News

An enormous "Thank you!" to all who participated in the Culture Make Sale, whether by contributing goods and offering services, purchasing others' donations, or simply perusing the website and sharing in the event.

*culture is not optional's network stretches across the globe, and thanks to the success of the Culture Make Sale, that web of connections is growing! Over the past two months, friends of *cino new and old, from all over, have given and received gifts of time, energy, and resources, to benefit the renovation and development of the former Huss School building into a community center in Three Rivers, Michigan. Handmade ceramics, customized love letters and website design, brilliant books and poetry, yard work, artwork, apple pies, and so much more - these are little bits of human culture that enrich our lives, and all the more so when they are shared.

Thanks to all for helping raise over $1500 for the Imagining Space at Huss School! Your continued support ensures that Huss School is on its way to becoming a place of peace, hope, and justice.

Additionally, the sale will continue soon in Three Rivers: World Fare, a fair trade store downtown, has partnered with *cino as an outlet to sell goods that give life to projects and endeavors in the local community. Be sure to stop by 37 N. Main St. in the near future and check out the many wonderful items still on sale!

Join us on July 30 for the Second Annual Huss Future Festival! This year's event will include live music, food from the Triple Ripple Community Garden and the Three Rivers Area Faith Community, an art and art supply sale sponsored by the Three Rivers Artist Guild, a used clothing sale ... and more! We invite you to drop by to get a glimpse of the vision for the Imagining Space at Huss School.

On July 28-30, we're also partnering with Maple Tree Meadows to host a ^camping is not optional event in Three Rivers. This beautiful farm is only ten minutes from Huss School, making it an ideal place to stay if you're coming into town for the Future Festival. Our camping events are very informal, but provide plenty of opportunities for sharing good food, stories, farm chores, songs and more. If you'd like, you could also volunteer for the Festival while you're here; just send us a note to let us know you're interested. We have limited space available, so register early!

*cino's staff is doubling in size as a whole new group of summer interns find their way to Three Rivers this month. In celebration, we're throwing a welcoming party on June 12, at 7:00 pm. This will not only be a wonderful chance for local supporters and friends to meet the new interns, but it will also be the first night of our summer storytelling series. During the first part of the evening, you are encouraged to come enjoy good company and good eats. Then around 8:00, we will gather to share stories. The theme for the night will be stories about identity; this could be an amusing anecdote from grade school when you realized you were just a little bit different than everyone else in your class, the story of how you choose your career, the weight and joys of carrying your family name, your experience as a privileged or marginalized person--any story of the humor or struggles of defining ourselves. If you would like to tell a story, we ask that it be 3-7 minutes in length; however, if you would just like to come and listen, you are more than welcome to do that as well. The event will take place at the Trinity Episcopal Church Rectory (317 N. Main St., Three Rivers, MI). We look forward to seeing you there!

*culture is not optional has applied for a $50,000 grant through the Pepsi Refresh Project. We'll be using the money to renovate one room in Huss School, the 27,000 square foot building we purchased for our Imagining Space project. To receive the grant, though, we need to solicit votes from our supporters; the 10 projects with the most votes in each grant amount will win!

Voting for our project starts Wednesday and you can vote on the Refresh Everything site, via text message or through a Facebook application. You can vote once a day and we'll need you to vote every day in December if we stand a chance of winning. We will post the links and numbers to vote as soon as possible.

If you'd like to receive a daily e-mail reminder, sign up for our daily asterisk e-mail list. We send out a provocative quote every day and, during the month of December, we'll be including a reason to vote for *cino's project.

Thanks! And more soon ...

This weekend, we'll be co-hosting the biennial Practicing Resurrection conference with Russet House Farm in Cameron, Ontario. Our theme this year is "Urban Agriculture and the Peace of the City" and the event will feature keynote speakers Ched Myers and Elaine Enns, as well as a great slate of exciting workshop presenters.

It should be a refreshing and inspiring event!

Huss Future Festival 2010 will take place on Saturday, July 24 from 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Stop by 1008 8th St. in Three Rivers to browse the rummage sale, to enjoy free coffee and live music at the bake sale and to purchase handmade art. Visitors can also learn more about *culture is not optional's future plans for the Huss School property through tours and art exhibits, including the Tripple Ripple Community Gardens. All proceeds from the Future Festival will benefit the renovation of the historic Huss School for an off-campus program for college students and a community center. Bake sale donations, volunteers and art vendors are still being accepted; please contact us for more information about donating.

The *culture is not optional board will be meeting in Three Rivers today to discuss our ongoing publishing and educational work. We'll be talking about our publishing work, the upcoming Practicing Resurrection conference, the Imagining Space project at Huss School in Three Rivers and the necessary fundraising to sustain them all.

Your prayers for wisdom and discernment are very much appreciated. Thank you!