PeaceStorming 2009.

“A wonderful three days, working with inspiring people, enjoying being in my body, working on this planet, and seeing how I do that.”

“All I can say is that this is service from the heart and, to me, it is the path to happiness.”

“In participating in this opportunity I was brought back to what my heart wants – to be of service and share in the goodness of life – it’s the best.”

It is the best! And where did we go to have this great experience, our third annual PeaceStorming? Not far, actually. Just across Calaveras County to the little town of West Point, home of the Blue Mountain Coalition for Youth and Families.

 

Similar to the Monastery, the Coalition is an organization in which a small number of dedicated people make available a wide array of services. Our sense, during the three days, was that it really provides the heartbeat of its community. We were privileged to share in that heartbeat, that heartfelt work, as we assisted them in realizing a few of their many dreams. Here is the story of our three days with them, told through the words of PeaceStorming retreatants.

“We offer our ‘Yes'!” We show up and respond.
“Would we haul piles of bricks and lumber from one location to another?  Yes. Would we build and fill raised garden beds to get them ready for community planting? Yes. Would we clean up, weed, and turn over the soil in the youth garden to get it ready for the summer? Yes. Would we saw up and haul off a yard full of downed trees? Yes. Would we rebuild the eroded steps to the garden? Yes. Would we scrape and repaint the front of the building?  Yes. We would, and we did.”

It was a full agenda, but we had many willing hands – both theirs and ours.
We began with a true team-building exercise: a brick brigade. A neighbor had offered stacks of bricks and huge boards if the Coalition could use them. They could! We passed them hand to hand from the piles to the vehicles that would haul them back to Blue Mountain property, where we restacked them.

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