UUA Trustee’s Report

John Blevins

PSD Board Retreats, and Advances

I’m just back from the annual August PSD board and program council retreat, at the beautiful Shalom Hill Farm retreat center in Windom, MN. I continue to be pleased and impressed with the work of your volunteer board. They do their homework, and come with both minds and hearts engaged. We are privileged to have them represent us. And our wonderful staff of Nancy, Phil, and Sarah does all the prep work to help us get the most out of the weekend.

Breakthrough!

Please join me in congratulating our own White Bear UU Church, which was one of four congregations lifted up as “breakthrough” congregations at General Assembly in Ft. Worth. White Bear, located near St. Paul, Minnesota, has grown dramatically, in several dimensions, in recent years. The breakthrough identification program was created to both honor good work, and to help all of us see with “new eyes” as we discern how we can help our own congregation play a deeper, fuller role in our troubled world. Search for “breakthrough” on uua.org, and read all about it!

Racism and Oppression Today

At GA in Ft. Worth, there were incidents of racist or oppressive behavior reported by some youth of color. The UUA Board and staff continue seeking the facts, as the more we have learned the more complex the picture has become. President Sinkford and Moderator Courter have formed a Special Review Commission to bring together the information to make this a learning opportunity for our institution. The PSD board and I have begun exploring how we can help bring more formal education on anti-racism and anti-oppression work to our congregations.

Youth Ministry

The “Consultation on Ministry to and with Youth” process continues. The goal is to design a process that revisions and renews UU youth ministry. We’re now about one year into a three year plan. PSD (and all districts) have been asked to focus on this area in the 2007 Annual Meeting. You may read a good overview of this most important project at:

http://www.uua.org/documents/youthconsultation/processguide_cong.pdf

Riverboat to St. Louis?

General Assembly 2006 will be held in St. Louis, MO, in June. Early thinking about how to get our PSD folks to this nearby GA has begun. Car pool? Bus? Or Riverboats down the Missouri and Mississippi rivers? If you want a ride, have some inside scoop on arranging special transportation, or want to help plan transportation, let us know! A riverboat to GA would be a hoot! However you get there, I’ll see you in St. Louis!

Stonetree

Dawn Cooley

It is hard to be the following act of someone who did her job exceedingly well. Being the new director of Stonetree Spiritual Resources has been such an experience for me. Rev. Barbara Kellett, a much beloved, patient, detail-oriented visionary, gave birth to the idea of Stonetree in 1999 and spent many years recruiting an astounding array of volunteers to not only make it happen, but to allow it to thrive.

And thrive it has! Stonetree (available at www.stonetreeuu.org) is a fantastic success. We now list over 200 UU recommended speakers, musicians, artists, writers, dancers and theater groups who are available to visit and share their talents with congregations throughout the district.

Volunteers are now working on Version 2 of Stonetree which will make it possible for resource people to enter and edit their own information, while still maintaining the “UU recommended” designation.

Stonetree could not work without you! Most of our resources are UUs; all of our resources have been vetted and recommended by UUs. If you have any ideas about how Stonetree can help your congregation, please let me know. I am eager to hear from you: director@stonetreeuu.org.

Remember: Any UU can recommend a resource — so if you know someone whom you would like to recommend, then go to www.stonetreeuu.org and fill out a recommendation form! It’s quick and easy, and indispensable.

Dawn Cooley is a candidate for UU Ministry and serves PSD as Director of Stonetree, a volunteer position.