April 8, 2026 • 30 mins
In this episode of iHeartCommunities as we celebrate the Ninth Annual Great Community Give, happening April 22, from sunrise to sunset. This community-wide day of giving makes it easier than ever to support the nonprofits and causes that strengthen the Valley. Whether you give online or donate directly to your favorite organization, every contribution fuels meaningful change.In this episode, we sit down with leaders from several participating nonprofits to explore how the Great Community Give uplifts their missions and the people they serve. Our guests include:
- Kelsey Gerber — The Community Foundation of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County
- Jenny Butcher — Isaiah 117 House
- Aili Huber — Silk Moth Stage
- Linetta Alley — Brethren Woods
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
And welcome into iHeart Communities. I'm Chris Carmichael and today
we're going to be talking about the Great Community Give.
It's brought to you by the Community Foundation of Harrisonburg
and Rockingham County. And this is where generosity meets impact,
where we share the stories, people and purpose behind one
powerful day of giving. And I'm so excited that you're
joining me this morning because we are celebrating the nonprofits, donors,
(00:21):
and community members who come together to make our region stronger,
more connected, and full of possibility. Now let's explore how
giving together can create lasting change. I've got four guests
that are excited to talk about the Great Community Give.
Kelsey Gerber is the program manager of the Community Foundation
of Harrisonburg in Rockingham County. Jenny Butcher is the location
(00:42):
leader for Isaiah one P seventeen House. Ailey Huber is
the artistic director of Silkmoth Stage and Lenona Alleys executive
director of Brethren Woods. Kelsey, you joined us last week.
I'm excited. We've got a lot more to talk about
what the Great Community Give, which is coming up on
Wednesday for twenty seconds. So what are just days away
(01:03):
at this point?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I know, Yeah, so we're in about the two week
mark now, which is really wild, but because we're so close,
that means that we're in the early giving phase now.
So yesterday early giving started and right now we are
at just over seven thousand dollars in donations.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
That's already been raised.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Early giving is the time before Great Community Give Day
where donors who are just so excited that they can't
wait to give that they can start early. This is
when donors who want to give through checks or cash
can give early to the nonprofit they want to give
to directly. This is also just the point where people
know that they're busy on the twenty second or they're
(01:45):
scared they're going to forget, they have this two week
period to give online, where like I said, through cash
or check.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
And you said seven thousand dollars raise. That's going to
our goal this year of two point five million.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Two point five million. Yeah, So the past few years
we've been a what to raise over two million dollars.
Last year was just over two point two million dollars.
So we're up in the ante this year. But we
know that the needs are high for the nonprofits and
we know that our community is extremely generous and is always.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Up for the challenge. How do we do the early giving?
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Sure? Yeah, So you can start giving right now at
Great Community give dot org. You just go onto the
homepage and there's going to be a donate button, so
you can look at the one hundred and fifty eight
nonprofits that are participating this year. Maybe it's some that
you know you want to give to, that are familiar
to you, that you know you want to support their mission,
or maybe there's some that you want to learn more
(02:37):
about and you just want to scroll through and see
who's participating and learn more about maybe some new organizations
or just organizations you haven't heard of before. But you
can give online at Great Community give dot org, or
you can give through cash or check and those donations
go directly to the nonprofitit that you're wanting to support.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
I know some people they hesitate to give their credit
card information out, so I love there's the option to
write a check in. Do we just mail that to
the organization or do we go to the organization and
drop it off at their door or any of the above.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Yeah, any of the above.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
So I will say the website and the tech support
that we have through Great Community Give dot org. That
is all very safe and secure, but of course there
are some people who maybe don't have a credit card,
or they just feel more comfortable giving cash or check,
which is totally fine. But yes, they can mail it,
drop it off at their door. Just make sure it
goes to the nonprofit and not the Community Foundation.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
So the Community Foundation has been doing this for ninth year,
We've done the Community Give Year. Tell me about how
the Great Community Give has grown and where you see
all of this going for our community.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah, so, I mean, so this is a nice second
Great Community Give. But I know during the first Great
Community Give, I believe the initial goal was maybe seventy thousand,
and I think there might have been a couple dozen,
maybe fifty organizations that participated. And now we're at the
point where, you know, we're in our ninth year. Our
(04:09):
goal is two point five million dollars and there's one
hundred and fifty eight nonprofits participating. I don't think when
we first started the Great Community Give that we ever
imagined that it could grow, especially not grow this fast.
But I think this is just a testament to again,
our community is so generous and we're able to come
together and raise this extraordinary amount of money. And there's
(04:32):
also so many nonprofits in this area that are just
trying to work to make Harrisonberg and Rocky and County better.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
We're spoiled. We don't realize that not every place is
like Harrisonburg and RockA Aam County.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Yeah, And speaking of those nonprofits during the introduction I
mentioned we've got three guests with us today. I'd like
to talk with Jenny Butcher. She's the location leader of
Isaiah one seventeen House. Jenny, good morning, good morning, thanks
for having me. Absolutely tell us about what Isaiah one
seventeen houses.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
Yeah, so we are a larger organization based out in Tennessee,
but we have many locations. We have sixty six locations
in thirteen states, and we are one in Rockingham County
but five in Virginia. But what we do is we
open a home in our community.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
And that's exactly what it is. It's a home.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
It's not a residential, it's not an office, it's not
a facility. It just does a home as if you're
going home tonight to go have dinner with your family
and go to bed. But what we do is we
serve children entering into the foster care system. Currently, when
children are removed from their homes due to abuse and neglect,
their first stop is a state building and they usually
(05:42):
spend hours and unfortunately spend the night at those offices
if placement isn't found same day. And so what we
aim to do is to provide a safe environment to
where they can feel like they're just going to go
visit another house, where we invite volunteers in our community
to come and care for our children during that transitional
(06:04):
period and support our caseworkers who also need to process paperwork,
make phone calls, and so they have a space to
use in this home as well, and we get.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
To lavishly love on them.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
But we also get to support our families who say
yes to our children at twelve pm at two am
in the morning by providing needs like cribs, a fire extinguisher, clothes,
food for the week, if they need anything, just to
help make that yes a little bit easier instead of overwhelming.
(06:38):
And so we are so excited to start this. We
started this organization back in twenty twenty four of just
raising awareness and we started taking donations and last year
we started construction and we're almost on the tail end
of finishing construction and getting this house open and ready
to serve our kids.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
How many? How many kids are you helping being throughout
the course of a week or a month.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Yeah, so right now we aren't serving just yet because
we don't have our house fully open and ready to serve.
