The Piece Board Members Linh Ngo Alumni ’90 Board Chair Mental Health Counselor Kayla Johnston Staff ’11 Board Co-Chair Elect Travel Course Coordinator Pacific University Doug Honma Alumni ’96 Treasurer Public Administration & Legislative Aide Kellie Holloway Alumni ’97 Secretary Physical Therapist Nicole Potter Alumni ’93 Programming Chair Makeup Artist & Social Entrepreneur William Raw Alumni ’90 Recruitment Chair Youth Group Home Staff & Soccer Coach Cree Gordon Staff ’11 Board Member Outreach Worker Amirah Said Staff ’11 Board Member Psychology Masters Candidate Camp Odyssey Advisory Council Gloria Gostnell Founder ’90 ALF Class III Consultant/Ctr for Courage & Renewal Dr. Tillie Makepeace Staff ’90 Janus Youth Programs Director Dennis Morrow Founder ’90 ALF Class III ED, Janus Youth Programs Tom Nelson Founder ’90 ALF Class III Consultant/Career Coach Reed College Oregon Solutions Team Tom Fuller Co-Convener Shiels, Obletz, Johnsen Margaret Carter Co-Convener Former State Senator Laurel Singer OS Project Manager Hector Roche OS Project Coordinator Emily Rose OS Project Intern Maayan Agam Youth Alumni ‘11 Brad Earl Medford School District Kellie Holloway Alumni ‘97 William Kerney Youth Alumni ‘11 Adrienne Livingston Black United Fund of Oregon Shannon Myrick Oregon Youth Authority Tom Nelson Reed College Fariborz Pakseresht Oregon Youth Authority William Raw Alumni ‘90 Paul Slyman Parks & Env Services , Metro Bob Speltz The Standard |
| Successful Re-Launch of Camp Odyssey Last AugustCamp Odyssey XIII Youth made a community that will last a lifetime!
Thank you so much to all our funders, supporters, families and friends. We couldn't have done it without you!
The 2011 re-launch of Camp Odyssey was an amazing success. We admitted 55 youth to the program with 43 joining us from August 7-13 at the University of Oregon. These youth returned home inspired to become engaged and begin organizing with the aim to build a more welcoming and inclusive society in their respective communities whether in schools, places of worship, online networks, or even in their local coffee shops and living rooms. The youth who attended Camp Odyssey reflect the wide range of diversity that exists within Oregon with representation from every racial/ethnic group. Many youth live in low-income households and would not have considered applying without the generous donors and funders that allowed the camp to be free.
“My time at Camp Odyssey was quite wonderful. I had a great time getting to know the other campers and I really enjoyed the variety of people I saw there. It was important for me to know about the difficulties that other groups of people went through. I have to admit that some of the things I heard shocked me. But I'm glad I learned about these tragedies, knowing makes me more tolerant of and more empathetic [of] a variety of people.” - Nicholas, age 17, 2011 Camper Graduate “I've been wanting to write and tell you what an amazing experience Camp Odyssey was for Doron and how impressed I am by the program you put together. I have been a diversity trainer for years—in the Bay Area and then with Multnomah County—so I had some idea what to expect when Doron went to camp. I was surprised and impressed by what I heard when he came home. You did a better job than I ever could have imagined with a group of teens. Whoever designed the program and those of you who carried it out deserve a lot of credit. Thank you for the work you are doing.” - Melissa, 2011 parent of 2011 Camper Graduate
Camp Odyssey Secures 501(c)(3) as The Piece In order to develop a sustainable program, the alumni created a parent organization and secured independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit status as The Piece in 2011! We still work with Janus Youth Programs as our fiscal sponsor. The Piece comes from a long history of use at Camp, referring to owning our piece in society and systemic oppression, speaking our piece and truths, and the pieces of work that still need to be done, towards social change and human dignity. We welcome you and want to know. What's your piece?
Camp Odyssey Mid-Year Reunion in January We just had our Camp Odyssey camper reunion in over a decade at Canyonview Camp in Silverton, OR. 35 campers and staff came together to bond, emotionally support youth on their ongoing journey as emerging leaders, have regional strategic planning sessions, and discuss future programming.
Year Round Programming: Southern Poverty Law Center Events, AIDS Walk, Regional Meetings & Curriculum Round Table Discussions
In September 2011, Camp Odyssey was invited to attend closed events in Portland and Seattle held by the Southern Poverty Law Center. We got to meet the lawyers (Morris Dees, James McElroy, Richard Cohen and Eldon Rosenthal) who helped successfully try the case of Kenneth Mieske, the perpetrator of Portland's most notorious hate crime -- the 1988 murder of an Ethiopian student by white-power skinheads. The murder of Mulugeta Seraw was the event that spurred the creation of Camp Odyssey in the late 1980s. A team of dedicated community members from the American Leadership Forum Class III created a program that ran from 1990-2001, and that we, as a team of past campers and awesome new staff, are proud to have revived last year. We were pleased to be present and publicly recognized in front of more than 800 people assembled for the cause of social justice at the Portland event. Special thanks to Nicole Potter (Odyssey Board member), who so artfully crafted a finely written letter to contact Mulugeta Seraw's son Henock, now an airline pilot. We also had the pleasure of meeting Henock's adopted father, James "Mac" McElroy, a longtime civil rights lawyer who contacted us on Henock's behalf and invited us to the event. Moreover, we couldn't be more proud to have a 2011 camper and her mother in attendance with us (thank you Maayan and Sami), representing a new generation of Odyssey leaders working to create a just and equitable society, where individuals are respected as human beings, and where they can live without fear. Odyssey Supports Portland AIDS Walk ♥
Seven O dyssey campers and staff came together as the Odyssey Team for the AIDS Walk October 2, 2011. Thank you to Kayla Johnston and Amy Farley for organizing our awesome Odyssey Team.
Regional meetings in Eugene and Portland were held in September and October to further support youth in their year round activities and efforts. Thanks to Cree Gordon and Amirah Said, our regional coordinators, for organizing the events and supporting Oregon youth!
We also have had a series of curriculum round table discussions throughout December 2011 and continued into January 2012 on various topics such as orientation, racism, nonconforming gender, ableism and staff training...etc. Camp Odyssey and Oregon Solutions in the October ALF Newsletter
Check us out in the October ALF Newsletter! Senior Fellows from seven ALF classes teamed up as part of the Oregon Solutions team to ensure the revival and long-term support of Camp Odyssey to further social justice, tolerance and respect for differences. The Oregon Solutions Team and Camp Odyssey are now meeting and working hard. We hope to unveil to you all our Declaration of Cooperation in the first part of this year! Stay tuned.... |
