History - Regions
Bringing all of the histories for
Youth Of Unity regions
to one space.
Do you have other information? Everything from photos, information for the pages, or if you want to be considered to be a regional history curator, email us at history@youalumni.com.
Youth of Unity Regions
Youth of Unity regions are based on the regions of Unity Church.
Regions have been having regional events that we know of, since (at least) the 1950s.
These regional events are most commonly called "rallies" however, different regions have different names for different weekend events.
Some regional boundaries exist for certain time periods (some cities are in some regions only during the 1970s). Some of this depended on how Unity's regions have changed over the years.
While it's extremely rare, sometimes chapters have gone to regional events that are not in their region.
In our listings, we are currently using many different first-person accounts from different time frames. We are very open to learning more information.
We defined long-standing regional consultant as having had the role for a decade or longer.
In our writings here, we focus on trying to capture the history, while at the same time, the focus being on being as accurate about present-day Youth Of Unity as possible.
Do you have other information? Everything from photos, information for the pages, or if you want to be considered to be a regional history curator, email us at history@youalumni.com.
Eastern Region
Current Event Structure
Three rallies per year and one leadership event each year.
Fall Rally: YMCA Camp Tockwogh in Worton, Maryland
Mid-Winter Rally: Hosted by volunteer chapters in between fall and spring rally.
Leadership Event: An event for chapter leaders.
Spring Rally: YMCA Camp Tockwogh in Worton, Maryland
One chapter hosted event per year, which is hosted by different churches. This event is called "Mid-Winter Rally."
Regional Officers: Called "Regis" (pronounced Reegees). Four officers are elected at Spring Rally to create a team. At one point, two regional officers were elected and two of the team members were "subregional officers." This later was consolidated.
International Notes: This region has had Canadian chapters attend rallies.
Special notes between Y.O.Uers are called: Love Notes
**Traditions and Historical Notes: **
+at one point, Eastern region attended Southeast region's Summer Connection
+Rallies have banners, and these are collected and taken to multiple events
+some events have yarn fuzzies, some do not
+Eastern region rallies had banners for events, but not for art, but for everyone to sign. Then some events would have multiple banners at them, so you could feel the energy of all of the events.
Eastern Region YouTube Playlist
Eastern Region Photo Gallery
Do you have other information? Everything from photos, information for the pages, or if you want to be considered to be a regional history curator, email us at history@youalumni.com.
Great Lakes Region
Current Event Structure
Three rallies per year.
Fall Rally: Weekend event
Spring Rally: Weekend Event where regional officers are elected.
June Rally: Three or four-day rally before IYOU or conference.
Regional Officers: Called "Regionals or Co-Regional". Two officers create one team of officers.
International Notes: This region has had Canadian chapters attend rallies.
Special notes between Y.O.U.ers are called: Love Notes
**Traditions: **
+At one point, had sweatpants that said, "Great Lakes have Great Legs."
+Possibly the largest Y.O.U. region during the 1990s, hosting rallies and regional events that had over 600 people at them.
+Graduates are serenaded at June rally.
+Frequently hosted chapter dances
Rare City Issues: St. Louis, Missouri is now in Great Lakes, but in the 1970's, this was considered a part of Southcentral region.
Great Lakes Links
Great Lakes Region YouTube Playlist
Great Lakes Region Photo Gallery
Do you have other information? Everything from photos, information for the pages, or if you want to be considered to be a regional history curator, email us at history@youalumni.com.
Northwest Region
Regional Officers: Called "Regis" (pronounced Reegees). Traditionally two officers are elected at Spring Rally to create a team that overlaps in planning Rendezvous (planned by the incoming and outgoing regional officers).
International Notes: This region has had Canadian chapters attend rallies.
Special notes between Y.O.Uers are called: Y.O.U. Grams
Long-standing Consultants: Jackie Green
Northwest Links
Also known as: This region was also called "Western" at one point.
Current Event Structure
Three events per year and a service project.
Fall Retreat: weekend event hosted at Camp Waskowitz, North Bend, Washington
Spring Rally: weekend event Cispus Learning Center, Randle, Washington
Kid's Camp: week-long Regional service project compromised of active Y.O.U.ers acting as camp counselors.
Rendezvous (Summer Event): Week-long event - No physical location (formerly Chewelah Peak Learning Center, Chewelah Washington.
Traditions:
+Kids Camp has existed since the late 1970s.
+observe 12 hours of silence at Rendezvous
+love Mark Stanton Welch
+most events have dances
+most events have Dances of Universal Peace (Duops - pronounced Doowops)
+Rendezvous was created during the late 2000s as a reaction to a lack of International summer events.
Northwest Region YouTube Playlist
Northwest Photo Gallery
Do you have other information? Everything from photos, information for the pages, or if you want to be considered to be a regional history curator, email us at history@youalumni.com.
South Central Region
Also known as:
The two separate regions, that did operate sometimes together:
Central or Midwest Region The north half of these states
South Region The south half of these states
USCR - which stands for Unity South Central Region It has been known as this since 2013, however, these two regions have always operated together - in some capacity.
Current Event Structure
Fall Rally: weekend event hosted by the region
**Spring Service Rally: ** weekend rally hosted by chapters, with a focus on serving the community or area
Legacy Rally (renamed from Bi-Regi in 2013): Longer summer event where regional officers are elected, usually during Father's day weekend.
Traditions:
+Youth of Unity conference, IYOU Event, and a variety of differently named summer events - all of the international events for Youth of Unity were always hosted in this region.
+Midwest/Central - first region to adopt a mascot, which is the cow. The region became known as Midwest Moo Cows and later South followed along, with the mascots of Mickie and Minnie.