But we right currently in Harsonburg, Rockingham, Virginia, there are
about two hundred and six children in foster care currently,
and so we could serve about based off of what
(07:26):
I've seen in other locations, seventy five to one hundred
children in care annually in our homes. And so it's
a big need, unfortunately, and it's not just a need
here in Harsmurg Rockingham, it's a need in other surrounding
counties as well as other states.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
You say you're building a facility that's not cheap. How
does your funding work?
Speaker 4 (07:51):
Yeah, So all of our funding comes from community donations.
We apply for local grants, but we really really rely
on our community donating towards the house. So in twenty
twenty four, when we started raising awareness, we also started
accepting donations and through our blessing of Harrisonburg Rockingham, who
(08:12):
is such a giving community. They have given to us
to be able to start construction and be able to build.
But also we've partnered with lots of businesses subcontractors who
have helped us support build this house, whether that's giving
materials or labor. So we've been blessed in that area.
(08:32):
But we also do fundraising events like a golf tournament
every year in April, and then we do a fall fundraiser,
and then we have our Lemonade Weekend which is in
July as well.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
The Great Community Give is coming up on Wednesday, April
twenty second. We're just a little over a week away now.
Great Community Give dot org is where you can get
more information. We're talking with Jenny Butcher. She's a location
leader of Isaiah one seventeen House. In the final stages
of construction, you'll be open to serve families here in
our community very soon. Is the funding that you needed
(09:04):
to build the house? Is that complete or are you
still looking for a support for that or are we
looking now for future items.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
We are still looking for funding of construction because there
are still so many things that need to be done,
small tedious things that I did not realize, and we've
spent a lot of our budget from last year, and
so we need funding for finishing up on getting this
house open, but also for our operating budget to be
able to serve children. We can't open our doors until
(09:34):
we have a fully furnished home, seventy five plus train
and background check volunteers, a fully built house, and our
operating budget of one hundred and eighty eight thousand.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Once you're open, and I'm assuming this becomes a full
time operation or are you only open when there's a
need for a specific family or child. How does that
happen for you?
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Yes, so we are open twenty four to seven. This
house is a three staffed home, so it's me as
a location leader working full time, and then we have
two part time positions which are our care coordinator and
support coordinator.
Speaker 5 (10:13):
We do an on call.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
Shift after hours, which is five o'clock to the next morning,
so when a child is getting removed after hours, the
caseworker will call our on call shift and we reach
out to volunteers who have scheduled themselves who say they're
available to come and care for children.
Speaker 5 (10:33):
So it's an all.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
It's a twenty four to seven. We can get a
phone call at two am eight am twelve pm five pm.
We will be there ready to serve a kid, no
matter what the time.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Is or the day.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Heartbreaking to think that our children in our community are
going through this, but it is really heartening to know
that you're there to help them in that time of need.
So we say thanks.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
Yeah, Yeah, I'm very excited. I was a former foster
child myself here in Harsimber, Rockingham, so this is something
near and dear to my heart. More than just a
house for this, this is hope for when I was
a little girl, and hope for any other kids come
in through our doors.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
I love that. How do we find more information about
Isaiah one seventeen House.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
Yeah, so we are on Facebook and Instagram. You can
find us on Isaiah one to seventeen House, Rockingham, Virginia,
or you can email us at Rockingham, VA at Isaiah
one seventeen House dot com.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Next, I'd like to speak with Ailey Hoover. She's the
artistic director at Silkmoth Stage and Ailey, good morning, It's
good to talk to you.
Speaker 5 (11:42):
Hey, it's nice to meet you. Good morning, good morning.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Tell us what the Silkmoth Stage is.
Speaker 6 (11:49):
So, Silklas Stage is Rockingham County's only professional theater. One
thing people don't realize is that there are actually a
lot of professional theater artists who live in this community,
but most of us work elsewhere because there are not
that many professional theater type jobs around here. So, for example,
I will be spending most of my summer out in
Washington State working for Island Shakespeare Festival, directing and play
for them. And we started Solfma Stage because we wanted
(12:13):
to have an opportunity for professional actors, directors, designers, and
play rates to create work here where we live. And
also we believe that rural audiences deserve fantastic theater without
having to drive to DC or Richmond. And so we
do mostly very new plays, so plays you probably haven't
heard of. We've done a lot of world premieres. We
(12:34):
work directly with playwrights, which is very exciting. And we
have an hour of live music and picnics before the show.
It's outdoors, by the way, it's outdoors in Rocking mccunty,
So we have an hour of live music and picnics,
we have a show, and then afterwards we have a
campfire with s'mores and the artists and the audience hang
out together and chat about what they just experienced. We
(12:55):
typically are doing plays that are kind of a slantwise
view of maybe a challenging or interesting topic. So, for example,
last year we did a play called The Last Wide Open,
which was a regional premiere, and one of the central
characters is somebody who is an immigrant, but fundamentally it
was a rom com and his problem wasn't that he
(13:17):
was an immigrant. His problem was it's really hard to
say I love you even if you speak the same
language as somebody, which this character did not, And so
it's we're always looking for plays that are not like
about an issue, but maybe provided window into an experience
of somebody who lives with a certain identity or who's
experiencing something that's challenging. They're also usually really fun, and
we usually try to pick plays that have a message
(13:39):
of hope and renewal, so we don't do plays that
are fundamentally nihilists or depressing. People have a good time
at our shows. So yeah, and almost all of our
artists are people who are highly degreed. Nearly I think
eighty to ninety percent of the artists we work with
having masters of fine arts. Almost all of us have
(14:00):
worked in major metro areas and we just want to
create beautiful art here for our community.
Speaker 5 (14:07):
Here as well.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
So you said that a lot of the artists here
in the valley go elsewhere to act. So are the
actors at Sukmath Stage coming in to act or are
they local?
Speaker 6 (14:19):
Nearly everybody has a home base in the Shenandoah Valley
and goes elsewhere.
Speaker 5 (14:25):
It turns out it's actually a really good business model.
Speaker 6 (14:27):
For the life of a theater artist to live somewhere
that has a relatively low cost of living and then
go where the plays need you.
Speaker 5 (14:34):
Ultimately, we do.
Speaker 6 (14:35):
Sometimes bring in actors and directors and folks from elsewhere.
So this season we are bringing in one actor from
DC for a show in the fall, and our spring
show we have a designer and director who live in
Indiana coming in, but they lived in Harrisonburg for like
twenty years, which is how I know them, so they
do have roots in this community.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Where's your stage located?
