It is important that we remember the distance we have traveled in 12 years. Those few among us who participated in the RE program at the Society in 1983 will tell you that a total of 12 children were enrolled in classes. If a family was absent on a Sunday, they were missed. It was a small but cozy and supportive group of three classes taught by paid teachers and led by a director who worked between seven and ten hours per week.

Then something wonderful started. In the next year, 1984, double the number of children enrolled for RE classes. In 1986 parent volunteer began to share the task of teaching 47 Unitarian youngsters. Room dividers were erected in 1988 for the 90 enrolled children. Small children have a habit of growing up, so, in 1990, a Youth Group was formed to meet the needs of the youngsters once formal RE classes had ended. The RE program literally outgrew the building in 1991, so the older children met in off-site rental space. The space squeeze in the classrooms mirrored what was happening in the Great Hall. Options for Growth and the Facilities Task Force were called upon to fashion a future where there was room for all. The two-service structure that resulted from their recommendations encouraged and welcomed more adults and children. By the fall of 1994, a whopping 192 children were enrolled in the 15 rich and creative classes and Youth Group. This year more than 60 adults generously volunteered to teach these youngsters. Throughout these years of change, the Director's hours and responsibilities have increased to keep pace with escalating program demands. To guide the current battalion of volunteers, paid teachers, children, parents and youth advisors requires 30 hours a week from our Director and 10 hours from her Administrative Assistant.

In the summer of 1994, enrollment in RE classes was capped and a waiting list was instituted. Quite simply, demand for service outstripped the RE program's ability to provide it. Even in our beautifully renovated space we physically could not fit more children into the classrooms without sacrificing educational quality. Foremost on the agenda of the Society's leaders is finding a way to make room for every single child who comes through our doors. Plans are in place for a complete range of RE classes at both services next year, which will serve about 230 children. Additional staff will include a half-time assistant to the Director and a Youth Programmer.

Clearly, something extraordinary and wonderful is going on. In these frantic times, parents do not ask their children to give up precious unstructured weekend hours to attend Sunday School because of some abstract notion of what is "good" for them. Children come on Sundays with questions about life and death, their world and families, their joys and hurts. Their teachers don't pretend to know the answers, but encourage the children to continue to seek and question. The children are celebrated as unique and marvelous individuals, and grow to accept differences in others. Not only are they accepted as individuals, they are embraced in a community which shares a moral and ethical vision. It is a safe place in an increasingly frightening world.

These are special children, for they are being raised Unitarian Universalist, something many of us cannot claim. Each and every one of us has an obligation to these children. We are all partners in their religious growth. We have entered into an agreement to support, nurture, and educate them because they are part of our religious family and our religious culture.