partners spoke with the Rev. Sue Gabrielson and Bill Petrarca of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fort Myers, Florida. As a consulting client of Partners, UUCFM is in the process of transitioning its buildings and property. The following interview has been condensed for length and clarity.
What is the history of your congregation?
BP: UUCFM was founded as one of the first US congregations in the denomination after the Unitarians and Universalists merged in the 1960s. We began in a small building in the center of Fort Myers, but 25 years ago we moved to our current suburban location, which was then farmland.
Wildlife Preserve UUC Fort Myers. Mike Shapiro.
Describe the building and land your congregation occupies.
BP: Originally the founders bought ten acres in a watershed area. They turned five acres into a wildlife preserve and filled in the other five to elevate them above the floodplain. A parishioner bought and added to our holdings with an adjacent two-and-a-half acres, which became Holton Eco-Preserve, and essentially serves as a park now. We own five actively used buildings on the campus: two classroom buildings, one administrative building, the sanctuary, and a social hall.
SG: The congregation intentionally fostered green space here. Our campus contains a garden, labyrinth, amphitheater, and trails. UUCFM has evolved as a natural oasis, because our area increasingly is eaten up by urban sprawl. Many people use the land here. We have a community garden available for public rental, and a local environmental organization holds their seed sale here. People treat the grounds as a park: each week there are around 30 people who walk the trails. One man does tai chi here every day. Folks even ride their horses through.
What has been your congregation’s involvement in the Fort Myers community?
BP: We have a long history of social justice activities. The local Planned Parenthood chapter was founded in large part by our congregation. We were the first church in Florida to perform same-sex weddings. The day gay marriage became legal we married 11 couples in our church. Although a small congregation, we call ourselves a “quiet warrior.” But there are only around 120 congregants on the rolls, and we are aging. Many folks only live in Fort Myers half of the year, and only around 60 attend worship regularly. Hurricane Ian was very traumatic for us: people moved away after the damage, and we lost them permanently from the congregation.
How did you learn about Partners?
SG: I worked with Partners when I was in a prior position at a New England congregation. We were exploring how to become more sustainable in a historic building. I had a positive experience with Partners and wanted to work with the organization again.
Why did you initially reach out to Partners?
SG: Our property might be valued as high as $10 million to $12 million, but we are cash poor. Many congregations cannot continue the way they are going. We must manage our property so that we can be self-sustaining and continue our mission work in the community.
BP: It hit us strongly during COVID that we had to do something. When I started coming to the church 10 year ago, the finance committee was exploring renting space on our campus for a cell tower. We were not generating enough pledge income to support the property. We still earn income from that cell tower, but it is not enough. We are seeking a more mission-centric solution.
What other organizations or congregations have you partnered with?
Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra Concert at UUC Fort Myers. Mike Shapiro.
BP: Through our work with Partners, we have identified our collaborators. Our campus has administrative offices and a kitchen and is ADA-compliant: it is ideal for space-sharing. The sanctuary is replete with technology, including cameras offering 15 different angles and screens in the front and back of the room. The scouts, a Buddhist group, an environmental organization, a senior exercise group, and democratic organizations use our space. We rent to the Gulf Coast Symphony, which rehearses here and performs in the sanctuary. We have a playground as well, and a preschool across the street that has outgrown its space is moving in.
Partners has led the congregation through strategic visioning: how has that process gone?
BP: It has given our task force the energy to focus on this urgent issue. The experience that Partners brought to the table gave us confidence that we would end up in a good place.
SG: It felt essential to work with outside experts, because discussing the future of your church building and land is a volatile conversation. Partners urged us to begin with every option on the table, from one extreme to the other. As a minister, I cannot say those words. It is too controversial and emotionally charged. Long-time congregants bring a lot of baggage to these conversations. Partners taught us that this is not personal. They have experience with congregations all over the country. This is not about a minister or congregation failing. It is about things outside our control—whether it is COVID, or religious decline, or real estate costs, or the fact that we are in a swamp. We are now focused on how we make good decisions to move forward and sustain ourselves.
What is ahead in the process?
Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra Concert attendees. Mike Shapiro.
SG: We have an upcoming community conversation with 20 different people, and I am eager to hear what they have to say. We have also developed some of our own ideas through the process. A Quaker group in our area will be building a meetinghouse on our property. There is an interest in starting a Friends School administered by Unitarian Universalists and Quakers on the campus. We are thinking about expanding the preschool campus. The symphony also has floated the idea of buying the property and developing an arts center here.
BP: It’s an exciting time. I entered the process downtrodden, but I am much more uplifted now. We have more choices than we thought.
SG: We are still listening, but there is a lot more hope now. This process has broadened our capacity to envision creative solutions.
