Director of Religious Education Monthly Report
November/December 2003

Program and Teachers
Teacher Recruitment – Amazing as it seems, it is already time to start recruiting for volunteers for the next term. Good news on the Middle School front is that Linda Wagner has stepped up to fill the advisor role with Daniel Blades. Elizabeth Albrecht and Keith Barger have volunteered to assist in that classroom. I will be checking in with assistants and teachers throughout the month to see how many are continuing on.

Child Care Needs: A second childcare provider will be hired for the last three Sundays of December. Many of the parent volunteers cannot help because of the holidays. And other volunteers have stepped down due to other commitments arising.

Special Events
Advent Garden – The Garden was beautiful as usual this year. We estimate 150 people attended throughout the evening. Many thanks to Daniel Blades, Joy Hanisworth, Jane Wagner and Myles Knebel for providing the greenery for the evening. Also, to Nannette Graves and her pod of set-up helpers and those who pitched in at the end to clean-up John Mauro and Stina Lane-Cummings.

“Would You Like to Hold the Baby” Christmas Pageant - Rehearsals will be on the 13th and 20th this year. Hali Burley has signed up to become costume coordinator for the pageant! We are hopefully borrowing stage pieces from Edgewood Elementary this year. Six adults, 6 youth and 24 children will participate in the pageant this year! Not including kids and adult choir, and the background folk who will help with the stage, props and backstage! WOW!

Youth
Middle School Community Service Project – The first round of collection of Warm Wear went well. The youth were surprised at the already overflowing box! Fliers advertising the January 10 event were sent out early December to social service agencies in town. We have asked them to help us get the word out to families.

Campus Ministry
Campus folk are planning a service for when Carolyn is on sabbatical. They seem very excited and are getting a head start on planning by holding a meeting this month.

A few members of the group also attended the Twenties and Thirties potluck. At lest 14 people attended evening and we provided childcare for 3 children of young adults!

Winter Plans
After the pageant and Christmas Eve service, I will be heading out to the coast for a couple of days and then I will be heading off to Eliot Institute. I am the Children’s Program director for the camp and will be bringing Pam Dillehay from our congregation as staff!

Respectfully submitted,
Candee Cole

Director of Religious Education Monthly Report
September/October 2003

Teachers and Program
Teacher Recruitment – I am missing the following positions in R.E. At 9:00: 2 Assistants in preschool and 1 in Infants/toddlers. This has been the most challenging recruitment year in my history here. In the first 3 weeks, several people were ill or away. We have had a bit of stressful moments patching and filling in.

Family Worship – Our first session began October 5. Rich Glauber, local musician told a story and played guitar and accordion! The kid’s choir sang a lovely song, and the children had candle lighting. The theme was “Our Family Quilt” – how all of the people who make up this church family are a life quilt.

Youth Explosion! We started the year with 9 youth…we have now 18 on the list! They are crammed all cozy on couches and pillows in room 1 and are organizing a committee to work on programming. They hope to create a “Youth Adult Committee” this year. Several of the new youth are girls who have moved here from other UU congregations out of state. Some a very new and some are attending because of the upcoming conference in Lincoln City.

New Room Update and Needs – The Middle School and some adult groups have already enjoyed using the new space. And the heat is more than adequate, almost overkill in there! The room still needs a few things and it is unclear at this point who will make it happen.
&Mac183; Exterior needs some more paint and wood trim
&Mac183; doors need more paint
&Mac183; the handles need to have the push button locks removed (or new handles)
&Mac183; it needs it’s own group of stackable chairs (we’re borrowing from room 5 right now)
&Mac183; and blinds.
It is great to have this! Hooray to those who pulled it all together!

Playground Repair – The first weekend of October, during a wedding rental, the slide was broken by some older kids. Charlie Eckerson swooped in when he heard my damsel in distress call and put on new wood sides and a couple of support legs.
Another plastic slide has been donated by the Trotter family. I am looking into installing that on the other platform.

Childcare Struggles – Our wonderful Peg Gearhart announced last month that she was not able to continue in the position of childcare lead this year. I went through the process of hiring another applicant, Lindsey Ochs and she had her first day of training last Sunday. Unfortunately, she is in her final year in the teacher education program and classes were not working out for her, so she too had to step down. So now we are in semi-crisis mode for Sunday morning childcare. I am on the hunt for an appropriate people and may need to piece together parents until a person is hired. Peg Gearhart will be finishing out this Sunday the 12th.

Curriculum Highs and Lows – The curriculum has started out with a bang this year. The kids in K-5 grade have “gone back in time” now twice. The first trip was an accidental visit to the Pleistocene era! But in October, the older kids went back to meet Transylvanian Unitarian King, John Sigisimund (1568 played by Micheal Mattick). The younger kids met Universalist and founder of the American Red Cross, Clara Barton (1880s, played by Ellen Pinney). These events are grand, but overall, the program needs and curriculum plan writing is making me struggle to keep up. I continue to write the Middle School lessons, one month at a time…thankfully my MS advisor team is patient and very excellent with last minute plans.

