"Reflections"

"Reflections"
Looking back on
2026

by Trevor

2026 will be looked back as a turning point in FNCA history. After significantly lower attendance since covid, this year we suddenly had more than 20 new campers! The infusion of so many new people brought a whole new spirit to the Assembly.

© Beki Greenwood 2026This year also saw the retirement of Fryeburg resident Dave Richardson from the Buildings & Grounds Committee after 50+ years of service taking care of our facility year round with expertise and loving care. Dave has been known off season to often bring his lunch down the 10-minute drive from the Richardson's Farm to the Assembly and enjoy his meal on the front porch. We honored him with a plaque that has a write-up about his contributions to the FNCA and a photo of him sitting there, which now hangs prominently on that porch he loves so much. Three cheers for Dave!

Climate change has also made itself heatedly known with daytime highs often in the upper 80s° and a few night lows in the low 70s°. The B&G committee asked for and got approval from the Annual Meeting of the Members, to install mini splits a/c and heating units for Whitehead Hall, the Dole Wing, and the Perry Wing before next year to make the spaces where we regularly congregate and the senior bedrooms more bearable. (The Dining Hall and Kitchen are next on the list, but may take a while.)

We had a very lively lecture program, with interesting, educational presentations by a baker's dozen of lecturers over a wide variety of topics, starting with "Overview of the Inner Sense of Scripture" and ending with "Overlooked: Black Ministers in a White Denomination". There were lots of engaging questions which spilled over into the Adult Discussion Group after 2nd Lecture each day.

This year's Rev. Everett K. Bray Visiting Lecturer was Chelsea Odhner, Vice President of Publishing at the Swedenborg Foundation and co-author of Opening the Inner World, which was our Afternoon Book Club selection this year. She was part of the Off The Left Eye video channel as writer, host, and later Director of Content Strategy, helping to shape one of the most widely accessed Swedenborgian education platforms in the entire world. Her timely FNCA lectures on "Love the Neighbor as Yourself" and "You in Me and I in You" introduced the eager audience to these topics through the lens of Internal Family Systems (IFS), an evidence-based model of psychotherapy, from a Swedenborgian perspective.

All the usual stuff happened: Rising Bell, Polar Bear Swim (at the town beach since we didn't have any lifeguards on staff), breakfast, chapel, 1st and 2nd lecture, Adult Discussion Group, lunch, Rest Hour, free time for swimming or reading or socializing or whatever and a Flames activity, Arts & Crafts, Afternoon Book Club, dinner, Sparks Games, Evening Activity, and another Flames activity before the camp goes quiet at 10:00pm.

A very wide variety of Evening Activities were available for interested campers, including presentations on Logopraxis, Be Love, Walking the Path with Ros, Crystal Singing Bowl Sound Bath Meditation (our most popular program!), Choose Joy Now!, a lively song swap, An Evening with the FNCA Historian, A Tour through the Balkans focusing on Albania, and our annual Talent Show/Stunt Night/Open Mic which included 9 different acts including music, storytelling, poetry, comedy improv, pithy quotes, and closed with a poem by Rev. Dr. George F. Dole read by his daughter Sarah.

There was frequent rousing applause and grateful thanks for our head cook Chris Tergliafera and his able assistant Abbey Tibbets for the excellent meals and for their extra careful attention to taking excellent care of what could be (to mere mortals) a bewildering array of special diets.

The 13th annual Dole 3 Miler road race in honor of Rev. Dr. George F. Dole, who ran in the race in which Roger Bannister broke the 4 minute mile, was a smashing success, with 64 runners crossing the finish line. Winner Dylan Stoltzfus set a new course record of [under 15 minutes], which is 3 under-5-minute miles in a row!

The Flames had good numbers averaging and 10 each week. Youth Director and Flames Advisor Jesse White did a fine job of shepherding them through both weeks. The Flames enjoyed Flames Games, disco bowling, Lower Falls, arts & crafts, and many other activites. The chapel service they led Week 1 on the parable of the Wheat and the Tares was not to be missed!

