YRUU Steering Committee Speaks!
by Hannah Eller-IsaacsShout Outs from the new and very *gugi Steering Committee (SC)! Kyle Butler, Annie Powell, Hannah Eller-Isaacs (hey man, that’s me!), Laura Manning, Asha Philar, Jova Vargas, Meggie Dennis, Katie Whitworth, the Adult-at-Large, Tim Murphy, and the Board of Trustees liaison to SC, Jose Ballester. We are all very excited to serve as your Steering C ommittee for 2003-2004. Our first meeting is October 23-26. We are all set to attend the meetings and a fabulous anti-racism training that is taking place in New Orleans in January. We were all elected at the 2003 Youth Council, which was held at a Girl Scout camp in Holland, NY.
So in the interest of saving paper, I should probably get down to it. First of all, since you are reading this you are either a youth or a youth supporter, keep up the good work and thanks a lot. Without youth and the adults that support their efforts Young Religious Unitarian Universalist (YRUU) would cease to exist as we know it. This year YRUU is getting very excited and there is the potential for a lot of great changes to take place. However with all this change we need new leaders. I know what is it like to be a new kid in a church. I say, step up to the plate. If you don’t like the way something is done, step up and change it. If you want something done, do it. Don’t just sit around talking about it. Take Action and DO IT! Apply for stuff. There is always some new opportunity around, whether it be in your local church, district level, or continentally. See what’s out there.
Today when I asked my dad what to write about for this article he rattled off a bunch of ideas and of course, being a fifteen year-old daughter, I shot them all down, however one of them stuck with me. Be welcoming. I mean, we can’t have a bunch of leaders who are hostile and who drive people away. I am sure we all know what its like to be “the new kid”, at school, work, church, conferences…anything. As different as we are in lots of ways there are those certain things that tie us together. We must try and tie people in, NOT cut them out. Also don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. It’s amazing every human has such potential. One of my friends once illustrated this beautifully in her C oming of Age speech, “With this faith comes a certain privilege to express it with other people, talk about it, sing about it, and preach it. Most of this goes on in a church or some other place of worship [conferences!] Religion brings people together for all different reasons and church is a safe place for people to unite and practice whatever it may be that they believe in.”
It never really hit me until I was reading through our Coming of Age speeches from last year how true this statement really is. Our faith is a unique one, one which allows for creativity and freedom of the mind. The work that the leaders of our faith do is incredibly important.
“Get up, stand up. Stand
up for your rights”
—Bob Marley.
YRUU Steering Committee
Youth Members-at-Large
Kyle Butler
Meggie Dennis
Hannah Eller-Isaacs
Laura Manning
Asha Philar
Annie Powell
Jova Vargas
Katie Whitworth
Position on Appraisal
Jazmin Sandoz-Rosado
Adult-at-Large
Tim Murphy
Board of Trustees (BOT) Liaison
José Ballester
Youth Office Staff
For more information contact youth @ uua.org.
Last updated on Friday, April 18, 2008.
