September 2012: The Center for Environmental Transformation

September 16, 2012

The need for a new vision of the universe

The human community is facing an increasingly complex and threatening situation.  Our use of the earth as a resource for meeting our human needs and wants has brought us to a point where it is clear that the earth will not be such a fruitful resource for our children and grandchildren.  We must begin to re-think our relationship to the earth and to its life-supporting resources. We need to reimagine our place in the universe.  We have for so long thought of ourselves as somehow different from, and superior to, all of creation.  As rational creatures, with a free will, we were somehow exceptional in the universe, leading us to value our own needs and/or wants over the needs and interests of all other dimensions of creation.  This has led us to a cultural and technological approach to nature which denies the value of the bio-systems that surround us.  Value is rooted in human choice.

But the Hebrew Scriptures make clear that from the very beginning God found all of creation to be good, indeed very good.  Indeed, human beings, according to the Genesis account, were created last, as the final touch on the magnificent work of creation.  God commanded that human beings care for creation, and with human reason and human free will, such a responsibility was a reasonable demand by the Creator God.  But what does care mean? This has been a question side stepped or simply ignored in our drive to exploit the resources of creation to meet every human desire.

For a long time, the Passionist priest, cultural historian and self-proclaimed eco-theologian Thomas Berry has been calling for a re-imagining of our place in the universe.  Nature is not primarily a resource to be exploited; it is the home for many living and dynamic systems of life.  The dynamic flaring forth of the universe from its beginning until now is the flaring forth of humanity as part and parcel of the dynamics that constitute the universe.  The universe is not “other” to us, but is mother to us!

Seven years ago, at Sacred Heart Church in the Waterfront South neighborhood of Camden, NJ, the parishioners gathered to talk about the future of their ministry.  300 people gathered, and one of the emphases in ministry that the group adopted for the parish was the environment.  What was clear to those gathered, given their physical location in, arguably, one of the most environmentally devastated places on planet earth, was that we must address issues of environmental justice.  We must address them not only because the lives of our children and grandchildren will depend upon it, but in response to the call of God in Genesis, that humanity care for the earth and all its abundance. 

Out of that communal affirmation, the Center for Environmental Transformation was born.  It is a non-profit organization whose mission is to educate people on issues related to environmental justice, to caring for the earth and all its inhabitants.  The Center is home to a 24 bed retreat space which opened in 2009 and has hosted two dozen groups from universities and high schools in the region. We also have a fully functioning greenhouse, where 13,000 organic heirloom seedlings are grown each year.  We maintain a native plant nursery, two vegetable gardens, a fruit orchard and a tree nursery.  Young people work in the garden as Junior Farmers, learning everything about food, from seed to table.  We host a Farmer’s Market every Friday from 4-7PM at 1729 Ferry Ave., with our partners from Philadelphia’s Greens Grow. 

In June of 2009 one of our sources of inspiration and guidance, Thomas Berry, died. In his honor we began the Thomas Berry lecture, held each October.  Our first speaker was Professor Mark Graham, a member of the Theology & Religious Studies Department at Villanova University.  The second speaker was Miriam MacGillis, founder of Genesis Farm in northern New Jersey.  Last year we had Judy Wicks, founder of the White Dog Café in Philadelphia, and founder of the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia.

On October 7th at 3PM at Sacred Heart Church  the fourth Annual Thomas Berry lecture will take place.  The speaker is Mary Evelyn Tucker, Ph.D., professor in the School of Divinity at Yale University, also with an appointment in the School of Forestry and Environmental Science.  She was a close colleague and collaborator with Thomas Berry, and has established herself as a foremost scholar in thinking through a “new cosmology,” equal to the challenges of our time.  She co-produced, with physicist and cosmologist Brian Swimme, the documentary film “The Journey of the Universe.”  Earning a regional Emmy for documentary film in the Northern California region earlier this year, the film walks us through the story of the universe from its original flaring forth to the present.  The goal is to provide avenues for reimagining our place in creation.  It the great work to which our generation is called.

