Our Turtle

We acknowledge that the Unitarian Universalist Church of Lexington gathers on the traditional land of over 20 indigenous tribes, including the Shawnee and Cherokee Peoples. We pay our respects to their Elders: past, present, and emerging. The turtle is a sacred creature among Native American tribes. Each tribe’s cultural view of the turtle/tortoise is slightly different; however, the deeper meaning remains the same: the turtle represents Grandmother Earth, who teaches us to walk our paths in peace. Turtles have long life spans, lay eggs, and are slow moving. They also have shells for protection. This lovely eastern box turtle was photographed in our UUCL woodland. As we care for our seven acres, let us remember we are keeping space for turtles.

Update: 8-5-2024

Rain and snow hit the ground and provide all life with nourishing water. When rain falls onto solid human-made surfaces, instead of filtering into the ground, it rushes off to the nearest creek. Our cars drip salts, grime and other pollutants, and the rain water carries these to our streams. At UUCL, water rushes down the hillside, taking soil with it to the creek. This project will add permeable parking areas with built-in water filtering, bio-infiltration additions at the entrance and along the drive, canopy tree enhancements, and an attractive painted labyrinth area. All of these features together will improve our water quality and decrease runoff.

The new green infrastructure will allow UUCL to be a model for institutions of faith to demonstrate environmental stewardship and will allow UUCL to serve as an exemplar of sustainable site design and management. The project development plan provides a site design that incorporates state-of-the-art demonstrations in stormwater infiltration and control, with native plantings and urban tree care. It will allow UUCL to move forward, showcasing a commitment to sustainability.

Our Fundraising

With Lexington's streams in rough shape from decades of neglect, our city pays 80% of the cost to fund qualified projects to improve water quality. Our UUCL project has been accepted, approved and ammended. This means that the city is paying 80% ($360,000) of the estimated $450,000 total cost for a new permeable parking lot with built-in water filtering, improvements at the driveway culvert and along the drive, canopy tree enhancements, and an attractive painted labyrinth! Working through the process of the stormwater grant has been a slow process. As you may recall, UUCL received a grant in FY22 to address our parking needs and some additional water quality components to our property. After two failed attempts at soliciting bids in 2023 to fit our original budget, we now have a contractor willing to do the project and additional funding from the Water Quality Fees Board that were approved on July 25.

UUCL must raise 20% of the costs, $9,000 to finish the deal. When we started fundraising in 2022, we got off to a quick start with $15,000 in matching funds from #doTERRAHealingHands. These matching funds have doubled each donation in the first $15,000, turning your $10 into $20 or $1,000 into $2,000. Thus our first $15,000 raised was turned into $30,000! We also applied for and received a Chalice Lighter Grant of $10,000 in December 2023 from the MidAmerica Region of the UUA. Further, we received $1,173.86 from the UUCL Book sale last fall and $1,741 from UUCL Artists in the Light's silent auction in April. Since the application for additional funding moved forward, the UUCL community has stepped up donations.

Update: 8-27-2024

Funds Needed: $26,726.31 (70.3% Funded)