Computer Highs and Lows – We received a newish computer from Patrick Phillips and Kay Crider. It is a 1999 Dell. I have installed it at home and have brought the other aging (1997ish) Hp here to church. The computer that was donated by the Colwells last year is slowly dyeing in one way or another. I spend a frustratingly inordinate amount of time dealing with computer issues...setting up, installing, uninstalling, email quirks, screens going kaput…I am very thankful to have this newer version to do my work on. And I have purchased a new screen for the older set-up, and plan to dump and reinstall to see if I can get it to work more smoothly. After I clean off the box from the Colwells, it will be donated unless the board requests otherwise.

Events and Special programs
OWL for K-1 and 4-6 – the O.W.L. team has been working hard to get ready to start up the program this Spring. They are planning a series of articles for the newsletter to educate the congregation about the program. The very organized and energized team, Judy Shaw, Peter Powers, and Karen Austin will be contacting parents of kids in K-1 grade and 4-5 grade to attend an upcoming parent information meeting.

Coming of Age – Laura Adams will be working with me this month to start the process of planning a rites of passage for our 8 and 9th graders. This program will begin in January or February and will include a mentor program, writing a credo statement, leadership retreats, vision quest and much more.

New Family Orientation – We offered an orientation night in September. It was poorly attended. One family arrived. Information will be sent out in written form to new families.

Youth
YRUU Conference/Mission Vision Workshop – the Fall Conference is being held in Lincoln City on the same weekend as the Mission/Vision workshop! We are sending 12 youth and all three advisors to the conference. I have been in contact with Doug Walters, the workshop facilitator and he has given me some resources so that the youth can discuss their vision of the future over the next two weeks. Advisor, David --- will lead them in a discussion on values and a visioning exercise, asking them to think about the kind of church they might see themselves at in 5 years…

Youth Sleepover – the youth hosted a party and sleepover earlier in October. It was a fun night with a business meeting, group games, and some Dungeons and Dragons!

Middle School Pizza Party and Trip to Haunted Corn Maze – The Middle School met for pizza and laughter this month in their new room. They took some time to decorate it a bit and make plans for future fun outings. They will be meeting for a fun scare this Sunday night the 12th to attend the Haunted Corn Maze out at Lone Pine Farms.

Young Adults and Campus Ministry
Campus Group – The Campus Group leaders met earlier in October to plan events for the month. They have decided to not meet each Sunday and to plan some events on different nights of the week. They have planned a discussion about the “Truth About Columbus” this Monday night the 13th, and have also planned a Midnight Cookie Communion and pumpkin carving!

Regional Campus Ministry Conference - A conference was sponsored by the UUA Campus Ministry Office in Berkley in September. Two leaders of our local group drove down to attend. Jan Dubofsky and Rian Heriot represented our congregation and brainstormed with other leaders and coordinators how to best serve/reach out to campus age young adults.

Religion Fair at U of O – I with a couple of campus folk will be staffing a booth at U of O this month to promote the group and provide information about the church. October 21, 11:00-1:00

Respectfully Submitted,
Candee Cole, Director of R.E.

Report from the Director of Religious Education
May/June 2003

Teachers and Program
Closing Circle – June1 was our closing circle day. The teachers brought in treats and special activities to celebrate the year. We held a small good bye party for Griffin Colwell since he and his family are movign to Pennsylvania. At the end of each class, we gathered the whole group together on the playground to say thank you to the teachers and to share what was the most meaningful. The kids shared a lot about lvoing sleepovers and the visitors and activities during the year.

Final Family Worship – The last Family Worship for summer was held on June 1 and was held as a sing-a-long. Songs were led by Pam Dillehay and myself. Candlelighting was very meaningful as many more kids than usual felt comfortable enough to come up front to light.

Graduation- About 35 of the 52 graduates attended the 2 services on Sunday the 8th. Children were given gifts and certificates from their teachers. There is a very large group of kids moving into the Middle School group this year and the need for an extra class for them is pretty evident!


Events and Special programs
OWL for K-1 and 4-6 – I will be meeting with Peter Powers, Judy Shaw, and Karen Austin this summer to plan upcoming O.W.L. classes for the Fall and/or Spring

Summer Program – The program “Lessons from Dr. Seuss” will be led by Nannette Graves-Johnson and Aubree Johnson. The 11 session program will include stories, songs, games and crafts around Dr. Seuss stories. This will be for kids in grade K-5. Childcare and activities for younger childrenw ill be planned by Alicia Meriaho-Enloe. Because we are unsure of the attendance numbers this summer,we are hiring an extra childcare provider to be available for June and early July.

RE Committee had the final meeting on June 10 where we said thank you and good bye to Karen Gaffney, who is joining the board. The group had planned a retreat for late July.

