Prairie Star District

It’s September, and by now, the people in our congregations are gathering for Sunday services. In our newsletter, you’ll find information about what’s happening in our District – reports about recent events, news about congregations, and a heads-up on workshops that will be helpful to your congregation. Read it and enjoy!

We always appreciate your comments and suggestions for the newsletter. Click on the “email the editor” link in the menu on the right to send us a message.

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

Sherry Warren, PSD Youth and Young Adult Specialist

Youth at Midwest Leadership School

On a hot, sticky July day at Beloit College, twenty-two young people from Prairie Star, Central Midwest, and Heartland Districts came together for one week of leadership skill development, spiritual growth, and community building. Nine of those young people were from Prairie Star congregations in Ames, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Omaha, and LaCrosse. Full days running from 7:00 a.m. breakfast to the strict lights out of 11:00 p.m. included worship planning and execution with students from MWLS for Adults, leadership skills development, credo writing and reflection, religious values and heritage, and spontaneous games of Little Sally Walker in the daily downpours that deluged the Rock River Valley during our stay.

The week was not all classroom experience, though. Rockford Urban Ministries arranged for our group to participate in the Weed 'N Seed program where we grabbed paint and rollers as we scraped, primed, painted, cleaned gutters, met neighbors and worked off some energy for a family living in Rockford who needed some help with maintenance. There’s nothing like putting values into action to grow spiritually healthy people!

It seemed like no time at all had passed and we were suddenly sharing tears, packing up, experiencing our last worship service as the community we had created all week, and driving back home. Thankfully, Facebook is enabling the students and staff to continue growing and learning together, giving us opportunity to share our successes and challenges as we continue to practice our living tradition.

There is a great video on Youtube with movies, testimonials, and pics from the week.

Sign Up for a Fall Workshop

Here is your chance to access new information from home, without having to put time or money into travel. Participants will need a high speed Internet connection and a phone line. These workshops will each be offered twice on weekday evenings at 7:00 PM.

10 Best Practices for Small Congregations
October 15 & 20
Guest presenter: Rev. Karen Brammer, Small Church Specialist for the Northern New England District. Karen has great ideas for small congregations and is looking forward to discussing them with our PSD congregations.

Adult RE
November 10 & 19
Guest presenters: Nancy Combs-Morgan and Dori Davenport Thexton, District Staff in the Central Midwest and Heartland Districts. Nancy and Dori are familiar with curricula and programs for adult religious education. If you need new ideas, sign up for this workshop.

See our Workshops page for more information and registration. Registration is necessary, but the workshops are free.

Our goal this year will be to record and archive all these programs, providing you with a growing online library of audio programs.

New Links to Resources

Pandemic Flu Resources for Congregations can now be found on our website at http://www.psduua.org/CongregationalResources/PandemicFluResources – outlining what you can do so your congregation will be prepared.

Want to know what the District can do for your congregation? A printable flier summarizing District services to congregations can be downloaded from http://www.psduua.org/Main/PSDPrograms.

PSD Board meetings are open to PSD congregation members. See the District web site for dates and locations: http://www.psduua.org/Board/BoardMeetings.

Join Unitarian Universalists who are Standing on the Side of Love to stop oppression. Go to http://www.standingonthesideoflove.org to learn more about this campaign and to get a Congregational Toolkit.

Association Sunday 2009 brings congregations together to celebrate our common bonds and raise money to Grow Our Diversity: http://www.uua.org/giving/associationsunday/index.shtml

Karen Hirsch, PSD Awards Committee

Lowell Hanson receiving the Gorsche Award, 2007

Every spring, at the District Conference, the Prairie Start District acknowledges those hard-working UUers who bring life and vitality to our congregations. Maybe this year somebody from YOUR congregation will be honored with an award. If you believe that someone from your group qualifies for one of these awards, why not nominate him/her? Nomination forms which are due by January 31, can be found at http://www.psduua.org/Awards/Awards.

1. PSD Social Justice Award: For someone who witnesses to the ideals of social justice and responsibility. (youth or adult)
2. Unsung UU Award: For a UU whose lifetime actions inspire, support, and express Unitarian Universalism.
3. O. Eugene Pickett Award: For a congregation which has made an outstanding contribution to the growth of UU.
4. Keeping the Faith Awards: For someone who has worked to keep UU alive in his/her community and who touches the lives of congregation and community members in a positive way.
5. Ellie Morton Award: For a person who has made a significant contribution to UU religious education.
6. Betty Gorshe Heritage Award: For someone who has made a significant contribution to preserving, understanding, and celebrating our UU history.

Midwest UU Leadership

On Saturday, September 19, almost 70 participants from 11 states in three districts of the Unitarian Universalist Association participated in a ground-breaking online leadership conference. One participant commented, “Thank you for the online workshop. It’s a great inexpensive opportunity to learn leadership skills.”

The conference, which was co-sponsored by the Prairie Star, Central Midwest, and Heartland districts, featured six workshops on a variety of topics of interest to congregational leaders including sessions for presidents, treasurers, religious educators, membership coordinators, committee chairs, and other lay leaders. The workshos were presented by phone and Internet. In some cases, multiple leaders from the same congregation gathered around a single computer and a speaker phone in order to participate together. While there were a few technical glitches, things ended up going smoothly. As one of the participants commented, “I enjoyed it once the bugs were worked out.”

See http://www.psduua.org/Newsletter/51September2009PeopleAndCongregations for news about PSD Congregations. Several congregations are celebrating anniversaries.

Apply Now

UU Children’s Choir 2006, St. Louis

The UU Children’s Choir is holding auditions for next summer’s General Assembly (GA) in Minneapolis. This is a five-day choir camp that only happens every three to four years. This one will be held in St. Paul at Macalester College. The children will have intense rehearsals, fun workshops, sing for thousands at GA, and bond with UUs from all over the country. Past participants speak of it being a life-changing experience!

By now, each congregation has gotten an information packet in the mail. There is some financial assistance available. For more information and downloadable forms, go to http://www.uucc2010.com .

The deadline for applying and auditioning is October 20, 2009. Contact Jan Chamberlin, Program Director, UUCC2010 at janchamberlin@me.com

 
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.