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Nate, Clay, Brynn, and Ben have spent most of today out in the woods, felling and prepping some trees for Saturday`s work day. If you`re able to help us out with the job of stocking the wood sheds, we would sure appreciate you joining us! It looks like we`ll have a warmer day on Saturday (current forecast shows sunny with a high of 60), so it should be a nice day to be working outside. Remember, we`ll provide a delicious lunch for all the volunteers!

More details and the sign-up form at highlandretreat.org/get-involved/work-days/

#highlandretreatva #woodsplittingday #volunteerworkday

We have a work day coming up on Saturday, December 9 that will focus on processing firewood. There will be a variety of tasks to complete for different ages and skill sets -- everything from picking up sticks to running a chainsaw or wood splitter to stacking the cut wood -- and a tasty lunch provided to thank all the volunteers! If you can work the morning (9-12) and/or afternoon (1-4), we would appreciate it very much. We are also looking for people who could bring their own chainsaw or wood splitter.

If you want more details or are ready to sign up to let us know you are coming, visit highlandretreat.org/get-involved/work-days

#highlandretreatva #workday #woodsplitting #volunteeropportunity

We are very thankful for these fine young gentlemen: Brynn Yoder and Clay Kauffman, our new Highland interns! You maybe have already met them at the Banquet last Thursday (where these pictures were taken) or during one of the past couple of summers when they have been on staff, but if not, here`s a brief virtual introduction.

These two recent EMU grads are each entering an internship at Highland as TranSenders with @vmmissions. They are still in the fundraising stage and have not *officially* started, but they moved into Green Valley House last week, are preparing to plug into some community organizations, and are helping at Highland some while planning ahead for projects they might work on in the next year that align with their personal interests and career goals.

Clay, who has an environmental science degree, says, “I am excited about this program because of the many possibilities for coordinating creatively sustainable solutions at Highland. One of those ideas is continuing to support owl banding on Highland property.”

Brynn, who has a degree in psychology, says, “I’m most excited for the opportunity to work in areas I won’t define as work. Every time I pull up a document about summer camp, the time disappears. I would do these summer camp tasks whether I was working in the internship program or not. It’s just a blessing to get to do them with the support of the program.”

If you are excited about supporting one or both of these interns in their time of service, you may contact either Brynn or Clay directly to learn about how you can support their fundraising efforts as TranSenders. (Reach out to Highland if you need help making that connection; we can provide their email addresses.)

Or, if you would like to support Highland as we dive into our first year of this internship program, you can also make a donation to Highland for the "Begin the Intern" fund. (Donations to Highland will also help supply financial support to Clay and Brynn, though they will not be counted toward their individual fundraising goals for the VMMissions TranSend program.) highlandretreat.org/get-involved/give/

#highlandretreatva #highlandinternship

We sure loved seeing many of you in person at our Banquet last night! The meal was delicious (thanks to our fabulous food service team!), the space was lovely, the conversations were delightful, and the program featuring members of the Highland staff and board was excellent. We`ll share a summary of the evening`s presentation in a bit more detail sometime soon, but for now, please enjoy a few pictures from last night and our sincere thanks to all who participated!

P.S. If you like to plan ahead, you can mark next year`s Highland Banquet on your calendars already: Nov. 21, 2024.

#highlandretreatva #highlandbanquet