The Youth Fund Advisory Committee had our second meeting of the year on Sunday, October 19th. We took a trip to the Common Ground Retreat Center in Oberlin to participate in community building activities. Rick Grahovac, Executive Director of Common Ground led our group on a nature hike across some of the twenty-one acres of land owned by Common Ground. Although we had to trek through some unfavorable conditions such as mud and thorns, every member persevered. I thought this said a lot about this year’s members – we are determined and ready to finish what we start.
After returning to the Common Ground lodge we found the room to be full of percussion instruments. In front of every chair was a drum, and next to the chairs were different types of percussion instruments. There were a variety of different drums from around the world and each had a different tone. Ed Boas led us through a number of different drumming exercises in which everyone worked together using rhythm patterns to create a song. I am a drummer, and it was awesome to see how exceptionally well everyone in the committee that hadn’t much experience with drums picked up the idea. As a group we made a great drum circle and learned that each person brings something interesting to the group. Overall, Octobers meeting was a great success and I am looking forward to our service trip to the Second Harvest Food Bank next month.
- Mike Miraldi, YF Publicist
