May 7, 2000

Dear Friends,

The 2000-2001 District Directory information is needed in the office soon. You can access this form online at http://www.cyberstreet.com/uuFld/forms.htm or use the enclosed form and return to the District office. The website is interactive so you can fill it out and forward it directly to our office. Please take a good look at your map and make sure that a stranger could find you if they wanted to. Sometimes the maps are so obscure that folks have trouble when they try and join you for events and worship. Thanks for your attention to this important detail.

Put the date for the Fall Leadership Conference on your calendar now! We have invited all the candidates for President of the UUA and Moderator of the UUA Board to attend our conference to be held in Orlando on December 1 and 2nd. The entire group will be making only six appearances in Districts this campaign year and ours is one of them. I urge you to take this opportunity to talk in your congregations and clusters about your concerns, dreams and issues and bring those to the forum. More information will follow.

The Renaissance module, “Developing a Philosophy of Religious Education” will take place in Orlando from June 8-10th. This is a fundamental course if we are to help our congregations ground their RE offerings in the tradition and possibility of our UU movement.

Many of the New Presidents will gather in East Orlando May 12-13 to talk about their transition into that role. It is a great opportunity to network and address those issues that are most significant to the new lay leadership of your congregations. It is not too late to apply, so call the office and we will get you in contact with the coordinator.

The registrations for the Florida Leadership School are due soon. Have you chosen the best and brightest in your congregation to attend this week-long training event in November? I urge you to look around you for the future leaders of our movement and make this investment in them,your congregation and our wider movement.

General Assembly is a wonderful event that gathers thousands of UUs from around the continent together for fellowship, learning, worship and stimulation. This year GA will be in Nashville. We will welcome two of our Florida congregations into affiliation with the UUA at this event and will celebrate appropriately. Please join more than a hundred others from this District who traditionally attend. Call the office for details.

I look forward to the summer and the down time that it affords. May your spirits find peace and you energies be restored in the time that stretches before us.

In Faith,

Mary C. Higgins