This is the second issue of the 28th season of Letters from CAMP Rehoboth, and its publication comes with a wave of change for us. It is no secret that I have been fighting a very aggressive form of lymphoma since last summer. After a devastatingly difficult winter, I have made the decision to take a medical leave of absence from my role as Executive Director of CAMP Rehoboth and Editor of Letters from CAMP Rehoboth while my treatment continues. Fortunately, Murray and I have worked side-by-side for years, and he knows my job almost as well as I do. He has resigned from his long time role as President of the Board of Directors of CAMP Rehoboth in order to become Interim Executive Director and Editor in my stead. Vice President Chris Beagle, is now president of the Board of Directors, and Leslie Sinclair has been elected Vice President in his place.
While I am guessing that we will have an occasional rocky day as we implement these changes, I am confident that our Board and staff and volunteers will help us through this time of transition, and that as an organization we will continue to work on our vision and strategies for the future—and that the services provided by us throughout the community will not be interrupted.
I am tremendously grateful to everyone for the love, support, and prayers we have received in the months since my diagnosis. As of now we have not been able to slow down my lymphoma with chemo and radiation, but we are not giving up, and are, even as this issue goes to press, beginning a new round of treatment at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.
For myself, I will continue to find hope in every positive step that could possibly lead to recovery. For CAMP Rehoboth, I fully expect the year ahead to be a successful one and that there will be much to look forward to in it. From the extraordinary undertaking that is the CAMP Rehoboth Women's FEST—and don't underestimate me, I fully intend to be well enough not to miss Janis Ian's headlining performance during that event—to Sundance (returning home to downtown Rehoboth Beach this year), and the CAMP Rehoboth Block Party in October. Concerts, plays, workshops, Tai Chi, Silver Pride, support groups, and line dancing are just a few of the activities on the CAMP calendar. This is a busy place, and we are grateful to everyone who pitches in to make the CAMP Rehoboth Community Center the "heart of the community."
CAMP Rehoboth is about community, and there are so many ways members of our community work with CAMP Rehoboth to create amazing things. Just recently Russell Stiles assembled a remarkable cast to produce the funny and moving play Last Summer at Bluefish Cove. The show sold out quickly, as did the CAMP Rehoboth Chorus Concerts at Epworth. Year after year, each one of the almost 90 member strong CAMP Rehoboth Chorus continues to be an amazing ambassador for CAMP Rehoboth—as do all the folks who go out into the community to volunteer with the CAMP Rehoboth Outreach Program (CROP).
Looking back at the decades of work it has taken to build CAMP Rehoboth makes me glad to have been a part of it. All of us together have created something unique. As Murray and I go through the changes that have come along with my illness, the lessons we have learned from this community and our experiences with CAMP Rehoboth give us strength. In every hospital and treatment center, we find people we know, and people who want to hear about what we do—and about CAMP Rehoboth. While in Philadelphia for the surgery to put a port into my head back in January, Murray was in the big waiting room set aside for family members. To his surprise, there on one of the end tables was a copy of Letters from CAMP Rehoboth.