Outreach Committee Report
2004
Greetings Friends,
In 2004, Outreach Committee welcomed the talents of Bobbie Dreier, Mary Jo Garascia and Maria Downing to our ongoing efforts.
Bobbie Dreier surely needs no introduction. She has served our Fellowship and The Urantia Movement with energetic enthusiasm for 30 years. We are deeply grateful to have Bobbie’s help. Bobbie will be managing the Study Group Directory and Study Group correspondence in general.
Mary Jo Garascia, from Denver, fell in love with The Urantia Book 20 years ago as a result of the local society’s outreach efforts at the People’s Fair there.
Maria Downing, from Boulder, was introduced to the teachings 10 years ago while serving as a hospice nurse.
Both Mary Jo and Maria are passionate in their love of The Urantia Book and dedicated to outreach. Outreach Committee is blessed to have the talents of these two splendid women. They are currently working together on the new Urantia Book Speakers Bureau and are doing a fantastic job.
Outreach Projects
Booth Outreach – Expos
In 2004 we supported the efforts of local readers in having an outreach booth in the following locations:
Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Spokane, Oklahoma City, Kansas City, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts.
Many thanks go out to committee members Jo Ann Wiedman and Mary Jo Garascia for personally traveling to Minneapolis and LA to help with the booth outreach activities in those communities. We also express our deep gratitude to the many volunteers (too numerous to name) in the communities listed above, without whom, outreach with The Urantia Book would be impossible.
In addition, Outreach Committee sent a booth to the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Barcelona, Spain, where we introduced the book and its concepts to hundreds of religionists from around the globe. Outreach Committee was instrumental in getting over 50 Urantia Book readers to attend and participate in the Parliament, including international readers from Mexico, Africa and Pakistan. We also contributed to a scholarship for long-time Urantia Book Reader, and Interfaith Committee member, Steve Rohrbach, to attend the Parliament. Steve was awarded the honor of being the Parliament’s official photographer. His images of the Parliament can be viewed at the following URL: http://www.cpwr.org/2004Parliament/photos/parliament14.htm
Gift Books
In 2004 Outreach Committee shipped donated books to Palestine, Pakistan, Greece, Newfoundland and Africa.
Study Group Directory
We maintained the online directory of domestic study groups as best we could. However, we are encouraged that now with Bobbie’s wonderful help we will be able to make this service more accurate, accessible and accommodating.
The Urantia Book Speakers Bureau
After years of having this project on our wish list, we finally launched the Urantia Book Speakers Bureau. Mary Jo Garascia and Maria Downing have been instrumental in spearheading this project and getting if off the ground. A letter of invitation went out in the Mighty Messenger and we were delighted to get back responses from interesting and uniquely qualified speakers. A website is being created with the help of local web designer and UB reader Kara Blake. The site is a work in progress but can be previewed at http://www.ubookspeakers.org/. Our goal is to have qualified speakers available to speak on The Urantia Book and related topics in every state. For more information on this program please contact Mary Jo at: pilgrim_mj@yahoo.com or Maria at: Maridown@aol.com.
Mary Jo will also be managing Speakers Bureau meetings at IC05. Please check the message board at the conference if you are interested in attending.
The UB Contact Project
We launched a contact person program via the Mighty Messenger calling for interested persons from around the country to submit their name if they are willing to be a contact person for The Urantia Book in their area. Our goal is to have a contact person in every state, and especially in those places where there are no study groups as yet. We will be adding this information to the Study Group Directory online.
As always, the members of Outreach Committee are deeply grateful for the blessings of truth given to us by this magnificent revelation and we are ever thankful to be able to serve in sharing it with the world.
The Outreach Committee of The Urantia Book Fellowship
Paula Thompson – Chair
Jo Ann Wiedman
Bobbie Dreier
Mary Jo Garascia
Maria Downing