What a year it has been!
It’s hard to believe, but my first year at CAMP Rehoboth has come and gone, and what a year it has been! Like just about everybody’s 2020, nothing went as expected. I am so proud of everyone here at CAMP Rehoboth for working hard to find our path forward when many of our carefully laid plans for things like Women’s FEST, Sundance, and other large gatherings had to be set aside. But we kept in contact through Zoom and social media and learned a lot.
The approaching holiday season always puts me in the mood to reflect on the past year and start planning for the future.
Reflecting on our past
There are some wonderful reflections on our past in this issue of Letters. CAMP Rehoboth has a rich and meaningful history. In this issue, Murray Archibald dives into the Letters archives and shares some of his past reflections. And in Looking Back, Fay Jacobs shares a 2007 interview with the one and only John Waters.
On November 20 we will gather to reflect on the lives lost to anti-transgender violence. Find out more about the planned, carefully socially-distanced Transgender Day of Remembrance in this issue.
On December 1, we will once again gather to reflect on those we’ve lost to HIV/AIDS. World AIDS Day will look different than the events we’ve had in the past. One thing that will not change, however, is reading the names of those we’ve lost. Find out how you can add names that are meaningful to you to the list. See page XX
Finally, we have an amazing, if challenging, past year to reflect on. CAMP Rehoboth was honored to receive the 2020 Organization of the Year award from NAMI Delaware. Learn more about this and other exciting news about our Health & Wellness Programs in CAMP News on page XX.
Charting our future
As we plan for the year ahead, there is so much to look forward to. Delaware made history on Election Day with three openly LGBTQ candidates elected to the Delaware State Legislature. Eric Morrison is the first openly LGBTQ candidate elected to the Delaware State House. Marie Pinkney is the first openly lesbian African-American in the Delaware General Assembly. And Sarah McBride is the nation's first-ever transgender state senator. For the first time, Delaware will have its own LGBTQ Caucus and all of us at CAMP Rehoboth stand ready to support their work.
We had a great Zoom call from CAMP Rehoboth with Representative Morrison and Senator McBride the day after the election. It’s available on our Facebook page if you want to see it. I hope it kicks off a lot of interaction between our organization and the legislature in Dover on some critical issues.
Of course, as we look to the year ahead, there is still much uncertainty. We simply don’t know if or when things will be closer to normal. Nevertheless, we are planning, even if that means having a plan A, a plan B, and possibly a plan C. We have been lucky to find so many creative ways to stay connected with and engage our CAMP Rehoboth family, and that will continue. As Wes Combs says in his column, the path forward may continue to be bumpy, however, “Our ability to focus on what we can control instead of what we cannot will allow each of us to thrive.”
Here’s to reflecting on our past and building a bright future for our community! Let’s thrive together! And Happy Thanksgiving. Even in 2020, we can give thanks for all we have.