These lectures, the gardens and orchards and the retreat facility are the realization of that communally-generated dream in October 2005.  For all of us at the Center, the grace of God has been at work in this effort since the beginning.  The 21st Century will be the context for a great struggle about how we are to understand our relationship to the bounty of creation.  The Center has positioned itself to do its “bit” in steering that struggle toward a more reverent and grateful celebration of God’s gift to all of us.

Join us on October 7^th!  Tickets are $20.  Email us at info@camdencenterfortransformation.org.

Peace to you and yours!

Mark Doorley, Ph.D.

President,  Board of Trustees

www.camdencenterfortransformation.org

NEWS & NOTES

1.      WORK DAY:  October 6^th 9AM – Noon.  Join us for a morning of work in the gardens.   There is plenty to do.  Please contact Andrea Ferich aferich@gmail.com to let her know you are coming.  Bring your own work gloves and drinking water!

2.      WELCOME TO THE CENTER!  The Board of Trustees is very happy to welcome Michael Zier to the Center as our new retreat coordinator.  Michael’s responsibilities include marketing the retreat facility, scheduling and coordinating retreats, creating evaluation processes and managing a volunteer database.  Michael is coming off a two year Peace Corp commitment in Armenia.  Our decision to hire Michael came after a months-long process which began with eliciting applications.  We received 19 applications, from very talented people.  After much discernment and two rounds of interviews, we settled on Michael and he accepted.  How he came to our attention is a story worth telling.  Fifteen minutes before I was going to send the job announcement out on the internet, I received an email from Michael.  He was preparing to return to the States from Armenia and was reaching out to institutions in Camden where he had spent considerable time in the past.  He was wondering if there might be a possibility of a job!  I sent him the job announcement and he applied.  While his selection is a result of our due diligence in the hiring process, we believe God was also working.  Michael is getting himself settled at the Center.  Next month he will have something to contribute to this newsletter, to introduce himself.

3.      THOMAS BERRY LECTURE:  Again, join us for this wonderful event and fundraiser for the Center.  Sunday, October 7, 2012 at 3PM at Sacred Heart Church.  Tickets are $20.  Contact info@camdencenterfortransformation.org to secure yourself a ticket.  See attached flyer!  Click here to hear our guest speak about the issues she’ll explore with us.

4.      Saturday, October 27, 2012:  Awakening the Dreamer Symposium.  This is a great follow up to the Thomas Berry lecture.  This symposium will guide participants through a series of exercises that will enable them to come to see that an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling and socially just human presence on this planet is an achievable dream for our future.  See attached file.

5.      We are very excited to welcome the following groups to the Center during the next month:

a.      September 20-23:  Bishop Eustace Preparatory School, Pennsauken, NJ

b.      September 29:  Villanova University Environmental Justice Learning Community, Villanova, PA

c.       October 5-6:  St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Ardmore, PA

d.      October 10-13:  King’s College, Wilkes-Barre, PA

e.      October 13-20:  Villanova University, Villanova, PA

6.      Ways in which to support the Center (for each, unless otherwise noted, contact us at info@camdencenterfortransformation.org

a.      Contribute to the General Operating Fund

b.      Contribute to the 2012 Capital Campaign (replacing old windows in Center, rebuilding side porch, redesigning front entrance)

c.       Purchase Fr. Michael’s book, “It’s A Terrible Day, Thanks Be To God” or the DVD “The Poet of Poverty.” 

d.      Purchase native plants and a rain barrel. (It’s a great time to plant these perennials).  Contact Andrea at aferich@gmail.com.

August 2012

The Center for Environmental Transformation

August 17, 2012

Hello everyone on this beautiful August day!

This has been a difficult summer for many farmers throughout our country, particularly in the mid-West, the proverbially bread basket of the US.  The drought conditions, high temperatures and wild storms of this summer of 2012 have created havoc for the farmers and ranchers who supply the food for so many of us.  We will certainly see higher prices for many food products, since so much of what we eat, particularly meat and processed foods, depend on corn and soybean, the very crops that have been damaged so severely this summer.  We have all experienced the weather-related challenges of this summer, to some degree.  But I wager that few of us, other than potentially higher food prices, have any idea what this kind of weather does to the livelihoods of farmers and ranchers. 

