Dear Congregation,
I have exciting news to share! Thanks to your generous support, the children have almost raised enough money to get a simple backyard playset! However, their proposal for a playground included a commitment to create something that would be accessible for children with disabilities, which is a costlier endeavor but could result in an incredibly needed ministry in the Greater Danbury area.
We have a decision to make. We will have a different path to take if we want to keep things simple, inexpensive, and fast than if we want to take care to nurture in the children the values that made them propose a playground that could be used by all children, so no child coming to the congregation would find that they can’t access the play equipment here. How committed are we to joining the children in that endeavor, and can we do that without slowing things down too much so that the children who proposed the playground will have one to play on before they get too old to want to play on it?
I have seen this congregation generously make resources available for things you value. If you think we should support the children in manifesting their vision for an accessible playground, are you able to put a seed donation toward this vision? If we had a donor or two who gave us a total of, say, $5000 toward this vision, it would signal to the children (and the board) that they have support for additional fundraising. Please reach out if this is of interest to you!
Warmly,
Sierra-Marie
Upcoming in Children and Youth Ministries
Nursery care for children ages 0-3 is available during services on Sunday mornings, or caregivers are of course welcome to keep their children with them during services.
During the program year, children over the age of three are invited to attend the first part of the service with the adults. After the story portion of the service, these children have the option to go to children’s programs. Our teen youth group (8th-12th grade) takes place on designated days and times.
• Friday, May 4: Regular Sunday morning programs; Youth Group meets Sunday evening
• Sunday, May 11: Last day of regular Sunday morning programs for the program year; Youth Group meets Sunday evening
• Sunday, May 18: Multigenerational Service in the morning; Youth Group meets Sunday evening
• Sunday, May 25: Celebration Sunday! We will have a program celebration as we begin to bring our program year to a close.
Note that on Sunday, June 1, we will have our Senior High Sunday and Bridging ceremony. On Sunday, June 8th we will have our flower ceremony. Both of these are multigenerational services that will wrap up our program year.
Volunteers Needed!
This is the time of year when we turn our attention to program planning. Children, youth, and family plans for this summer as well as the upcoming school year will depend on volunteer availability. However, it is still very important to match people with the right volunteer roles for them. If you are interested in volunteering, please send an email to dre@uudanbury.org with the following information.
• Frequency: How frequently are you interested in volunteering (once or twice during the year; three or four times during year; once or twice per month; most Sundays)?
• Type: What inspired you to reach out? Are you interested in helping with planning, preparation, or committee work, or is your preference to work directly with program participants?
• Style: What is your preferred style of interaction (for example, do you prefer to be in charge, or are you more interested in mutuality; do you like to have structure or do you prefer to interact in more flexible ways)?
• Age: Is there a particular age group with whom you are best suited to work?
• Skills: Do you have a special skill you can offer the children’s community in either behind-the-scenes or direct work (some examples might include making music, telling stories, creating props and sets for stages, art of any type, etc.)?
• Connections: Do you have a connection to a community organization with which we could partner for social action events?