Retreats in a Box Project Receives Grant from the Fund for Unitarian Universalism At their May 2003 meeting, the Fund for Unitarian Universalism awarded Murray Grove a grant of four thousand dollars to help develop a retreat planning resource tool called Retreats in a Box Retreats in a Box will be a series of modules designed to offer retreat planning resources to Unitarian Universalists. The modules will share some core components and will focus on enhancing congregational health and effectiveness through the use of retreats. The prototype, Governance and the Retreat: Maximizing the Process to Enhance Community, will focus on retreats for UU boards of trustees. Having witnessed the results of both well and poorly organized retreats, we decided to initiate the creation of a series of modules that would not only be utilized by groups at Murray Grove, but the Unitarian Universalist community at large. In the future, additional modules will be designed for a wide variety of retreats including entire congregations; Coming of Age groups; church committees; young adults and youth groups; men's and women's interest groups; spiritual development; and the wide spectrum of subset groups within a congregation. We are grateful to the Rev. Harry Green, District Consultant for the Metro New York District, who has agreed to be our partner in the development of this project. He and Murray Grove's Executive Director, Ellen Chulak, will be working over the summer with boards from the First Unitarian Society of Plainfield, Plainfield, NJ; UU Congregation of Monmouth County, Lincroft, NJ; and First UU Fellowship of Hunterdon County, Baptistown, NJ, to test board retreat goal setting and evaluation processes for use in the board module. In addition, a great many individuals including UUA staff and others from across the country have agreed to serve as readers to give input to the final product. Keep a lookout for a Retreats in a Box premier coming to a church near you in the summer of 2004!

Thanks to All These Groups Who Recently Made Murray Grove Home For the Weekend... Or Longer! Continental UU Young Adult Network (C-UUYAN) Training Retreat UU Congregation of Monmouth County Congregational Retreat Housing and Community Development Network Training Community Church of NY Congregational Retreat UU Women's Association Women's Retreat Rutgers Zen Community Meditation Retreats American Ethical Union National Committee Meeting American Ethical Union NY Area Board Meeting UU Church in Cherry Hill RE Committee First Unitarian Society of Plainfield Coming of Age Group Diverse and Revolutionary UU Multi-Cultural Ministries (DRUUMM): First Annual Fall Conference Metro New York Renaissance Module RE Training Toms River High School East Peer Leadership Training several Family Reunions UU Ocean County Congregation New Years Eve Party UU Church in Cherry Hill Senior Youth Group Rutgers Emerging Leaders Training First Unitarian Society of Plainfield Board Retreat American Ethical Society National Leadership Meeting Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County Coming of Age Retreat Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Somerset Hills Leadership Committee First Unitarian Church of Wilmington Youth Group Joseph Priestley District Women and Religion Conference JPD-UUYAN (JPD's UU Young Adult Network) Toms River Intermediate West Peer Leadership Training American Littoral Society's Casting for Recovery Morristown Unitarian Fellowship Coming of Age Group Metro NY District Board of Trustees Retreat Hebrew Tabernacle of Washington Heights (NY) Shabbat Retreat Action Reconciliation Service for Peace (young German peace activists) UU Congregation of the South Jersey Shore Board/ Congregational Retreat Church of Religious Science of Montclair Congregational Retreat Unitarian Church of Staten Island Congregational Retreat Gateway Soccer Academy Community Building Support Initiative BuxMont UU Fellowship Congregational Retreat Zen Baseball Hightstown High School Peer Leadership Training Quaker Lesbian Conference First UU Congregation of Hunterdon County Metro NY District Youth-Adult Committee Summit UU YaYas.