FNCA NEWS!

FNCA NEWS!

All Over the World — April 10, 2012

The FNCA Bulletin is in the Mail

For those of you who opted to receive it by mail, the brand-new 2012 FNCA Bulletin should show up in your mailbox very, very soon!

Bulletin senior editor Beki Greenwood once again did an excellent job: this one looks as good as all the others she's done. She successfully juggled several sections around a bit for efficiency and clarity. Full color photos are artfully arranged throughout, giving life to the text. The standard features have all been thoroughly edited and updated. The new material is enjoyable and informative. Not to mention the aerial photography.

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Anytown EARTH — March 1, 2012

Online Registration Is Now Open!

Your FNCA Summer Session Committee decided to open online registration for camp despite the fact that the bulletin isn't out yet. In the past, registration opened whenever the bulletin was mailed out, however now that we have online registration, the SSC couldn't come up with any good reason to wait.

Although those who prefer to register by mail will have to wait for the bulletin to arrive in their mailbox, anyone who prefers to REGISTER ONLINE can now do so.

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Carver MA — January 6, 2012

SSC Starts Planning the 2012 Camp Session!

© Beki Greenwood 2012The FNCA Summer Session Committee (SSC) held its first 2012 camp session planning meeting at the home of Camp Director Jason Greenwood and Bulletin Editor Beki Greenwood this evening. The full committee was able to attend: Jason & Beki, plus Religious Program Coordinator Rev. Susannah Currie, Activities Director Trevor Woofenden, Camp Registrar Nancy Little, and Flames Representative Nina Sasser.

Jason's first announcement --- which was met by cheers and smiles all around --- was that Bobby Abesamra, our cook from last year, will be returning in 2012! Finding a new cook is often the director's most difficult pre-camp job, so this is both a relief to our new camp director, as well as good news for the rest of us since Bobby did a good job his first year and is both easy to work with and open to suggestions for improvements to the menu.

Lecture themes for the 2012 session will be:
Week 1 (doctrinal theme): "The "Memorable Relations and How They Speak to Daily Life" covering the inter-chapter material in Swedenborg's Heavenly Secrets describing his experiences in Heaven.
Week 2 (Biblical theme): "Descent of the Holy City" focusing on the Book of Revelations.
Fuller descriptions are on the Lecture Themes page.

We are very pleased to have accepted a proposal by the Rev. Dr. F. Gardiner Perry to lead the Opening Weekend Program this year. The program is titled "Spiritually Integrated Self-Care For Those Who Care For And About Others". From Rev. Perry's description: "Participants in this workshop will integrate their own unique spirituality into a self-care plan to enhance their capacity to care for others and to optimize their own well-being." For more info, go to the Opening Weekend Program page.

On a suggestion from more than one camper, the SSC has chosen Wilson Van Dusen's Uses: A Way of Personal and Spiritual Growth for this year's Afternoon Book Club book. This delightful little booklet "explores practical usefulness and service as a powerful mode of spiritual practice and growth. It is a way of spiritual growth that can be practiced by all --- even those who feel they are useless. Readable, practical, and perceptive, Uses is a long-time favorite among readers of Van Dusen." More info is on the Afternoon Book Club page.

The committee also spent time discussing last year's camp survey. There was a 42% response rate (down from last year's 52%), with several interesting stats and lots of useful comments. Due to campers' responses, among other things, we will: beef up (pun intended) the vegetarian entrees and the salad bar this year, establish a midnight noise cut-off time for parties in Frank Hall, plan the Sales Table Auction and (if there's interest) the Old Lady Canoe Trip for earlier in the week, continue to have special evening activities frequently both weeks, have morning Sing Along lead directly into pre-chapel music without a break in between, and be more pro-active about requiring lecturers to stick to the 40-minute presentation time.

