A Note From Recent History:  Report from UU in the Pines, March 1997

SOS Retreat in Florida Turns Into Working Session

(Reprinted from SOS National News column on unhooked.com, March 1997)

The fourth annual SOS retreat at UU in the Pines in Brooksville, Florida, March 7-9, 1997, turned out to be a productive working session that will bring important changes in the way SOS is organized.

There was a strong consensus among the SOS activists present that it was time for a larger amount of membership participation in the decision-making and administrative process of SOS. Toward that end, the gathering chose a provisional national steering committee of nine members to take charge of five big projects that confront SOS in the coming period.

The members of the provisional national steering committee are Dick Smith, upstate New York; Ed Batis, Los Angeles; Jim Christopher, SOS founder, Los Angeles; Jim Monroe, upstate New York; Mark P., Tampa Bay; Marty N., San Francisco Bay; Paula B., Tampa Bay; Ron C., Los Angeles; Tom Shelley, Tampa Bay.

The first of the five big projects is a nationwide census of SOS members and SOS meetings. The census will begin with a letter to convenors and recent contacts, based on a mailing list compiled by the Clearinghouse. SOS activists in several regions will follow up with telephone contacts. This project is set to begin almost immediately.

The second big project is to transition the SOS International Clearinghouse financially from a subsidized status to financial autonomy. Since 1990, the Clearinghouse has operated at an annual deficit. The Council for Secular Humanism (CSH, formerly CODESH) has subsidized its operation, but has indicated that its resources are limited. The transition to financial self-sufficiency for the Clearinghouse is projected to be substantially completed during the next twelve months.

The third project is to publish the updated edition of the SOS Group Leaders Guidebook. The Guidebook update is within a few weeks of being ready for publication. In keeping with the new autonomy theme, SOS will form its own publishing arm to produce and distribute this pamphlet.

The fourth project is to organize a domestic speaking tour for SOS founder Jim Christopher. Christopher will be speaking in the UK during April but will be available for domestic engagements afterwards.

The fifth big project is to organize a national SOS convention at which the provisional steering committee will hand over the reins to a regular national leadership body elected by the membership. Time and place are still in the discussion stage.

The UU in the Pines retreat gave SOS "a great boost of energy and enthusiasm for the hard work ahead," said Tom Shelley, organizer of the event. Further questions can be addressed to tshelley@gte.net.