In a time where social distancing is a must, nothing makes me happier than being able to stay connected to our camp community through Zoom. Being able to see everyone’s happy faces when I’m so far from them has become the highlight of my weeks. — Danika Moody
message from louise (founder and director)
Dear Clapping Hands Farm Camp Community,
Our Community Zoom on August 1 was a Talent Share and it was an incredible night! Sarah Perry shared an original song that she had written THAT evening, skipping supper to have it ready for us, and recording it in her car just in time for our gathering! We had a puppet show from Nikki Butler, a song from Finley DeWolf age 4, a song from Odin, Teli shared a kora piece, Jahmal played guitar, Danika read a poem, it just went on and on, wonderfully, too many people to name! Jimmy and Mardi sang in harmony, Emerson Croft sang too.
And the moment that GOT ME was when Em appreciated Mardi and Jimmy, saying, “If it weren’t for you, I seriously don’t think I would BE a musician! And I can remember the exact moment it happened. . . . We were all under the shade tree. We were singing together. Maybe it was Art Party and there was a guest artist? I think I was 10. Anyhow, when the song was done, Jimmy, you leaned over and said, ‘You have a beautiful voice.’ No one had ever told me that before.”
Camp is fertile ground for transformative moments. I didn’t remember Em’s “I’m a musician! This is my Destiny!” moment. I wonder if Jimmy did. Sometimes we don’t learn about these things till a decade later! But it’s a good reminder of the power of noticing, the power of saying stuff out loud, the power of reflecting back to our campers the genius we see and feel and hear.
Mari captured our chat as we were closing out the night. . .
If you can’t imagine camp on Zoom, please, give it a TRY! I absolutely LOVE my felting workshops. I would not miss a Friday night Community Zoom if I could help it. We’re doing it. . . . there is genuine beauty and connection going on in our workshops and gatherings. “Loads of love” as one of our camp moms said. If we haven’t seen you all summer. . . We Miss You! Please join in!
Fall 2020 PROGRAMS!
My son was so sick of Zoom activities by the end of the school year, we almost didn’t sign up for Design Camp. I’m SO glad we did, though! It turned out to be his favorite thing this summer. At the end of each session, he was always disappointed that it didn’t last longer. Kat and Louise did such a great job designing (ha!) this camp to allow for maximum support and encouragement with minimal staring-at-the-screen time. After trying several “real life” activities that moved onto the Zoom platform, I can honestly say that Design Camp did the best job transitioning to online while maintaining the playful spirit of the in-person experience. We’ll definitely be back! — Carrie Boone
online workshops
Our online workshops are yummy, hands-on, creative experiences! We are offering four workshops this Fall. Scholarships available.
- Quilting with Kate Hibbard
- World of Felting with Louise Omoto Kessel
- Felt Studio for Experienced Felters with Louise Omoto Kessel
- Mbira Build and Play with Teli Shabu
FALL 2020 ONLINE WORKSHOP REGISTRATION
community zooms in August!
8/14/2020 GAMES NIGHT!
Zoom link for GAMES: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0oceytqzkvEtR1D2kciC8bzRr9BBeGyDFx
8/21/2020 BIG FINALE! PLEASE COME!
This will be kind of like our Friday Night Potluck and Sharing but via Zoom! Our SUMMER WORKSHOPS will have something to share! (If you were in a workshop, your teacher will be in touch!) The program will include Latin Dance, Felted creations, beautiful Quilts, Adinkra Prints, and art from our youngest Art Party campers, Music played on handmade Mbira’s and Talking Drums, and more!
We want food and hanging out to be part of it, but are still getting the details for that part together. We’ll post our plans on the community zoom page!
Zoom link for BIG FINALE ZOOM: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYsdu6oqzgoEtUZDrp5ifj129J9MqCf-iE-
community zoom gatherings continue on first and third friday nights this Fall!
The whole camp community is welcome. Campers, counselors, teachers, parents and alum! You are also welcome to bring a friend; new people must come with someone already connected to camp.
See our COMMUNITY ZOOM GATHERING WEB PAGE for more details, including the Zoom registration link for each week’s gathering.
These gatherings are FREE (donations gratefully accepted) and VOLUNTEER-RUN. We have a wonderful group of people making this happen — let us know if you want to join community Zoom planning team!
first fridays 7:30-9:30 p.m.