Speaker 6 (14:58):
It is the porch of my home in the western
part of the county near Dayton. Several years ago now,
we were building a new porch on the house and
I designed it differently than the one that had been
there before. And my older kids said, what's the house
going to look like when the porch is done? And
so I drew them a picture of what it would
be like, and they said, Mama, why are you putting
(15:18):
a Shakespeare stage on our house? And I looked at
it and I was like, I am not. And then
I was like, oh, it even has a balcony. And
my family. I did my master's degree at the American
Shakespeare Center and so my family is very familiar with
how that theater looks. And it turns out, actually that
the portrait built on my house looks a lot like that.
Speaker 5 (15:36):
We're not doing.
Speaker 6 (15:37):
Shakespeare because the American Shakespeare Center doesn't need the competition. Frankly,
we mostly do very very new plays, but we're very
much informed by their style, so very imagination driven, a
lot of audience connection, a lot of very rich text
and live generated music and sounds and things like that.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
So fundraising for the Great Community Give is coming up
on Wednesday, April twenty seven, and you can go to
Great Community Give dot org. We're speaking with Iley Humor,
she see artistic director at Soakmoth Stage. Iiley, the money
that's raised during this year's Great Community to Give, how
do you plan on using that to grow your your performances.
Speaker 6 (16:15):
So one thing about professional art is you have to
pay artists, and eighty percent of our cash budget, meaning
everything other than our inkind donations, goes toward paying artists.
So last year our cash budget was thirty thousand dollars,
we spent twenty four thousand dollars on artists.
Speaker 5 (16:33):
So that is one major thing.
Speaker 6 (16:34):
Most outdoor theaters do not pay people if a show
gets canceled, which makes budgeting really hard for those individuals.
We pay everybody, it's a contracted amount of money, and
we increase artists pay every year. So that's something that's
very important to us because if we're not paying people
sufficiently to do their art, then only people who don't
actually need money can do art, and.
Speaker 5 (16:55):
That's not helpful. So if people.
Speaker 6 (16:59):
Are in our show, they know how much they're going
to get paid, and it is pretty good for an
artist in this area, which is we're very proud of that.
The other major thing, though, is this year our theme
for Great Community Give is strengthening our foundations and deepening
our roots, and so we are planning to spend some
of the money that we will raise through great community
give on investing in actor training. So we started something
(17:20):
called Silkmoth Studio where we're going to we are doing
monthly actor training sessions. We're bringing in some resourcing from
outside of our community to kind of feed those sessions
and to help us expand our imaginative possibilities. And the
other thing is that we are big believers in accessibility.
Most theaters are accessible on the audience side, but not
(17:42):
on the performer side, and so we budget very intensively
to make sure that our space and our system is
accessible for the artists that we have working here. And
so that money sometimes is used for having a large
print script formatted, or supporting a child care need, or
it could potentially be used to even the modifier our
space if somebody had a physical disability. So those are
(18:02):
kind of our big buckets we're investing in our artists.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
What's your next show?
Speaker 6 (18:09):
Our next show is the play called Above Ground, which
is a one person show written by Jenna Hoban who
Jenna now lives in New York, but she lived in
Stanton for a very long time and has performed at
the American Shakespeare Center. A great deal and it is
a play about a woman who's in her late forties
but her sister died when she was in her twenties,
and it's about how you live after something like that,
(18:29):
how it impacts the.
Speaker 5 (18:30):
Rest of your life.
Speaker 6 (18:31):
It's also a comedy, which sounds strange, it is a
comedy about grief and loss and hope and that one
the actor is Leslie Larson, who's the artistic director at
the Wayne Theater in Waynesboro. And having Leslie work with
us actually highlights one thing that we do a lot
of at silf Moth Stage, which is that we are
in constant communication and collaboration with other organizations in our area.
(18:53):
So we have great relationships with all of the theaters,
the high school, the college, and the community theaters in
our region, as well as the American Shakespeare Center, where
we share resources. We share like Hey, I need this prop,
does anyone have one? And then we also usually partner
with nonprofits or other organizations that relate to the content
of a show. So, for example, a couple years ago,
we did a show about a library and we partnered
(19:14):
with the public library and it was really fun because
I'm a library nerd. So Zach elderh is the director
of the public library. Came out and stood on my
portch and talked about the summer reading games and did
library cards sign ups and things. A Great Community Give
is a it's our best fund raiser and in part
it's our best fund raiser because we love collaborating with
the other nonprofits in the area. So if you follow
our socials on Great Community Give Day, you will tee
(19:36):
us giving shout out to other small organizations that we
think are cool.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
So mentioning socials. What's your website and what other social media.
Speaker 5 (19:42):
Are you on?
Speaker 6 (19:43):
So our website where you can get ticketing information and
things like that is Silkmothstage dot com and we are
on Instagram, Facebook, and Blue Sky at Silkmoth Stage.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Let's now bring in Lenetta Ally. She is the executive
director of Brethren Woods and Leneta good morning, Good morning, Chris.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
Good to be with you and everybody else this morning.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Yeah, So a Great Community givet coming up on April
twenty second, a great fundraising day for Brethren Woods. But
for those of us who may not be aware of
what your organization is, get us caught up.
Speaker 7 (20:13):
So Yeah, brothern Woods is a year round camp and
retreat center. We're located just twelve miles northeast to Harrisonburg
in Our official address is keesl Town. I often say
to people the booming metropolis of Keesltown, and we are
just north of Harrisonburg here and have been in operation
since nineteen fifty eight actually, so this is our sixty
(20:34):
eighth year of operations here at Brothernwoods. And of course
we're most known for our Summer camp program, which was
kind of our original program here at Camp, which serves
children that are kindergarten through twelfth grade for day, half week,
and full week camp programs in June, July, and August.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
But we're a lot more than that now too as well.
We do operate year round.
Speaker 7 (20:59):
And retreat groups that come to Camp that use our
space for weekend retreats, whether those are churches or families
doing reunions, or even businesses in the community that are
looking for a space to do professional growth or training
for their staff. We're able to offer first aid and
CPR training for businesses, as well as lifeguard.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Training in the community.
Speaker 7 (21:23):
And some of our biggest connections to the community actually
are through the schools.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
In the spring.
Speaker 7 (21:30):
In the fall, we have an outdoor school program that
does field trips for mostly elementary children that come out
for maybe a four or five hour field trip, and
those are all based around Virginia Science sols, so they
can get some hands on experience on what they've been
studying in the classroom. And we also have programs for
(21:50):
middle school and high schoolers either to do more of
those outdoor education opportunities or to participate in our Challenge course,
so that's in cooperation course where groups do team building
and leadership development, learning to trust each other and communicate
with each other, work together to solve a problem, or
on our high ropes course and climbing tower. It's more
(22:11):
of an individual challenge, but you've got the group there
to support you and encourage you. And those are just
life skills that I think make.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Our whole community and our whole world better and.
