Staff Highlight on Vickie Doebele: Written by Susan Comstock
Most of our congregation knows Vickie Doebele, a 20+year UCE member and our Staff Accountant since 2019. And maybe even more importantly, Vickie knows most of us. Vickie is the one who keeps all of our pledge payments and donations straight, makes the bank deposits, pays our vendors and prepares our monthly financial statements. Handling the accounting for UCE is more complicated than one would think with so many members’ payments to track, and Vickie’s knowledge of the congregation has proven to be very helpful in keeping everything running smoothly.
When asked how members could help us run even more smoothly, Vickie knew the answer right away. “Remind members to fill out the memo line on their checks so I know how to apply their funds! And ask them to look at their Giving Statements when we email them. Sometimes they catch errors, or they are reminded about their pledge.” Another confusing issue can arise when folks make payments to UCE directly from an investment account. Please make sure your name has been attached to the contribution. Currently, we’re trying to solve a mystery of who is making monthly payments from JP Morgan Chase.
Bringing her daughter to Sunday School is what brought Vickie to UCE. They greatly enjoyed the UCE family camping trips as well as the family friendship dinners, and her daughter is still close with the friends she made at UCE. These days, Vickie enjoys the non-fiction book club. A voracious reader, Vickie’s current book recommendations are Kindred, which the REAL team led group discussions of this past fall, and The Great Believers, a novel set in Chicago during the AIDS epidemic. Vickie also has another book recommendation “The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted American’s Enemies.” A fascinating true story that begins in Chicago.
Being in the administrative office several days each week, Vickie enjoys helping people who phone the office or stop by the church. Recently, she answered the door buzzer and was asked, “Who’s serving dinner tonight?” Vickie quickly realized that it was someone looking for the Soup Kitchen for that evening and they must have unsuccessfully stopped by our neighbor, Beth Emet. Vickie apologized, saying she didn’t know which church hosted dinner on Tuesday. The visitor said, “It’s Tuesday? Thanks, bye!” Being willing to have the conversation, Vickie often provides a bit of clarification as she assists in the office. [Editor’s note: The rotating schedule and addresses for the overnight shelter and the soup kitchen are now located on the Community Events bulletin board and in the red folder in the Welcome Center cabinet.]
Thank you, Vickie! We very much appreciate all you do to keep UCE running well!