Appalachian Gathering 2012: Helping Supply The Gathering

Where in the Appalachian Bioregion are we going?

Where in the Appalachian Bioregion are we going? The consensus was for the White Mountain National Forest (in the Northeast), or the Appalachian states of Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia. Spring Council selected a site in North Eastern Tennessee.

If you're not familiar with the gauntlet on the road into the gathering, and want to avoid a mandatory court appearance ticket click here.

For the Howdy Folks and directions to the gathering, click here. For the United States Forest Service Incident Command website with groovy maps and updates, click here.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Helping Supply The Gathering

The gathering is a magical experience for many people. Drum circles, yoga workshops, councils and cooking for your family are just some of the many ways in which we contribute to the positive evolution of the planet. However, no matter what you like to do when you gather, I'm guessing getting sick isn't one of them. There are so many important things to do at the gathering, but the most important of all is to keep every belly healthy and to take care of the sick ones with the best care love has to share.

As we get closer to the gathering, its time to start gathering supplies that will help to create a healthy gathering for everyone. There are two areas of the gathering where buying supplies helps create good health for gathering participants: CALM and Water Crew.

~ ~ ~ CALM ~ ~ ~

CALM is the Center for Alternative Living Medicine. Every year, individuals donated thousands of dollars of supplies and cash to buy supplies to make sure that we can provide free medical care to anyone who needs or wants it. CALM provides all sorts of boo boo related things: band aids, tampons, etc. But more importantly, we have amazing medical doctors, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, emergency medical technicians, herbalists, acupuncturists and massage therapy professionals who take come to the gathering to share their skills with the world (or at least the part of the world that comes to the gathering.

(FOR CALM/MEDICAL SUPPLIES)

Baby's are born at gatherings, people have heart attacks, legs get broken, snake bites happen and all the care is 100% free. People get intenstital aliments that can easily spread throughout the gathering without proper treatment. But as most of you know, back boards and defribiliation equipment isn't cheap and while we have some of these things in stock, the need for treatment for poison ivy/oak, oxygen tanks, batteries/flashlights and the one hundred and one things that our healers provide costs a lot of money. So while you're getting ready for the gathering, please take the time to purchase supplies (find a list here). If you have the ability to purchase and bring to the gathering any of the needed supplies, please email CALM and let them know what you are committing to bring so folks can plan accordingly. If bringing supplies doesn't work for you, you can donate $$$ via PayPal (click the donate button above) and let the CALM Folks purchase the needed supplies.

~ ~ ~ Safe Drinking Water ~ ~ ~

One way we can help maintain health is to insure that we have abundant supplies of filtered drinking water. While many of you may be used to drinking "live water" where you live, you're body as adjusted to the micro-organisms in your area. The ones at the gathering will be different. Not to mention, water coming downhill from a spring is coming in a plastic pipe. All it takes is for one person (or dog) to create a crack in the line and then all sorts of stuff gets in the drinking water. Imagine an off-leash dog taking a dump on a cracked water line and you drinking the water unfiltered. Pretty ugly isn't it. Let's make sure that all the major kitchens and various other points have good water filtration systems. Shorter lines means people drink more filtered water. More filtered water means less dirreaha. Less dirreach means we all stay healther and CALM doesn't have as much of a work load. While all the time and effort that creates the amazing Hydration Stations is 100% powered by free hippie labor, the filters are not. Good filters to build our amazing Rainbow drinking water supply system run between $160 and $300 per filter.

Water is life. If you want to help out with the water crew, email J Water Guy and let him know you're willing to buy a filter or pipe. He can give you the specs. But please email him ASAP as it takes time to find and purchase these filters. However, if kicking down some $$ to buy water filters is more your style, click on this Donate button to kick down some green energy for water filters. None of us can stay healthy if those around us are sick.

1 comment:

KarinMay 25, 2012 at 6:28 AM
We've only raised $200 for calm supplies since Sunday. I was hoping folks could chip in $10 to $25 each and try for $1,000 which is still only a small chunk of the money that goes into funding CALM each year. I have no idea about water filters.
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Getting into the gathering without getting a mandatory court appearance ticket

Getting into the gathering without getting a mandatory court appearance ticket
Every year the United States Forest Service Law Enforcement (USFS) Incident Management Team (the cops) attempts to write as many tickets to family coming home as they possibly can to justify their presence. They give out tickets for broken tail lights, failure to use a turn signal in a deserted parking lot at 2 AM, lack of seat belts, controlled substances (even just a trace amount), beads hanging from your rear view mirrors, prescription medications if the label doesn't clearly have your name on it and you can't prove who you are, dogs off leash, a vehicle missing a front license plate even if you live in a state that does not issue a front license plate and a lot more violations of the letter of the law.

However, these tickets are not the type of citation you would probably receive for any of these issues in your hometown. These are mandatory court appearance tickets. There will be special court dates set up just for us, so we can go to the local courthouse, fire station or visitors center and go before a magistrate. In the past, charges have been reduced, fines were often minimal and the court has allowed people to make payment plans ranging from 90 days to pay $75 to 18 months to pay $25 depending on the hardship cases people have expressed.

If you do not show up for your mandatory court appearance on the date indicated on your ticket, a Federal Bench Warrant will be issued for your arrest. Then the USFS LEOs will come into the gathering looking for you. If they find you they will arrest you and put you in jail until the next court date. If this happens on a Friday afternoon, you will be in jail until Monday. If they do not find you at the gathering, the next time a law enforcement officer for any reason stops you, your ID will be run through the database and you will go directly to jail.

Of course, everyone is free to manage this situation as they wish but I strongly recommend you go to your court date. I have seen people charged with crimes that could potentially result in a six years sentence walk out with a $500 fine and three years’ probation. Keep in mind that every year the dynamic is different and these results may not always be available. There are lawyers at the gathering (I am not a legal expert) who attend the court dates and will assist as best they can although I recommend you catch up with them before your court date to gain a better understanding of your specific charges and strategies to get the charges dropped or reduced. If you do not know these people personally, go to INFO and let them know you received one of the magic tickets and you need legal assistance.