If you would like professionally printed copies to distribute to a group or organization, please contact Andrew Gross at andrew@menswork.org.

This post will also address questions that have been raised regarding the re-opening of the Buffalo Gap site.

Vision

We always want the Chesapeake Men’s Gathering to be a place for men to have a meaningful and powerful personal experience. It should be a place where men from all walks of life to come together in comradery, and share in the exploration of what it means to be a man.

In addition to that, the mission of the Men’s Council is to promote men’s work in general. Our hope is that the Men’s Gathering is also a place for men to learn about other groups that are involved in supportive men’s-community building. As such, we hope to bring back the notion of the Chesapeake Men’s Gathering as a ‘gathering of the tribes’. A place were men from different groups can come to share about what they do, and where men can find out about the other things that they can do throughout the year to support themselves on their inner journeys and personal missions.

And finally, we always want to continue in the tradition of providing a place to bring the young men and boys in our lives, where they can witness positive male role models, and set the groundwork for their own growth into strong and well-rounded adults.

Response to: We’ve heard the Buffalo Gap Camp has reopened. Will we ever move back there?

Those of us who have experienced the old Buffalo Gap site in West VA will always love and feel a deep connection to that location. We were one of the last groups to leave that site, and were sad when it closed down. Having said that, there are many reasons for moving on.

First, we have no certainty about the on-going commitment to the BG site by the current owner. For many years we struggled, hanging on to the least minute, wondering if the site would be available to us for the next year. Most locations book their sites long in advance. Waiting until the last minute to find out if BG would be available almost resulted in not having a Gathering several years ago. We do not want to put ourselves in that position of uncertainty ever again.

The Ramblewood owner has a strong commitment to his site, and has a fully booked season. His philosophy and intention for his site is perfectly aligned with kind of work that we do. We have already begun to develop a strong partnership with him, and also expect to be able to bring men from other Ramblewood events to our own event.

From a financial perspective, the Ramblewood owner has been very supportive to us with his pricing for use of the site. To put it plainly, between the requested ‘minimum attendance’ and per-person cost provisions of recent contracts and proposals from the new managers of BG, staying at that site would be irresponsible.

Finally, Ramblewood is convenient to four major metropolitan areas: Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and even NYC. Our vision includes growth of our community. The BG site is VERY limited from this perspective. Given our hope for long-term viability of our community, we believe that Ramblewood is a much better location for us.

Future Discussion Topics will include:

* Will we have a regular weekend for our event that we can count on from year to year? Will that be earlier in the season than the 2009 and 2010 event dates? (the short answer is “Yes”, but come back for more on this)
* How do you hope to realize your vision for our community? How can community members get involved?
* What are the specific plans for this year and future gatherings?

October 22 - 24th, 2010

If you have any thoughts about issues and themes that you would like to see us address at this year's event, please post your comments here.

If you have not done so already, please fill out our online feedback form.

To those of you who could not make this year's Gathering, we missed you.

Very soon we will begin planning for next year's event. Stay tuned for news.

- Andrew

P.S. - I also invite you to post comments about your experiences of the Gathering that we just had. Just hit the comment link below.

Part of the theme for this year’s event is “Looking Forward – What do men need today?"

I am interested in hearing from you about the issues or ideas that you are passionate about when you think about this question: What do men need today?

The pieces that we get back from you may be used in one of the exercises that will take place during this year’s Gathering. So here are some suggested guidelines followed by instructions on where to post your responses.

To maintain both a personal as well as outward focus, I’m interested in hearing your place in the issue that you write about:

• How do you feel in the face of this issue?


• To what degree are you personally engaged in the issue and how is that working out for you?


• In context of the issue that you are writing about, what is your vision for yourself and the world?

Your piece does NOT have to be hopeful and positive – there can be plenty of passion around things about which we feel powerless, shameful, and angry as well. Your piece can be a call for action, a challenge, a plea, or just a question around which you wish to engage with others.

Keep your writing tight and focused – try for something that would take little more than two minutes if read aloud.

Your written piece should be an invitation for men to engage with you. It should focus on what men can grab onto – so keep the information about the issue short, and go long on your passion and what you are hoping to see. If you do come to this year's Gathering, there will be plenty of opportunity for men to discuss the issues that spur the most juice.

Once you have something written, please click on the Comments link below and post your piece. Or if you prefer, send it to me directly at andrew@menswork.org

We also have some marketing materials available for download. On the Logistics page you will find a PDF version of this year's brochure along with index-card size advertising posters that you can print and post in your neighborhood coffee shop, commuity bulletin board, hang on your cube or office door, etc. Help us get the word out!

You can find a bit of information about the location at http://www.ramblewood.com

Ramblewood is less than 2 hr. north of downtown DC, near Havre de Grace, MD. The photos on the Ramblewood website do not do it justice. It is a secluded location with a beautiful pond, outdoor pavillion, well maintained cabins, acres of wooded hiking trails, frontage on the Susquehana River, and many other features that make it an ideal location for us.

Stay tuned for our plans for this year's gathering. We are confident that our partership with Ramblewood will continue for years to come. I look forward to seeing you in October!!

- Andrew

Oct. 9th to 11th, 2009

Please note that this is October, not September as has been usual for the past few years.

We are very excited about the new site and I look forward to telling you more about it. More to come soon!!

As soon as I have agreement from the rest of the Men's Council Leadership Team I will post the list of our contenders.

Stay tuned for more detail.

Abram's Creek
Brethren Wood
Camp Friendship
Camp Horizon and Horizon Outdoor Learning Center

Stay tuned for more!!

- Andrew

First off, welcome back to this site. I will be posting more frequently as we make progress on planning for our next Gathering of Men for the Fall of 2009. Here is what has been happening over the last few months:

• The Leadership Council has met several times to discuss our approach to searching for a new site for our gathering and themes for the 2009 event
• We have agreed on the "Must Have" criterion for a new site and drafted a "Request for Information" (RFI) letter
• Out of the many suggestions we received from past attendees, Leadership Council members, and through our own searches, we narrowed the possibilities down to a list of 28 sites that we felt were likely and acceptable candidates
• The RFI letter went out on December 20th

Upcoming activities will included

• Meeting again in January to review responses to the RFI


• Scheduling site visits


• Drafting of an RFP

We hope to have a new site by the end of March.

In a future posting I will discuss some initial ideas for a theme for our Annual Gathering of Men - 2009

I hope you'll come back to visit this blog to see what's happening.

Andrew Gross
Co-Leader
Men's Council of Greater Washington

I have been very gratified to see all energy around finding a new site for our 2009 Gathering. Please continue to send your suggestions to either the BuffaloGap group on Groups.Yahoo.com, or send them directly to me at andrew@menswork.org

We are currently establishing our new leadership team for the coming year, and will begin prioritizing our list of desired attributes for a new site. Stay tuned for progress on that.

Warmly,
Andrew Gross
Co-leader, Washington Men's Council

We welcome your participation in the planning effort:

In an effort to make this year's gathering an incredible experience and create the energy that will keep the event growing and relevant for years to come, we are asking for your contribution:

Who else needs to know about our gathering? Tell us about organizations (on-line or off-line) that we could tell about the event.
Start thinking about places that you frequent where you might be able to hang a sign or flyer (any place that has a community bulletin board).

Send us any ideas that would make the weekend more powerful, engaging, and relevant to more men.

Send us any ideas for possible new locations for our 2009 Gathering of Men.

Send Your Requests and Responses to: leadership.council@menswork.org
or post your comments here.