Lindsay Caddle LaPointe is a life long Unitarian Universalist, dancer and friend. If she is not writing the people in her lives love letters or dancing at your wedding she can be found dreaming up projects like the WHY ARE YOU YOU? documentary, podcast and mugbook. 

For the past 12 years she has been a collaborator in the multigenerational dance company Peter DiMuro/Public Displays of Motion.  Performing for audiences on the Rose Kennedy Greenway, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, The Hatchshell and the list goes on…

After graduate school she found a love for teaching adults and college students. Working with the students in lessening the hierarchy in the room.  She doesn’t have all the answers.  We all can offer something to each other.    

Jason is a Unitarian Universalist minister and movement leader working at the intersections of faith, queer liberation, and prison abolition. He founded and led Black & Pink, a nationally networked grassroots organization working to meet the immediate needs of LGBTQ/HIV+ prisoners while simultaneously working to bring an end to the prison industrial complex. His work has focused on organizational development, coalition building, national advocacy, financial sustainability, interfaith connections, and grassroots care through organizations and congregations. He brings two decades of experience in community organizing, abolitionist movement building, collaborative leadership, pastoral care, and theologically grounded action. In ongoing efforts towards collective liberation, he is committed to offering accountable and grounded leadership, with a non-anxious presence, during challenging times.

Matt Meyer (he/him) is a lifelong Unitarian Universalist who came of age in YRUU, shaped by youth worship and singing. Since moving to Boston for a hand drumming degree, he travels as an itinerant worship leader, bringing the good news of Unitarian Universalism to hundreds congregations all over the country through rhythm and song. Matt serves as the Director of Operations for Sanctuary Boston, a contemporary UU worship community that centers music and ritual. 

Dawn MacKechnie is a lifelong Unitarian Universalist, and creative spirit. By day, she’s a graphic designer with more than 20 years of experience creating beautiful things; by heart, she’s a spiritual guide, children and youth ministry director, and lover of meaningful community.

Dawn currently serves as Director of Children and Youth Ministry at the Unitarian Church of Barnstable, where she creates engaging programs, intergenerational worship, and all-ages experiences rooted in wonder, creativity, and connection. She is also the executive producer of the documentary Why Are You You? and has lead many gatherings centered on spirituality and the arts.

Whether she’s designing, storytelling, facilitating, or helping people discover their own unfolding path, Dawn brings warmth, imagination, and a deep belief that connection can change us.

I was born and raised in Houston, Texas. I was dedicated as a baby at the 1st Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston. My family later attended Emerson Unitarian Church. In my adolescence, I returned to 1st Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston and remained a member at 1st UU for the next 30 years.  

Through my mother’s family, I am a 7th generation Unitarian.  Her family first settled and later joined the Unitarian church in Braintree, Massachusetts.

In my mid 20’s, during a year of study in Austin, Texas, I met my life partner, Lee. We married in 1996.  We lived in Houston, Texas till our move in 2012 to Decatur, Georgia. Lee is a professor of Psychology.  

We have two daughters.  Our oldest is a young adult who recently graduated from college.  Our youngest is in 5th grade and attends the local Quaker Friend’s School.

As a family, we enjoy playing lots of games, preparing meals together, making art of various media, gardening, and being outdoors. Apollo, our family’s pet cockatiel, is a beloved family member too.

Rayla D. Baldwin-Mattson is a Religious Educator, trained OWL Facilitator (Our Whole Lives), parent of two adults and one child who have gone through the OWL program and someone who, as an adult, decided to reclaim their sexuality.  Rayla identifies as a kink based, poly-sexual, poly-amorous individual. Rayla uses no pronouns and generally prefers to be called just Rayla. However, Rayla is currently okay with them/they pronouns. 

Abi Harper, LMT was been in practice 2001-2020 but still likes to teach and thinks how we let ourselves feel in our bodies, how we treat the bodies of others, is an important part of a living in a balanced and rad world. The massage workshop is based on one that she taught at a Con at UUCPrinceton around 2004. Abi works as a children's librarian and in her free time, Abi enjoys singing lead in her Devo cover band and eating the free snacks at coffee hour at church. She is sad that her 1996 YRUU Cult Victim shirt hasn't fit for a while.

Rev. Nathan Ryan is a Credentialed Religious Educator who is currently serving as the senior minister at the Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge. More importantly, he was the RE liaison when he was on the Southwest District's YAC from 1997-1998. Highlights of his time in YRUU include getting email addresses added to mugbooks and requiring singing the chorus of Wreckx-n-Effect's smash hot "Rump Shaker" whenever someone zoomed a zoom zoom in silent football.

I am Nan Moore who served 20 years in Unitarian Universalist churches as a Director of Religious Education and Family Ministry. I was deeply involved in YRUU at the local and continental level as an adult advisor for: co-leading trainings, for social justice conferences, Youth Council, and 10 years serving on GA Youth Caucus staff.  I also initiated Commitment to Community, a program of inquiry in regards to the use of drugs, alcohol and the impact usage had on YRUU youth individually and communally.

