Dear Friends of Casa Cares

This is a newsletter for persons with little time. In fact that seems like just about everyone we talk to, especially those who have family, friends, hobbies, sport, lots of work, obligations in the church, responsibilities in the local community, commitments in associations, problems, and, now, e-mail. No one seems to have time. Does that make us rich or poor? Whichever, this is a newsletter for those with little time.

Those with really little time perhaps did not even open the letter. I admit that I do that sometimes, so I understand. Those with only enough time to get to this point, you are free to go because the news is pretty much the usual. We hope in 2003 to do a decent job of up-dating our website, so you might check that occasionally for something interesting.

Those with a little more time are invited to turn this page to The Casa cares news, a quickie up-date on what is happening. It will be enough, I hope, to inform you and to provide once again a link to us up here in the Tuscan hills.

If there is anyone left, the subsequent pages provide some details and observations.

Of primary importance is that we thank you all for having been with us throughout the past year and we hope that you will accompany us in 2003. May our Lord bless us richly in these months with opportunities, with enthusiasm, with courage, with wisdom and always with a sensitivity for those who need us. And may we have the time for all of this.

Saluti da Casa Cares,

Antoinette and Paul Krieg

RECORD OVERNIGHTS

After a slight drop in the previous year, in 2002 Casa Cares registered a record number of 8462 guest overnights (previous high in 1999). Group members accounted for about 75% of these. More than 25 countries were represented among the guests, mostly, of course, from Europe with a spattering from the other continents. The international combinations, either planned in a group or by chance among single guests, often provide some of the most enriching exchanges and satisfying stays. Among 20-30 guests it can happen that ten or more nationalities are present. Of course returning guests never find the same combination, but evidently they are satisfied with the alternative they find. Our attractive website does not get the up-dating it merits but still manages to bring new contacts. The number one promotional method, however, remains our network of friends.

PROGRAMS – MIXING OLD AND NEW

The programs again were a mix of our initiative (Waldensian celebration in February, monthly evening meetings for the local community, children?s and youth camps, Children?s Home reunion, environmental workshop) and of that of group leaders (study, spiritual retreat, music, art, therapy). The past seasons have confirmed the evolution from large youth groups of 40-60, perhaps cooking independently, to adult groups of 15-25 with half or full pension.

STAFF EXCELS AGAIN

Every newsletter seems to praise our staff...with good reason. The old facilities, the variety of guests, the relationship with the land, and the staff organization are all examples of the juggling act of Casa Cares? work. From short-term volunteers to ?old-timer? employees, once again the pieces fit into place.

RENOVATION PLANS PROGRESS

Tangible progress is not at first evident but indeed big steps forward have been taken in the renovation plans for the structures below. The addition on our board of Gianni Rostan, former head of our national church, gave us the technical and overview capabilities we needed to forge ahead. The working relationship with our young architects has solidified, finally resulting in a concrete step forward in the form of a central water filtration system to be installed soon in the new year. And just when that little step forward was taken we heard of an opportunity for significant funding through a regional program for the renovation of historical buildings. The deadline was upon us but by 31 December we had the application in, possible primarily because all the groundwork had been done. In March 2003 we should know the response to our request.

GIFTS FROM THE LAND

With the person and program movement in the villa we risk forgetting the blessings of our rural setting. We are far from meeting the production potential of our land, for example, in the vegetable garden and from the fruit trees. We need to give precedence to our work of hospitality, plus there are limits to 10 acres of terraced farmland. The value, however, of the setting and of the products we do have is significant.

MISSION STATEMENT

With the on-going help of Consultant Rainer Schwing our identity has crystallized: a meeting center and guesthouse focusing on dialogue and on a Christian perspective on environmental care. We hope these objectives guide us throughout the year.

IN 2003

For a good number of years now facilities and staff take a deserved break after Epiphany until February, usually beginning with the Waldensian celebration around the 17th. This year it will be shortened as the staff did not want to miss out on the privilege of hosting the third and final of a series of two-week pastoral formation seminars in the first half of February.

Already foreseeable 2003 highlights:

• the return of several leaders with new groups: USA teachers, Swiss confirmands, German school groups and church communities, Austrian spiritual retreats;
  
• the renewal of our regular programs;
  
• the return of the children from the state institution in Belarus;
  
• the annual meetings of persons concerned with Waldensian and Methodist social services and of the international group of young adults serving as volunteers in centers throughout Italy

Some questions

• What form will our work on the land take after May if Emiliano leaves to see the world as he foresees?
  
• Carmen will again provide a valuable partner for Iris in the kitchen until May. Then what?
  
• What will be the response to our building funds request?

Some dates:

• 16 February – Waldensian
  celebration with speaker
  
  Parliamentarian Valdo Spini
  
  
• 1-3 May – Casa Cares reunion
  
• 29 June-6 July – youth camp
  
• 10-20 July – children?s camp
  ?
  
• First Wednesday? monthly
  
• Meetings on diversity in society.

Needs:

• Supporters for our building project;
  
• Short-term volunteers with skills in such areas as stone masonry, tree pruning, or furniture restoration;
  
• Continued promotion, for example, among potential program leaders and among persons sharing our vision of dialogue and environmental care.
  
  
  
  
  

DETAILS

The first "detail" is to acknowledge those who contributed to a positive 2002 season. The responsibility for Casa Cares legally is on the shoulders of our board. Thanks goes to all six members (we are missing one) and in particular to our president Antonella Romani and to Gianni Rostan for their investment of time and skills. We greatly appreciate the work of our architects with the leadership of Antonello Piccirillo who was ready and able when the funding opportunity appeared at the last minute.

