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Dear Friends of Peace Pilgrim - Library
& Archive Update
Oklahoma City Update - Our New
Addresses
Dear Friends of Peace Pilgrim
The months since our last newsletter have been busy ones
for the Friends of Peace Pilgrim board of directors. At our June meeting
at the home of our president Cheryl Canfield in Copperopolis, California
we had a chance to see first hand the work being done to house our archives
and study center at this beautiful location not far from our previous
home in Somerset. A visitors’ trailer is already in position on
a knoll on the fifteen-acre property and work is nearing completion
on the rooms that will offer office space and accessible storage for
our library, archives, and study center. Cheryl’s willingness
to host this aspect of our work and offer the physical location necessary
to maintain our California non-profit status has been a great and needed
blessing. There is still a lot of work to be done but we feel we are
well on the way to creating a harmonious and peaceful facility for our
Peace Pilgrim study center and future retreats.
| The big news of the summer
is the upcoming move of our distribution activities from our temporary
location in Placerville, California to Oklahoma City. After nine
months of investigating a number of possible locations that spanned
the continent, the organization and enthusiasm of local volunteers
in Oklahoma combined with a facility that meets all the needs of
processing and shipping our materials to friends all over the world,
convinced us that this was the right place to relocate this most
important aspect of our work. The move should be complete by the
end of the year and your requests for Peace Pilgrim books, booklets,
and materials will be coming to you from this new location in the
heartland of America. |
Epworth Building in Oklahoma City
|
Peace Pilgrim was a frequent visitor to Oklahoma City.
It was one of the cities she walked through on her first pilgrimage
in 1953 and its “crossroads” location in the center of the
country brought her back repeatedly over the years. She developed a
strong network of support in the area and a number of those folks have
been involved with the planning and establishment of our presence there.
We have been offered free office space in a former college building
not far from the city center. Our Oklahoma City volunteers have been
getting the space ready for our arrival later in the fall and we are
looking forward to a long and rewarding stay in this location.
The other major change in how we perform our work is
the way we will process our mail. In the last five years we have had
two address changes. Since our books are printed with our mailing address
inside, many people continue to write to us at our previous locations
in Hemet and Somerset. Current postal regulations allow for only one
year of forwarding and we often hear of mail being returned as undeliverable
from friends who later find our current address on the website. Friends
of Peace Pilgrim board member, Bruce Nichols, has offered to be the
clearing house for our mail. A new post office box has been established
in his hometown, Shelton, Connecticut. Bruce has lived in Shelton most
of his life and in the same location for almost thirty years. He offers
us the stability of a mailing address that should remain unchanged for
the foreseen future.
During her many years on the road, Peace Pilgrim’s journeys took
her from coast to coast and from border to border. It seems appropriate
that Friends of Peace Pilgrim now spans the continent as we continue
to carry the story of Peace’s life and message to North America
and beyond. At the end of the introduction to the book written in 1982
were these words: “Free of earth, free as air, now you travel
everywhere.” It seems that Friends of Peace Pilgrim is embarking
on a similar transition. Thanks to the miracles of modern commun-ication
and the dedication of volunteers across the country our work has reorganized
itself and will soon be conducted from locations spanning the continent
that Peace Pilgrim crossed seven times on foot during her twenty eight
year pilgrimage.
In Peace,
Cheryl Canfield, Bruce Nichols, Richard Polese,
Jeff Blom, Kathy Miller, and John and Ann Rush
The Friends of Peace Pilgrim Board
Peace Pilgrim Library and Archive Update
(top)
by Cheryl Canfield
Preparations are underway for the relocation of the Peace
Pilgrim library and archives to Peaceful Path-ways Sanctuary, a 15-acre
property with a seasonal lake and a geodesic dome that we affectionately
call “the Peace Dome.” The dome is the new home of my parents,
Archie and Alice Canfield and myself.
 Archie
and Alice in front of the beautiful
banner (donated by Beth Nilges Nehamkin)
on the wall outside of the trailer.
|
The board of Friends
of Peace Pilgrim had agreed that we would find a trailer to house
the artifacts (for now in storage nearby) but we subsequently
decided to remodel an old trailer already on the property. It
has been quite an ambitious project to turn this shabby structure
slowly into something inspiring and useful. What a great way to
recycle and demonstrate “peace with the environment!”
The almost sole force behind this transformation is Archie (at
85 years old). His main helper is Alice, who is often by his side,
as I am when not working elsewhere. He is doing an incredible
job that started out with having to remove endless yards of electrical
wiring and outlets all hanging from unfinished ceilings throughout
the three-room trailer. An indescribably defunct bathroom, fixtures,
pipes, etc., were torn out to make space in the main room. A new
small bathroom will be extended out to the back as we continue.
Floors and ceilings have had to be installed, broken windows and
doors replaced, and lots and lots of painting.
As Archie puts it, “I’m doing my service.” Both
he and Alice are living examples of what Peace Pilgrim expressed
when describing retirement: Retirement should mean not a cessation
of activity, but a change of activity with a more complete giving
of your life to service. It should therefore be the most wonderful
time of your life: the time when you are most happily and meaningfully
busy. |
Cheryl can be contacted at:
Cheryl Canfield
Box 423, Copperopolis, CA 95228
www.profoundhealing.com
cherylcan@aol.com
Oklahoma City Update (top)
by Bruce Nichols
In early May of this year, board members Richard Polese and I traveled
to Oklahoma City, OK to meet with volunteers and tour the Epworth Building
where we were being offered free office space for our distribution center.
Over the course of three busy days we were introduced to many new friends,
spoke at a local Peace Pilgrim event, and at a regional event with environmentalist
and peacemaker Julia Butterfly Hill. We enjoyed “Dances of Universal
Peace”, visited the site of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, and
were impressed with the energy, enthusiasm and organization of our hosts.
When time came for a final decision on relocation. the choice was obvious.
As I write in mid-September, our new office is being renovated and painted
by those same volunteers - spearheaded by organizer Sue Tarr, former
Peace Pilgrim host Gerry Clink, and Lakshmi Ramgopal who helped with
our move from Somerset to Placerville in March of this year.
We look forward to our move and the many new possibilities for our continuing
work of making Peace Pilgrim’s message available to all who ask.
Oklahoma City Volunteers
Our New Addresses (top)
After years of operating out of a single center, Friends of Peace Pilgrim
will be spreading its wings and working from several locations. Here
are our new mailing addresses.
Our primary mailing address for requesting Peace Pilgrim materials or
to send donations will be in Connecticut.
Friends of Peace Pilgrim
PO Box 2207
Shelton, CT 06484-2207
Phone - (203) 926-1581
Friends of Peace Pilgrim is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation
with our office of record in California. This is also the new home of
our study center and archives.
Friends of Peace Pilgrim
4399 Buckboard Drive
PO Box 423
Copperopolis, CA 95228
Our email address remains the same and requests for materials
or comments can be sent to us via email at:
friends@peacepilgrim.org
“Every time you meet a person,
think of some encouraging thing to say – a kind word, a
helpful suggestion, an expression of admiration.” –
Peace Pilgrim
|
(top)
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