Koinonia Briefly

Did You Know?

• Jubilation! 2006 was a bumper crop year for Koinonia pecans. Would your church group, civic group, circle of friends, or family like some of our pecans for baking, snacking or gifts? When you buy our pecans, you also know that you're supporting the Koinonia community, and allowing us to channel donation funds straight to our ministries. Our pecans are fresh, hand-sorted and ready to mail. Visit our online store to order. Please pass the word... thanks, and enjoy! Click here: Yummy Bakery Goods Online

• Koinonia is excited to announce that The Glory Place by Dennis Hassell continues to receive a great deal of positive attention. It will be seen in a professional onstage reading in Toronto, Ontario (Canada) on Friday, March 24. Dennis continues work on this wonderful play about Clarence Jordan and Koinonia and we wish him and the play every success. After the development stage, we are sure we will be announcing many scheduled productions of it around the country. Watch for updates.

• “Alternative Spring Break" is becoming a popular program on college campuses. The "alternative" is service and learning rather than just partying, and Koinonia is a popular destination. (Well, we party and have fun too, but of a different kind!) This spring, we've enjoyed spending time with students from Warren Wilson College (NC), Eckerd College (FL), Presbyterian College (SC), Wofford College (SC) and others. We'd also like to suggest alternative summer, fall, and winter breaks... we can get booked during the spring, but we often have space in the guest house during the other seasons!

Reaching Out

• The Stamp Out Hunger project was begun at Koinonia by Art Field many years ago, and continues today with the help of our friends Bob and Peg Winkler. Did you know that stamps can be gathered and sold for donations to anti-hunger organizations? The Stamp Out Hunger project currently sends donations to the Open Door Community in Atlanta, Church World Service, and Bread for the World. Click here for guidelines about sending stamps for this project: Stamp Donation Guidelines

• For three weeks this month, "Collegiate Challenge" groups have been out to Koinonia in association with the Heart to Heart Home Repair Ministry. We've been blessed to have visiting college students from around the country join us for lunch, a tour, and two days of service helping to repair our neighbors' houses this month. During their week of service, they also spend time working at the local Habitat for Humanity affiliate, New Horizons.

These students from the University of Virginia participated in the
Habitat Collegiate Challenge and worked on a home in Koinonia Village.

 

• KCOC (Koinonia Community Outreach Center) was recently awarded a grant from the Smith-Prochaska Foundation that will allow us to provide month-long positions for four local youth to be junior counselors during the annual Koinonia summer youth camp. We have at least one church group "adopting" a week of summer youth camp and are open to several more!

• Circle of Friends is what we call the Thursday morning gathering of elders at Koinonia Community Outreach Center. Whether they are receiving Spanish lessons from Cecilia Tuck, doing a Pilates class with Penny Hajj, working on a painting or drawing under the guidance of Jo Knox or learning from a guest speaker about Medicaid, blood pressure screening or a variety of other subjects, all are enjoying the camaraderie and fellowship.

• Heart to Heart, Koinonia’s home repair ministry, is going strong. We are especially grateful to The Fuller Center for Housing for its generous support to this project and for the individuals and groups who have come to help. Here is a picture of a recent group: graduate students from the University of Dresden in Germany. They participate in the “Beyond Borders” program at Florida State University and came to Koinonia to work on home repair.

Students scraping paint at Koinonia's Egghouse

• Americus Sumter County Chamber of Commerce invited Koinonia director Bren Dubay to be guest speaker at its quarterly meeting in March. From all reports, it was thought provoking and well received.

At the Farm

• Thursdays at 3:30 p.m. is a time each week we reserve for study sessions. Recently, we have been using an African method of Bible study utilizing many different translations, examining and reflecting upon portions of Clarence Jordan's Cotton Patch Version of the Gospels, and even "cotton-patching" excerpts of the Bible ourselves! This special study session is being held in the Koinonia museum with Koinonia community member Sanders Thornburgh leading it.

• Come work with us! Several renovation projects are well or will soon be underway. The Egg House is getting a facelift as is the Mosley House. Work will commence soon on the chapel renovation. In the pipeline are a new roof on the box barn, Phase II renovation of the Welcome Center and more.

• On a rainy Saturday, a diverse group gathered in the dining hall to hear stories about Koinonia in years past. Con Browne, who visited us for a wonderful two weeks recently with his wife Cay, shared what life was like for his family, who lived at Koinonia for 14 years, including the years of the boycotts, bullets and sabotage. A pacifist, he still found Koinonia a wonderful place to raise children. And Joseph Jones, now a scoutmaster, visited Koinonia as a pre-teen and youth. As an African-American, he had to take the back roads and leave well before dark to ensure that he would not be persecuted by hostile whites for his trips to Koinonia. Later, he became involved in the civil rights movement in Americus. Among the listeners were Joe’s troop, Boy Scout Troop 260 of Americus… a small group from Georgia Southwestern State University… a class of students from Presbyterian College, SC studying utopian communities… and a few family and community members. We started out in the museum to review some history, then toured the pecan plant and the bakery (learning about fair trade coffee, and sampling delicious Koinonia chocolate), then headed for the dining hall. Sitting close in circles around Joe and Con, we were privileged to hear these two share about their Koinonia experiences. Look for a more detailed article on our website soon.

 

Pictured here from left to right are the Jordans, the Wittkampers and the Brownes.

Con Browne today, sharing his experiences.

Coming Soon

• Last call for chocolate: The deadline for ordering Koinonia’s delicious chocolate is fast approaching. We won’t be shipping chocolate during the hot summer weather, from May 15 to September 15 this year. So stock up today! To place orders, call us toll-free at 1-877-738-1741 or order chocolate online at www.koinoniapartners.org.

• Watch for information about our new Adopt-a-Tree Program as the revitalization and upgrading of our orchards, pecan processing plant and bakery continues. We will be sending out a letter soon and there will also be information available online.
  

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