Koinonia Partners July 2004 e-newsletter: Summer heat and happenings

Today at noon we gathered for our traditional birthday meal, in celebration of three community members’ special days. Norris, our farmer/preacher, and Mary (now age 12!) led us in a prayer of gratitude for the beautiful land and people, and asked for strength to continue the day. Trellis’s voice rose singing in the kitchen as she, Sally Ann, and Debbie washed the dishes afterwards, and others played Frisbee on the lawn before returning to their labors. Georgia may be hot in July, and the work is hard, but we still make time for fun and fellowship. Here are the latest happenings at Koinonia Farm…

Summer Youth Program fills the Community Outreach Center with energy Kids come to our day program to learn, play, and share. For one week, the Atlanta Peace Mobile visited us with their portable “Peace Camp.” Volunteers worked and played with 25 local children in role plays, puppet shows, puzzles, and peace games. One exercise had teams of children build a "bridge” of carpet squares to carry them across the “river” of the yard… without losing too many squares to the “sharks,” or leaving anyone behind! Cooperation and communication were the keys—and eventually, everyone made it.

Koinonia hosts Prison & Jail Project’s Training Workshop on Police Abuse, Police Accountability Several dozen greater community members and activists filled Koinonia’s Museum for a conference organized by John Cole Vodicka, who founded the Prison & Jail Project at Koinonia Partners in 1993. Speakers included Georgia ACLU executive director Debbie Seagraves, Georgia state senator Ed Harbison, and Ms. Sarah Jackson, a local citizen activist.

Everyday challenges and insights Under the guidance of executive director Bren Dubay, Koinonians are developing new goodies in the bakery, discussing options for new ministries and income sources, creating to-do lists and how-to lists, and much more. It is a time of changes, but we are determined to carry out our mission.

Fresh blueberries on the bush! Shanti, one of the Koinonia volunteers, writes: “The berries arrived with great bursts of green, purple and blue. My first morning back to work started with devotions out in the rows of people and bushes and buckets… It was under the bushes that it really took root, how much Koinonia meant to me—the people, the progress, the hopes and dreams and yes, fears… It doesn’t matter if I am picking from a bush or typing at a computer or playing with the kids, as long as it is straight from the heart.”

Interested in volunteering? Several Koinonia volunteers are moving on to new adventures, and we wish them blessed journeys! This means that there is plenty of space for new (or returning) volunteers to work on the farm and grounds, indoors as a greeter and receptionist, or in other positions. If you want to be a part of the “demonstration plot for the Kingdom of God”—for a short time, or longer—please find out more on our webpage.