LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
The Way I See It |
by Steve Elkins, Editor |
For those of us in the CAMP Rehoboth office, life would be very hard to imagine without Kathy Weir, our administrative coordinator. As all the many activities and fund raisers of the summer get underway, her work load and time spent in the office multiplies, and yet, she's always ready to provide a quick answer, a kind word, or a "Tinkerbell" bandage for life's little cuts and bruises. Last week as we launched the Founder's Circle with its many levels of giving, she reminded us of the unsung volunteers who make all these things happen, and suggested that we design into the structure of the new Community Center a clock that records the names of those who give of their time to make the Center a reality.
Time has been on my mind a great deal lately, perhaps because it seems to be going by at such a rapid rate. The much publicized twentieth anniversary of the AIDS epidemic has made me remember a time that seems very different from today. For longer than those twenty years, I've subscribed to Newsweek magazine, and their June 11 issue marked their nineteenth cover story on AIDS. In that issue was a little column that showed each of those issues lined up, row upon rowand I remembered all of them. And yet, looking at those tiny pictures, I couldn't help but think of the countless stories that never made it to Newsweekthe individual stories of suffering, of heartache, of loss, of courageall the stories that are there between the lines, hidden in statistics and multicolored charts and graphs. What I remember most, are the individuals who are no longer with us, the people whose names we read aloud on World AIDS Day, our family members, our friends, our partners, our loved ones. Walking though Rehoboth, I read the names of friends on their memorial trees. I think of the restaurants and businesses created by those who are no longer here. I think of Chris Monismith and Randy Weaver, Michael Brossette, John Moore, Jeff Goeringer, John Van Meter and all the many others who make up a list far too numerous to name. Let us please take this anniversary to not only remember the past, but to work to make the future a healthier and safer one for everyone. Speaking of anniversaries and the passage of time, Memorial Day weekend marked the eighth time that I've participated in Sensitivity Training for the Rehoboth summer police. It's interesting to me to see the change in attitude over the years. Today's force seems far more comfortable with gay and lesbian issues than it once did. I was joined in the training by Letters' columnist Fay Jacobs, who reports in detail on the experience on page 20 of this issue. The Founder's Circle, created to raise the money needed to buy and build the new CAMP Rehoboth Community Center, got a terrific jump start at the June 2 event at the Atlantic Sands Hotel. The event raised over $150,000 in contributions and pledges for the new Center, and kicked off the five year Capital Building Fund. The event ended with organizers cutting a red ribbon, and the announcement that at each stage along the way another color ribbon would be cut on the way to creating the rainbow ribbon that would one day stretch across the front door of the Community Center. For more on The Founder's Circle and the event, see the article on page 8. As the summer heats up, don't forget all the events that we've come to know and love over the years. That includes the Bachelor Auction at the Blue Moon, to benefit Love 2001 on Saturday, June 16; the Gay Men's Chorus Concert at the Rehoboth Convention Center on Saturday, June 23, to benefit Sussex County AIDS Committee; and, of course, the mega-dance benefit itself, Love 2001, at the Convention Center on Saturday, June 30, to benefit SCAC, CAMP Rehoboth, The Women's Project and Main Street. Finally, Beach Book 2001 will be out the weekend of June 23. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 11, No. 7, June 15, 2001. |