Speaker 7 (22:22):
That I really went for my kids that are part
of Rackham County Public Schools and Harrisonburg Public Schools as
well as we reach out to folks in Shenandoah County
down in Augusta County cities of stand in Waynesboro as well,
So it's really great to partner with the community in
those ways.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
As well.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
When I was a kid where I grew up, I'm
from the northern part of West Virginia, we had a
thing called reap. I don't remember what it stands for,
but we went from stayed. It was at one of
the city parks, but it's a very large park with
a lot of woods, and we camped for a week
and we went I remember going through a creek, you know,
(23:02):
walking through a creek and picking up leaves and doing
all these things. And I grew up in the city
and I'd never been camping. And I have to this
day so much appreciation for what I learned during that week.
The crafts, and you know, simply sleeping in a bunk
house with students that I didn't normally get along with,
and we ended up being friends by the end of
(23:23):
the week. So much growth can happen in a short
amount of time when you're put in a different environment
and you're stimulated to learn so many new things.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Absolutely, I mean, that's that's exactly what we do. You
summed it up perfectly. I was a camper here.
Speaker 7 (23:38):
My family moved here when I was in fourth grade
to this community, and I started coming to Brothernwoods that
summer as a camper for a week long program, and
this is a place where people showed me love and acceptance.
This is a place where people challenged me to grow.
This is a place where I got to be outside
(24:00):
in a way from kind of devices and constant distractions,
and I got to work on face to face communication
and I got to grow and experience all of those things.
And for me as a leader, then it became a
place where I got to be in leadership as a
junior staff and then a summer staff member, and now
(24:22):
I have the awesome opportunity to get to work here
all year round and invite other people to this space.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
And it's just it's the.
Speaker 7 (24:29):
Reason I keep doing it is because it transformed my life,
and I know that it continues to transform the laves
of people that come. And there's people from all different
walks of life, all ages, and it's just a really
incredible opportunity to be here.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
This morning here on iHeart Communities, we are talking about
the Great Community Give which is coming up on Wednesday,
April twenty second. It's an event that the Community Foundation
of Harrisburg and Rockingham County has been doing over the
last nine years. This will be the ninth annual one
and Lynetta Ali is the executive director of Brethren Woods,
one of the organizations. It's one of the one hundred
and fifty eight nonprofits that are participating this year. Lenetta,
(25:05):
if you could ask someone to know one thing about
Brethren Woods when they tell somebody else about it, what's
that one thing that they should make sure that they
use in that description so that people know exactly what
brotherren Woods is.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Well, I like to tell people that we're a community
in creation.
Speaker 7 (25:25):
And that we're a place where we make room for
God to transform individuals and groups so they're empowered to
change the world.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
So I like that phrase community and creation.
Speaker 5 (25:35):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
So you've mentioned that you have a lot of different
things going on the camping, whether it's visits from the
school or staying for a period of days, ropes, courses
and things for businesses that can participate. Give us just
a little bit more of that, in a little bit
(25:58):
more depth, because as you were mentioning all those I
was thinking about how I would enjoy doing one, and
then I probably miss the next one.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (26:05):
So again, we really are a year round, a year
round ministry, and so there's things happening here all the time.
Summer Camp is our big summer camp season. Day camp
programs where people just come in for a.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Basically like a school day.
Speaker 7 (26:20):
They arrive between eight and nine in the morning, they
leave between four thirty and five thirty, and kids get.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
To participate in crafts.
Speaker 7 (26:28):
And nature and swimming and Bible study meals in our
dining hall or cookouts over the campfire, and then have
an option at the end of the week to just
do one night either with a grown up if they're younger,
or by themselves if they're older, to kind of get
a taste of camp. And then once campers are in
first grade, they can do a half week camp, which
is just two nights and three days where they get
(26:49):
to expand those opportunities. And once you're in third grade,
you can come for a whole week Sunday evening to
Friday evening and really have an opportunity to experience all
that camp has to offer. And we offer the programs
all the way up to twelfth grade, so we have
lots of options for people, and as you get older,
there's more things that you get to do, whether those
are participating in the rope's course or doing off side
(27:11):
adventures like a tubing trip on the Shanandoa River or
a canoe trip on the Shandoa River, or working with
one of the other organizations in the community to do
rock climbing or caving. So we have lots of chances
for people to have those different kinds of adventures and
then fall and spring again. We are an outdoor education
(27:32):
center for many of our area schools, whether those are public, private,
even homeschool groups that have participated out here, and we
do outdoor education based around different science, either standards of
learning or just topics that are of interest to those
folks that are coming out.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
This is all really exciting. Can you tell me a
little bit about your project that you have planned for
the great community to give.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (27:53):
So, one of the camper's favorite activities when they're at Brothernwood's,
one of the things they always say that they love
the most is the swimming pool. And our swimming pool
is needing to get updated for this year before our
summer camp season. I actually this is the only pool
that I have ever swam in at Brotherwoods. It opened
in nineteen ninety I never got to swim in what
(28:14):
is now the basketball court.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
But the swimming pool that we have is you know,
thirty five years old, over thirty five years old, and
it's been really well maintained.
Speaker 7 (28:23):
But we do need to do some updating to that
to get it ready for this summer. So we need
to raise fifty thousand dollars to be able to do that.
That's the price tag on a renovation that will replaster
the surfaces of the pool so that we don't get
some cracks or rough places that might be hard for
campers or might maybe.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
Catch toes and things like that. We'll be able to
replace the tiles, repair the lights.
Speaker 7 (28:48):
And make sure that the drains are the really safe
ones to make sure that the pool is as safe
as possible for this summer and just all updated and
ready to go for hopefully another thirty five years. That way,
campers and families can continue to enjoy that all year
in the summer.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
So I'd like to learn more. How do we find
out more about Brethren Woods?
Speaker 7 (29:10):
So Brothernwoods can be Information about Brothernwoods can be found
on our website, which is Brothernwoods dot org. You can
email camp at Brethernwoods dot org or give us a
call at five four oh two six nine two seven
four one, and we're always happy to answer your questions
and share more.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Information with you.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Lenetta Ali is the executive director of Brethren Woods. Lenetta,
thank you for joining us on iHeart Communities. I also
want to thank Ailey Huber who's the artistic director at
Silkmoth Stage and Jenny Butcher, location leader at Isaiah one
seventeen House in Kelsey Gerber, program manager from the Community
Foundation of Harrisonburg and Rockham County, which is hosting the
Night Daniel Great Community Give on April twenty second. If
(29:52):
you'd like more information, go to Great Community Give dot org.
