The Prairie Fire is published by Prairie Unitarian Universalist Society on the 6th and 21st of every month. View past issues at www.uuprairie.org/ newsletter/

Input Deadlines:
Calendar items, announcements, and program descriptions are due on the 1st and 15th of each month. Please send to Dan Klock at admin@uuprairie.org or call 271-8218.

Sunday, September 25, 2011, 10:00 a.m. "21st Century African Youth Movement," presented by Dennis Glover.

The Twenty-First Century African Youth Movement (AYM) is a nonprofit organization operating in the United States and Sierra Leone, founded by Sierra Leonean native Abu-Hassan Koroma.  Dennis Glover met Mr. Koroma in Madison and the two began working together to improve AYM in America and planning to launch the humanitarian program in Sierra Leone.  In November 2006, Dennis traveled to Sierra Leone to live among the local people in the town of Mattru Jong, himself as a volunteer, recruiting other locals to become volunteers in a new community organization that would improve the lives of everyone in the community.

Contact Us:
President
Barbara Park
barpark@gmail.com
608-273-8775

Director of Religious Education
Rebecca Malke-Eliganti
dre@uuprairie.org
695-3435

Editor/Administrative Assistant
Dan Klock
admin@uuprairie.org
271-8218
Office hours: M – F
10:00 to 1:00

Prairie Websites:
Home Page
http://uuprairie.org

News Group http://groups.yahoo. com/group/prairie news/

Views
http://groups.yahoo. com/group/prairie views/

Social Action http://socialaction. madisonwi.us

Humanist Union http://humanist. madisonwi.us

How shall we run our society? That's the question we will be answering this fall. Our current governance structure poses a number of problems for us. We have too many committees, too large of a Board, too many responsibilities placed on a few individuals, too broad a range of responsibilities for certain positions, and too much set in stone in our Bylaws. These problems make it hard for us to make good decisions and respond to changing needs of our society. We want our structure to empower our society and the people in it, and help us flourish rather than hold us back. The Board has been talking about changes to our governance for a few years, and it’s time to take action!

We will reevaluate the size and composition of the Board, how committee chairs should be chosen, how long someone should commit to this type of service, and related issues. The Board has some suggestions, but we need your help to figure it all out. We will have three sessions to discuss options and make decisions about how to change the way we lead our congregation.  We will NOT be working on Bylaws at these governance sessions. The Bylaws will be rewritten separately after we come to a decision about what we want. There is a deadline - Bylaws changes that are needed to implement our plans need to be approved by the congregation by the end of January so the Committee on Committees knows what positions they are filling in the Spring, and folks know what they are signing up for. We encourage all of you to attend the governance sessions so we hear all points of view. Please mark your calendars:

Session I - Sunday October 9, 11:45 am to 1 pm

Session II - Saturday October 15 during the MINI-RETREAT, time to be determined

Session III -A Sunday to be determined, 11:45 – 1 pm

Watch for a handout with background information that will help you understand why we are having this conversation and the full range of issues we will be discussing. Hope to see you there!

Rachel Long, Chair, Long Range Planning