When the Fellowship began, it was almost entirely run by volunteers. Then, as staff was added, they supported the work of the volunteers. Then, after many surveys and discussions, there was a shift in the early 2000s to a desire for more professionally led services and programs. This is when Alison was hired. I am so thankful that she spent 17 years cultivating a collaborative environment between volunteers and staff. This was a shift for both the Fellowship and a departure from the fellowship movement within the UUA from which we came. It is a culture that I am excited to bring my 13 years of professional religious education experience to (June 3rd is my ministry anniversary).
All of this is to say that, though we are religious professionals, we can’t do this without your help. In the children and youth RE world, we need MANY volunteers. Children need more help. We need extra teachers in the classroom for safety. Some can’t read or sit still. We also break up our classes into smaller groups (based on age and stage) than adults do. We also don’t have enough professionals to step in when a volunteer can’t help as a Sunday morning service can.
On top of this, one of our primary calls is to raise our children to be good UUs so that they can make the world a better place. A Jewish proverb says, “Train up a child in the way they should go; even when they are old, they will not depart from it.” So our Children’s and Youth RE program, and the vital volunteers that make it work, are critical to our success as part of the Unitarian Universalist movement.
I want to thank all of our volunteers for making this program happen last year. With the pandemic, uncertainty in COVID surges and whether, and a Director of Lifespan Religious Education was getting their feet wet in a new place. If you know an RE volunteer, say thank you, hug them, buy them a coffee.
Now I turn to every person reading this article. If you are a Morristown Unitarian Universalist Fellowship member, I ask you to help us out. As you will see in the following pages, we are trying something new. We are asking teachers to sign up for just six weeks at a time. Each teacher will be given a curriculum for the unit they are teaching and any resources needed. Each teacher will be background checked, and we will also be offering CPR and First Aid training for all teachers. You can also see the schedule so that you can plan ahead. We expect that you will be present in most classes.
This all may sound like your typical desperate plea for more volunteers. It is not. I want to offer you a significant opportunity to further the UU movement. A chance to teach our children about justice, peace, and love. And I want to say if you have read this far and are saying to yourself, “this sounds good, but I don’t know if I’m any good with kids” or “middle schoolers make me nervous,” let’s chat. Kids aren’t that scary.
If you are someone with educational experience, a parent or grandparent, or someone with a passion for children, OR a passion for the topics being taught, please let me know if you are interested (dre@muuf.org).