Stewardship Weekend or Homecoming?

"Glitter" and her mom, Tiffany doing dishes.

“Glitter” and her mom, Tiffany doing dishes.

What a Weekend! IMG_8313

On Friday, the sun was out, the wind was minimal and there was even blue skies to welcome the 50+ volunteers coming for Stewardship Weekend. Nothing was going to hold these folks back from spending two nights at a place they love, not even a 5 ambulance wreck that caused many of them to sit in traffic for 5 hours to get to Westwind.  The sun was setting and the volunteers were rolling in.  Greeted by the smells of Shepherd’s Pie for dinner and a warm fire, it was as if watching 50 people coming home.  Coats came off, bags were dropped, hugs being given and laughter filled Wilson lodge Friday night as we kicked off our Spring Stewardship Weekend.

And then the rain came….32610280443_b1151ac1b4_o

Saturday morning we woke to the sound of pouring rain as we pulled on our waterproof jackets and pants, loaded our tummies with hot breakfast and signed up for projects.  It’s amazing the amount of work that can get done in six hours when everyone wants to be there and they want to work hard.  Sand was moved and filled in for the new deck project, the Batcave emptied and organized, painting in the lodge, cleaning, more organizing, a new enclosure made at the farm for the pigs, the goats pen cleaned out, river shed and life jackets cleaned and lots of dishes were all done .

IMG_8305Why come to Westwind to work for free?

Over the course of the weekend I asked many people why they come to Stewardship weekends to work extremely hard, usually in cruddy weather and for no pay? Most people said because of their deep love or connection and wanting to give back to Westwind but one person said it best, “I come to Westwind because it is like coming home. Everyone wants to stand around in the kitchen and talk, linger around the fire and laugh and because we love our home, we want to help care for it. My question is, if you love Westiwnd, why wouldn’t you come to a Stewardship Weekend?” Very well said! What a great Homecoming weekend it was.  We hope to see you at the next one!

Want to see the fun we had at Stewardship Weekend? Checkout the photos here.