There was lots and lots of music throughout the camp session: piano and guitar playing hymns during morning chapel, several people playing the piano in Whitehead Hall throughout the afternoon and evening, singing grace at many meals, impromptu singing on the porch, an accordion pumping out some tunes at different times, a joyful Song Swap that included quite a few different musicians, as well as a couple of group songs at Stunt Night.

The Opening Weekend Program was a real rouser titled "What in Hell is Bothering You?!?: A Look at Negative Emotions and their Causes". Led by FNCA Religious Program Coordinator, Rev. Susannah Currie, the group dug into the topic with gusto in three sessions titled: 1) Exploring Hells that impacted OUR PAST!, 2) Exploring Hells that impact us NOW!, and 3) Exploring Hells that we will release for a BETTER FUTURE!

Tuesdays are Work Day, with everyone pitching in from 2:30-4:30 to improve our site. This year, major projects included a series of new outlets in the girls dorm, rebuilding the ramp and stairs of Frank Hall, rehanging art work in the Dole Wing, collecting kindling, all sorts of cleaning, and many other projects. Thanks to all who helped each week!

Outing Day saw campers heading out for the day to explore scenic areas of the region. After making a bag lunch at the end of breakfast, some groups went mountain climbing, some canoed down the Saco River, some went tubing on the Saco, others explored the Kancamaugus Scenic Highway, Pirate Cove, Lower Falls swimming area, and other nearby attractions.

Our traditional banana split dessert on Thursday evening is always preceded by the Banana Hunt! Everyone writes their name on a banana and a small crew hides them in the Dole Wing and the adjoining Whitehead Hall. Then with a mighty call of "Let the Banana Hunt begin!", the hunt is on! When you find your banana (soon © Jesse White 2026for some, later for others), you head back to the Dining Hall where all the makings for a banana split are waiting. YUM!

Thursdays are also special for another reason. The first Thursday is Purple Day, with many people wearing all the purple things they brought. And the second Thursday is Tie Dye day, when tie dye abounds!

The winner of the 2026 LALLA Memorial Scrabble Tournament was the formidable Rev. Susannah Currie, making her a 3-time winner! Other finalist included Jennifer Lindsay, Herb Ziegler, and Trevor.

The FNCA Puzzle Club is an on-going activity throughout the entire camp session: there is always a puzzle to work on on the puzzle table: usually a 1000-piece challange, with Puzzle Club members working on it pretty much only if they feel like it.

© Jesse White 2026The Arts & Crafts program, led by our Art Director, Carol LeBaron, was very well attended and included both popular and new projects including monster bookmarks (rawr!), painted tiles [shown at left], journaling, visible fabric mending, making paper beads, paper flowers, and more.

A new fundraiser was created this year to take the place of the Sales Table Auction. It is called the Pick-A-Prize Raffle. Buy some tickets, put them in the jar(s) of the prize(s) you want, and then wait for the drawing and hope you win. A dozen or so prizes donated by campers spur-of-the-moment at camp included: a weekend stay at the Currie's cabin in Denmark ME, a private meal for two with a special menu created and prepared by our Head Cook Chris Tergliafera, Wood's Maple Syrup and Wood's Cider Jelly donated by Willis Wood, art work, crafts, a rare League t-shirt, and, of course, the famous Carmen Miranda earrings (2 sets!) that you are bidding on the usage rights for one(1) year and then you have to bring them back for us to sell them again the following year. These have raised at least $1,000 over the past decade!

An informal poll on the last full day of camp revealed many highlights: all the new people, the EKB Lecturers and her Afternoon Book Club, being with family, seeing friend old and new, the food, watching the sunrise and the sunset, the lectures, a fire in the fireplace on a chilly morning, an evening swim after supper one very hot day, installing and the use of a whole bunch of new outlets in the Girls Dorm, all the nice people, Disco Bowling(!), the Song Swap and Music Jam, the public Scrabble game, the Dole 3 Miler, the Fatted Calf which kept changing its hiding place in the Dining Hall each day, getting to know people in a different way on a more personal level, and the sheer beauty of our location especially the view over the river of the fields and mountains beyond that are always the same yet also different every day.

And a good time was had by all!

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