Work is love made visible – we live that saying every day at camp at every level of the organization. This summer we’ve been expanding that love and work! Having wrapped up a multi- year process of joining forces with the Ninevah Foundation in May, Farm & Wilderness and the Ninevah Foundation are one – run by a common board of trustees, in service of educating young people in summer camps and stewarding the environment. We are now managing, preserving, and protecting 4800 acres of land, water, and wildlife habitat.
This summer we welcomed four new trustees to the Farm & Wilderness board: two former Ninevah Foundation trustees, Andy Schulz (TL ’67-’69, TF ’70, staff ’73, ’75-’76) and Dano Weisbord (TL ’82’84, TF ’85-’86, TL Director ’98-’99, staff ’87-’97), plus educator Ann-Marie White, and 1199 union member Blake Stewart. This summer’s Camper Council, a bright and thoughtful group of teens representing the overnight camps, wrestled with ways to instill interdependence among the camps beyond events like Interdependence Day and Fair. They proposed creative ideas for cross-camp trips, mixed camp activities, and for raising awareness of all of the opportunities F&W’s programs have to offer.
Tamarack Farm piloted a new Counselor Apprentice program with seven participants who worked at the Barn Day Camp, Indian Brook and Timberlake. We are growing this program next summer and expect the application process (now open) to be competitive. More exciting news at Tamarack Farm is the new half-season option. Some other highlights around the camps include:
- We awarded over half a million dollars in campership this summer. During our first giving campaign at Fair, we raised over $25,000 for campership! This fall, a group of camper parents have joined together to issue an exciting 3:1 parent matching gift challenge to 2018 families to encourage more parent participation in supporting F&W.
- We started a new partnership this year with St. Regis Akwesasne Mohawk tribe and had 9 campers from the tribe.
- 14 teens completed the 272-mile trek of the Long Trail from Massachusetts to Canada this summer.
- We celebrated Tulio Browning’s 10th summer at Timberlake and we are sad to share that he will not be returning next summer.
Finally, in keeping with our values and social justice education work, our pre-Fair dinner program was a powerful, thoughtful experiential activity in which we considered our origins, our history both as individuals and as a community. Molly Rose Kaufman (SAM ’91-’93, BDC staff ’00) and her colleague Aubrey Murdock, led us in meditation, reflection, and discussion of how F&W may observe and participate in next year’s 400th anniversary of the arrival of slaves in Jamestown. As F&W celebrates our 80th anniversary year, there’s a tremendous opportunity to examine our past, our impact on our social and physical environments, and to grow and learn with an eye to the future. I hope you’ll join us in this venture.
Watch for details in upcoming emails.