How can I get involved?

MUUGs is a fairly large organization, and its run entirely by volunteers. We run 4 weekend retreats a year, along with a weeklong camp. This takes a ton of volunteers, and we are always looking for more support. 

How can I help as an adult?

We are always looking for adult advisers to join our team. For a retreat of 40 youth, it take about 12 young adult and adult advisers, which between 5 events a year is a ton of people. If you are interested in being an adult adviser, you must have been a part of a UU congregation for 6 months, undergo a district background, and have a recommendation from a leader in your congregation.  Please contact our Staff Facilitator. Their contact information can be found on our Contact Us page. 
 
If you are new to working with youth or advising for large weekend youth events, not to worry! We won't be "dropping you into the deep end" so to speak.  Each retreat has an Chief Adult Adviser position whose job it is to help new staff members find their stride and learn how to empower youth.  They also help ensure that everyone gets an opportunity for downtime during the weekend.  

Can I be an adviser if I'm a parent/guardian? 

While we have had advisers with youth attending the same retreat in the past, MUUGs is first and foremost a place for the youth.  To that end we ask that any parent/guardian considering volunteering to attend carefully discuss this with their participant youth.  A member of the Ministry may also wish to speak with your youth as well to help provide them with a safe space in which they can voice their concerns and/or desire not have their parent/guardian present. If you attend,  the rest of staff will help ensure that your youth is in a different touch group than you and generally help make sure they have an opportunity for separation during the weekend.  If both youth and adult are comfortable with the arrangement, we welcome parents/guardians attending MUUGs events.   It is also important to remember that how a youth feels about having their parent/guardian attend MUUGs may change retreat to retreat so checking in with them again each time is important.  

How can I help outside of retreats ? 

There are many options for adults to help MUUGs outside of attending weekend retreats. Here are a few ways:

• Spread the word!: Do the youth in your congregation know when the next retreat is? Help us spread the word by talking to parents, youth, and congregational leaders, getting the date in your church bulletin or newsletter, and organizing a group of youth to attend from your congregation.  
  
• Driving/arranging carpools: PCD-UUA cannot organize carpools for youth due to liability concerns. However we know the driving can be difficult for some families, so an adult to organize carpools is extremely helpful.  Some parents choose to allow our registrar to share their contact information with people in their geographical area also attending the retreat.  If you are organizing carpools for your youth and want this information please let our registrar know. 
• Let us know how we are doing: The Ministry works very hard to put on a high quality program to serve and empower our youth.  This is very hard to do without continued feedback from our youth, parents, guardians, and congregational leaders. 

What if I'm a youth that wants to help?

Fantastic! MUUGs tries very hard to be a youth empowerment organization, which means we are looking for youth to be co-leaders in touchgroups, worships, retreat deans and serve on The Ministry, our long term planning group. There are a lot easy ways to get involved, and we have a ton of resources on how to be a leader. If you are a youth who has attended a handful of retreats and wants to be more involved, talk to the Staff Facilitator and they will help set you up with resources and mentors to be a great leader!