One of the benefits of community-supported agriculture (CSA) is that members share in the risks and benefits that farmers and ranchers normally must shoulder on their own.  As a member of a CSA, one must pay the full price of his or her share in February of the given year.  The money generated from membership fees enables the farmers to purchase seed, any fertilizers they need, and other capital equipment.  Each week a member comes to the farm or to the designated pick up spot to receive his or share of the bounty of the farm.  Often CSAs are strictly vegetables and fruits, though there are CSAs that include dairy, eggs, and meat products.  This year the Center, in partnership with Greensgrow Farm of Philadelphia, hosted a CSA pick up spot (Fridays between 4-7PM).  There are 50 members in this CSA, which we hope to grow by 50% next year.  Our CSA includes some dairy, but it is mostly fresh vegetables and fruits.  The produce is grown on locally owned farms in the Greater Philadelphia region.  To date, Greensgrow-related farmers are from Pennsylvania, though inroads are being made to bring South Jersey farmers into the circle.  If you’d like to get information on the CSA for next year, please send an email to info@camdencenterfortransformation.org. We have become disconnected from the source of the food we eat each day.  A CSA connects us to farmers, whether directly or indirectly, so that more people can more directly share the burdens of the fickleness of mother nature.

Another way that we can connect with the work that farmers do is to join in that work.  On the first Saturdays of each month the Center hosts a work day to which are all invited.  We begin at 9AM and end around Noon.  We meet at 412 Jasper Street.  We advise people to bring their own water and a pair of work gloves.  I thought it might be helpful if I shared with you what we did on Saturday, August 4^th, so that you have a sense of what might be involved.  There were seven adults who showed up to work with Andrea, our director of sustainability initiatives.  There were also 15 young people who came as part of Camden’s Day of Service.  We worked in the garden located on Emerald Street.  It has been there for over twenty years.  Some of us call it the Emerald Street Garden, others call it Eve’s Garden after a local woman of the street who loved to spend time there.  In any event, it is a place with history and hope intertwined.  It has vegetable and flower plants, as well as a fully functioning greenhouse.

There were several jobs that we were able to accomplish.

1.      The Emerald Street side of Eve’s Garden had become “hostage” to some ferociously fertile weeds.  We cleared out all the weeds, putting them into our compost pile.

2.      The compost pile was quite large and unwieldy at the start of the morning.  However, one of us worked on the pile, tidying it up, and was able to “harvest” several large containers of unbelievably beautiful compost that will be used in freshly planted garden beds.

3.      Eve’s Garden has lots of tomatoes growing.  When these plants were first put in the ground, a wooden stake was placed next to them.  By August 4^th, these plants were enormous, and flopping left and right, so a group of us worked to gather the individual tomato plants, and using strips of cloth, tying them more closely to their stakes.  This will increase the air flow to the entire plant, and insure that the fruit will be off the ground.

4.      One of our group used the lawnmower and weed whacker to cut the grass on the paths throughout the Emerald Street Garden.  This task is a regular one, both to keep the grass down, as well as to keep the garden beds clear of grass that hungers for the rich nutrients in the garden bed soil.

5.      The group from Camden’s Day of Service helped to create a brand new garden bed near the Emerald Street side of the greenhouse.  This area was filled with weeds. The group straightened up the many pots and such leftover from the spring/early summer planting.  They then pulled the weeds and plowed them under, making a raised bed, which they then filled with native plants grown in our native plant nursery.    It looks beautiful there, added to the native plant beds that have been put into on the edges of the Emerald Street garden.

6.      The group also began to clean up the greenhouse from its intensive spring/early summer production.  There were many starter containers that need to be emptied of their soil, emptied into the compost pile, and then piled up, ready for use next February.

This is the work we accomplished in the three hours we spent at the garden with Andrea on August 4^th.  Gardens demand a lot of attention, particularly the ones at the Center which are chock full of produce-bearing plants as well as native flowering plants.  Ours are organic gardens, so we do not use commercial pesticides or herbicides.  We do use some organic pesticides and plant foods, but there is a constant need to weed, tie up towering tomato plants, clean out a harvested bed, and prepare it for a new planting.  This work is not limited to the first Saturday, but it is the first Saturday when we invite our friends and neighbors to join us.

