Unitarian Church of Montreal

Youth

Grades 8 through Cégep meet Sunday mornings in the Darwin Room downstairs, supported by Youth Programs Coordinator Curtis Murphy and a wonderful group of volunteers. Other activities include monthly Saturday sleepovers and weekend youth conferences throughout the region.
For dates of upcoming youth activities and fundraisers, please download a copy of our calendar.
Download RE & Hosp Calendar 2011-12

Download RE 2012 calendar

Lend Your Support to Occupy Montreal

This Saturday, November 19, the Unitarian Church of Montreal youth group and its adult allies will be making a field trip to the Occupy Montreal camp in Square Victoria, as part of their sleepover activities. Like everyone else, the youth are curious as to what it's all about, and this is a great opportunity to engage with this powerful and controversial movement.

The group will be taking along a few donations, and would like to offer the opportunity for other members of the congregation to contribute. Those camped in the square are more than happy to receive donations of food for their communal vegetarian kitchen (dry goods, produce, baked goods), as well as blankets and sleeping bags. The youth group will be attending the Bidnite Dinner that same evening; members of the congregation can bring donations to the church and the youth group will be glad deliver them on your behalf. If you have any questions, contact Curtis Murphy, youth program coordinator.

See you Saturday!

Helping your children find spiritual guidance outside an iPod

Religious Education:  Registration for the new year begins Sunday, Sept. 11 and continues until Sunday, Oct. 10.
Classes begin Sunday, Sept. 18.  Following the 'Time for All Ages' on Sept. 11, there will be an all-ages children's "homecoming" program in the Chapel. The nursery will be staffed and available for children too young to participate. The Youth Group will get together separately.
Anyone interested in volunteering for RE, please save Saturday, Sept. 17, for teacher development and Spirit Play workshop day.    

Bake Sale Raises $60 to fight Malaria

On Sunday, May 2, the youth group held a very successful bake sale to raise money to fight malaria. We had delicious cupcakes, parfaits, chocolate pudding pie, and fresh fortune cookies that Alain Lefevre, Alex Connelly, and I made during class time. We raised a total of $60 and we hope to raise enough to reach our goal of $200 by the end of May.  Look for our table in Phoenix Hall or outside the Sanctuary after the services, where we will be selling home baked treats, hand made items, and garage sale goods.

Adventures With the Youth Group: April, 2010

 April 23 to 25 - Senior Youth Kingston Food Convention 

The KUF (Kingston Unitarian Fellowship) hosted a fabulous FOOD convention. We were four youth; Shannon Horan, Andrew Pollack, Trevor Juhl, and Emilie Bryce and myself, Ivy, as youth adviser. The drive down was full of bonding, laughing and making silly games to pass the time.
 
We learned all about the origins of food, the actual taste difference of organic and non-organic foods, we learned about the 100-mile diet, we ate, played games, learned to make fortune cookies,  and enjoyed some beautifully created youth worship ceremonies.
 
The host youth were incredibly organized and generous with both their energy and with all the food we had.
 
At the last moment, while we were ready to leave for Montreal, one of the youth decided we should learn how to dance “The Thriller”. Since we were the LAST to leave (no-one wanted to go) we are the only group that learned it! Woo hoo, go YUTEGRUP.
 
An enormous thank you to everyone who made the weekend so special and for the memories we take home!
 
Ivy Trudel
Jr. and Sr. Youth Programs Coordinator

March, 2010 Youth Activities

March 7, 2010 - Senior Youth CAEO Québec’s SILK Workshop Series (#1)
We had Paul return with new facilitators, Billy and Hannah, to continue the SILK (Sexual Information Leads to Knowledge) workshop series. This time we learned a fair bit about what it means for a word to be "hate speech", and about the history and meaning of certain terms that are often used as hate speech in their everyday environments.
We extend our sincere thanks to the facilitators and everyone who participated!
 
~Telyn Kusilak
Junior Youth Teacher

What the Youth Were up to in February, 2010

February 5 to 7, 2010 - Peterborough Senior Youth Convention Weekend

We had an amazing weekend in Peterborough, Ontario at the senior youth Puppet Convention. Four people in all from our congregation made the long drive to PUF (Peterborough Unitarian Fellowship), Shannon Horan and Trevor Juhl (youth), Steve Wright (friend and volunteer), and me, Ivy Trudel, Youth Programs Coordinator. What a grand adventure. We met so many new people, chatted along the way, and even met a “bat” that flies around PUF’s sanctuary. We learned to make our own puppets, bracelets, and even how to juggle. The youth played a really neat game called “Wink” which as I have now learned, is not for the timid, so roll up your sleeves!

 
At the end of the convention, we participated in “Coffee House” which is an activity where you bring your spontaneous talents to the group and entertain. There were some amazing acts and musically gifted youth; Trevor told the best jokes!
 
Thanks to everyone who worked so hard to organize that event. We’ll see you again!
~ Ivy Trudel, Jr. and Sr. Youth Programs Coordinator 

Youth Group Adventures in January, 2010

January 10, 2010 - Senior Youth Workshop, “Faith Acts Fellows”
 
Maya Smith and Nicholas Pang, came to share with us from the Tony Blair Foundation’s new program called Faith Act Fellows. These wonderful folks have come up with an incredible way for youth groups who are committed to social justice and equality to help support one another in the fight to create awareness through action. Since often times it takes a lot of time, energy an support to meet the goals of fundraising, the Faith Acts Fellows contact and gather youth groups from multi-faiths that are in a similar area, and get youth together participating in one another’s special events. Check the link for more information: www.faithsactfellows.org
 
We have been joined with two other youth groups in our area, Zak’s group at Temple Emanu-El Beth Sholom and Valerie’s group at St. Matthew's Anglican Church. We will be helping them with some of their fundraisers and they will be helping with ours.
 
~ Ivy Trudel, Jr. and Sr. Youth Programs Coordinator

A message from Ivy, our youth program co-ordinator

My name is Ivy Trudel, previously O'Reilly, and I am the new Youth Programs Co-ordinator for 2009-2010. I wish everyone a warm welcome and hope you will join me Sunday mornings in the youth room.  I'm very excited to have the opportunity to meet all our youth and newcomers and to build a wonderful youth group. One of my goals this year is to collaborate with youth to organize a great team of trained youth advisors, like myself, to support our youth in all their adventures and aspirations.

There have been many changes to the youth room which I hope will encourage everyone to personalize the space to fit their needs. We now have a sacred space to put our altar and I invite you to add a special “something” to it when you feel like doing so.

Our Whole Lives - sexuality education

Our Whole Lives (OWL) is the Unitarian Universalist Association's sexuality education for different age groups. It equips participants with accurate, age-appropriate information in six inter-related subject areas such as human development and relationships.

For more information about why we teach - age appropriately - about sex, see Diane Rollert's sermon on this site. For more information, contact dre@ucmtl.ca.