The year YRUU ended, I participated in a four-year Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital while also serving as DRE at United First Parish Church (UFPC) in Quincy MA.  After CPE I worked for seven years serving diverse socioeconomic communities in and around Boston as a Spiritual Care Coordinator (SCC) with Good Shepherd Community Care Hospice.  As SCC I provided end-of-life care for adults and children, family support, bereavement, pediatric palliative care for children with life limiting illness and provided community memorial services. 

I took a sabbatical from hospice due to compassion fatigue, and completed a two-year certification program in UU Spiritual Direction in Rowe MA.  In 2019 UFPC ceremonially affiliated me as a Commissioned Community Minister and where I serve to date.  I also have a private Spiritual Direction practice, lead workshops, officiate memorials, weddings, and life celebrations.  Today I live half time in Forres Scotland and half time on Cape Cod.  

It is with delight and excitement that I am able to join you for this upcoming special weekend united by what was learned in YRUU and anchored in the five steps of building community…..With love and gratitude ~ Nan

Julie is a lifelong Unitarian Universalist and started going to YRUU conferences in Michigan and at the continental level at age 14.  She holds the record (unofficially, but we're pretty sure) for attending the most Con Cons as a youth (8). Back in the 1980s and early 1990s, she served on the YRUU Steering Committee, was Con Con Dean in 1991 and served in the YRUU Youth Office from 1991-1992.  Julie became an attorney and recently dedicated her career to workplace investigations, helping resolve claims of harassment and discrimination using her leadership skills, empathy and world view gained from her time in YRUU to help identify with victims and resolve conflicts with compassion and cooperation.

Outside of work, Julie fills her cup by spending time with her husband Shawn, their two kids (13 and 11), two dogs, and one cat in their home outside Boston, and by escaping to the mountains of New Hampshire whenever possible.

Reverend Julie-Ann Silberman-Bunn is a lifelong Unitarian Universalist, she grew up in the Trenton congregation which later became Washington Crossing, and spent her youth and young adult years in the congregation in Princeton. Rev. Julie-Ann has served as a Parish Minister, Religious Educator, Hospice Chaplain and Hospital Chaplain. Julie-Ann is a chaplain with Harmony Hospice and part-time contract minister at the The First Parish Congregational Petersham, Unitarian Church. Julie-Ann is an author of chapters in Everyday Spiritual Practice and Living a Call Julie-Ann reflects frequently on what it means to be a Unitarian Universalism and evolving her understanding of faith, spiritual practices, and quality of life.

Julie-Ann and her husband Ken live in their forever home, a cabin in the woods of Western Massachusetts with their rescued Norwegian Forest Cat, Miss Honey.

Heather Roy is a holistic wellness practitioner and mother whose work bridges clinical care, movement education, and creative, systems-based leadership. As a nurse, certified Pilates trainer, and yoga instructor, she is grounded in both the science of the body and the lived experience of supporting it through change, stress, and healing.

Her professional path also includes years of experience guiding fast-paced, people-centered environments and working in hands-on creative design. Together, these roles have shaped her ability to attune to both structure and flow—understanding how systems function, how environments influence well-being, and how thoughtful design, whether in a space, a routine, or a moment of care, can shift the nervous system toward balance.

Her personal journey with Lyme disease became a profound turning point, leading her beyond conventional frameworks into an exploration of the nervous system, vibrational healing, and the body’s innate intelligence. Drawing from both her medical training and lived experience, Heather integrates homeopathy, sound therapy, movement, and nervous system regulation into a multidimensional approach that is both practical and deeply attuned.

Heather has a knack for translating complex concepts into accessible, embodied understanding. She speaks openly about the nonlinear nature of healing, and how stress, trauma, and disconnection can shape the body—while also offering simple, sustainable practices that support resilience and restoration.

As a mother, she is especially passionate about bringing these principles into everyday life, creating meaningful rituals that help both adults and children feel safe, connected, and present.

At the heart of her work is the belief that healing is not about fixing what is broken, but about remembering what is already whole. She brings warmth, clarity, and depth to spaces that invite reflection, connection, and collective renewal.

At 17, I made a fake ID to get a chalice tattoo. At 27 I stopped going to church. At 37 I took off my chalice necklace. 

Now, I'm 47 and I have many tattoos; I need a new necklace. I have a couple of motorcycles in my garage, a couple of kids in London, a couple of decades until I retire from my ESL professor life. My dog is big & fuzzy. 

Bruce Boucek is a life-long Unitarian Universalist. While a teenager his family were members of the Unitarian Society of Germantown and he was an active participant in YRUU.

He is a 3rd generation UU; his grandfather William P. Jenkins was a well known UU minister (both in Toronto and Rochester). As a youth Bruce was active in regional and continental activities. Some of his longest and deepest friendships are with YRUU peers. When Bruce moved to Providence in 2007 he and his family became active members in the First Unitarian Church of Providence and he was one of the senior high youth advisors there for nearly a decade. In recent years he's been less active in the church but has been volunteering as a youth lead at Star Island's annual Life on a Star conferences. In his professional life Bruce is a design school GIS and data librarian. He likes helping people make maps!