Deaf-Blind Retreat

October 15, 2007

Hello Everyone!

What a great Retreat this year! So many cool people, both DB and volunteers, from across the country and Canada, all ages and backgrounds sharing Good Vibrations! Thanks to every person who joined and helped make this another successful retreat.

This year we had 67 DB people and 119 volunteers – wow! Plus about 40 visitors and friends who came for short times. We were lucky to have awesome weather during camp. As soon as camp finished, summer did too, at least in the Northwest. The rest of the country is still having warm weather in October. For all of us, Happy Fall!

A few things to let you know:

Pictures
Enclosed is a copy of the group picture in 4 X 6 size. If you want to order a large size 8 x 10, the cost is $5.00. Send a check to the Lighthouse for the Blind. We will process the order and mail it to you asap. Address is 2501 S. Plum St. Seattle, WA 98144. The group photo is also posted on the website www.deafblindlh.org. More camp pictures will be posted soon.

T Shirts and jackets
We got more t shirts and jackets. If you ordered one at camp, you should have it by now. Contact us if you didn’t get it. Sorry we don’t have any extras.

Roster updates:
Baron Babineaux’s email address is bbabin7722@aol.com
Andrew Stender’s new email address is andysten@embarqmail.com
Tami Berk’s correct email is tberk@seattlelh.org

Lost and Found
We found sunglasses, t shirts, flashlights and baseball caps. We also found a nice blue sleeping bag found in Maples cabin, a pair of men’s Birkenstock sandals left in the Inn, a diabetes blood sugar test kit left in Tami’s car, a beautiful straight polished wood walking cane left in the Inn, and lots of round inner tubes from the dining room and meeting house (we know those belong to Brogan ha!) If any of these are yours, let us know. We’d love to return them.

Coco’s Haircut Fundraiser
Remember Friday night and cutting tufts of Coco’s hair? Thanks to everyone’s generous contributions Coco raised $1273 for her trip to Africa! Way to go Coco and thanks to everyone who contributed! If you want to get updates on Coco’s journey check out her website http://tactiletheworld.wordpress.com. Coco stay in touch!

Massage for pay?
Massage is one of the most popular activities at camp. However, it is very difficult to find people to come to camp and give volunteer massage. We don’t have extra money to hire enough massage therapists. We have our wonderful massage person Joanne Cooper who volunteers each year and she can offer 4 or 5 massages each day. Of course we all want more. So we have an idea! Next year we can invite massage therapists to come and offer massages for a cost. Maybe $15 for 15 minutes, open to DB and volunteers, whoever wants it. Would you like to have this option? Let us know your opinion. You can email dbretreat@seattlelh.org, call us 206-436-2120 or send us a letter. We’d love to hear from you!

Dates for camp 2008:
Mark your calendars for the 30^th Anniversary!! The dates are Sunday August 24 to Saturday Aug 30. SSP training will happen on Sat Aug 23. Many people are hoping to join the Retreat next year. We’re lucky, why? We will have more beds than usual for one year only! Another group often comes the same week as DB camp. They use some of the houses. Next year they agreed to change the dates of their event so we will have the whole camp. It was very kind of them. Thanks to Seabeck Staff for their help. Of course, we might still have a wait list. It is always important for us to have enough qualified Volunteer Interpreters. If you know anyone who is thinking about volunteering, encourage them to come! Camp applications will be online at www.deafblindlh.org and also mailed by February 2008.

Activities for 30 Year Anniversary
30 years wow! We want your ideas for new activities and special ways to celebrate the anniversary. Want some of the same activities we had 30 years ago? A skit of how things were back then? Wear the same style of clothes from 1978? (no!) If you have ideas or you want to lead the activity, let us know.

Thank you!
There are so many people to thank. Where do we start??

