It was pretty well-attended during the cold, dark winter months, but once summer came, people wanted to be doing things outside. All who attended said they enjoyed it very much, and we once made a special point of asking some of the older members of the church to come. A few did and it was wonderful. We are looking forward to doing it again. It was (and is) a nice way to build community!

Peggy Patten, Green Street Church, Urbana, IL
Our RE Committee is putting together a survey to solicit parent input about ways we can build community among youth and parents within our church. Our Committee has brainstormed some ideas we've seen (or heard about) work at other churches (UU and nonUU) and have summarized these in a survey-type instrument to see if there is interest in these ideas OR if parents have other suggestions for us to try at our church.

Our goal is to implement some regularly scheduled activity at church that would help build more connections between the youth and adults at our church while also supporting parents in their role.

I've summarized a couple of the activity ideas we are posing in this survey:

1. Pizza & Parenting Discussion Night to occur monthly. Parents & youth enjoy a pizza dinner together and then separate out: kids doing activities supervised by paid caregivers; parents meeting to discuss issues related to raising children according to UU principles.
2. Parents Night Out to occur monthly. Children and youth share a meal together and then are involved in games/activities supervised by parents or other adults at our church who do so on a rotating basis while other parents have a "night out."