Speaking of lecturers, we also learned from the survey results that although everyone doesn't like all the lecturers (surprise, surprise), all of the lecturers are someone's favorite. We are very glad to learn that due to the wide variety of lecturers and lecture styles, our lecture program is working very well for nearly all the people nearly all the time. We've always thought the FNCA has an excellent lecture program, and now we have concrete confirmation of that fact.

And finally, due to the fact that this is his first year in the position, our new camp director, Jason Greenwood, is requesting that anyone who wants a job at camp this summer --- especially the regulars, since he doesn't really know who you all are --- contact him as soon as possible if you'd like to work again this summer.

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Newtonville MA — October 2011

FNCA Article in the October Messenger

© Trevor 2008Jim Lowe, a newly appointed member of the brand new official FNCA Outreach Committee, has a very nice article about he and his lovely wife Betty's nearly two decade experience at the Assembly in the October issue of the Messenger.

In his article, titled "From Long Island to Fryeburg Maine", Jim describes their involvement with the good old FNCA from their initial inspiration by Adrienne Frank (after whom Frank Hall is named) at the New York New Church 18 years ago to the present day.

His delightful descriptions of daily life at camp are both encompassing and from a noticeably different perspective than most recent Messenger articles about our beloved camp.

Thanks, Jim, for a great article!

P.S. Monthly issues of the Messenger can be downloaded for free here: <http://www.swedenborg.org/library/collateralliterature/libraryperiodicals/messenger.aspx>

If you would like to receive the Messenger in the mail (free to members of Convention), send your name and mailing address to:

The Messenger
Central Office
11 Highland Ave
Newtonville MA 02460
OR
manager@swedenborg.org
OR
call 617-969-4240.

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Fryeburg ME — Saturday, August 6, 2011

FNCA 2011 ANNUAL MEETING
& BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

Members and friends of the Assembly gathered in Whitehead Hall at 1:30 today to conduct the Assembly's business at the FNCA's 2011 Annual Meeting. Minutes were read, reports were given, elections were held, but the biggest news is that our beloved camp director of many years, Debbie Cook, is stepping down.

Debbie's cheerful and loving demeanor has led our © Trevor 2011summer camp out of tough times and into a period of growth and joyfulness. Her caring manner has shepherded us along safe paths, and her unerring sense of goodness has helped steer us around innumerable stumbling blocks. For her years of excellent service, Debbie received not one, but two standing ovations today!

Introducing our new camp director: Jason Greenwood.© Trevor 2011 Jason is the husband of Beki (Phinney) Greenwood and has been serving camp for several years in various capacities including Flames Advisor, Flames Representative, Outreach Committee member, Summer Session Committee member, Board of Directors member, and the camp's resident E.M.T. and health officer... most of these all at the same time!

The three outgoing Trustees were all re-elected, so there is no change in the members of the Board of Directors. However, never one to shirk work, outgoing camp director Debbie Cook couldn't stop herself from volunteering to be the Board's new secretary taking over those duties from Jesse White, who ably served in that capacity for a good five years. (Thanks, Jesse!) (Thanks, Debbie, too!)

We heard reports from treasurer, Bob Perry; the chair of the Buildings & Grounds Committee, Dave Richardson; outgoing camp director, Debbie Cook; camp registrar, Nancy Little; Religious Program Coordinator, Susannah Currie; and the chair of the Nominating Committee, Martha Richardson.

The Board of Directors met briefly before the Annual Meeting to take care of some essentials like voting in new Assembly members (so they could vote at the meeting), updating the meeting agenda, etc.

After the Annual Meeting, the Board re-convened to discuss/act on the happenings of the Annual Meeting, as well as to take care of other, less pressing business including: electing officers, filling all Board-appointed positions, other standard Directors' agenda items, and other business old and new.

One new order of business for the Board was establishing the FNCA Outreach Committee as an official committee of the Assembly. Up until now, this group has been operating as an unofficial committee of volunteers. Under the new setup, 7 official voting members appointed by the Board to staggered 4-year terms make up the core of this committee. Everyone else interested in helping with FNCA outreach is welcome to participate as much or as little as they want at their own discretion as non-voting Outreach Committee members.