The staff continues to be the foundation of our work. Iris?s cooking with Rabekah (USA), Dan (USA) and Carmen (A) at her side is the most frequently complimented aspect of our hospitality. Rightfully so. Just as important but often taken for granted is the domestic work under Demetrio?s supervision. He was fortunate to have Jamie (USA), Michelle (USA), Lisa (S), and Irene (D) to cover the everyday chores and to have the addition of the rest of the gang on those tough transition days. I often forget that reality when I fit 30 leaving and 40 coming on the same day!

Beppe has established himself as the maintenance chief and has saved us a considerable amount in costs and headaches. Emiliano has just the same sense of ownership about "his" land. He was fortunate to have the Germans performing their alternative to military service, first Stefan and now Simon. We thank the German State for them! As we can also thank the Italian State which surprised us by again sending their volunteers in alternative service—Stefano and now Andrea have been very pleasant unexpected additions. Antoinette insists Andrea sounds like Roberto Benigni, giving us Tuscan legitimacy.

We cannot forget the contributions of Leah and Dan who tie loose pieces together during their summer stays. Dan cooks, develops the website, sells his prints to contribute to our building fund, and decorates the villa. Part of Leah's contribution is being Daughter. And at the end of the season there was Ben to prove to us that American college students are indeed capable of dishwashing. Thanks to everyone.

The second detail concerns the programs. It is always gratifying at the end of the season to be able to host for five weeks the great group of 14 to16 children who come from Belarus with their teacher and interpreter. Many local friends and the hosting association in Florence join us in looking forward to these weeks. This year we had a special coincidence with the four-week stay of eight German young adults with their two teachers in gardening. This was part of a training program for unemployed youth funded by the European Community. These young adults, at first glance prime candidates for right-wing causes, blended well with the Belarus children and provided us with many hours of volunteer service. We are not quite sure how olive picking experience can serve Berlin-area gardeners, but they were certainly a big help to us in that and several other chores.

Antoinette gets very involved with the Belarus group as well as with the European volunteer exchange that each year brings about 20 foreigners to Waldensian and Methodist centers. Casa Cares does not have one but hosts their annual orientation each September.

Other groups who enriched our life this year:

Open House of Ramle, Israel, working with young Israeli Arabs and Jews, sent 19 youth to spend some of their summer camp with us.

The stay of a study group from Grand Canyon University of Phoenix underlined our potential with universities, although locally we knew that from the several stays annually of language groups from the European University in Florence.

The Florentine followers of Sant'Egidio, a Rome-based Catholic community, again brought elderly up to get out of the city's oppressive summer heat and humidity.

We hosted the annual consultation of the Southern network of the Ecumenical Association of Academies and Laity Centers in Europe.

We enjoyed the company of the young people from Don Bosco High School close to Vienna. Even their teachers did not realize until I informed them that Don Giovanni Bosco founded the Salesian order in the mid-19th century to combat "foreign" (read "Waldensian and Methodist") influences in Italy. Some things do get better over time!

Consultant Rainer Schwing always leads us to insight regarding our organization and purpose. I am convinced that many other church organizations could make use of such a service.

Our 2001-2002 series of monthly meetings for the local community with the theme of liberty concluded successfully and we are well into this year's series focusing on diversity in society.



OBSERVATIONS

Casa Cares in the middle; Casa Cares on the edge. Each of us has his or her own way of conceptualizing. For me it is helpful to "get the picture", making a thought visible in some way. Often at Casa Cares we feel like we are in the center of things—a station, nest or island where people and their activities come and go in rapid succession. There is rarely a dull moment, and if the moment seems slow it is most likely because there is something right around the corner or we have closed ourselves, perhaps in self protection, to the motion and opportunities around us: persons in the form of guests, co-workers, neighbors; nature in the form of the woods, the fields, the fruit of the land; learning in the form of Tuscan culture, our library, the programs that take place here. Being in the midst of so much without being overwhelmed is one of the biggest challenges of our life at Casa Cares.

But another large challenge can be found in the other concept, that of Casa Cares on the edge. We have often related that when Casa Cares arrived in the township of Reggello at the start of 1971 we were the odd ones out. Here we were, children away from their families, several foreigners, a Protestant presence in a rather homogeneous setting with deep cultural roots at that time expressed in two factions: traditional Catholicism and its adversary, Communist political affiliation. Fortunately, early on both of our new neighbors were open to us, ecumenism on the one side and an interest in civil society on the other. We are glad that the bitter animosity between the two sides has waned—no one really benefits from such polarization. And we are glad that through the years and through the transition from child care to meeting center our easy access to each side has endured.

Yet we are not now and can never really be "in". Italy is going through major social transition as the sense of Europe develops, birth rate remains extremely low, and immigration grows for various reasons, creating greater diversity in the nation?s population. The 20 years of today's Casa Cares—we have been back here for 18—have confirmed our place in the community and we have no doubts about our belonging. Nonetheless, our many foreign guests, our Protestant perspective and our commitment to environmental care take us off the beaten paths.

Just how we live these realities—in the midst, on the edge—determines our life here. When the going gets tough, it is the people around us who carry us through and beyond the moment—the staff, the board, the neighbors, the guests and all the other friends who remind us of their presence in various ways. Almost certainly you too understand the "in the midst/on the edge" experience; may you also be blessed with the friends to bring you through.



For Casa Cares,

Antoinette and Paul