As we were pulling out the weeds along Emerald Street garden,  several neighbors, at different times, thanked us for working on the garden. They want to see the beauty of the garden, and its bounty!  So do we.  It takes a whole community, whether through a CSA or through volunteering with us at Eve’s Garden, to make something beautiful and bountiful.  We look forward to pulling on work gloves with you, taking up a trowel and working with the soil, the sun and water to transform this patch of Camden and to enjoy the wonders of Mother Earth!

Peace,

Mark Doorley, Ph.D.

President, Board of Trustees

www.camdencenterfortransformation.org

NEWS & NOTES

1.      September Work Day:  Join us on Saturday, September 1, 2012 from 9AM til Noon.  Meet at 9AM at 412 Jasper Street. Bring your own water and work gloves.  If you can join us, please contact Andrea Ferich at aferich@gmail.com.  It is Labor Day Weekend, but if you plan to stick around the area, what better way to celebrate than to get your hands dirty in Waterfront South!

2.      Thomas Berry Lecture:  Sunday, October 7, 2012 at 3PM we are hosting a lecture by a wonderful woman named Mary Evelyn Tucker.  She co-produced the film “The Journey of the Universe,” which tells the story of the universe from its beginning so many millions of years ago to today. She is a professor in the Divinity School at Yale University and she also hs an appointment in Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Science.  She is a dynamic speaker, and has dedicated her writing and speaking to helping us reimagine and retell our own story as part of the story of the universe.  The title of the talk is “An Integrating Story for the Earth Community.”  It will be at Sacred Heart Church at the corner of Ferry Ave. & South Broadway.  This is a major fundraiser for us, so tickets are $20 each.  We are in need of ticket sellers and ticket buyers.  Join us on that day, and invite a friend or friends.  Contact Susan Cedrone at smecedrone@aol.com to get tickets.  A flyer is attached. Please send it to your friends.

3.      WATERFRONT SOUTH FARMERS MARKET:  Every Friday, from 4-7PM, at 1729 Ferry Avenue, Greensgrow and the Center collaborate to bring all who come an amazing assortment of vegetables, storytelling, laughter, perhaps even a treat to take the edge off after a long work week.  The Greensgrow/CFET CSA is going strong!  By all accounts, our members are quite happy with what they’ve received so far, including the fantastic recipes.  Come out and pick up some fresh herbs and other early summer produce.  There may even be some peaches.  Yummy!

4.      We have several groups coming to the Center in the next few months.  A group of first year students from Villanova University who have chosen to focus on environmental issues this coming academic year will spend an overnight with us in September.  Also in September a group of students from Bishop Eustace Preparatory School will spent three nights with us on retreat.  Then in October, for their fall break, a group from Villanova University will spend the week with us.  These retreat/service experiences provide opportunities for people to work in the community, with our neighbors, in the gardens, planting trees, tutoring children, etc.  There is time to reflect on this experience, to get some insight into issues related to environmental injustice and to the systems that give rise, in part, to the challenges we face as a people.   Those who spend time with us leave with a different understanding of their world and their role in transforming it.  If you or your group is interested in coming to the Center for a weekend or week, please email us at info@camdencenterfortransformation.org.

5.      In the past month we received several significant grants from area foundations/corporations.  We received a $5,000 grant from the Citizens Bank Foundation, to support the Jr. Farmer Program.  We also received a $5,000 grant from the Danellie Foundation or Marlton, NJ, to support the ongoing operations of Eve’s Garden.  We are proud to be collaborators with these two organizations.  We have partnered with Danellie for the last four years, and have found them generous and committed partners. We thank them for their continued faith in our efforts.  With the Citizens Bank Foundation, we enter into a new partnership about which we are very excited, and look forward to a long and fruitful collaboration.

6.      Today, August 17, 2012, Marty Moss-Coane, on her morning show on WHYY had a conversation on the universe with an astronomer named Chris Impey.  Listen to the podcast.  This is the kind of conversation that we need to have, and which Mary Evelyn Tucker will invite us into a the Thomas Berry lecture on October 7^th.

