2000/2001 was a good year for the Outreach Committee. With the help of numerous volunteers we introduced the teachings of The Urantia Book to thousands of individuals, distributed hundreds of gift books, produced the Study Group Directory, and generally worked on creating an awareness of the Fifth Epochal Revelation.
Booth Outreach
In 2000/2001 we did 8 shows in 8 cities, including: Phoenix, Ft. Lauderdale, San Francisco, Spokane, Denver, Allentown, Kansas City, and Los Angeles. We estimate that in these eight shows over 100,000 people became aware of The Urantia Book.
These outreach efforts constitute a tremendous amount of time and effort of the part of Outreach Committee. In addition to the up-front planning and preparation, we typically send a trained facilitator to coordinate volunteers and procedures. This person donates more than 30 working hours just at the show, not to mention their travel time, training meetings, set-up, teardown, accounting and follow-up. It’s no snap schlepping the heavy booth around in airports either. For this reason my heartfelt appreciation and gratitude are extended to Robin Jorgensen, LuAnn Harney and Doreen Heyne, all committee members who spent one or more weekends facilitating expos in 2000. A great deal of credit must also be given to our dedicated local liaisons, unsung heroes, who help us coordinate these events at the local level, and the many readers who volunteer in the various cities we go to, without whom these efforts would be impossible.
The following literature was distributed at these shows:
Soft Back UB 103
Hard Back UB 31
Spanish UB 38
Index 3
UB Excerpt Brochures 4,561
Life After Death Magazine 58
When Things Go Wrong 11
Intro to The UB by D. Bradley 10
Universe Art Foldouts 105
M. Sprunger Brochures 128
Fellowship Brochures 400
Study Group Directories 300
In addition, we distributed other great secondary works, made personal contact with hundreds of people who signed our mailing list, provided numerous Urantia Book readers an opportunity to serve as outreach volunteers and exposed the book to thousands of potential seekers.
With the help of Jesusonian Foundation, Domestic Extension distributed 340 Uversa Press books for the following purposes:
Youth Book Program 45
International Gifts 112
FlOWERS 50
Societies 20
Prisoners 16
Website 100
Individuals 3
Domestic Extension helped IFC distribute the following gift Urantia Books internationally:
38 - Mexico
1 - Argentina
11 - Ecuador
33 - Chile
1 - Peru
10 - South Africa
1 - Romania
20 - Israel
1 - England
40 - West Africa
40 - Canada
The directory was completed in time to be distributed at the beginning of 2001. This year, in an effort to stimulate study group awareness and growth, in addition to mailing the SGD to every study group listed, we also mailed one to every person on the Fellowship’s membership list.
Committee member LuAnn Harney deserves our grateful recognition for her tireless efforts to provide an accurate and useful directory every year for 5 years now.
Outreach Committee worked on, but did not yet complete, the Study Group Starter Kit.
However, we did include a one-page reference in the 2001 Study Group Directory
called Twelve Secrets For A successful Study Group.
In addition, the Study Group Directory includes a category called “Will Host.” This category represents individuals in a given area who have no study group but are willing to host one. In every area where we have a “Will Host” listing, we have sent out letters to other readers we know of in that area to let them know that a study group opportunity exists.
The members of Outreach Committee have initiated their own Internet discussion list to allow us to discuss current projects and new possibilities on an ongoing basis. So far in 2001 we have done some interesting new outreach with various Urantia Societies, including an ad campaign on the Art Bell radio show. But you will have to wait until next year to hear all the details of this.
We lost the talents and dedication of Doreen Heyne this year as she is now serving in the capacity of Secretary General for our Fellowship, but we happily gained the enthusiastic participation of Bob Buselli. Welcome aboard Bob!
As always, it is an honor to be able to do this work on behalf of The Urantia Book Fellowship and The Fifth Epochal Revelation. We look forward to increased opportunities to serve.
The Fellowship’s Outreach Committee:
LuAnn Harney
Robin Jorgensen
Brian Smith
Bob Buscelli
Maria Downing (ad hoc)
Les Jameson (ad hoc)
In faith and friendship,
Paula Thompson, Chair
Domestic Extension Committee