Laurie Wolf is President and CEO of The Foraker Group, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization providing training, support and advocacy services for Alaska non-profits. She has served on boards and volunteered in arts, environmental and human services organizations. Born and raised in Anchorage, Laurie earned a BA degree from Scripps College, a Masters in Not-for-Profit Leadership from Seattle University, and is a Certified Fund Raising Under 40 (2005) and Outstanding Professional in Philanthropy in (2006), and in 2016 was recognized by the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce and inducted into the ATHENA Society.

Hal was one of the original members of our fellowship, remaining a stalwart member since the 1950s. Hal passed away on 19 July. This is his memorial service. 

Bill Sherwonit is a free-lance nature writer who lives in Anchorage. He’s authored more than a dozen books on topics ranging from the Iditarod to Denali National Park. His most recent books include "Animal Stories: Encounters with Alaska's Wildlife" and "Living with Wildness: An Alaskan Odyssey." A former columnist for The Anchorage Times, Bill has contributed stories and photos to a wide variety of national publications, including Orion, National Wildlife and Backpacker. His essays have appeared in several anthologies, including Best American Science and Nature Writing, Best Travel Writing, and The Last New Land: Stories of Alaska Past and Present.

Families are complicated! Learn more about Unitarianism and Universalism and what happened when they joined together as Unitarian Universalists almost sixty years ago. What’s the implication for us today as UUs?

Homer resident, Nancy Lord is a widely published writer, naturalist, and historian. The author of three short fiction collections and five books of literary nonfiction, Nancy was Alaska’s writer laureate from 2008-2010 and serves on the faculty of UAA’s Creative Writing and Literary Arts MFA program and the graduate science writing program at Johns Hopkins University. She is a graduate of Hampshire College, with an M.F.A. from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and has a well-rounded Alaska résumé including years of commercial fishing, berry picking, and bird and wildlife watching.

Kyle Hopkins is special projects editor of the Anchorage Daily News and former investigative reporter for KTUU-Channel 2. He is currently working with ProPublica on a yearlong project. Kyle was born in Sitka and earned a journalism degree from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Recent awards include the Investigative Reporters & Editors Award for an investigation of criminals hired as police officers, National Headliners award for coverage of Anchorage car thefts, Society of Professional Journalists public service award for reporting on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, and a national Edward R. Murrow Award. Kyle and his wife, journalist Rebecca Palsha, have two daughters, Alice and Poppy.

Here’s your chance to experience the inspiring Sunday worship from this year’s General Assembly in Spokane. A lively combination of video and live worship at AUUF.

Bill Hess is an award-winning photographer and writer whose stories and images have appeared in National Geographic, the New York Times and Time-Life Books. Born in Utah, he met his wife doing Mormon mission work among the Lakota then moved to her White Mountain Apache reservation in Arizona, where he produced the tribal newspaper for three years. In 1981 he drove a VW with his family to Alaska and has worked here ever since as a publisher, photographer, and writer. His book, “Gift of the Whale: The Inupiat Bowhead Hunt, A Sacred Tradition” was published in 1999.

What gives us hope beyond optimism? A baby boomer mother and millennial daughter offer their perspectives on what gives us hope now as UUs.

Petra Page-Mann is an owner of an organic farm located in Naples, New York, and co-founder of Fruition Seeds, which sells organic seeds worldwide. Growing up in her father’s garden in the Finger Lakes region, she developed an early passion for fresh food, an interest that led her all over the world studying other food-cultures. In 2012 she and her partner founded Fruition Seeds to share the seeds, knowledge and inspiration gardeners need to be more successful in the Northeast. If she’s not farming she is singing, skiing, snuggling her dogs, hunting mushrooms or sharing a feast with a friend.