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Annual Report of the Outreach Committee
2001

Paula Thompson, Chair

2001 Outreach Committee Report

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. 

Uversa Book Distribution

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                     

Work With Other Fellowship Committees

Domestic Extension helped IFC distribute the following gift Urantia Books internationally:

Spanish Books      84

  38 - Mexico

  1 - Argentina

11 - Ecuador

       33 - Chile

          1 - Peru

English Books               112

       10 - South Africa

    1 - Romania

      20 - Israel

    1 - England

        40 - West Africa

   40 - Canada

The 2001 Study Group Directory

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.

Creating New Study Groups

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. 

Annual Meeting

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