The members of the FNCA Outreach Committee are the people who bring you the camp bulletin, website, Facebook pages, Messenger articles, and the brand new free-standing portable FNCA display (that some of you may have seen at Convention), among other things. By the way, the Outreach Committee is actively seeking members from any of our various local churches across the continent who may be interested in hosting the FNCA display at their local church for a month or two during the next year.

Other Board agenda items included a more active Fundraising Committee; ongoing, systematic replacing of aging roofs; complete replacement of our out-of-date fire alarm system; accessibility of our bylaws; setting up an online spreadsheet to keep track of donations to the Assembly and establishing a built-in system that ensures all the donors get proper thank you letters; as well as other details too numerous to mention.

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Fryeburg ME — Tuesday, July 26, 2011

GETTING CAMP READY FOR CAMP

The first of the camp set-up crew arrived today, with more showing up tomorrow. The first food delivery truck got unloaded and packed into the walk-in fridge and the dry goods shelves today.

Other tasks that will get done over the next few days before camp starts include: distributing and putting © Trevor 2011 together all the new beds we got from Blairhaven; washing all the dishes and flatware in the pantry; incorporating all the new linens we got from Blairhaven into the Mouse Closet; weeding, sorting, and labeling the Dole Wing book collection; cleaning all the cabins and the Main Building; cleaning all the public © Trevor 2011 bathrooms; getting the kitchen ready; hauling out and setting up all the porch & deck chairs; last minute plumbing repairs; tuning the pianos; packing wood under the porch; putting in the waterfront raft and ramp, and a whole passal of smaller chores that tend to surface as the crew works its way around the FNCA grounds.

Special thanks to Dave Richardson Sr., Lee Dyer, Jason & Beki Greenwood, Elise & Erin Richardson, Trevor & Nancy Little, Gard Perry, Robitaille's Piano Service, Dan and Josh Cook, Kristina and Rachel Madjerac, Miriam Lexie, Jason Woofenden, and Troy Grams for all their help.

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South Duxbury MA — Tuesday, July 5, 2011

FREE STUFF FROM BLAIRHAVEN!

With great thanks to the Mass. Association, the FNCA got a couple truckloads of free stuff from Blairhaven before its purchase by the Town of Duxbury this week (who plan on turning it into a town park).

Three weeks ago, a crew (including Rev. Susannah Currie and her brother Andy (Truck Packer Supreme!), Nancy Little, Beki Greenwood, Merrilee Phinney & Martin Vojtko) gathered at Blairhaven and loaded a lot of furniture into a big truck. Rev. Ken & Laurie Turley drove the truck up to camp where a crew from the Fryeburg Church (including Dave Richardson, Dave Keating, and Tom Barrett) unloaded it.

This truckload included: 2 double on the bottom and twin on the top bunkbeds and 6 twin single beds, all with nearly brand new mattresses and box springs; a nearly new refrigerator; outdoor tables and chairs for the porch and deck; an 8' table for the dining hall; lots of commercial-style kitchen equipment including stainless steel mixing bowls, large baking sheets, 2 large cast iron frying pans, and various utensils; as well as fans and lamps and other smaller sundries.

It's worth noting that they saved room in the truck to fit Blairhaven's beautiful upright Steinway piano as a gift to the Turley's, who served as Blairhaven's first resident directors.

Today, a much smaller crew (Trevor & Nancy Little with assists from Herb Zeigler) gathered and filled a much smaller truck with waste baskets, linens, floor lamps, more kitchen stuff, and other smaller things.

So although it is sad for some to say goodbye to Blairhaven, it is nice to know that one of Blairhaven's sister New Church camps will get more mileage out of her estate. So a big thanks goes out to the Mass. Association for sharing, and to all the people who helped make this work.