And we thank you for joining us this morning here
on Iheartcommunities.
And welcome into iHeart Communities. I'm Chris Carmichael and today
we're going to be talking about the Great Community Give.
It's brought to you by the Community Foundation of Harrisonburg
and Rockingham County. And this is where generosity meets impact,
where we share the stories, people and purpose behind one
powerful day of giving. And I'm so excited that you're
joining me this morning because we are celebrating the nonprofits, donors,
(00:21):
and community members who come together to make our region stronger,
more connected, and full of possibility. Now let's explore how
giving together can create lasting change. I've got four guests
that are excited to talk about the Great Community Give.
Kelsey Gerber is the program manager of the Community Foundation
of Harrisonburg in Rockingham County. Jenny Butcher is the location
(00:42):
leader for Isaiah one P seventeen House. Ailey Huber is
the artistic director of Silkmoth Stage and Lenona Alleys executive
director of Brethren Woods. Kelsey, you joined us last week.
I'm excited. We've got a lot more to talk about
what the Great Community Give, which is coming up on
Wednesday for twenty seconds. So what are just days away
(01:03):
at this point?
Speaker 2 (01:04):
I know, Yeah, so we're in about the two week
mark now, which is really wild, but because we're so close,
that means that we're in the early giving phase now.
So yesterday early giving started and right now we are
at just over seven thousand dollars in donations.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
That's already been raised.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Early giving is the time before Great Community Give Day
where donors who are just so excited that they can't
wait to give that they can start early. This is
when donors who want to give through checks or cash
can give early to the nonprofit they want to give
to directly. This is also just the point where people
know that they're busy on the twenty second or they're
(01:45):
scared they're going to forget, they have this two week
period to give online, where like I said, through cash
or check.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
And you said seven thousand dollars raise. That's going to
our goal this year of two point five million.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Two point five million. Yeah, So the past few years
we've been a what to raise over two million dollars.
Last year was just over two point two million dollars.
So we're up in the ante this year. But we
know that the needs are high for the nonprofits and
we know that our community is extremely generous and is always.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Up for the challenge. How do we do the early giving?
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Sure? Yeah, So you can start giving right now at
Great Community give dot org. You just go onto the
homepage and there's going to be a donate button, so
you can look at the one hundred and fifty eight
nonprofits that are participating this year. Maybe it's some that
you know you want to give to, that are familiar
to you, that you know you want to support their mission,
or maybe there's some that you want to learn more
(02:37):
about and you just want to scroll through and see
who's participating and learn more about maybe some new organizations
or just organizations you haven't heard of before. But you
can give online at Great Community give dot org, or
you can give through cash or check and those donations
go directly to the nonprofitit that you're wanting to support.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
I know some people they hesitate to give their credit
card information out, so I love there's the option to
write a check in. Do we just mail that to
the organization or do we go to the organization and
drop it off at their door or any of the above.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Yeah, any of the above.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
So I will say the website and the tech support
that we have through Great Community Give dot org. That
is all very safe and secure, but of course there
are some people who maybe don't have a credit card,
or they just feel more comfortable giving cash or check,
which is totally fine. But yes, they can mail it,
drop it off at their door. Just make sure it
goes to the nonprofit and not the Community Foundation.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
So the Community Foundation has been doing this for ninth year,
We've done the Community Give Year. Tell me about how
the Great Community Give has grown and where you see
all of this going for our community.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah, so, I mean, so this is a nice second
Great Community Give. But I know during the first Great
Community Give, I believe the initial goal was maybe seventy thousand,
and I think there might have been a couple dozen,
maybe fifty organizations that participated. And now we're at the
point where, you know, we're in our ninth year. Our
(04:09):
goal is two point five million dollars and there's one
hundred and fifty eight nonprofits participating. I don't think when
we first started the Great Community Give that we ever
imagined that it could grow, especially not grow this fast.
But I think this is just a testament to again,
our community is so generous and we're able to come
together and raise this extraordinary amount of money. And there's
(04:32):
also so many nonprofits in this area that are just
trying to work to make Harrisonberg and Rocky and County better.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
We're spoiled. We don't realize that not every place is
like Harrisonburg and RockA Aam County.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Yeah, And speaking of those nonprofits during the introduction I
mentioned we've got three guests with us today. I'd like
to talk with Jenny Butcher. She's the location leader of
Isaiah one seventeen House. Jenny, good morning, good morning, thanks
for having me. Absolutely tell us about what Isaiah one
seventeen houses.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
Yeah, so we are a larger organization based out in Tennessee,
but we have many locations. We have sixty six locations
in thirteen states, and we are one in Rockingham County
but five in Virginia. But what we do is we
open a home in our community.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
And that's exactly what it is. It's a home.
Speaker 4 (05:21):
It's not a residential, it's not an office, it's not
a facility. It just does a home as if you're
going home tonight to go have dinner with your family
and go to bed. But what we do is we
serve children entering into the foster care system. Currently, when
children are removed from their homes due to abuse and neglect,
their first stop is a state building and they usually
(05:42):
spend hours and unfortunately spend the night at those offices
if placement isn't found same day. And so what we
aim to do is to provide a safe environment to
where they can feel like they're just going to go
visit another house, where we invite volunteers in our community
to come and care for our children during that transitional
(06:04):
period and support our caseworkers who also need to process paperwork,
make phone calls, and so they have a space to
use in this home as well, and we get.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
To lavishly love on them.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
But we also get to support our families who say
yes to our children at twelve pm at two am
in the morning by providing needs like cribs, a fire extinguisher, clothes,
food for the week, if they need anything, just to
help make that yes a little bit easier instead of overwhelming.
(06:38):
And so we are so excited to start this. We
started this organization back in twenty twenty four of just
raising awareness and we started taking donations and last year
we started construction and we're almost on the tail end
of finishing construction and getting this house open and ready
to serve our kids.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
How many? How many kids are you helping being throughout
the course of a week or a month.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
Yeah, so right now we aren't serving just yet because
we don't have our house fully open and ready to serve.
But we right currently in Harsonburg, Rockingham, Virginia, there are
about two hundred and six children in foster care currently,
and so we could serve about based off of what
(07:26):
I've seen in other locations, seventy five to one hundred
children in care annually in our homes. And so it's
a big need, unfortunately, and it's not just a need
here in Harsmurg Rockingham, it's a need in other surrounding
counties as well as other states.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
You say you're building a facility that's not cheap. How
does your funding work?