7.      Is the banning of plastic bags really necessary?  Click here to read what David Suzuki has to say about this question.  It is worth the click!

8.      Remember us in your prayers.  The generosity of your financial support is vital to our continued work.  Thank you for partnering with us.

July 2012 The Center for Environmental Transformation

The Center for Environmental Transformation

July 15, 2012

Greetings to all of you from muggy but vibrant southern New Jersey!

From June 17 – 30 of this year an amazing thing happened at the Center.  We were visited by two groups of young people from Loyola-Blakefield HS in Towson, MD.  Each group of 10 young men spent a week with us, along with two chaperones.  They came to work with us in the “great work” of transformation here in Waterfront South, Camden, NJ.  And did they work!  I want to take this opportunity to let you know just how much they got done.  During the first week there were two major accomplishments:  they put together a tool shed in Eve’s Garden and they expanded the native plant garden 100%. What was extraordinary about these two accomplishments is that they were completed in scorching heat and high humidity. There was no stopping this group.  In addition to these two major tasks, the first week’s group also create a flower bed (18” wide by about 75’ long), they assisted with some much needed rearrangement of furniture and books in Sacred Heart School, they cleared out the back yard of the Thrift Store so that the children can play there while their mothers shop, they tended to the gardens, planting tomatoes as well as harvesting seeds, and they spent a day with homeless people at a neighboring day center. 

The second group, not to be outdone by their peers, completed the flooring of the shed in Eve’s Garden, made use of the new lawnmower and weedwhacker to make the garden beds pop by trimming away the grass, they also cleared out the fruit tree orchard as well as the sapling orchard of all the overgrown grass and weeds that threatened to consume our fruit trees and saplings.  They joined two groups of children from other neighborhoods in Camden to harvest the potatoes from the Jasper St. park garden, potatoes planted on March 17, 2012.  They tended to the weeding of the gardens, as well as harvesting vegetables for the farmer’s market.  However, the  crowning achievement of this group was the creation of a fence, made of driftwood, on the edges of the new garden bed created by the first week’s crew.  It is fantastic!  The creativity of the group reaches its apex in this endeavor.  They went to the edge of the Delaware River and found pieces of driftwood, large and small, to construct the most unique fence in this entire area.

            I share this with you primarily to celebrate the energy and creativity of this group of young people from Towson, MD.  I also share it with you to give you a glimpse into the amount of work that is accomplished by groups that come to spend a week or weekend with us.  While people work with us on various projects, they also have time to reflect on the place where they are working, the value of their work, and the possibility of transformation in a place like Camden as well as in their own lives.  When they were not working, this group watched the film “I Am” by Tom Shadyac, better known for his work with comedian Jim Carrey in the movies.  This documentary raises questions about the meaning of life and the nature of humanity. On another day they watch the film “Poet of Poverty,” based on the monthly letters written by Fr. Michael Doyle, pastor of Sacred Heart Church, the spiritual taproot of the Center.  This film explores the challenges faced by Camden, through the words of someone who has championed Camden and her people for more than 40 years.  The young people from Loyola-Blakefield also received some insights into food system justice as well as into the need to live more sustainably on this planet.  They examined these issues with Andrea Ferich, our director of sustainability initiatives.  The group met most of the members of the board of trustees, in small settings, around a meal, or in discussion of the films mentioned above.  Of course, there was free time, and every minute of that free time went to two activities:  soccer with the local Mexican men who gather to play soccer quite regularly in our park, and basketball with the local young people.

At the end of their time here, the group identified first, what they’ve learned about themselves, about each other, or about Camden during their week here, and second, they identified how they might bring what they’ve experienced/learned here back to Towson, their high school and homes.  I have included a selection of what they had to say as an attachment to this email.  I encourage you to read through it.  It is quite inspirational!  Finally, we blessed each of them with oil, commissioning them to be ambassadors for Camden in their lives, to be examples of sustainable living, to uncover ways in which they can walk more gently upon this dear earth of ours.

            In their evaluations these young people praised their time in Camden, the opportunity to connect with the people of Camden, particularly the children, and to discover, perhaps for the first time, that each has a “bit” to play in creating a more just and peaceful world. 