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Fryeburg ME — Tuesday, May 31, 2011

A LOT OF WORK GOT DONE!

Over Work Weekend, more than 2 dozen volunteers got a mighty lot of work done fixing up the Assembly grounds! Five big projects and a whole bunch of smaller ones got done.

The big projects were: putting a new metal roof on the Woof Cabin, taking down Pop Woof's old tool shed on the front of the Woof Cabin, building a wall upstairs in the cook's quarters creating a hallway and a private room for the cooks, removing a huge tree that came down across the road to the cabins in the woods, and major updates on this website.

The smaller projects included repairing screens all over camp, patching and sweeping the roof over the kitchen, unloading a 500 lb. fireproof filing cabinet for FNCA records, unloading a foosball table for Chalmers Lodge, moving mini fridges around, cabin cleaning, replacing light bulbs, fixing a door, raking, and plumbing repairs among other things.

WOOF CABIN ROOF

WOOF TOOL SHED

Before: After:
© Trevor 2011 © Ian Woofenden 2011

COOK'S QUARTERS WALL

This column This column
from the north from the south

Before:

During:

After:
(It's not done yet so we can't show it to you.)

LOGGING

OTHER PROJECTS:

So a very big THANK YOU to the 2011 FNCA Work Weekend crew: Dave Richardson, Colgate & Cecilia Searle, Ed Schnurr, Dave Keating, Tina & Willis Wood, Myrrh & Joe Brooks, Jason Woofenden, Beki & Jason Greenwood, Merrilee Phinney, Llerena & Josh Enck, Deane Currie, MaryBeth Bernier, Kristina Madjerac, Abbie Reed, Ben Grams, Troy Grams, Ross Grams, Tom Barrett, Ian Woofenden, Gard Perry, Trevor & Nancy Little.

JOB WELL DONE!

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Fryeburg ME — Friday, May 27, 2011

IT'S FNCA WORK WEEKEND!

22 people have signed up for the FNCA's Buildings & Grounds Committee's annual Work Weekend, May 27-30, and the first of them have already arrived. Them's that knows claim this is the biggest work crew we've ever had, which is good because there's always plenty of work to be done!

Two big projects this year include putting a metal roof on the Woof cabin and building a new wall in the Cook's Quarters upstairs in the Main Building creating a hallway allowing for walk-through from the Girls Dorm to the rooms at the other end of the building. Besides increasing access, this will also provide another fire exit from the 2nd floor.

Besides these two projects, there's the usual plumbing and electrical work to be done, cabins to be jacked up, furniture to be moved around, cabin cleaning, tree work, and myriad smaller tasks that all together contribute to keeping the Assembly's buildings and grounds happy, healthy, functional, and in good working order.

Also this weekend, the FNCA registrar will be doing an inventory of sorts of all the cabins and rooms to find out where new beds and mattresses, dressers, and other furniture are needed; and the FNCA webmaster will be doing major updates on the FNCA website.

So a big THANKS in advance to our 22 volunteers and to the Building & Grounds Committee for all the work that will be done over the long Memorial Day Weekend!

By the way, it's not too late to participate: anyone else who would like to attend, please contact Colgate Searle at searleandsearle@cox.net or phone the Assembly at 207-935-2338 just so we know you're coming and can be sure we have enough food for everyone.

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Fryeburg ME — Monday, May 2, 2011

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!

ATTENTION CAMPERS: Registration for this summer's session of the Fryeburg New Church Assembly is now open! The FNCA bulletin is at the printers and will be mailed out very soon.

If you want to register by mail just fill in and return the registration form in the bulletin or down load the appropriate form(s) from the bottom of the How to Register page. Be sure to either include your deposit in the envelope or pay your deposit online.

If you want to register online, we are now taking registrations and deposits online. Just go to the How to Register page and follow the proper links.

