YWCA Holding Summer Camp at Fellowship Farm

YWCA Tri-County Area is offering two day camps this summer at Fellowship Farm outside of Pottstown.

YWCamp Adventures, for boys and girls ages 4 through 12, begins July 5 and runs through Aug. 18. Campers can attend one or more weeks, Mondays through Fridays. 

Campers will explore the outdoors on the farm’s 126 acres of woods, fields, and pond, will take part in games, crafts, and sports, and will have swim instruction and free time in the pool.

Camp tuition is $200/week; CCIS child care subsidy is accepted.

For information about YWCampAdventures, call Sheri McDonald at 610-323-1888, ext. 203.

Girls entering grades 4 through 7 can “Nuture Your Nature” at You Grow Girl! camp, focusing on health and well-being, including yoga, healthy meal preparation, hiking, swimming, STEM projects, team-building projects, and special outings.

You Grow Girl! camp runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 26-30, and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. July 17-21. Girls may attend one or both weeks. Camp tuition is $50 for one week, or $90 for both weeks.

For information about You Grow Girl!, contact Kelly Grosser at kgrosser@ywcatricountyarea.org, or call 610-323-1888.

Pick-up and drop-off for both camps will be at YWCA Tri-County Area, 315 King St.t, Pottstown.

YWCA Tri-County Area is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all. YW3CA is a leader in advocacy for women and girls, works to eliminate racism, and empowers women through quality affordable childcare, adult literacy, and a host of programs to support the health and vitality of women, girls, and families.

An Idea That Will Grow on You

BLOGGER'S NOTE: The following was provided in a press release form Fellowship Farm.

Fellowship Farm is welcoming children, youth and adults of all ages and backgrounds to a free,

“Build Your Own Garden” open house on Sunday, April 19, 2015 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Fellowship Farm’s Organic Garden, 2488 Sanatoga Road.

Participants will learn and experience hands-on activities to “grow your own foods and eat healthier,” focusing on the importance and ease of growing and eating their own healthy, organic food. 

Every participant will be able to take back to their own home and neighborhood exciting skills, organic seeds and self-made products for them to literally plant the seeds for future generations.

Participants will learn about and engage with the beautiful Organic Garden near the 18th century Stone House and Bamboo Garden at the Farm. 

Children will make their own healthy, organic models to take home to plant and eat, and participants will be able enjoy refreshments, feed and pet Fellowship Farm’s barnyard mini-horse, Llama, alpacas, sheep and donkey, and explore the beautiful trails along the grounds of this historic landmark.

RSVP’s are requested but not required. For more info or directions, contact Director David Tulin at Fellowship Farm, a Division of Child Guidance Resource Centers at 215-870-0349, director@fellowship-farm.org or dtulin@cgrc.org

Festival for Autism Families

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by Fellowship Farm.

Join Child Guidance at Fellowship Farm as they launch the first ever festival in Pennsylvania designed exclusively for those with Autism, on Sunday October 5, 2014 from 1-6pm.

Children and adults with autism, along with their siblings, parents, friends and supporters, are invited to attend a fun and educational day that is carefully planned for the unique sensory and socialization needs of and autism diagnosis.

Attendees will enjoy live music, nature trails, therapeutic horse and pony interactions, petting zoo, quiet activities, face painting, rope courses, and cooperative games.

Industry experts will lead workshops ranging from an introductory course for newly diagnosed

families to financial planning. 

Resource tables will also be provided, offering educational opportunities and tools for parents and their supporters. Most areas are wheelchair accessible, with uneven terrain.

Therapeutically supportive areas ensure that everyone has a safe place to enjoy 

Location: Fellowship Farm, 2488 Sanatoga Rd, Pottstown, PA. 

Admission: free with $10 per vehicle parking donation. 

For more Information, visit: http://cgrc.org/about-us/events-and-activities/fall-fest; 

email: info@cgrc.org; 

call: 484-454-8744.

Child Guidance Resource Centers is a community-based, behavioral healthcare organization that provides quality care, therapies, and preventative services to children and families in the Delaware Valley. 

Headquartered in Havertown, Pennsylvania, Child Guidance partnered with Fellowship Farm in 2013. 

Fellowship Farm has been a leader in the equality and civil rights movements as well as expert training in diversity and integration. 

Anyone interested in learning more about communication, team building and resiliency training is encouraged to call 610-326-3008

With a Little Help from Their Friends

Julie and Alden Lanphear

I've written uncounted obituaries in my time as a reporter, but there is one that sticks out in my mind -- the one for Alden Lanphear.

I remember it not because it was particularly well written, but because of the person I was writing about.

Alden died in 2011, at the age of 74, after a lifetime of helping others.

For 39 years, he was the executive director of Woodrock Inc., the non-profit organization that brought urban youth from Philadelphia to Fellowship Farm in Limerick.

He was also tapped to keep the Cluster Outreach Center going as interim director when they were undergoing a (successful) change in leadership.

Knowing Alden for years, as a result of covering organizations with which he was involved, I also got to know his wife Julie very well.

In fact, there was little Alden did that Julie was not also intimately connected with. They were a real team.

And beyond those they helped in the community, that included their family, two sons and five daughters.

One of those daughters, Jody, has cerebral palsy and lives in a facility that cares for her in Media.

Jody on an outing.

But Julie and Jody's siblings visit often and take her home or on outings -- or at least they did, until the handicapped van they used to transport Jody went "kaput," as Michael Lanphear wrote on www.gofundme.com 

That's where he and his family are trying to raise $10,000 to buy a replacement van, which they have identified.

"Jody is 40 years old with cerebral palsy, which has left her wheel-chair bound, but for us and those who know Jody, we know that this chick likes to get out and do her thing," Michael wrote on the site.

"My Mom -Julie Lanphear is now the sole caretaker of my sister Jody," Debi Rutkowski, Jody's sister, wrote to me in an e-mail. "Her van just died and now she has no way to get Jody home for short visits or even on an outing from the facility she lives in."

I have written a few appeals before. 

I'm a little wary as The Mercury has been scammed at least twice that I know of by people who claimed to have needs, problems and even diseases they didn't have.

But I know the Lanphears and that is not the case here.

I also know all the help the Lanphears offered to others, which made them very happy, did not make them rich.

So it is without reservation that I ask for anyone who is so inclined to make a contribution on the funding site the family has set up through gofundme.com -- http://www.gofundme.com/aqtdt8 -- and make a contribution if you can, so Julie can bring her daughter home.