            We cannot do this without your support, both prayerful and financial.  You are also our best public relations.  Please share our story with your friends and neighbors.  Share this email with teacher friends, youth ministers, pastors, young people’s group coordinators, so that they might consider spending a weekend or week with us.  It is a “great work” that we are about here and our doors are open to welcome anyone who wants to do their “bit.”

Peace to all!

Mark Doorley, Ph.D.

President, Board of Trustees

The Center for Environmental Transformation

www.camdencenterfortransformation.org

NEWS AND NOTES

1.      JOIN US!  First Saturday of the Month Work Day, August 4^th, from 9AM to Noon.  Please gather at the Poet’s Walk, across from Sacred Heart School, on Jasper St.  Please let Andrea Ferich know you are coming by emailing her at aferich@gmail.com.  There is plenty to do in the gardens as the many plants begin to give up their bounty.  Bring some drinking water and a pair of work gloves.

2.      WATERFRONT SOUTH FARMERS MARKET:  Every Friday, from 4-7PM, at 1729 Ferry Avenue, Greensgrow and the Center collaborate to bring all who come an amazing assortment of vegetables, storytelling, laughter, perhaps even a treat to take the edge off after a long work week.  The Greensgrow CSA is going strong!  By all accounts, our members are quite happy with what they’ve received so far, including the fantastic recipes.  Come out and pick up some fresh herbs and other early summer produce.  There may even be some peaches.  Yummy!

3.      SAVE THE DATE!  The Fourth Annual Thomas Berry Lecture is on Sunday, October 7, 2012 at 3PM in Sacred Heart Church. This year we welcome Mary Evelyn Tucker, professor in the Divinity School at Yale University and also a professor in Yale’s School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. She is a longtime collaborator with Thomas Berry.  Recently, she co-produced, along with physicist Brian Swimme, a documentary entitled “The Journey of the Universe.”  We had a screening of this film on June 24^th.  It is amazing!  In putting together this film, Mary Evelyn and Brian hoped to use the film to begin to do what Thomas Berry invited us to do his entire life:  tell the story of the universe in a way that includes us!  Many of the stories that our culture tells about nature set us against nature.  That is wrong!  We are as much a part of nature as anything else, and so the universe’s story is our story.  When she comes on October 7^th, she will speak under the title “An Integrating Story of the Earth Community.”  She is a dynamic speaker who communicates these important ideas in accessible ways.  We need buyers AND sellers of tickets.  The tickets are $20.  All proceeds go to the Center.  Please contact Susan Cedrone, a Board member and chair of the 2012 Thomas Berry Lecture committee.  Her email is smecedrone@aol.com.  Please pass the attached flyer on to your network of people who might be interested in joining us.

4.      This past week we received a generous grant of $15,000 from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation to support ongoing operating expenses of the Center.  We are very excited to again receive support from this very prestigious institution.  In the letter informing us of the grant, the foundation President and CEO, Christopher J. Daggett wrote  “The Waterfront South neighborhood is an oasis in Camden, thanks in large part to your (Andrea Ferich) leadership and the support of your committed board.  We are particularly impressed by the Center’s native plant nursery, which is an exciting opportunity to generate revenue while supporting your urban greening and environmental restoration projects in the city.”  Congratulations to Andrea for writing an exceptional grant for Dodge, and to the Center for attracting this continued support.  Thank you Dodge!!!

5.      2012 Capital Campaign:  Consider making a contribution to the 2012 capital campaign.  We have three major projects remaining:  replacing eleven windows on the first floor, tearing down the old porch and rebuilding it and redesigning the front entrance.  All of this takes money. While foundations help us with the operating expenses, they don’t support capital improvements.  So, we depend on our generous friends, people like you, who step up to the plate and contribute to the creation of something beautiful at the Center.  Please contact Mark Doorley at president@camdencenterfortransformation.org for more information.

6.      Our friends at Sustainable Cherry Hill are hosting two movie nights at the Crofts Farm location, off Brace Road, in Cherry Hill.  The first is August 2^nd at 7PM:  the documentary “I Am,” mentioned above.  The second is August 9^th at 7PM:  Wall-E, a wonderful film for all ages.  Come out to support our sister non-profit in sustainable living.  For more information, visit this site.

