Rose, Bud, and Thorn: An Update from the Children, Youth, & Family Advisory Committee

In the spirit of how we check in ourselves at meetings, I thought I’d update you on the goings on of the Children, Youth and Family Advisory Committee in the Rose, Bud, and Thorn format. For those unfamiliar, we open our meetings with the covenant and by sharing about our lives in the context of a flower. The Rose (bloom) is something going well in our lives- something blooming or coming to fruition. The Bud is something we’re anticipating, when we are just seeing the beginnings of something and feeling excited. And the Thorn, oh the Thorn. The Thorn is prickly, something we’re treating with care, something we’re making space for and may need some work around, maybe an opportunity for growth.

Bud: Saturday, May 3rd is our End of Year Celebration for our Volunteers- those who work with our youth and families in Saturday Sprouts, Religious Education, OWL, parent groups, providing childcare, and all the other wonderful ways volunteers support RE programming. We are excited to gather feedback, share a meal, and reflect on our experiences building community together while celebrating the end of our Religious Education year.

Bud 2: We are exploring the expansion of our monthly Wednesday night community gatherings to include a gathering for families on the fourth Wednesday of the month with a potluck style meal. Ideally families experience rotating programming after the meal- one month with childcare provided, parents can meet in a parents group. The next month families will stay together for a family activity. Junior and Senior High youth groups could transition to meeting twice a month at these Wednesday night gatherings. If your kids are meeting in the Junior and Senior High groups, we could have a parent meeting just for you! We are looking to these spaces to add celebrations for holidays, more time for families to connect and build out their community.

Bud 3: Our next meeting will be focusing on the ways we can grow and deepen community among youth and families at First U. We are exploring ideas including a weekly family meet up at a local park this summer after Sunday service, an intergenerational anthropology family event in May, and possibilities like zoom support groups for parents.

Bud 4: We are moving forward with building out another supportive program similar to Saturday Sprouts for parents who are single/solo parenting. If you are a single/solo parenting guru or interested in facilitating and/or attending such a group see below about ways to get in touch.

Rose: Our Youth Programming Working Group has concluded their review of feedback of our current Religious Education programming. Keep your eye out for a much more thorough explanation about exciting transitions in RE- inspired from Youth participant feedback. We also have some amazing additions for our fall start to RE to help parents build community with one another, while keeping resources and information at your fingertips so you know exactly what’s going on each week in your child’s RE experience.

Rose 2: Saturday Sprouts remains well attended and supported by amazing volunteers.Check our website for more information if you need a space to spend time with and without your children one Saturday morning a month. 

Thorn: All of these endeavors to build community for our youth and with each other take volunteers of all kinds- and all ages. We need volunteers, and not just those providing childcare- though we won’t say no if you’d like to help watch children while parents get some time to attend supportive parenting programming! Some recently identified needs for volunteers include those elders who have lots of parenting wisdom to share with our parents who may be struggling right now. Another need is for those who enjoy feeding our families and can contribute with baked goods or treats for family programming and events. If this sounds like you (or if it doesn’t but you want to hang out with youth and families) please reach out to Allison or myself along with any of our CYF Advisory Committee members- Sara Olson, Sarah Heuser, Samantha White, Dylan Flunker, Troi Ferguson, Kirk Cozine, and Johannah Scheurer. First U Members can use the Breeze directory to find contact info. Staff contact: Allison Connelly-Vetter, allison [at] firstuniv.org.

I look forward to seeing you at church,

Annie Holtzclaw