|
BCH Spring 2023 Newsletter
May 17, 2023
| |
|
Spring has sprung here at BCH and our campus is in full swing! This past weekend was the inaugural Hearts and Hands Work Weekend, where a team of thirty one volunteers from all over Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut helped us clean up the campus in preparation for summer.
We hauled junk, painted walls, resurfaced tables, sealed up buildings, cleaned up the waterfront, built and planted three new raised beds full of herbs and veggies that will be used in the kitchen, power washed paths, cleared the remaining debris on the roads from the blizzard in March, and celebrated all our hard work with the first campfire of the season, complete with a gourmet s’mores bar.
| |
On Sunday morning, we closed out our time together with worship in the chapel, singing, reflecting, and sharing communion with one another. The weekend was such a success we’ve decided to make it an annual event, so if you missed out this year, there’s time to get your group and your work gloves ready for next year! | |
|
|
Thank you to all the volunteers who came to help and to the New England Santa Society and Church of the Holy Spirit in Orleans, MA in particular, for pulling together a group for the weekend.
| |
|
Summer Camp 2023
It’s hard to believe it, but camp is right around the corner. This year, our 20th summer, we’ll host one session of family camp and four sessions of overnight camp. Our full schedule is below:
Family Camp
June 30 - July 5, 2023
Overnight Camp
Session 1: July 9-14, 2023
Session 2: July 16-21, 2023
Session 3: July 23-28, 2023
Session 4: July 30 - August 4, 2023
| |
|
Kate Howton, BCH’s Camp Director, has been hard at work interviewing and hiring youth and young adults to staff this year’s summer camp program, and we’re officially fully staffed! This year, we’re especially excited to welcome a Mental Health Advocate to the summer camp team.
As a part of the camp program, the Mental Health Advocate, working with the whole leadership team, will build creative programming that offers counselors, campers, and families workshops, activities, and discussion opportunities surrounding positive mental health practices like emotional regulation, healthy boundary-setting, coping skills, self-care strategies…etc.
It’s our hope that these tools and activities will serve to help us continue to foster and grow an inclusive camp community where love of self, neighbor, and God are at the center, as well as serve as touch points throughout the year as campers, counselors, and volunteers return to their schools, work places, and communities.
| |
|
To learn more about the youth overnight summer camp program, family camp program, or to register for this summer, visit https://bchcenter.org/bchcamp/
There is still space available in all sessions and there are still camperships available for overnight and family camp.
Another way to support the 2023 Summer Camp season is to purchase supplies from our Amazon Wishlist. Any gift helps and we appreciate your support of the BCH summer camp program!
| |
|
With our operations in full swing, we’re excited to welcome more than 30 groups between May and August, in addition to our summer camps.
As we enter our 20th year and rebuild and re-engage, questions of sustainability, mission, and imagination are at the forefront. How can we be better neighbors? How can we tend the property we have and creatively vision for future possibilities? How can we best care for the land and the lake? How might our resources of people, energy, land, and faith intersect with the needs and hopes of our surrounding communities? What new thing might we build together in the coming 20 years?
| |
|
We continue to engage creatively with granting organizations and additional income stream possibilities, and to offer competitive rates that both meet our operational needs and take into account the budget realities of the communities and organizations we serve. But we still rely on the generosity of our wider BCH community.
These last few years have been a challenge for us, as we know they have been a challenge for the whole church community, and the reality is that some things have changed, likely forever. We will not be the same.
As we enter our 20th year of operations, we ask for you to join us in ensuring and envisioning the ministry of BCH into the next 20 years. Your gift to The Barbara C. Harris Camp and Conference Center will help ensure that generations to come have an opportunity to enter into the New England woods and waters in order to rejuvenate their spirit, return to who they are, and discover new ways to love and serve.
| |
|
You can financially support the mission of The Barbara C. Harris Camp and Conference Center by safely donating online with a one-time or recurring gift to the BCH Operating Fund here or by mailing a check to: The Barbara C. Harris Camp and Conference Center, P.O. Box 204, Greenfield, NH 03047.
To all those who have given to BCH throughout the last 20 years, thank you. And to those whose support begins today and carries us into the next twenty, thank you.
The Rev. Spencer Hatcher
BCH Executive Director
The Rev. Michael Hodges
President of the BCH Board of Directors
| |
Volunteer Opportunities: If you're 18+ and interested in serving at camp this summer as a volunteer in any capacity, reach out to camp@bchcenter.org | |
Please note: The Unsubscribe link below will automatically remove you from all mailing lists associated with The Barbara C. Harris Camp and Conference Center.
| |
Barbara C. Harris Episcopal Camp & Conference Center
(603) 547-3400
| | | | |