7.      Chris Hedges and Joe Sacco have published a new book entitled “Days of Destruction/Days of Revolt.”  Chris is a former reporter with the New York Times; Joe Sacco is an award-winning cartoonist.  This new effort examines four different locales in the United States, including Camden.  There is much that is disturbing in this book about the cost of our lifestyle in this country.  We must become educated about that cost, and then creative about ways to alleviate it.  Get the book and share what you learn from it!

8.      Find us on Facebook and become a member.

June 2012 The Center for Environmental Transformation

The Center for Environmental Transformation

June 15, 2012

Greetings to everyone on the near eve of the summer solstice!

It is hard to believe that we are fast approaching the longest day of the year, meaning that the days will begin to get shorter!  Time seems to fly by faster the older I get. 

It was almost seven years ago that several dozen people at Sacred Heart Church sat down to begin to explore what it might mean to make the environment a central issue of our work.  It was five years ago that the Center was born as a non-profit in the state of New Jersey and four years ago that it was recognized by the federal government as a 501 (c)3 tax exempt organization. Much has happened in the last seven years, through the hard work and dedication of many people, and with God’s blessing hand.  One of the most remarkable blessings has been the ripple effect of the “bit” that we’ve done to raise awareness of our responsibility to the environment and to those people who are most effected by the impact our lifestyle has on the planet.  One can never be sure where those ripples will go, and what they will produce.  All one can do is be confident that, in God’s hands, all things are possible.

I want to tell you about a wonderful girl from Cherry Hill, NJ.  Her name is Isabel Kaufman.  She is 13 years old this year, and just celebrated a milestone in the emergence of her religious identity:  her Bat Mitzvah.  We at the Center congratulate her on this momentous step into an adult faith and religious practice.  It is a big deal!  But the story I want to tell about Isabel began a few years ago when she and her mom, Caren, came to Sacred Heart Church on a fourth Saturday morning to help at Food Sharing. This monthly event enables the moms and grandmoms in our Waterfront South neighborhood to get the food they need to provide for their children and grandchildren.  However, this is not a simple hand out of food.  At Food Sharing the people of Waterfront South and the volunteers share a morning snack together, pray together, break into song together, tell stories about their families to each other, and celebrate the gift of friendship that has emerged over time.  Isabel entered into this experience, and while there met Andrea Ferich, the neighborhood farmer and Director of Sustainability Initiatives at the Center for Environmental Transformation.  Caren, Isabel’s mom, was already connected to the Center, but for the first time Isabel had the opportunity to work in Eve’s Garden with Andrea, to hear the story of Eve’s Garden, to experience a bit of the fruitfulness of the earth at Eve’s Garden.  Her time with Andrea, and at the garden, had a profound impact on Isabel.  At her recent Bat Mitzvah she shared her experience with her guests, family and friends, who had gathered to celebrate her public commitment to her faith. She shared with them how much her experience in Camden had helped her to clarify her own identity as a person of faith, and her commitment to do her “bit” to make the world a better place.  She promised all those gathered at her celebration that 25% of any gifts she received from her guests would go to the Center for Environmental Transformation to support the work of Eve’s Garden, so that young people like her could continue to come to the garden to do their “bit” in the transformation of the world, and of themselves in the process.  She followed through on that promise with a  very generous contribution to the Center.

Thank you so much for your generous spirit, Isabel.  We wish the choicest blessings of God for you, for your family, and for the path that you are beginning to make in the world.  We wish the same for all of you, who have poured out your generosity on the Center and its work, through your sweat, through your financial contributions, through your sharing with friends about the work of the Center, through your willingness to spend a day, a weekend, a week with us over the last two years and, finally, through your prayerful support.  I invite all of us to do the “bit” that we can do.  My own eyes have seen what happens when everyone does their “bit.”  What was a dream in the minds and hearts of a few dozen people is now a reality.  We continue to sink our roots deep into the soil of Waterfront South, Camden, NJ.  We welcome all of you in the effort. 

