Message from Louise (Founder and Director)
Dear Clapping Hands Farm Camp Community,
We had a meeting scheduled to test out some GAMES on Sunday morning. I woke up and it was raining and I quickly made sure everyone understood we were DOING THIS rain or shine!
I ran to the hardware store that morning and bought a lot of red rope and some bright orange stakes. Glad for my years of working on boats and a decent command of knots and keeping line from becoming a tangled mess; we built a grid of sixteen 8 x 8 squares out of the rope. Jan, Sarah, Alex, Jimmy and I each took command of a square armed with a pool noodle “bopper” and worked on tagging our friends in the neighboring squares. If you got tagged you were out and moved outside of the grid. If a square was empty you could jump in it; but don’t touch the ropes, or you’re out. The game was fast paced and fun; it was even fun to watch when you were out. We ran it a few times as the game evolved. . . Bops to the face don’t count. Tall people with a longer reach could hold the noodle at the halfway point to even out the advantage.
I’d gone to the fabric store the day before and bought a couple yards of a serious marine grade outdoor fabric to cut out “dots” to help guide spacing. We cut a piece of pvc pipe 6 foot and 8 foot to help us place the dots. We put dots under the shade tree so people would easily space themselves safely when they got sent to the tree in a game of beckon or kick the can. We thought about the tendency for people to hide together or “clump” in games. We realized that “it” counting for a full 60 instead of the usual 20 would give people a chance to hide more deliberately instead of just rushing off in a pack.
Which games will be “mask up” and which can work fine without? How about we have everyone clip on a little thing of hand sanitizer and the “waterbells” that we use to remind people to hydrate, will also be a reminder to clean your hands. We can ring them a lot.
But how can we have camp with no hugging? No lap sitting? No piggy back rides? How can we replace some of that camp closeness and affection? We brainstorm “alternative hugs”—- I give everyone a handful of confetti to put in their pocket. Tossing confetti when you want to say “I like you! You’re wonderful!” works pretty well!
We’re doing it. We’re figuring out how to play games, connect, and make camp magic at a COVID CAREFUL in-person camp.
We’ll be climbing through every inch of our camp day to carefully preserve what we love about camp while taking care to be COVID CAREFUL so we CAN come together for in person programs.
~ Louise
Upcoming Community Zoom Gatherings
Each first and third Friday of the month (with some bonus zooms thrown in occasionally!) from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Free and open to the entire camp community (campers, parents, counselors, staff) new people are welcome if they come WITH a friend who is already connected to Clapping Hands.
- BONUS Community Zoom! Costume and Pumpkin party! 10/30
- An Evening of Storytelling – Teli Shabu, Louise Omoto Kessel, Cindy Raxter, Claudia Lopez, Surabhi Shah, and Candace Knotts tell stories! 11/6
- Art Hang Out! Bring a project, make art and hang out. Or don’t bring a project and hang out! 🙂 – 11/20
- Winter Dance Party! Three DJ’s! Disco, Latin, and more! – 12/4
- BONUS Community Zoom! End-of-camp SHARING for our fall workshops! Mbira, Felting and Quilting workshops will show their creations! 12/11
- Art Hangout, Bring a project, make art and hang out. Or don’t bring a project and hang out! 🙂 – 12/18
You can view the schedule at your convenience and register in advance on our website.
Register for Community Zoom
Hands-on Virtual Workshops for 2021 Winter-Spring
We’ve been running online workshops since the start of the summer and they are going GREAT! It’s nice to have these opportunities to connect with camp friends new and old, and to inspire each other with our creating!
In January we will begin a new 10-week session of zoom workshops. Registration will be open soon — look for details in early November:
- Advanced Mbira Workshop with Teli Shabu (Saturday mornings)
- Quilting with Kate Hibbard (Saturday afternoons)
- Anything Goes Teen Art Hang Out with an amazing assortment of guest artists. 4-6 p.m. (probably Tuesday afternoon)
- A Drawing Workshop with Emma Skurnick! probably Tuesday 1-3 p.m.
Spring Break and Summer Camps In-Person
Look for more details about 2021 SPRING BREAK and SUMMER CAMPS in person at Clapping Hands Farm in the November and December Newsletters!
Letter Writing Campaign – help wanted!
This is an especially important project this year and VOLUNTEERS make this campaign GO. It is vital because we aren’t attempting FUNDRAISING PARTIES this year because of the pandemic. So, our letter writing project really needs to COUNT.
Last year 30 volunteers sent 172 letters and raised $8147. PLUS $5550 in matching donations for a whopping total of $13,697. We need to do as well or better this year.
Campers, parents, staff, alum——We are looking for 40 volunteers to stick their necks out on behalf of Clapping Hands scholarship program. We provide a beautiful letter. You think of people in your life who care about young people, art, nature, and maybe most importantly YOU. You add a note to the letter we provide and send them to YOUR friends, colleagues and family. Our experience is if you send letters you almost always get at least ONE donation. Even a FEW well placed letters can be really effective! Letters from young people are often hard to resist! We hope to collectively send 200 letters.
We have MATCHING donors who will match every donation over $125. AND will give $10 for EVERY letter we send. So even if NONE of your letters generate a donation (which honestly almost never happens) you will still raise money for scholarship just by sending them. If you send 10 letters you raise $100.
If you have any questions or are ready to get involved! Please contact Anna Wright at: annamarie.chfarm@gmail.com
Volunteers Needed
- Volunteers to help with WORK DAYS AT THE FARM. We have weekly workdays WEDNESDAY 4-6 p.m. but can work with your schedule if another time is better. 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.
- We need a team of volunteers to be “on call” to forward and share our posts on SOCIAL MEDIA.
Fill out our VOLUNTEER INFORMATION FORM HERE if you would like to help!
Community News and Connections
- Louise Omoto Kessel is telling stories in person or virtually for a different group each week! Are you involved in any groups that are meeting in person? Would you like to create a covid careful event either in person or virtually? Please contact Louise if you would like to set up a storytelling performance or would like to be notified of upcoming events where you can come hear some stories! Use this new email: storytellerlouiseok@gmail.com
- 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 time! Or if you’d like to assist! There are some camp families who are struggling through this pandemic with basic needs and our clapping hands farm community is providing grocery store gift cards and other assistance.
Also, send your NEWS for the next newsletter or share it in our new facebook group!! Concerts, events, awards, baby births, marriages, sickness, help needed, your personal business classifieds. . . . we’d like to support, celebrate and connect people here!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!