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Fryeburg ME — Saturday, January 22, 2011

The FNCA Board of Directors held its mid-winter meeting at Board member Bob Perry's Elephant Walk restaurant in Waltham MA. The entire Board was present as well as a few guests. Although there was a very full agenda, it was completed before the scheduled time to adjourn.

As is often the case with meetings, there were lots of details large and small to talk about. Some of the major points of discussion and/or decisions reached include:

• It's now official: Camp dates this year are Saturday, July 30 - Sunday, August 14, 2011.
• The 2011 rates will be $1 higher than last year across the board, and the cabin fee will be a flat $10 per cabin instead of a per person rate.
• Work Weekend will once again be held Memorial Day weekend this year, May 28-30. Please contact Buildings & Grounds Committee chair Dave Richardson if you are planning to attend.
• The Assembly is looking for a volunteer cleaning crew of campers willing to come a day or two early to help with the pre-session cleaning of cabins and the Main Building.
• The FNCA Bulletin is scheduled to be mailed out the beginning of May at which time campers should also be able to register online this year.
• To make Whitehead Hall wheelchair accessible, the Building & Grounds Committee will make a removable ramp for the deck entrance for use this summer until a permanent solution is put in place. They will also look into making the first floor bathroom off of the Dole Wing more accessible.
• In response to their request, the (unofficial) FNCA outreach committee was encourage to submit a formal proposal on becoming an official FNCA committee.
• Jesse White's proposal to do a Yankee Candle Co. fundraiser for the Assembly was accepted.

A big THANK YOU to the Board for all their hard work, their dedication, and for their willingness to donate time and energy to our wonderful summer camp. And another big THANK YOU to Bob Perry for hosting the meeting and serving the Board a most delicous lunch!

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Riverside RI — Friday, January 21, 2011.

The FNCA Summer Session Commitee(SSC) met at the home of FNCA Religious Education Director Rev. Susannah Currie for 2+ hours this evening. The SSC is the people who put together the camp program each year. The SSC usually meets the evening before the FNCA mid-winter Board meeting. Most of us are also Board members, so it's a convenient meeting time; plus there are usually things we need to discuss before presenting them to the Board.

Our meeting agenda included review of last year's session, the new Opening Weekend Program, the new Senior Flames category, the 2010 Camper Survey results, staffing, food, and establishing a standard agenda format among other things.

Both the the Opening Weekend Program and the new Senior Flames category worked very well, so we will continue these two successful initiatives.

A new addition to our program this summer will be our Afternoon Book Club (ABC). Each day, interested people will read and discuss a book relevant to our church. Rev. Currie has chosen Wilson Van Dusen's Returning to the Source: The Way to the Experience of God as this year's book. Copies of this $16.50 list priced book will be available to the first 15 or so participants for only $5.
A big THANK YOU! to FNCA Registrar Nancy Little for putting together and overseeing the online Camper Survey! It showed that most people are very pleased with how camp is going and pointed to a few areas that could use more attention, too.

Categories that received Excellent ratings from over 70% of those who took the poll include: Flames Games (90.5%); the coffee (85.7%); the Opening Weekend Program presenter & group size (83.3%); Sparks Games (76.5%); impromptu games (76.0%).

For a bigger overview, here's some categories that received combined Excellent and Good ratings of 70% and higher:
100%: Children's class teachers; Opening Weekend content, group size, presenter, topic, and location; Flames Games; Sparks Games; Swimming.
90-99%: Outing Day (96.5%); accommodations (94.1%); Flames/Sparks program (92.4%).
80-89%: Adult Discussion Group and canoe trip (87.5%); children's class activities & crafts (85.8%); Sales Table Auction (85.4%); Opening Weekend activities (85.%); lecturers (84.4%); lectures (83.5%); food (82.8%); Q&A time (82.7%); leadership (82.4%).
70-79%: Menu (72.7%) children's classes (77.1%); Flames outings (70.6%).