Richie Frantz for coming up with Good Vibrations which is a better theme than regular Vibrations smile,
Anna Khutoryan, our summer DB intern from Gallaudet, who helped design the T shirts and volunteer certificates this year. She had to go back to Gally so could not join the Retreat this year. Hopefully next year,
Jelica Nuccio and aj granda for leading the Volunteer Training on Saturday and Sunday,
Terry Dockter, Dana Van Dussen, Mark Chambers, Howie and Diana Dickerman for sharing their boats with us and making sure we were safe on the jet skis,
Eric Gauglitz for loaning us the stationary bike,
Charlie Pickell for loaning us the Nordic exercise trainer,
John Plecher for picking up the exercise equipment,
Elizabeth Marazita and Michael Spano for teaching us about Qi Gong and Reflexology,
Scott Bass and Bapin Bhattacharyya for the GPS workshop,
Steve Kennedy for the Yoga and Relaxation workshop,
Carol Lutra-Johns, Chris Daigre, Lara MacIntosh and Caxambu for the great dance workshops,
Caxambu for bringing his instruments on Wednesday,
Geoff Johns for bringing all of his instruments on Monday and showing us how to use them. What amazing vibrations!
Margarita Eng for teaching us how to make beautiful flowers,
Christine Gilbrough for teaching us how to make the wooden hot plate holders,
Tom Peters for his interesting story about his travel in Russia,
Jelica and Vince Nuccio for their great bike story,
Christine (Coco) Roschaert for leading the Usher Support Group,
Debbie Sommer and Coco for helping at the Info Table,
Jer Sasser and Diane Black for the Camp Daily News,
All the people who drove vans or their own cars to the mall, the LH, the state park,
Brogan Thomsen for bringing his telescopes and inner tubes, making plaster cast hands of our LH presidents past and future, and everything else!!
Joanne Cooper for her loving energy and massage,
Vince Nuccio, John Plecher, Brogan Thomsen, Cliff Marcus, John Chinworth and LH staff for setting up camp poles, ropes, lights, yellow tape etc,
Angela Theriault, Kathryn Cutler, Anne DelVecchio, Cherie Furtado, Sue Benson, Tobias Cullins, Joanna Ball, Jaine Richards, Cliff Marcus, Salwa Rosen and Mick Etchoe for working at registration on Sunday,
Elinor Powicke, Erin Baretich, Cyndi Brown and Steve Kennedy who helped with transportation on Sunday,
Sandy Sallee for going beyond the call of duty and meeting someone at the airport at 10pm on Sunday! They took the shuttle to camp, Sandy didn’t drive them smile.
Douglas College in Vancouver Canada for sending all their students to camp each year,
Sorenson Relay for setting up the video phone for us to use all week,
Outdoors For All for bringing so many cool bikes and giving us a big discount,
The fabulous LH staff (Nancy, Bruce, Mark, Karen, Johnnie, Suzette, Tony, Meg, Beth, Jackie, Richie, Carolyn, Amy, David, Shane, Di, Paula) who worked so hard on the Retreat this year,
The many people in the Lighthouse who loaded equipment, drove trucks to camp, loaned us tools and spent time helping us get things just right,
EVERYONE who had a role in an activity! We couldn’t do it without you!
All the people who made donations to camp and there were many,
Everyone’s patience with schedule changes during the week yikes,
Kathryn Woofter, our camp nurse. People knew she was there but we never really introduced her. She was bored and that’s good! (if you’re a nurse)
Seabeck Conference Center for their flexibility and for the wireless internet!
The Lighthouse Board of Directors who realize how important the Retreat is and that it must go on,
George Jacobson, LH retiring president, for his commitment to the Retreat all these years and Kirk Adams, LH president elect, for his commitment in years to come,
All the wonderful DeafBlind people and volunteers from far and near who came to enjoy and support the Retreat and contribute Good Vibrations. That means YOU!

That’s all for now. Take care of yourself and each other. Stay in touch and hope to see you next year.

Hugs!

Lighthouse for the Blind
Tami Berk, Retreat Coordinator