Staff
Rev. Deborah Cayer, Lead Minister
Deborah Cayer is a graduate of Smith College and Harvard Divinity School. She was ordained in 1996 and served as minister for the Unitarian Church of Sharon, Massachusetts for twelve years. She has served the Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship since August 2008, first as a part-time Consulting Assistant Minister, then as Acting Lead Minister for two years.
Rev. Jacqueline Brett, Minister of Congregational Engagement
Jacqueline Brett has been with ERUUF since 2012, first as member of the administrative staff then as student minister. In 2017 she received her M.Div. from Meadville Lombard Theological School where she was a member of the Board of Trustees, and recipient of the Charles Billings Prize in Preaching and the Faculty Prize for Religious Leadership. Rev. Brett was ordained by the members of ERUUF in Novermber 2017.
Read more: Rev. Jacqueline Brett, Minister of Congregational Engagement
Rev. Stacy Grove, Consulting Pastoral Care Minister
Stacy Grove is a Jewish Interfaith Minister and Spiritual Director with a background in pastoral care, hospice care, chaplaincy, and Red Cross disaster spiritual care. Her role providing pastoral care for the ERUUF community is part-time and involves working closely with the Pastoral Care Associates and the Care Ministries Team.
Rev. Dr. Arvid Straube, Minister Emeritus
Rev. Dr. Arvid Straube is a graduate of the University of Chicago Divinity School and Meadville Lombard Theological School. He served as Lead Minister at ERUUF for 21 years from 1983 to 2004 and then as Lead Minister at First UU Church of San Diego until his retirement in 2014. Since retirement, he has devoted himself to teaching and to a ministry of spiritual direction. He has been an adjunct faculty member at Duke Divinity School and Starr King School for the Ministry. ERUUF voted to call Dr. Straube as its Minister Emeritus in 2014.
Michele Sager, Program Assistant
- Role: Program Assistant
- Email:
- Phone: 919-489-2575
- Staff Partner: Rev. Jacqueline Brett, Minister of Congregational Engagement
Jenny Jolly, Communications Coordinator
Jenny Jolly grew up overseas and moved to North Carolina as a teen. She is a graduate of UNC-Charlotte where she studied English Literature and Journalism. She has worked as a content creator and communicator for small and large organizations in North Carolina and Minnesota. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, yoga, and spending time outdoors with her husband and two dogs. Her special talent is passionate curiosity.
- Contact Person: Jenny Jolly
- Role: Communications Coordinator
- Email:
- Staff Partner: Daniel Trollinger, Director of Administration
Daniel Trollinger, Director of Administration
Daniel brings a varied background to ERUUF. He has worked as a Business Manager for a Holistic Health Organization, served as an editor at Duke University, and is also an ordained, interfaith minister. He holds an M.Div from Yale Divinity School. He has lived in Durham for over 20 years and has three teenage daughters.
Julia Tyler, Director of Religious Education
Julia was raised in a UU church in Lake Country, WI. She grew up with music, questions, a passion for social justice, and respect for all religions. Julia loves learning about the different ways people pray, hope, and persevere. She wonders why life exists, and what people hold on to when hard times come. What motivates people to do good, to take care of each other, and Earth? She hopes to become more present in her day-to-day movements, and help others become more present for their lives too.
Shawn Trimble, Office Assistant / Room Reservations
Shawn Marie Trimble, was born in New Orleans, LA. Colorful as the city she is from, she is the mother of three. With a background in visual arts, Shawn received her undergraduate degree in Sociology from North Carolina Central University with plans to pursue her masters degree in career counseling and ordination as a minister of Spiritual Life Consciousness. Passionate about being an agent of change, she has worked with children and adults, facilitated workshops geared toward self-discovery, and has served as a community council organizer for the Durham/Chapel Hill areas (2011-2013).
Read more: Shawn Trimble, Office Assistant / Room Reservations
- Role: Office Assistant
- Email:
- Phone: 919-489-2575 x118
- Staff Partner: Daniel Trollinger, Director of Administration
LeLaina Romero, Ph.D., Beloved Community Chorus Director
LeLaina is a singer, song leader, and community healer working at the intersections of social justice, music, and well-being. In her community organizing and psychotherapy work, she works with LGBTQ people of color healing from trauma and oppression, facilitates self-care for activist workshops, and engages in training and supervision focused on race, class, and gender justice. She is active in the Association of Women in Psychology and served on the Implementation Collective, working to increase AWP’s welcome and inclusion of women with marginalized identities.
Sheng Yang, Bookkeeper
Ms. Yang easily keeps our accounting and financial systems running smoothly and efficiently. We are glad to have her as part of our team.
- Role: Bookkeeper
- Email:
- Phone: 919-489-2575 x105
- Staff Partner: Daniel Trollinger, Director of Administration
Braxton Simmons, Youth Ministry Coordinator
After partly growing up in his family’s rural Baptist church, Braxton began attending the UU Congregation of Wilmington in 2004 and has been an active member ever since. In conjunction with teaching various RE classes (which includes “Harry Potter and Hero’s Journey” and Our Whole Lives), Braxton has been a counselor and director of The Shelter Neck Youth Camp, a camp for Middle School and High School UU children located in Burgaw, NC. He also has a strong passion for social justice, mainly focusing on issues in communities of color and the LBGT community.
Read more: Braxton Simmons, Youth Ministry Coordinator
- Role: RE Assistant
- Email:
- Phone: 919-489-2575 x107
- Staff Partner: Julia Tyler, Director of Religious Education
Allison Mahaley, Developmental Youth Ministry Specialist
Allison Mahaley is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill. Her undergraduate studies were in middle school education and her Masters is in School Administration and Leadership. She is a veteran of public education having served at schools in Alamance, Durham and Chapel Hill-Carrboro as a teacher, technology facilitator, magnet coordinator, and school administrator.
Read more: Allison Mahaley, Developmental Youth Ministry Specialist
- Role: Developmental Youth Ministry Specialist
- Email:
- Phone: 919-489-2575 x822
- Staff Partner: Julia Tyler, Director of Religious Education
David Scheidt, Facilities
- Role: Facilities Assistant
- Email:
- Phone: 919-489-2575 x115
- Staff Partner: Daniel Trollinger, Director of Administration
Alice Alexander, Planned Giving Coordinator
Alice has enjoyed a fantastic career in nonprofit management, primarily with Planned Parenthood. She recently stepped down as Executive Director of the Cohousing Association of the U.S., nurturing the growth of cohousing communities as an innovative response to social and environmental challenges. Alice discovered UUism straight out of college, belonging to congregations in Northern Virginia and Cincinnati, and joining ERUUF in 2001 after moving to Durham. She is proud to have served as Board President of SUUSI, the UU summer camp, which attracts the largest gathering of UU’s outside of GA. Alice is delighted to be supporting ERUUF in growing our culture of generosity.
- Contact Person: Alice Alexander
- Role: Planned Giving Coordinator
- Email:
- Staff Partner: Daniel Trollinger, Director of Administration