Preparations, Adjustments, and Recruitment

One week away from our Green Team retreat, and the Interfaith Sustainability Project is going strong! These past two weeks, we've had to prepare for the upcoming retreat, adjust to some unexpected changes, and recruit new Green Team members.

The retreat, which will be Friday, September 30 6:30PM to Saturday, October 1 4:00PM, is meant for all new Green Team volunteers. We will be spending that time together sharing meals, engaging in interfaith dialogue, having a campfire, choosing Green Teams, and more. The steering committee has been working hard to put together a packed schedule. The retreat was originally going to be an off-campus campout, however we made the decision to have it be on-campus so that more of the volunteers could come. This will be a time for us all to come together, get to know each other, and have fun!

We have, however, had to make some major adjustments recently. Kelly Burk, Director of Religious Life at Earlham and our faculty advisor, made the decision to take the rest of the semester off for medical reasons that are not life-threatening. This lead to some serious thinking about how our project will continue, and we reached the decision that it is still very possible for the Green Teams to be strong forces in the Richmond community, even without a faculty advisor. There are still a number of Earlham faculty involved in this project, including the directors of the Center for Environmental Action and the Green Science department. So the project still has all the same goals and ambitions, and we also have a number of faculty to whom we can turn when needed.

Recruitment will be going strong up until the retreat begins! Steering committee members have been visiting religious life houses and clubs as well as environmental houses and clubs. So far we have 25 Green Team members, which is past our goal of 24! However, the more volunteers the better.

Next week, updates about the retreat with pictures!