Speaker 4 (07:51):
Yeah, So all of our funding comes from community donations.
We apply for local grants, but we really really rely
on our community donating towards the house. So in twenty
twenty four, when we started raising awareness, we also started
accepting donations and through our blessing of Harrisonburg Rockingham, who
(08:12):
is such a giving community. They have given to us
to be able to start construction and be able to build.
But also we've partnered with lots of businesses subcontractors who
have helped us support build this house, whether that's giving
materials or labor. So we've been blessed in that area.
(08:32):
But we also do fundraising events like a golf tournament
every year in April, and then we do a fall fundraiser,
and then we have our Lemonade Weekend which is in
July as well.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
The Great Community Give is coming up on Wednesday, April
twenty second. We're just a little over a week away now.
Great Community Give dot org is where you can get
more information. We're talking with Jenny Butcher. She's a location
leader of Isaiah one seventeen House. In the final stages
of construction, you'll be open to serve families here in
our community very soon. Is the funding that you needed
(09:04):
to build the house? Is that complete or are you
still looking for a support for that or are we
looking now for future items.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
We are still looking for funding of construction because there
are still so many things that need to be done,
small tedious things that I did not realize, and we've
spent a lot of our budget from last year, and
so we need funding for finishing up on getting this
house open, but also for our operating budget to be
able to serve children. We can't open our doors until
(09:34):
we have a fully furnished home, seventy five plus train
and background check volunteers, a fully built house, and our
operating budget of one hundred and eighty eight thousand.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Once you're open, and I'm assuming this becomes a full
time operation or are you only open when there's a
need for a specific family or child. How does that
happen for you?
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Yes, so we are open twenty four to seven. This
house is a three staffed home, so it's me as
a location leader working full time, and then we have
two part time positions which are our care coordinator and
support coordinator.
Speaker 5 (10:13):
We do an on call.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
Shift after hours, which is five o'clock to the next morning,
so when a child is getting removed after hours, the
caseworker will call our on call shift and we reach
out to volunteers who have scheduled themselves who say they're
available to come and care for children.
Speaker 5 (10:33):
So it's an all.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
It's a twenty four to seven. We can get a
phone call at two am eight am twelve pm five pm.
We will be there ready to serve a kid, no
matter what the time.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Is or the day.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Heartbreaking to think that our children in our community are
going through this, but it is really heartening to know
that you're there to help them in that time of need.
So we say thanks.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
Yeah, Yeah, I'm very excited. I was a former foster
child myself here in Harsimber, Rockingham, so this is something
near and dear to my heart. More than just a
house for this, this is hope for when I was
a little girl, and hope for any other kids come
in through our doors.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
I love that. How do we find more information about
Isaiah one seventeen House.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
Yeah, so we are on Facebook and Instagram. You can
find us on Isaiah one to seventeen House, Rockingham, Virginia,
or you can email us at Rockingham, VA at Isaiah
one seventeen House dot com.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Next, I'd like to speak with Ailey Hoover. She's the
artistic director at Silkmoth Stage and Ailey, good morning, It's
good to talk to you.
Speaker 5 (11:42):
Hey, it's nice to meet you. Good morning, good morning.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Tell us what the Silkmoth Stage is.
Speaker 6 (11:49):
So, Silklas Stage is Rockingham County's only professional theater. One
thing people don't realize is that there are actually a
lot of professional theater artists who live in this community,
but most of us work elsewhere because there are not
that many professional theater type jobs around here. So, for example,
I will be spending most of my summer out in
Washington State working for Island Shakespeare Festival, directing and play
for them. And we started Solfma Stage because we wanted
(12:13):
to have an opportunity for professional actors, directors, designers, and
play rates to create work here where we live. And
also we believe that rural audiences deserve fantastic theater without
having to drive to DC or Richmond. And so we
do mostly very new plays, so plays you probably haven't
heard of. We've done a lot of world premieres. We
(12:34):
work directly with playwrights, which is very exciting. And we
have an hour of live music and picnics before the show.
It's outdoors, by the way, it's outdoors in Rocking mccunty,
So we have an hour of live music and picnics,
we have a show, and then afterwards we have a
campfire with s'mores and the artists and the audience hang
out together and chat about what they just experienced. We
(12:55):
typically are doing plays that are kind of a slantwise
view of maybe a challenging or interesting topic. So, for example,
last year we did a play called The Last Wide Open,
which was a regional premiere, and one of the central
characters is somebody who is an immigrant, but fundamentally it
was a rom com and his problem wasn't that he
(13:17):
was an immigrant. His problem was it's really hard to
say I love you even if you speak the same
language as somebody, which this character did not, And so
it's we're always looking for plays that are not like
about an issue, but maybe provided window into an experience
of somebody who lives with a certain identity or who's
experiencing something that's challenging. They're also usually really fun, and
we usually try to pick plays that have a message
(13:39):
of hope and renewal, so we don't do plays that
are fundamentally nihilists or depressing. People have a good time
at our shows. So yeah, and almost all of our
artists are people who are highly degreed. Nearly I think
eighty to ninety percent of the artists we work with
having masters of fine arts. Almost all of us have
(14:00):
worked in major metro areas and we just want to
create beautiful art here for our community.
Speaker 5 (14:07):
Here as well.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
So you said that a lot of the artists here
in the valley go elsewhere to act. So are the
actors at Sukmath Stage coming in to act or are
they local?
Speaker 6 (14:19):
Nearly everybody has a home base in the Shenandoah Valley
and goes elsewhere.
Speaker 5 (14:25):
It turns out it's actually a really good business model.
Speaker 6 (14:27):
For the life of a theater artist to live somewhere
that has a relatively low cost of living and then
go where the plays need you.
Speaker 5 (14:34):
Ultimately, we do.
Speaker 6 (14:35):
Sometimes bring in actors and directors and folks from elsewhere.
So this season we are bringing in one actor from
DC for a show in the fall, and our spring
show we have a designer and director who live in
Indiana coming in, but they lived in Harrisonburg for like
twenty years, which is how I know them, so they
do have roots in this community.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Where's your stage located?
Speaker 6 (14:58):
It is the porch of my home in the western
part of the county near Dayton. Several years ago now,
we were building a new porch on the house and
I designed it differently than the one that had been
there before. And my older kids said, what's the house
going to look like when the porch is done? And
so I drew them a picture of what it would
be like, and they said, Mama, why are you putting
(15:18):
a Shakespeare stage on our house? And I looked at
it and I was like, I am not. And then
I was like, oh, it even has a balcony. And
my family. I did my master's degree at the American
Shakespeare Center and so my family is very familiar with
how that theater looks. And it turns out, actually that
the portrait built on my house looks a lot like that.
