Earthen Vessels began with a summer camp on a rented hilltop farm in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom back in 1980. In 1985 we acquired our own place on 9 acres tucked into the Green Mountain National Forest on the eastern slope of the Green Mountains in Granville, Vermont.

Camp offers a motley crew of inner-city adolescents from diverse backgrounds an intense experience of community life in an unspoiled setting. Mountain hikes up Camel's Hump or Mt. Mansfield punctuate fun-filled in-camp days: sports (volleyball, soccer, ping-pong, archery...), fun workshops (drawing, painting, chess, theater improv), 'serious workshops' (peaceful conflict resolution, relationships. sex, grief), afternoon swimming and community games, and evenings of sharing and singing in the livingroom. We build a community that has a lasting impact.

All camp chores—cooking, serving, dishes, preparation for the evening—are rotated among camper/counselor teams: everyone takes on and shares responsibilities and contributes to making camp a formative and memorable experience for campers, counselors and directors alike. Some veteran campers come back to Leadership Training Week and become counselors for the next generation.