Alamosa UU History

Alamosa has had a couple of attempts at starting a Fellowship, and a group was meeting when Jan Oen and Don Thompson, (active members of First Unitarian Society of Denver) decided to move to Alamosa. By the time they arrived, the group had been inactive for at least a year. An article in the Valley Courier brought two local people to a meeting at Hospice del Valle. While neither of the two people joining Jan and Don ever attended, it gave Jan and Don the impetus to contact all of the names of those who had been attending when the group went inactive and a number of them became active again.
The group began meeting at 4:30 the second and forth Sunday of the month at Hospice del Valle. After a couple of years the meeting time was switched to 10 am based on the recommendation of the Outreach Coordinator from the Mountain Desert District.
A chance discussion between Jan and the interim Minister at the Alamosa Presbyterian Church led to the Fellowship changing their meeting location to an upstairs room in the north wing of the Presbyterian Church, with the time switched to coincide with the 10:30 meeting time of the Presbyterians. Based on the request of a number of the members, the twice a month meetings were changed to weekly, and a later decision was also made to meet during the summer.
Because the upstairs room was not handicap accessible, the group began meeting in the basement. When the Fellowship first moved to the Presbyterian Church, they began participating in the second Sunday of the month breakfast alternating the hosting monthly with the Presbyterians. They also participated in occasional inter-faith services and in community food drives with the Presbyterians. The Fellowship has participated in a number of social action efforts, joining with other peace activists in anti-war demonstrations, bringing programs on social concerns to the Sunday services, and serving quarterly dinners at La Puente.