 Issue 36: February 2007, page 6< Page 5 | Table of Contents | Page 7 > Thoughts from the District Executive:On District ServicesNancy Heege As a prelude to strategic planning, the PSD Board and staff are spending some time in the next few months conducting an evaluation of District Services. There will be several opportunities for people to weigh in on the services currently being offered, as well as give us ideas for new services that might be added. In the next couple of months, several groups of people will be invited to take part in a short survey online. We will be asking the leadership of congregations — Ministers and paid Religious Educators [if a congregation has them], plus the current and just-past Congregation President — to fill out the surveys. In addition to the online survey which will target a large pool of possible responders, phone calls will be made by PSD Board members to leaders from nine congregations. District staff and District volunteers are also going to be polled. At the District Annual Conference in April, one workshop session will be open to all conference participants. We’ll be asking those who attend to envision services that we might add that would be helpful to their congregations. We want to know whether the services that we currently offer are effectively helping your congregations to fulfill their missions in the world. We look forward to hearing from many of you! New Procedure for Delegate AccreditationEvery affiliated congregation in good standing is entitled to send voting delegates to the PSD business meeting held during the Annual Conference in April. This year there is a new procedure for accrediting delegates. After the congregation selects its delegates according to its bylaws, an officer or the minister of the congregation must sign onto a special section of the PSD Web site using a user name and password to enter the delegates names. There will no longer be paper credentials to carry to the conference. At the Conference, delegates who have been accredited on the Web site will need to sign-in to show they are in attendance and will be given a sticker for their name badge indicating they are entitled to vote. Construction at Camp Unistar Camp UniStar (on Star Island, Cass Lake, MN) is building a new kitchen facility. The work is being done over the winter, taking advantage of the frozen lake to move construction crews and materials over the ice.
 The camp, which belongs to Prairie Star District, operates from June to September. It offers Work Weeks when volunteers prepare and maintain the camp, two Youth Week programs for grades 7 through 12 in June, and a number of intergenerational week-long programs throughout July and August. Each week focuses on a special-interest topic to augment the wide variety of natural activities available at the camp. More information about the Camp program is available at Camp UniStar. |