Prairie Star District

This issue of the PSD Newsletter, and previous issues, can be read online.

Camp StarTrail

As you may have heard, plans are being made to start a CampStarTrail logonew, week-long, multigenerational UU camp in the southern part of Prairie Star District in August of 2009. The planning group includes people from several congregations in Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri.

We will be renting a camp in the lovely Platte River Valley between Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska. Features include hiking, canoeing, sitting on the porch to read or chat, swimming, celebration services in the mornings and vespers in the evening, excursions to area attractions such as the Omaha Zoo or the Strategic Air Command museum, and some of the best food we’ve ever tasted at any camp we’ve ever been to.

We’re looking for people who would like to help us launch this new effort. We’ll be meeting at the camp this summer, August 8–10, 2008, to sample the camp’s amenities, get a feel for what it’s like in late summer, and continue the planning process. We need people who have ideas and energy in areas such as music and the arts, programming for children and youth, finance, promotion, and more. We are eager to hear your ideas. We hope you, or someone from your congregation, will join us!

Information and registration forms are available in the Camps section of our web site.

If you have questions, please contact Nancy Heege, Prairie Star District Executive or Rev. Phillip Lund, Lifespan Program Director, or call the PSD office 612-870-4823.

Midwest UU Summer Assembly

June 30 – July 6, 2008

For over 60 years, Unitarian Universalists gathered in Wisconsin in July to refresh their bodies and souls through fellowship, worship, workshops, and unique activities. This summer, that retreat will take place at Trout Lodge in Potosi, Missouri, located 75 miles southwest of St. Louis. Trout Lodge is a beautiful family conference center set on 5,000 wooded acres, overlooking beautiful Sunnen Lake in the scenic Missouri Ozarks.

Join hundreds of other religious liberals for a week of new friends, new growth, and new adventures in the beautiful Missouri Ozarks. We’ll build a community that nurtures everyone while enjoying swimming, sports, worship services, intriguing workshops, plus dancing, music and more. Children of all ages thrive during this special week, along with mature adults and everyone in between.

For more information see our Web site with links to full information about the camp, including activities, programs, workshops, fees, and housing information. The registration deadline is approaching.

While working toward our mission of:

• healthy, vital congregations
• an interconnected web of Unitarian Universalists
• strong UU organizations
• a world living by UU principles

the Board considered the following:

• The board approved a deposit to Carol Joy Holling Conference and Retreat Center for Camp StarTrail for the week of August 2–7, 2009. This step continues the process of providing a camp experience for PSD UU’s in the southern part of the District. You will be reading more about this exciting new camp experience.
• The PSD Board continues to work with the Camp Unistar Management Committee to align mission and vision.
• The PSD GRACE (Growing Racial and Cultural Equity) Team reported that they have distributed a congregational inventory and will be following up with telephone calls to congregations in the following weeks. The PSD Board will continue the conversation on anti-racism, anti-oppression, multi-culturalism at our retreat in August with a professional facilitator. The PSD Board is examining their own policies for possible revision.
• The Growth Task Force is continuing to meet with the goal of developing recommendations/proposals for the Executive Committee and the Board retreat. At those times, the PSD Board will work on prioritizing and funding.
• The PSD Board established the Collaborative Growth Initiative to distribute Association Sunday funds that were returned to the district in the amount of over $12,500. Four requests were received: a request from the Cedar Falls and Cedar Rapids congregations for advertising, a request from the Omaha congregations for advertising, a request from the Duluth congregation to help with consultation around growth, and a request from Southern Cluster Outreach and Extension (SCORE) for continued funding of their growth ministry.
• The PSD Board agreed to invite the candidates for the Presidency of the UUA to our next Annual Conference in Duluth.
• A pilot evaluation process for the District staff co-employed with the UUA is well underway.
• Changes in youth programming at the District level will be considered at the August retreat. This follows from changes which are being anticipated at the UUA level.

Respectfully submitted,

Kathryn L. Bowman, PSD President

The dates for future PSD Board Meetings are posted on the PSD Calendar, and the agenda for each meeting is posted about a week before the meeting.

News of PSD People and Congregations is online.

John Blevins, Trustee on the UUA Board, reports on

• Katrina and New Orleans
• UUA advertising campaign
• Hutchinson, Kansas public worship
• PSD’s GRACE Team
• The message from ministers of rapidly growing congregations
• Youth and Young Adult ministry
• President Sinkford visits PSD: Duluth, Lawrence, Shawnee Mission, Kansas City
• Wichita, KS celebrates new building
• UUA moving to policy based governance

His complete report is online.

Available Online

If you want to know what PSD does and you didn’t get a copy of the PSD Annual Report at the Annual Conference, you can read it online. The report contains information on the activities of all PSD staff and committees, lists of Honor Societies and donors, financial reports and future budgets.

If you appreciate the resources offered to your congregation by Prairie Star District, please make a personal contribution to our efforts.

As you will read elsewhere in this newsletter, plans are underway for our new Camp StarTrail in 2009. This is just one of the wonderful things happening in Prairie Star District, things that serve our congregations and help them work toward their missions. We offer workshops for new congregational leaders, growth-related workshops, OWL workshops and youth advisor trainings, consultation by staff and skilled facilitators on all kinds of topics, help with ministerial transitions, and more.

While District dues paid by congregations cover much of the cost of our programs, they don’t cover it all. Your generous contributions to Friends of Prairie Star District will help the District move forward with bold ideas. Contributions can be made online.

Please become a Friend of Prairie Star District by contributing today!

The UUA is seeking congregations to field test three new “Tapestry of Faith” curricula this fall and winter. See complete article in online newsletter.

District Event at GA

If you are going to General Assembly, plan now to attend our Prairie Star District Ingathering in Fort Lauderdale. Meet other people from our district who are attending GA, meet our District President, staff, and UUA Trustee, and hear about upcoming District events.

UU University

Also at General Assembly, please consider coming a day early to attend UU University. Those who’ve attended in past years have learned a lot and have enjoyed meeting leaders from congregations around the country. See all the details on the UUA Web site.

 
Prairie Star District is one of nineteen districts of the Unitarian Universalist Association. We serve almost 70 congregations in the Upper Midwest. We have three full time staff people and three part time program and support staff members who work with many volunteers to assist congregations. To learn more about us, see our Web site.