Wednesday, December 30, 2009

We're Seeking to Build a Network of UU YA Houses - Help Us Get to GA In Minneapolis!

Dear Friends,

In Summer 2009, we started hosting UU circle worships out of our house in Oakland, CA, which we call the Light House. We sought to rekindle old bonds from our YRUU days and to keep the participatory liturgical tradition of our youth alive.

We've found that this way of organizing our young adult community combines the deep bonding we shared in our youth and young adult conferences with the local presence of a regular congregation and the intimacy of a potluck among friends.

We've had such success with the Light House project so far that we are planning to move into a larger house this upcoming fall, and we've begun work on creating a national grassroots network of community houses for UU young adults.

We're actively looking for people who are interested in starting or supporting partner houses to hold events for UU young adults in their own cities. We envision a funding structure that can help our communities offer regular, local, free events that engage with our communities and our generation in an open and creative spiritual forum.

We want to share this vision with the UU community nationwide. To do this, we are committed to offer a space in the Exhibit Hall at General Assembly 2009. This space will help us connect with potential funders and house organizers nationwide, while also offering a space for GA attendees to create temporary intentional community.

We need to raise $1000 by January 15 to reserve a 10x20 space in the Exhibit Hall. This goal could be reached with 100 small donations of $10, or 200 donations of as little as $5.

Would you pledge $5, $10, or any amount that makes your heart sing, to engage the national community in building a grassroots network of young adult communities?







We truly believe that together, our small investments in this effort will make a huge difference in helping young adults nationwide keep the faith in community over the coming years. Please donate today!

And if you are interested in starting a house, or have any questions, please drop us a line at free.unitarians (at) gmail.com.

In faith and fellowship,
Michael Tank
Suzanne Bernardi

Thursday, December 24, 2009

December Events on the road to being a great success!

Our solstice celebration in collaboration with Moishe House Oakland was a great success. We had at about three dozen folks join us from around the Bay Area, and the night went on late with singing and dancing and accordion music. I will share pictures as soon as I have a link to them!

FUUN is also holding its first Young Adult conference at the UU Church of the Mountains in Grass Valley, CA. We'll have over 40 young adults from throughout the West attending.

We're also brainstorming on having summer retreats for leadership of the autonomous movement, and working on launching our January fundraiser to offer an autonomous young adult space at General Assembly 2010, with which we hope to promote the idea of a national network of YA houses. Stay tuned for all these exciting developments!