Youth
General Assembly – Tickets are bought for Patti Hansen (advisor), Aubree Johnson, and Nick Hewko, our youth delegates, however, we have received word that the youth did not receive scholarship money for GA this year. Thankfully, some money was given to Patti Hansen to help take off the pressure.

YRUU Conference – This year’s con in Canada was fantastic. Youth and advisor alike came back saying that it was fun and well organized, maybe even the best they ever attended! It was held in Vancouver at the University.

Youth/Young Adult Sunday and the Bridging Ceremony was held on May 18. The personal reflection by Jennifer Sorenson was very inspiring, especially for me and other adults who worked with her in youth group. The day was pulled together by a great group of youth and young adults and Bridgers, Joe Snyder Kloos and Jon Rinkle were honored.

Young Adults and Campus Ministry
Campus Group has finished for the summer. They have just submitted an application to the University of Oregon to become an official campus group. Group leaders Jan Dubofsky and Rian Heriot will meet with me and others who are staying locally to plan Fall activities.

Respectfully Submitted, Candee Cole, Director of R.E.

Report from the Director of Religious Education –
February/March 2003

Teachers and Program
Teacher Appreciation and S.U.N.N.Y. Sunday has been scheduled for May 4. This year, the R.E. committee will offer a worship service in appreciation of our amazing volunteer team. They will also hold SUNNY Sunday (Sign Up Now for Next Year) where new volunteers are recruited for the following year.

Buddhism Unit – Our Buddhism unit was very successful. The visit from Ejo McMullen was well received by the children and Middle School classes. Ejo brought in objects used in meditation and chanting, led the children in a short meditation practice and taught them a chant. Ejo spent the whole morning with us, presenting to the 3-5th grade at 9:00, visiting the Middle School class at 10:00, and then coming back to be with the 2-5th grade at 11:00!

Events and Special programs
Earthkeeper Potluck and Sleepover was a grand success. Approximately 20 children in Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade participated and 18 slept over. The children were led in games by Susan Goes and had some parachute play with me, as well as played together peacefully and participated in crafts. Many, many adults were available for support for this event! Loving thanks to all of them for helping to create positive and fun memories for our little ones! And the potluck was fantastic! Lots of pasta and kid friendly food! Yum!

A Camping Task Force met on March 9 between services to get the ball rolling on a summer camp out for UU families with children/youth. A half dozen folks turned out to divvy up researching sites, organizing an email list, etc. They have a few dates in mind and are planning to check back in together to make another meeting date. Some interest was expressed in the group to find a way to connect families up to combine camping trips on an individual basis as well. For example, if a single mom wants to network with another single mom to combine their camping plans, thus providing support to each other…

It’s Egg Time – We will be starting to think about eggs and Easter very soon! First Sunday in April is the Egg making party date! Easter is on the 20th!

Youth
Sr. Youth are excited about General Assembly in June and their upcoming conference in May. They are also participating in the worship service/Bridging Ceremony on May 18. On March 8, they gathered together for a day of volunteering at the Food for Lane County Youth Farm, where they were fed free Andrew Smash food and fruit juice smashies!

The Middle School class Portland trip was a success with 9 youth participating. I went with 3 other adults, Amy Nadolski, Myles Knebel, and Elena Ross, and we ushered the youth all over town! We visited OMSI on Saturday afternoon from 2-5:00. Then we went over to the Buddhist Zen Center, Dharma Rain, and sat in the Zendo, chatted with a monastic and a young adult member of the Zendo. Our kids asked great questions! We then went out for Chinese food on Hawthorne Street and spent the night at West Hills Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. The next morning we were up at 7:00 and on the road to 1st Unitarian Church in downtown Portland. We joined with the 9:00 7th grade class to hear a Moslem speaker. It was really nice to hear a female perspective. Our visitor in early winter was a male, so this presentation was different! We then headed to 23rd Ave. for shopping, although we were a bit disappointed as some of the shops were not open till later. We had lunch in a park in the rain, and then loaded our muddy kids up and headed for home! It was whirlwind trip, but everyone had a great time.

Willamette Valley Jr. High Conference – I am starting to gear up for the conference in April. My co-planner, the DRE from Washington Co. UU have a nice schedule planned for the kids. We are planning to have Dances of Universal Peace, a trip to Splash!, origami folding, plus many other activities for the UU youth who will attend from Corvallis, Salem, Portland, etc. We are hoping to get about 25 kids!

Young Adults and Campus Ministry
Campus Group is getting new life breathed into it. Larger groups have been held over the last few Sundays and plans are being made to create a richer program in April. The group has decided to meet the 2nd and 4th Sundays each month, and occasionally plan other activities on different dates. In April, the group has planned to have a worship service, a dream discussion, to visit the Four Square worship service, and to join me in an outdoor full moon ritual.

T-N-T – The 20s and 30s group are holding a Potluck and Games night on March 16.The last gathering offered childcare and we had several young couples come! This time again, TNT will offer childcare and hopefully do some more organizing and planning for Spring and Summer.

Respectfully Submitted,
Candee Cole
Director of R.E.