Power of Hope “Across Borders” Retreat
Michael Harris, Executive Director, Reporter

On January 19 and 20, The Power of Hope trustees and staff from Canada and the USA held their annual retreat at Bill and Jeanne Carroll’s home in Ferndale, Washington. The combined boards reiterated their commitment to serving youth and adults in Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and beyond - and emphasized that we are one Power of Hope internationally.

Each year the combined boards meet to review the year past, prioritize strategic goals and make an action plan for moving Power of Hope forward. As we enter our first full year in the post-founder era, we enjoy our new, unfolding collaboration with Charlie Murphy and Peggy Taylor, while at the same time giving a higher level of responsibility to our cadre of facilitators, artists, volunteers and staff. The internal strength of Power of Hope has never been more evident – a tribute to all the hard work over the last twelve years by our co-founders and hundreds of others who have given POH their best to date.

At this year’s retreat, we welcomed three new trustees: Diana Smith, in Canada; and James Sutter and Jonathan Keith in the USA.

Diana Smith is a resident of Victoria, BC and a member of The Gettin’ Higher Choir, along with her husband, Forrest Smith. Professionally Diana is on the faculty of Royal Roads University in Victoria and a principal with EcoSol Consulting Inc. (“shifting thinking, building capacity”) - and the Ginger Group Collaborative (“helping collaborative ventures come alive”). She and Forrest have three grown children and are enjoying being grandparents! Diana facilitated our cross-borders retreat in Victoria last year, and begins her term on the Power of Hope Society board this year.

James Sutter attended a half-dozen PoH programs as a youth participant and worked as PoH Summer Camp Manager in 2004.  He’s currently an editor and game designer for Paizo Publishing, an internationally published author in the short story and science fiction categories, and member of a popular metal and hardcore band, Shadow at Morning, that enjoys an enthusiastic fan base in Seattle.  James was a National Merit Scholar and graduated Magna Cum Laude from the UW in Creative Writing at 20. He lives in a house with seven roommates in the Green Lake area, two of whom are also former PoH-ers.  If any of you have seen the infamous “14 minute PoH video” created in 1999 by Bill Weaver, James was one of the featured youth.

Jonathan Keith is a native of Olympia WA, a Washington State University undergrad and a recent University of Washington Law School graduate. He’ll take the state bar this month. Jon has a major passion for swing dancing, and sees his future in the political arena, having been inspired by Washington Secretaries of State Ralph Munro and Sam Reed.  As a result of his experience volunteering at a Power of Hope summer gathering last summer, Jon is now seriously considering a shift in career focus to Child Advocacy law.

These new trustees have extraordinary intellect, creativity, energy, inquiring minds, extensive personal networks, a natural comfort with social networking with teens and young adults in our culture – and, all believe deeply in The Power of Hope. We welcome them! We thank outgoing BC trustees Deena Chochinov and Paul Richardson of Vancouver for their years of dedicated service on the Power of Hope Society board in BC.

As we celebrate our renewed sense of unity as Power of Hope International, we enter 2008 secure in the knowledge that Power of Hope is ONE - in mission, intention and leadership - and strong in its extended network of youth, parents, volunteers, donors, partners and friends around the world.