Speaker 5 (15:36):
We're not doing.
Speaker 6 (15:37):
Shakespeare because the American Shakespeare Center doesn't need the competition. Frankly,
we mostly do very very new plays, but we're very
much informed by their style, so very imagination driven, a
lot of audience connection, a lot of very rich text
and live generated music and sounds and things like that.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
So fundraising for the Great Community Give is coming up
on Wednesday, April twenty seven, and you can go to
Great Community Give dot org. We're speaking with Iley Humor,
she see artistic director at Soakmoth Stage. Iiley, the money
that's raised during this year's Great Community to Give, how
do you plan on using that to grow your your performances.
Speaker 6 (16:15):
So one thing about professional art is you have to
pay artists, and eighty percent of our cash budget, meaning
everything other than our inkind donations, goes toward paying artists.
So last year our cash budget was thirty thousand dollars,
we spent twenty four thousand dollars on artists.
Speaker 5 (16:33):
So that is one major thing.
Speaker 6 (16:34):
Most outdoor theaters do not pay people if a show
gets canceled, which makes budgeting really hard for those individuals.
We pay everybody, it's a contracted amount of money, and
we increase artists pay every year. So that's something that's
very important to us because if we're not paying people
sufficiently to do their art, then only people who don't
actually need money can do art, and.
Speaker 5 (16:55):
That's not helpful. So if people.
Speaker 6 (16:59):
Are in our show, they know how much they're going
to get paid, and it is pretty good for an
artist in this area, which is we're very proud of that.
The other major thing, though, is this year our theme
for Great Community Give is strengthening our foundations and deepening
our roots, and so we are planning to spend some
of the money that we will raise through great community
give on investing in actor training. So we started something
(17:20):
called Silkmoth Studio where we're going to we are doing
monthly actor training sessions. We're bringing in some resourcing from
outside of our community to kind of feed those sessions
and to help us expand our imaginative possibilities. And the
other thing is that we are big believers in accessibility.
Most theaters are accessible on the audience side, but not
(17:42):
on the performer side, and so we budget very intensively
to make sure that our space and our system is
accessible for the artists that we have working here. And
so that money sometimes is used for having a large
print script formatted, or supporting a child care need, or
it could potentially be used to even the modifier our
space if somebody had a physical disability. So those are
(18:02):
kind of our big buckets we're investing in our artists.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
What's your next show?
Speaker 6 (18:09):
Our next show is the play called Above Ground, which
is a one person show written by Jenna Hoban who
Jenna now lives in New York, but she lived in
Stanton for a very long time and has performed at
the American Shakespeare Center. A great deal and it is
a play about a woman who's in her late forties
but her sister died when she was in her twenties,
and it's about how you live after something like that,
(18:29):
how it impacts the.
Speaker 5 (18:30):
Rest of your life.
Speaker 6 (18:31):
It's also a comedy, which sounds strange, it is a
comedy about grief and loss and hope and that one
the actor is Leslie Larson, who's the artistic director at
the Wayne Theater in Waynesboro. And having Leslie work with
us actually highlights one thing that we do a lot
of at silf Moth Stage, which is that we are
in constant communication and collaboration with other organizations in our area.
(18:53):
So we have great relationships with all of the theaters,
the high school, the college, and the community theaters in
our region, as well as the American Shakespeare Center, where
we share resources. We share like Hey, I need this prop,
does anyone have one? And then we also usually partner
with nonprofits or other organizations that relate to the content
of a show. So, for example, a couple years ago,
we did a show about a library and we partnered
(19:14):
with the public library and it was really fun because
I'm a library nerd. So Zach elderh is the director
of the public library. Came out and stood on my
portch and talked about the summer reading games and did
library cards sign ups and things. A Great Community Give
is a it's our best fund raiser and in part
it's our best fund raiser because we love collaborating with
the other nonprofits in the area. So if you follow
our socials on Great Community Give Day, you will tee
(19:36):
us giving shout out to other small organizations that we
think are cool.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
So mentioning socials. What's your website and what other social media.
Speaker 5 (19:42):
Are you on?
Speaker 6 (19:43):
So our website where you can get ticketing information and
things like that is Silkmothstage dot com and we are
on Instagram, Facebook, and Blue Sky at Silkmoth Stage.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
Let's now bring in Lenetta Ally. She is the executive
director of Brethren Woods and Leneta good morning, Good morning, Chris.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
Good to be with you and everybody else this morning.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Yeah, So a Great Community givet coming up on April
twenty second, a great fundraising day for Brethren Woods. But
for those of us who may not be aware of
what your organization is, get us caught up.
Speaker 7 (20:13):
So Yeah, brothern Woods is a year round camp and
retreat center. We're located just twelve miles northeast to Harrisonburg
in Our official address is keesl Town. I often say
to people the booming metropolis of Keesltown, and we are
just north of Harrisonburg here and have been in operation
since nineteen fifty eight actually, so this is our sixty
(20:34):
eighth year of operations here at Brothernwoods. And of course
we're most known for our Summer camp program, which was
kind of our original program here at Camp, which serves
children that are kindergarten through twelfth grade for day, half week,
and full week camp programs in June, July, and August.
Speaker 3 (20:55):
But we're a lot more than that now too as well.
We do operate year round.
Speaker 7 (20:59):
And retreat groups that come to Camp that use our
space for weekend retreats, whether those are churches or families
doing reunions, or even businesses in the community that are
looking for a space to do professional growth or training
for their staff. We're able to offer first aid and
CPR training for businesses, as well as lifeguard.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Training in the community.
Speaker 7 (21:23):
And some of our biggest connections to the community actually
are through the schools.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
In the spring.
Speaker 7 (21:30):
In the fall, we have an outdoor school program that
does field trips for mostly elementary children that come out
for maybe a four or five hour field trip, and
those are all based around Virginia Science sols, so they
can get some hands on experience on what they've been
studying in the classroom. And we also have programs for
(21:50):
middle school and high schoolers either to do more of
those outdoor education opportunities or to participate in our Challenge course,
so that's in cooperation course where groups do team building
and leadership development, learning to trust each other and communicate
with each other, work together to solve a problem, or
on our high ropes course and climbing tower. It's more
(22:11):
of an individual challenge, but you've got the group there
to support you and encourage you. And those are just
life skills that I think make.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
Our whole community and our whole world better and.