+Rally theme is a complete secret until it unveiled during the opening of rally - revealed with a banner. The t-shirt is also a secret that is revealed usually later during rally. This is different than other regions that put the theme onto the flyer for the event and give out the t-shirts at the beginning of the event.
+Legacy Rally (previously known as Bi-Regi) had a long-time tradition of an optional float trip a day or two before the event. Legacy Rally now has a traditional dance, called prom, with a traditional dance theme.
+Dances of Universal Peace or (DOUPs) have had a long time history of being done at every rally, even more than traditional dances.
Regional Officers: Called "Regis" (pronounced Reegees). Four officers create one team of officers. Each regional officer has a mascot based on the sub-regions. The four mascots two cows for the Midwest/Central Region and Mickie and Minnie for the South Region.
**Special notes between Y.O.Uers are called: ** Messages of Love, or M.O.L.s
South Central Links
South Central Region YouTube Playlist
South Central Photo Gallery
Do you have other information? Everything from photos, information for the pages, or if you want to be considered to be a regional history curator, email us at history@youalumni.com.
Southeast Region
Current Event Structure
Two Rallies per year - and a one-week-long event. There are also zone (sub-regional ) events planned.
Fall Rally: Weekend event typically hosted in Florida
Spring Rally: Weekend event where regional officers are elected typically hosted in Florida.
Summer Connection: Week-long event typically hosted in North Carolina or Tennessee.
Regional Officers: Called "Regis" (pronounced Reegees). Two officers create one team of officers.
Special notes between Y.O.Uers are called: Love Notes
**Traditions: **
+At some points during the late 1980s, Southeast had secret pal as a part of rallies.
+Summer Connection is the longest regional event that has been going on for the longest amount of time. (Since the 1980s.) At some points Eastern region attended this event.
+Yarn fuzzies - hugging at the end of rally, and then tying a piece of yarn around the person to signify that hug, is a big tradition at the end of Southeast rallies dating back to the 1970's.
Rare City Issues: New Orleans, Louisiana is a part of Southeast Region, despite the rest of Louisiana being a part of South Central region.
Long-standing Consultants: Carolyn Renfro
Southeast Links
Southeast Region YouTube Playlist
Southeast Photo Gallery
Do you have other information? Everything from photos, information for the pages, or if you want to be considered to be a regional history curator, email us at history@youalumni.com.
Southwest Region
Current Event Structure
Two Rallies, and one kids camp event per year.
Fall Rally: Weekend Event
Spring Retreat: Weekend event where regis are elected
Kids Camp: Weeklong experience for Y.O.U.ers to attend kids camp.
Regional Officers: Called "Regis" (pronounced Reegees). Four officers create one team of officers.
Special notes between Y.O.Uers are called: Appriecio-grams
**Traditions: **
+Has hosted multiple rallies at the beach
+Had a box for appriecio-grams that was carved and intricate
+Have Mark Stanton Welch at rallies and events
Southwest Region YouTube Playlist
Southwest Photo Gallery
Do you have other information? Everything from photos, information for the pages, or if you want to be considered to be a regional history curator, email us at history@youalumni.com.
West Central Region
Current Event Structure
Two Rallies per year.
Fall Rally: Weekend Event or around October
Spring Rally: Weekend Event in May where officers are elected
Regional Officers: Called "Regis" (pronounced Reegees). Since the 1990s - it was two associate regional officers and two regional officers that operated as one team.
Traditions:
+Mark Stanton Welch is from this region
+Tradition since the 1990s to end the Y.O.U. blessing with a buzz
+Regional events also attended by Hawaiians
Long-standing Consultants: Jerry Sharpe
West Central Links
West Central Region YouTube Playlist
West Central Photo Gallery
Do you have other information? Everything from photos, information for the pages, or if you want to be considered to be a regional history curator, email us at history@youalumni.com.
International Region
Not a traditional regional structure, however still considered a region - to honor those who aren't in the United States but still are a part of the Youth of Unity.
The most prominent region outside of the United States is Canada. This is partly because it was so close to the regions already set up in the United States.
Some of the movements of International Youth of Unity include -
The Peace by Piece Era of the 1990s through the mid-2000s: Peace by Piece was made possible by a grant which allowed a variety of youth from different countries to come to America for a few weeks and during that time, attend Youth of Unity conference.
Youth of Unity won an award from the United Nations for this. The results were pretty incredible at the time because despite not having the church, rally, or regional background to attend Youth of Unity conference, these participants were chosen by essay. The impact of the Peace by Piece participants was felt both by conference-goers and the participants themselves.
Unity of Nigeria's Youth Of Unity: The initial age range for Youth Of Unity was 12 to 30 (see our history page on the 1930s and the Nigerian Unity churches were set up by people who heard Charles Fillmore directly via radio. So their Youth Of Unity program has remained active. The one difference that we know of, is that the age range has remained 15-25 even as Youth of Unity stateside has become a high school group.
LoveLight - South Africa: While this isn't directly related, this has a variety of Youth of Unity connections. The LoveLight is a global outreach program created in 2003 initially to support the children and grandmothers of the AIDS orphan crisis in South Africa. LoveLight hosts Ubuntu Camp, which are designed to be similar to Youth Of Unity rallies. Also, LoveLight has recruited Youth Of Unity Alumni who attended IYOU Event (similar to Youth Of Unity conference). Information about that program can be found at International Youth Ambassador.
IYOU, YOU Conference, or the International YOU Summer Event YouTube Playlist
International Photo Gallery
Do you have other information? Everything from photos, information for the pages, or if you want to be considered to be a regional history curator, email us at history@youalumni.com.