2008

Family Day

October 12, 2008

Changing Your Search Engine Will Support Camphill Village

Change your search engine to GoodSearch.com and for every search you make, Camphill Village will receive $.01. Although a penny seems hardly worth the effort, if 100 supporters search the internet just twice a day, we receive $730 for the year! The more searches made in our name, the more money that is raised for us. GoodSearch is powered by Yahoo and is an excellent search engine.

Go to www.goodsearch.com and select Camphill Village USA as your charity of choice (if cookies are enabled on your computer, Camphill Village USA will remain as your charity, so you won’t need to enter it for every search).

Go to www.goodsearch.com/toolbar/ to download the toolbar to your computer. And now you are ready to search the internet and raise funds for Camphill Village! Pass this information to your friends, family and business associates. Not only is GoodSearch an opportunity to raise funds, but it is a wonderful way to make people aware of Camphill Village and its people.

Documentary Available as Video

Copies of our one-hour documentary film, Let Each Light Shine: A Portrait of Camphill Village, and our 15-minute film, Camphill Village: Inside a Special Place, are available on DVD. Contact Carolyn Race 518/329-7924 x 100 or carolyn@camphillvillage.org

Camphill Village Makes Front Page News

Camphill Village was featured on the front page of the Times Union in an article entitled "A Place to Belong" written by Steve Barnes, Senior Writer. Beautiful photographs of the Village by Philip Kamrass, Staff Photographer for the Times Union, enhanced the front-page story. Another Times Union writer, Frances Ingraham Heins, contributed significantly to the story. Fran spent two full days in the Village, visiting workshops, gardens, houses, working in the Bakery and joining villagers and co-workers for lunch at Kaspar Hauser. Many villagers, co-workers and staff contributed to the success of this story that has resulted in inquiries from potential volunteers, villagers and donors. Above all, we have captured the admiration of a skeptical group of journalists from a major regional paper who each say that they can't stop telling people about the beautiful community life they discovered hidden away in the hills of Columbia County.

To view the article, click here, “A Place to Belong” or call Camphill Village at 518/329-4851 and request a copy.

Reprint permission was granted by the Times Union.

Nicole's Story: Some of My Friends…
by
Nicole Surman
June 2008

Let That Love in Your Eyes Shine

Here is my dear Susie. She is one of my first friends at Camphill. She gave me a tour of the village on my second day. She calls me her village friend and each time I see her she has a picture to give me that she has drawn. They are all the same, but it is as if the message that it portrays is exactly the one I need. Sometimes I think that she can listen to my soul, no matter how I try to hide. She gives love unconditionally to me, no matter how unresponsive I am. I have learned a lot about love from Susie.

Inside is Out

After being in the village for about a month I noticed that in each person I can see myself. This is particularly true with Marian. Marian

She is a very sensitive person in that she takes nearly everything personally and to heart.

There are many times that I see her struggling externally with something that I struggle with internally. I feel that she is the physical embodiment of my inner struggles, but the difference with me and her is that I know how to create a balance for myself. Marian is unable to do that for herself and so I am her rock (so to speak).

She told me that she gets frustrated because she can't put into words how she is really feeling. She says she uses the wrong words many times and then she is misunderstood. I told her I completely understand.

I hope she knows how much she does for me and for others. Although her love can be considered extreme, to be with Marian is to experience a pure sense of love... one that is without limits.

I found that in listening to her and helping her to be at peace I am that much closer to tranquility.
She is love... and I am thankful for her honesty...

We have this sort of understanding now that: words aren't fully capable of truly expressing the inner workings of our souls and so there are many times that we resort to just listening to each other in another sense, by being with each other in a way that we are still giving each other our full attention just without words.

When Frances Smiles the Sun Comes Out to Greet Her
and the World Could Not Be Sweeter for a While.

Frances is one of the villagers here at Camphill and a close friend of mine. She found my computer camera to be silly. She kept giggling and it took me forever to get this picture. She is very special to me. She is very interested in dolls, still at the age of 66. Frances

She is a very imaginative individual and her ability to create a completely separate world of her dolls and then come back to the world that I am a part of is phenomenal. This use of imagination reminds me of the hope for the future. For it is in being able to imagine another world from this one that we can create ideals and strive towards a better world.

My Little Sister

It was difficult when I first got here. I missed my family and wondered if this change in my path in life was right for me.

Saskia In times of transition it is important to have support. This such support can come in many different ways. Mine was in Saskia. She is the daughter of my house parents.

I can truly say that she is like a little sister to me. She is one of those rays of sunshine that you stop what you are doing to take in and appreciate.

Trust

Living with Karen has changed my view on what it means to love. I thought I knew what this was, but our relationship had me investigating this subject.
She and I kept a journal together and many of the worries and concerns she had were some that I myself struggle with. Karen

Together we faced many difficulties that I had never been able to articulate so well as she can. I think that our friendship is a supportive one that Karen needs in the house, where she can get neglected at times because she is so capable while many of the other villagers need a great deal of care. However, this support is mutual. Karen also supports me. She is very sensitive to others and there are times where I am not feeling well for whatever reason and so Karen will reach out to me with a hug or a kiss and this gets me out of the funk.

It is nice to know that someone is listening so closely. I think this is Love: full attention.