Pilgrimage to Wilmington, NC
UPDATE 7/10/19
Hello All,

Ginger and I are starting to get excited about our impending trip. Details are coming together and the supportive response has been fantastic from our parish and North Carolina.

Important this Week:

  • PLEASE SUBMIT FINAL PAYMENTS (click here) & any Outstanding Forms (photo release & email to Beth Crow Beth.Crow@episdionc.org).

  • ***Blessing of Pilgrims on our trip - SUNDAY (7/14) @ 10 AM (after communion) - all traveling youth are invited for the blessing ***

  • GUEST SPEAKER @ Church School - Betsy Rosen who grew up in the South will compare/contrast vs. living in California.

  • WATER PARK - On Thursday of our trip we'll be joined by 18 from Charlotte as we head off to a local water park with slides and much more. Click here.

Thanks everyone and please call/text with questions!

Tom


OLD INFO FROM LAST WEEK BELOW:

Summary of below: Documents Needed, Flight Info (add your UA mileage plus info), Packing list and airline guidelines + address to send stuff ahead too, Youtube video Cameron found about where we are going, and general notes.

Documents Needed:
  • Medical Cards (text or email photo of both sides) - thanks if you've already done this!
  • Photo release (click here)
  • please email your completed form to Beth Crow (Beth.Crow@episdionc.org) and CC me. Please talk to me if you have questions or issues with this.
  • Why? There will be a film crew following us, helping to make a documentary about our experience that they then hope to market to other youth programs.

Flight Info
  • United Airlines - Record GZESN3
  • Departure, Saturday (7/20) - *** MEET AT 7:30AM ***
  • SFO to RDU / 940 AM departure - 550 PM arrival
  • Return, Friday (7/26)
  • RDU to SFO / 7:11 AM Dep to 9:49 AM Arrival

Packing Tips & Schedule & some questions to ponder
  • List for Packing of Items & Schedule & questions (PDF)
  • Ginger and I want to remind you that the humidity and temperature can make it uncomfortable. Bring a hat & portable water storage solution.
  • Planners => send your air mattress ahead of time to Beth Crow's House
  • Attn: Beth Crow - 1401 Kershaw Dr., Raleigh, NC 27609
  • & a note saying who you are and thank you + tracking email heads up to Beth.
  • Tom sent his air mattress on 7/9/19 via amazon.
  • UNITED BAGGAGE INFO (click here)
  • baggage fee is $30 for 1st checked item at 50 pounds or under, $40 for 2nd checked item. If you go over 50 lbs, it will be $100 for your checked item. You are responsible for your baggage fees.

Youth Info about our trip courtesy of Cameron's research

Updates:
  • Currently we have 7 youth going, with Ginger and Tom.
  • Departure Date will be Saturday 7/20 @ 7:30AM & we'll be spending the night in Raleigh at the Beth Crow's house. We'll then depart for the coast to meet up with the main group.
  • The Diocese of North Carolina has 35-40 youth signed up for the trip and they can take up to 49.
  • Our visit will be to Wilmington, a city that grew prosperous after the civil war with a predominantly black community. We'll get to explore this city and it's history via car and then fun trips on a trolley train and then a riverboat.
  • We'll have both Bishop's from North Carolina visiting with us during the trip at different times, concluding with a big service at the end.
  • A film crew will be following us, creating a documentary about our experience.
  • Accommodations:
  • Diocesan Staff member, Beth Crowe will house us on 7/20 & 7/25
  • Wilmington, NC - we'll be spending the night at St. James Church (shower access)

What does Tom think about the trip:

---------------------------------

FOCUS:
Join the Journey! This Summer St. John’s Youth will be gathering with youth in the Diocese of North Carolina for journey into their racial history. The Diocese of North Carolina will be offering this opportunity for rising ninth through graduating senior youth to make a journey to Wilmington, NC July 20-26, 2019. Together we’ll be exploring North Carolina’s history, the 1898 coup in Wilmington, and connect it all to race relations today. The pilgrimage to Wilmington will be the culmination of the Diocese of North Carolina’s year long study of their history, racial reconciliation and their role as Christians in the beloved community. We hope this will be a great bookend to our own exploration of California’s state racial history last Summer. Lastly, to help ease the learning we’ll have a baptismal exploration of a local water park on the last day.

DETAILS:
Dates: 7/20 - 7/26
Location: Wilmington, NC
Accommodations: St. James Church, Wilmington, NC (with Shower access)
About our Trip:

This video highlights Wilmington, North Carolina, in the years leading up to the election of 1898. At the time, Wilmington could boast of idyllic race relations between black and white citizens. Blacks, only thirty years after Emancipation, had become professionals, politicians and shop owners. While blacks prospered, some whites resented what they perceived as a new attitude among blacks of equality or even superiority to their white counterparts. However, the real issue was political power. Whites became fearful that blacks, who were in the majority, would control the city. As the statewide and local elections of 1898 approached, the Democratic Party, then the party of white supremacy, was determined to end black political power in Wilmington.

Sensitive: This resource contains material that may be sensitive for some students. Adults should exercise discretion in evaluating whether this resource is suitable for their youth.

We'll be exploring what happened and how it affects us today.


FUN:
To help make the history and service learning worthwhile, we'll also be heading to a nearby water park as a reward for diving deep into these issues.
Thank you for reading and please reply back with any and all comments,

Tom
3 YEAR PLAN:

GOAL: give the youth tools to talk about their perspective on race, how their faith informs the discussion, and what are the historical experiences of others.

PLAN: is to follow a program based on a set of trips done by the Diocese of North Carolina. We start by exploring our state history on racism, then our country's history of racism, and then a significant international story on racism.

Year 1: Take a tour of racial, historical sites in California. We would start in Northern California and head to Southern California exploring sites such as the Missions, Gold rush sites, Black Panther sites, Manzinar, and then head to LA for possible trips to Home Boy industries (Tattoos on the Heart), where the Watts riots were, and more. To entice youth, I'd look to also add a beach day and possibly a trip to Disneyland. Juxtaposing the imagined happiest place on earth with the complexities of the racial history of our state.

Year 2: Take a tour of racial, historical sites in the North Carolina.

Year 3: Take a tour of South Africa, to see Nelson Mandela's experience and how it affected the discussion on apartheid.

BENEFIT: From a developmental standpoint, this set of experiences would give each participant a phenomenal backdrop on which to write about how they grew in their racial understanding for a high school or college application. It could also provide several possible vignettes for them to discuss their own growth.