This volunteer-run Community Gathering on Zoom will rotate between TALENT SHARING, ANYTHING GOES, GAMES NIGHT, DANCE PARTIES and SPECIAL EVENTS!
open studio art hangout
third fridays 7:30-9:30
Bring your felting, quilting, watercolors, playdough, gods eyes, origami or whatever you’ve got! Work on your project and visit with new friends and old!
crowd funding campaign 2020
If you haven’t seen this video that Sarah Perry and Khallori Cosmey created, you need to do yourself a favor and watch it right now! It’s had over 2000 views from our Facebook page! (I think people like it.) One friend who’s never even been to camp shared it with the message, “This is what HOPE looks like!” I think the video strikes home with a little good news at a time when there’s a lot to be concerned about.
The campaign is doing GREAT! Which is wonderful because we need our GoFundMe to carry a bit more of our fundraising than usual as social distancing makes our fundraising parties (our favorite way to raise money) a lot more difficult to do.
Your DONATION, big or small, will help carry us to our goal; click the DONATE NOW button to contribute. We have an amazing family who is serving as a matching donor for this project. They are kicking in extra every time we meet a goal, and also giving $10 for EVERY person who donates! So, understand (and let people know) that even small donations make a big difference!
Click the photo to see the beautiful VIDEO. If you want to join the team leading this campaign to success — volunteers are coming together every Sunday through August 30 from 3-5 p.m. to tell stories about camp and then blast the GoFundMe video out via email, text, and social media. Grab some friends and come to a Sharing Party! Here’s more info and an INVITATION to our Scholarship Fund SHARING PARTIES. Use this to invite YOUR friends to join you at one of these Sharing Parties! And REGISTER HERE to get the Zoom link to attend.
help needed:
- A volunteer to assist Edith McCaskill in creating vibrant social media posts for camp.
- Volunteers to assist with our online WORKSHOPS. . . this includes counselor roles and tech support roles. I’m in particular looking for a musically-inclined counselor for Teli’s Mbira Workshop.
- Volunteers to help with WORK DAYS AT THE FARM. There are many tasks that can be done with social distancing. Organizing, helping bring in firewood, helping to pack kits for workshops, etc.
- Volunteers to help with ADMIN TASKS, computer-based stuff that can be done from home.
- Volunteers to help with FUNDRAISING.
- We need a team of volunteers to be “on call” to forward and share our posts on SOCIAL MEDIA.
- We need outreach volunteers who will personally contact a list of 6-12 camp families about our upcoming programs.
- We need leaders who will be the point person for a small group of volunteers, and help us get turn-out for our various work days, programs and projects.
Fill out our VOLUNTEER INFORMATION FORM HERE if you would like to help!
thank you camp community, from louise!
- I appreciate Jan Burger, Jimmy Magoo, Cindy Raxter and Casey Hayes for taking my place in my workshops this week so I could get a trip in with my daughter Makayla before school starts!
- Our COUNSELORS for our summer workshops are all working as volunteers! Thank you Trey Kincey who is assisting Teli Shabu with drum-making AND helping Louise with toy-making! Thank you to all the Toy-Making Counselors — Jazz Gomez-Gadd, Joaquin LoBuglio, Trey DeWolf, Caroleen DeWolf and Sophia Thompson.
- Thank you STAFF! Thank you Anna Wright for coming back to work while also caring for your new baby! Thank you Edith McCaskill for joining our team and applying your skills, sensibilities, patience and experience to our camp community! Thank you Sarah Perry for showing up so consistently in ever new ways even as camp gets cancelled and you launch an important building project!
community news and connections!
- Emily Henley is now Emily Jeter! Congratulations Emily! See her Facebook page for wonderful photos and videos of her husband and children! Awesome to see how much you love your family Emily!
- Alex Nelson welcomes inquiries for 1-1 ukulele or guitar lessons via Zoom and is open to providing some scholarships as needed. Contact Alex directly at 336-926-2016 or spoonnerz@gmail.com
- Jimmy Magoo has a Facebook Live Concert every Sunday 7 p.m.! Wonderful stuff! Also check out his Patreon Page!
- Khallori Cosmey has a YouTube channel with a growing collection of her original songs and covers.
- Please let us know if you need assistance during this Corona thing! Or if you’d like to assist! There are some camp families who are struggling at this time.
- Send your NEWS for the next newsletter! Concerts, events, awards, baby births, marriages, sickness, help needed, your personal business classifieds. . . . we’d like to support, celebrate and connect people here!