Speaker 7 (22:22):
That I really went for my kids that are part
of Rackham County Public Schools and Harrisonburg Public Schools as
well as we reach out to folks in Shenandoah County
down in Augusta County cities of stand in Waynesboro as well,
So it's really great to partner with the community in
those ways.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
As well.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
When I was a kid where I grew up, I'm
from the northern part of West Virginia, we had a
thing called reap. I don't remember what it stands for,
but we went from stayed. It was at one of
the city parks, but it's a very large park with
a lot of woods, and we camped for a week
and we went I remember going through a creek, you know,
(23:02):
walking through a creek and picking up leaves and doing
all these things. And I grew up in the city
and I'd never been camping. And I have to this
day so much appreciation for what I learned during that week.
The crafts, and you know, simply sleeping in a bunk
house with students that I didn't normally get along with,
and we ended up being friends by the end of
(23:23):
the week. So much growth can happen in a short
amount of time when you're put in a different environment
and you're stimulated to learn so many new things.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Absolutely, I mean, that's that's exactly what we do. You
summed it up perfectly. I was a camper here.
Speaker 7 (23:38):
My family moved here when I was in fourth grade
to this community, and I started coming to Brothernwoods that
summer as a camper for a week long program, and
this is a place where people showed me love and acceptance.
This is a place where people challenged me to grow.
This is a place where I got to be outside
(24:00):
in a way from kind of devices and constant distractions,
and I got to work on face to face communication
and I got to grow and experience all of those things.
And for me as a leader, then it became a
place where I got to be in leadership as a
junior staff and then a summer staff member, and now
(24:22):
I have the awesome opportunity to get to work here
all year round and invite other people to this space.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
And it's just it's the.
Speaker 7 (24:29):
Reason I keep doing it is because it transformed my life,
and I know that it continues to transform the laves
of people that come. And there's people from all different
walks of life, all ages, and it's just a really
incredible opportunity to be here.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
This morning here on iHeart Communities, we are talking about
the Great Community Give which is coming up on Wednesday,
April twenty second. It's an event that the Community Foundation
of Harrisburg and Rockingham County has been doing over the
last nine years. This will be the ninth annual one
and Lynetta Ali is the executive director of Brethren Woods,
one of the organizations. It's one of the one hundred
and fifty eight nonprofits that are participating this year. Lenetta,
(25:05):
if you could ask someone to know one thing about
Brethren Woods when they tell somebody else about it, what's
that one thing that they should make sure that they
use in that description so that people know exactly what
brotherren Woods is.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
Well, I like to tell people that we're a community
in creation.
Speaker 7 (25:25):
And that we're a place where we make room for
God to transform individuals and groups so they're empowered to
change the world.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
So I like that phrase community and creation.
Speaker 5 (25:35):
I like that.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
So you've mentioned that you have a lot of different
things going on the camping, whether it's visits from the
school or staying for a period of days, ropes, courses
and things for businesses that can participate. Give us just
a little bit more of that, in a little bit
(25:58):
more depth, because as you were mentioning all those I
was thinking about how I would enjoy doing one, and
then I probably miss the next one.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (26:05):
So again, we really are a year round, a year
round ministry, and so there's things happening here all the time.
Summer Camp is our big summer camp season. Day camp
programs where people just come in for a.
Speaker 3 (26:19):
Basically like a school day.
Speaker 7 (26:20):
They arrive between eight and nine in the morning, they
leave between four thirty and five thirty, and kids get.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
To participate in crafts.
Speaker 7 (26:28):
And nature and swimming and Bible study meals in our
dining hall or cookouts over the campfire, and then have
an option at the end of the week to just
do one night either with a grown up if they're younger,
or by themselves if they're older, to kind of get
a taste of camp. And then once campers are in
first grade, they can do a half week camp, which
is just two nights and three days where they get
(26:49):
to expand those opportunities. And once you're in third grade,
you can come for a whole week Sunday evening to
Friday evening and really have an opportunity to experience all
that camp has to offer. And we offer the programs
all the way up to twelfth grade, so we have
lots of options for people, and as you get older,
there's more things that you get to do, whether those
are participating in the rope's course or doing off side
(27:11):
adventures like a tubing trip on the Shanandoa River or
a canoe trip on the Shandoa River, or working with
one of the other organizations in the community to do
rock climbing or caving. So we have lots of chances
for people to have those different kinds of adventures and
then fall and spring again. We are an outdoor education
(27:32):
center for many of our area schools, whether those are public, private,
even homeschool groups that have participated out here, and we
do outdoor education based around different science, either standards of
learning or just topics that are of interest to those
folks that are coming out.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
This is all really exciting. Can you tell me a
little bit about your project that you have planned for
the great community to give.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (27:53):
So, one of the camper's favorite activities when they're at Brothernwood's,
one of the things they always say that they love
the most is the swimming pool. And our swimming pool
is needing to get updated for this year before our
summer camp season. I actually this is the only pool
that I have ever swam in at Brotherwoods. It opened
in nineteen ninety I never got to swim in what
(28:14):
is now the basketball court.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
But the swimming pool that we have is you know,
thirty five years old, over thirty five years old, and
it's been really well maintained.
Speaker 7 (28:23):
But we do need to do some updating to that
to get it ready for this summer. So we need
to raise fifty thousand dollars to be able to do that.
That's the price tag on a renovation that will replaster
the surfaces of the pool so that we don't get
some cracks or rough places that might be hard for
campers or might maybe.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
Catch toes and things like that. We'll be able to
replace the tiles, repair the lights.
Speaker 7 (28:48):
And make sure that the drains are the really safe
ones to make sure that the pool is as safe
as possible for this summer and just all updated and
ready to go for hopefully another thirty five years. That way,
campers and families can continue to enjoy that all year
in the summer.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
So I'd like to learn more. How do we find
out more about Brethren Woods?
Speaker 7 (29:10):
So Brothernwoods can be Information about Brothernwoods can be found
on our website, which is Brothernwoods dot org. You can
email camp at Brethernwoods dot org or give us a
call at five four oh two six nine two seven
four one, and we're always happy to answer your questions
and share more.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
Information with you.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Lenetta Ali is the executive director of Brethren Woods. Lenetta,
thank you for joining us on iHeart Communities. I also
want to thank Ailey Huber who's the artistic director at
Silkmoth Stage and Jenny Butcher, location leader at Isaiah one
seventeen House in Kelsey Gerber, program manager from the Community
Foundation of Harrisonburg and Rockham County, which is hosting the
Night Daniel Great Community Give on April twenty second. If
(29:52):
you'd like more information, go to Great Community Give dot org.
And we thank you for joining us this morning here
on Iheartcommunities.
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