The end of 2024 was a whiplash experience – a super retreat in Cologne (thank you Derek and the rest of the retreat planning team); our online AGM (thank you, Marcie McGaughey for writing about it for this Unifier); a final CC meeting, and then a quick-paced rush into the end of the year, with normal busy life happening, plus managing the pragmatic & emotional reality of the end of my tenure as president of EUU. This year of 2024 was a “2-retreat year” (yay!!) and I am grateful for every single person who put in their efforts to create the spaces and experiences that have allowed us all to find each other and to learn more about ourselves within this complex, amazing world.
Fellow officers Jutta Hamm, Emily Searle-White, and Bonnie Friedmann have been a pleasure to work with this year, together doing our best to support the mission and goals of the EUU, having fun together and creating stronger-than-ever bonds and friendships. I am sure that this kind of fun is what both past-president Carolyn Burlingame-Goff and incoming president Bonnie have in mind in their vision of a stronger EUU, and I look forward to the continued (and wider) spread of this ethos within our larger EUU community.
Thank you to all EUU Coordinating Council (“CC”) Reps – Thank you for all the time and communications that hold together our At Large EUU members, as well as “fellowshipped” EUU members. For every report you have written for pre-meeting notes so that the Coordinating Council has a better picture of what is happening within Member Fellowships. For every report and article and question that you have taken back to your respective group from the CC meeting space. For every question or concern you have brought to a CC meeting from your respective group. For all the thought, listening and ideas that you bring to CC meetings. Thank you!
Here are some updates about EUU’s administrative structure:
- A new page has been created on our EUU website to improve organizational transparency and awareness for all EUU members.
- The “Safe Community task force” – consisting of Eva Kortekaas, Tony Zamparutti, Linnea Rolfhamre and myself, Karen Kyker – has worked over the past 2 years to bring to fruition a “EUU Safe Community Statement,” officially accepted by our community at our Fall 2024 AGM. In addition, this group has provided a detailed outline for a “EUU Safe Community Policy,” briefly presented to the Coordinating Council in the Fall of 2024.
All members of this Safe Community task force have decided to end their current involvement (all for personal reasons), with hope that the structures now available will be sufficient for other EUU members to continue in this important work, to create a policy (an operations manual) that we all feel good about. Thus the current “Safe Community” task force has dissolved itself. Those members of our EUU community who would like to continue this work should contact: officers@europeanuu.org.
- The “Retreat Grants task force” has been dissolved. Thank you Tony Zamparutti, Shulamit Levine-Helleman, and Sharon Marshall for the time and thoughtfulness put into this work over the past two years, resulting in an updated approach to retreat grants that has been integrated into our retreat registration system. There remains unfinished business (looking at alternative pricing structures for retreats), but the energy necessary, and sufficient widespread desire to pursue these new ideas has evaporated, and although this topic is probably worth pursuing, it would require a task force focused specifically on that topic.
- The “GDRP task force” has been dissolved, following the completion of a review of the GDRP law and our compliance with it. Thank you, Derek Suchard, for the work you did on this task.
- You will have seen elsewhere in this Unifier edition, a summary of our 2024 Annual General Meeting, presenting a few changes in our bylaws and policy manual.
As I reflect on working so intimately as a part of EUU, I am musing on a couple of “parting ideas” to share as I leave this particular role in EUU…
- Desires & wishes – People-pleasing personalities (such as my own) can get overloaded with the desires and wishes of others (and my own). It has been helpful for me to be challenged (thanks, friends!) to determine if an idea of something to do falls within my job description. It is healthy to reflect some of those expressed desires back into the public space of our community, to be addressed, if necessary, by others.
- Hats – It is a good thing for leaders to be able to say, “I’ve checked my hat at the door” at retreats and at other times of involvement in our community. Officers and other leaders need not always be “on duty.” New leaders are more likely to arise and thrive when they are encouraged to set boundaries. Let’s support our new officers and other EUU leaders as we all move into the new year, by encouraging and respecting the setting of boundaries and limits.
And so, having removed my “EUU president hat,” I am pleased to plan on continued active participation in our rich and diverse community, at retreats and online, in various functions, as we all move forward into the new year. I look forward to seeing you soon!
In warm and loving fellowship,
Karen Kyker