PRESS RELEASE: Scouts Continue Search for New Mexico Gathering Site
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Website: www.rpcnews.us
Email: rpcrew1 at gmail.com
National Forest to be determined, NM (June 6, 2009) – The 38th annual Rainbow Gathering will be held in one of New Mexico’s breathtaking National Forests from July 1 through 7, 2009. In preparation for this event, volunteers convened beginning June 3rd for a scout council in which potential sites to gather were meticulously explored and discussed. The council was pleasant and productive. The meeting has since adjourned and the scouts are once again out trekking the woods, determined to carry out their commitment to locate a good site for the Gathering.
Rainbow gatherers are diverse individuals who congregate each summer on public land and create a cooperative village that focuses on peace, love, healing and respect for the earth. The annual reunion is a non-commercial, cost-free, rustic, back-to-nature camp-out that culminates in a massive silent prayer for world peace on July 4th. Clean-up runs from July 8 to completion. Thousands of peaceful people will gather, from babies to veterans of wars dating as far back as Korea and from vacationing professionals to adventurous backpackers, bringing millions of dollars into the small rural communities surrounding the site.
At scout council, volunteers looked over maps deciding who would go to different areas of the woods, and a crew stayed at camp to have dinner ready for the scouts upon their return. Women and men, young and old hiked through potential gathering sites during the day, and at night around the campfire they conversed respectfully about what they had found. On the morning of June 4th a localized mountain storm drenched the camp but the gathering enthusiasts were prepared with ponchos and rain awnings made from tarps. The sudden change of weather didn’t deter the scouts and when they returned to camp, chili cheese enchiladas were served and enjoyed, both veggie and non-veggie.
Eventually when the gathering location is selected, campers will move onto the site to begin Seed Camp, clearing open land of debris for parking, setting up trails, and building bridges. As each carload arrives bringing fresh volunteers, the gathering will grow organically. Dozens of tarp-covered temporary camps and kitchens will spring up in the forest serving all comers at no charge, courtesy of donations given at daily meal circles large and small.
For nearly four decades, the gatherers have upheld the highest standards of cleanliness and sanitation in their cooking methods and equipment, earning the approval of local Health departments wherever the gathering goes. They successfully maintain their own security, public health, water and sanitation systems, and volunteer crews cover parking, fire patrol and communications. Theatrical performances, religious services of all kinds, workshops, campfire musical jams, poetry slams, sign-language classes, pie bake-offs, parades and more unfold each summer amid the trees.
Interested members of the public can learn more at www.welcomehome.org, a website run by gathering enthusiasts who, naturally, represent no one but themselves.
This press release is provided as a service of the Rainbow press crew, a completely unofficial affiliation of volunteers who – like all the other volunteers who work to make the gathering happen in a peaceful manner– have not been authorized by anyone to speak for any Rainbow related entities or events. Additional press releases are on the Rainbow press crew’s website, www.rpcnews.us.
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