The ripples will continue. The sown seed will flower and bear fruit.  To paraphrase Fr. Michael Doyle, our job is to take note of the ripples and to offer thanksgiving to God for the fruit.  Again, thank you, Isabel, and thank you God for the many blessings of today and in anticipation of those that will come tomorrow.

Peace,

Mark Doorley, Ph.D.

President, Board of Trustees

The Center for Environmental Transformation

www.camdencenterfortransformation.org

NEWS AND NOTES

1.      JOIN US FOR AN AMAZING FILM!  On June 24^th at the South Camden Theatre, the Center will screen the movie “The Journey of the Universe.”  Narrated by Brian Swimme, a noted physicist, from the Greek island of Pathos, the film takes us on the journey of the universe from that first grand explosion to our current amazingly diverse and beautiful reality.  Tickets are $10.  You can contact Mark Doorley at 856-429-1779 to secure your ticket.  There are only 100 seats, so call now.  See the attached flyer for details.  Why should you see this film?  We humans beings have to reconnect with our own story, and our story did not begin when human beings began to build civilizations and plant corn.  The human story began at the same point of energy as did the story of the universe.  This is our story!  We are star dust, to quote Joni Mitchell!  We need to hear that story, take it deep into our hearts, and be able to share it.  Come hear your story!

2.      July work day:  Join us on July 7^th for our monthly work day.  Meet at the Poet’s Walk, 724 Jasper Street, at 9AM.  We work til Noon.  Bring your own water and work gloves.  Let Andrea know you are coming:  cfet@gmail.com.

3.      Congratulations Andrea!  The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation has recognized Andrea Ferich as one of the emerging young leaders in the state of New Jersey. They have invited her to join other emerging leaders around the state to meet three times over the summer to share ideas, hopes and dreams.  Who knows?  Wonderful collaborations might be born during these summer gatherings.  Way to go, Andrea!

4.      WATERFRONT SOUTH FARMERS MARKET:  Every Friday, from 4-7PM, at 1729 Ferry Avenue, Greensgrow and the Center collaborate to bring all who come an amazing assortment of vegetables, storytelling, laughter, perhaps even a treat to take the edge off after a long work week.  The Greensgrow CSA is going strong!  By all accounts, our members are quite happy with what they’ve received so far, including the fantastic recipes.  Come out and pick up some fresh herbs and other early summer produce.  There may even be some peaches and strawberries.  Yummy!

5.      The Center received an amazing grant from the Merck Family Foundation, totaling $35,000.  The Foundation was quite impressed with the work that we are doing in our gardens, with the children, and they have provided us the resources to solidify what we are already doing, and to lay the foundation for expansion. Thank you Merck Family Foundation!

6.      The Merck grant has put the Center in a position to hire a part time person to be the coordinator of our retreat experiences at the Center.  The job description is attached.  Please send this out through your networks.  The deadline for applications is June 25^th.  HELP US SPREAD THE WORD!

7.      The Center is now on www.idealist.org.  For those of you who don’t know what this is, it is an amazing site for finding all the amazing things going on throughout the world to move this planet in the direction of peace, justice and sustainable living.

8.      Our friends at Sustainable Cherry Hill are sponsoring several events this summer that you might want to consider:

a.      A reading club.  The book is “Made from Scratch: Discovering the Pleasures of a Homemade Life.”  5 Wednesdays, 6/27 - 8/1 (except 7/4), 7-8:30pm at Yoga for Living in Cherry HIll

b.      A screening of the movie “I Am,” directed and produced by Tom Shadyack  (August 2, Crofts Farm, Cherry Hill, 7PM)

c.       A screening of the  movie “Wall-E,” great for children, but with a message for all ages. (August 9, Crofts Farm, Cherry Hill, 7PM)

9.      Here is a selection of amazing things that can be found on the internet these days

a.      The best promotional video of all time.  Check it out!

b.      An article from the National Catholic Reporter about the President of the Maldives, a small island nation in the Indian Ocean.  Read about the challenges he’s facing.  We people of the US are blessed to have the challenges we have.

c.       Camden made the cut to be included in Michelle Obama’s new book on gardening.  The Camden Children’s Garden is features.  Read all about it here!

10.  Find us on Facebook here.