Ashley first attended First Unitarian on Easter Sunday, expecting it to be just one stop in a search for a new spiritual home in Portland. Instead, she found the kind of church she had once hoped for as a teenager: a place with sanctuary, music, strong community, and real acceptance without dogma.

Ashley plays clarinet in a community orchestra, and she and her partner, Quinn, have happily taken up gardening together. She also enjoys crocheting, knitting, sewing, reading, hiking, and fair-weather biking. Over the past year, Ashley has especially valued building social connections across the congregation, and she looks forward to continuing to grow her own network while helping strengthen intergenerational relationships in the church community.