On the other hand, as a direct result of this survey, we made plans to beef up the evening program schedule 1st week this summer, "encourage" lecturers to stop talking after 30 minutes, get more variety in the salad bar, and work with the cook to add more protein to the vegetarian entrees.

We found this survey to be very helpful in our work, but decided that it might be a good idea not to do this extensive of a survey each year. Although we're looking into ways to allow campers to give us comments and feedback here on this website, we probably won't offer another survey like this for a few years.

There were also plenty of nitty-gritty details we had to deal with --- like that it would be better if some items in the salad bar have bigger serving spoons in them --- but let's just leave all the rest of those little gems in the recording secretary's minutes.

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Fryeburg ME — Saturday, August 7, 2010.

At the FNCA Annual Meeting, the members voted to rename the lecture hall after Rev. John Whitehead. Along with Rev. Louis A. Dole and Walter Robinson, Rev. Whitehead was one of the three original founders of the Fryeburg New Church Assembly in 1921. According to our written history: "Rev. Whitehead worked closely with Rev. Dole and was on the lecture staff throughout the early years." So it is quite appropriate that from now on we will be holding our chapel services and lectures in Whitehead Hall.

© Nancy F. Little 2009 After being on the Board of Directors since its inception, the venerable Dave Richardson, who will be turning 70 soon, has decided to step down. He received two heart-felt accolades — one from his daughter, Lee, that brought tears to several eyes — as well as a long standing ovation. We thank Dave Richardson for his many, many years of service. We'll miss "Grumpy Grandpa" on the Board, but are very glad that he's still willing to serve on the FNCA's Building & Grounds Committee since he is the prime caretaker of the Assembly grounds, donating hundreds and hundreds of hours of selfless work to this task each year.

© Beki Greenwood 2010© Beki Greenwood 2010 The members voted to increase the number of people on the Board of Directors by one in order to allow two members (who both actually volunteered) to serve on the Board. Please welcome Jason Greenwood and Ben Grams to the Board of Directors. It was joked that Dave Richardson does so much for camp that it takes two people to replace him! Board member Bob Perry, our very capable camp treasurer, was also re-elected to a 5-year term.

© Beki Greenwood 2009© Ian Woofenden 2010 At the Annual Meeting, the membership also elected Jonathan Crowe to a 3-year term on the Nominating Commitee, and re-elected our awesome Camp Director Debbie Cook for another year.

Debbie reported that two new programs initiated this year by the Summer Session Committee were quite successful. One was our new Opening Weekend Program. Twelve people attended Anna Woofenden's "Spiritual Tools to Explore Scripture: Discovering Elijah" workshop sessions in Adrienne Frank Hall. This reporter heard several rave reports afterwards from glowing participants.

The other success was our new classification of young adults ages 18-22 as "Senior Flames". This new classification allows these young people to get all the privileges of adults but pay Flames rates if they are willing to help the Flames with their dining hall duties. A true test of the success of this new program was the fact that there were only four Flames for the first several days of camp: without the help of the new Senior Flames, they would have had a huge job waiting tables and doing dishes each meal with just four people.

Treasurer Bob Perry reported a good solid bounce back from last year's dismal financial losses due to the current economic depression. He noted that we now use PayPal for online payments and donations and recommended that we actively publicize this for people who wish to make regular automatic donations to the FNCA.

Registrar Nancy Little gave a brief but humorous report about the number of campers registered this session and the nearly constant shuffling and re-shuffling of housing assignments she has to do right up to the last moment (and even during camp as people's plans change) in order to best accomodate everyone who would like to attend.

The Board of Directors held a meeting before the Annual Meeting that was continued afterwards with its newest members. The Board re-elected all it's officers, and voted to welcome into FNCA membership Martin Vojtko, Alex Dyer, MaryBeth Bernier (pictured left to right below), and the Rev. Hugh Odhner. Welcome aboard!