鈥淲hen is it forecast to stop snowing? That鈥檚 one of the things I zero in on,鈥� said , EMU grounds supervisor. Once he knows that, he can begin to develop his strategy for snow removal.

It鈥檚 a difficult task. 鈥淓ven in a 1-inch snow there is a rush-time when they [the administration] want every walk and step cleared. Our campus is 100 acres. If you think about it, a house in Harrisonburg is located on approximately a quarter of an acre. So on campus, we might have 6 or 8 people clearing the equivalent of 400 houses,鈥� he said.

No matter how much snow accumulates, EMU strives to open with minimal delays. However, the more complex the storm is, the more planning is necessary.

Every snowfall Hairston must consider: Is there enough salt? Will additional equipment be needed? Do I have enough manpower?

This week, due to shortages in his normal staff, Hairston hired temporary employees through student owned and operated BruCrew. 鈥淚t is handy to have a temp agency that is familiar with campus and is made up of people we can trust 鈥� I was pleased with how that worked,鈥� Hairston said.

Snow removal is expensive business. Last year, which was a bad year for snow and ice, physical plant budgeted $2,600 for snow removal, but ended up spending $8,300. This year they went toward the middle of those two numbers and budgeted $4,500. As of now, $3,400 of the $4,500 has been spent. 鈥淲e will probably reach our budget,鈥� noted Hairston.

Hairston isn鈥檛 worried. Although they have spent three quarters of their budget, much of that has gone toward the preventive measure of stocking supplies to last them the entire cold season, come what may. This is in direct response to a supply issue they encountered last year. As early as December of 2013 it became clear they might not be able to get more salt until the following summer. 鈥淭hat was a little frightening,鈥� Hairston said.

On snowy days, Hairston has teams working around the clock. He assigns himself to some of the most undesirable shifts. 鈥淭his past storm, I went home at 4 in the afternoon, went to sleep at 5, and came back in at 11:30 p.m.鈥� When he arrived back at campus, he could tell the evening crew had just gone home because the truck was still warm and their clothes were in the dryer.

Night snow removal sounds like lonely, thankless work, but Hairston said it is just part of the job and that workers are able to stay connected through radios.

Besides, there are always humorous occurrences. 鈥淲hen you are running a snow blower, the landscape disappears so you have to make a mental map of where the sidewalks are. You can鈥檛 see anything underneath the snow and occasionally you might encounter something like a newspaper. Generally, the snow blower can handle the Daily News Record – but now, a Washington Post, that will stop it in its tracks.鈥�

Groundskeeping staff聽 鈥� including up to six full-time work-study students 鈥撀燾ontinue to pull weeds, mow lawns, care for trees, plant flowers and edible landscaping, repair buildings, and perform general maintenance. In the words of grounds supervisor Will Hairston, 鈥淚t鈥檚 not like the grass takes a break.鈥� Work-study student Shay Whetzel says he enjoys getting to the end of the hard day鈥檚 work, then realizing he helped make the campus 鈥渓ook amazing.鈥�

Dozens needed all summer

Other vital contributors include library staffers who take care of one of the best places to study, housekeeping crew members who make sure the facilities stay clean, and dining hall workers who take care of the people taking care of everything else. All these groups have student workers to help out while caring for each other, the campus, and the events that visit the campus.

Auxiliary services, with three full-time and eight work-study and/or temporary employees, handles the events that use the EMU campus by coordinating with leaders, communicating with various departments, setting up furniture for use, and making sure everything needed by a visiting group is available.

鈥淲e stay extremely busy over the summer,鈥� says Lynn Veurink, assistant director for auxiliary services. Generally speaking, he says EMU hosts three kinds of large events, as well as a number of small events. The large events include church, youth, and athletic groups. Churches come to campus for meetings, retreats, and conferences. Youth groups come to worship and learn. Athletic groups come to practice and learn using EMU鈥檚 equipment and fields. Many of these events go on for days at a time, so visiting groups must use the dorms.

Running is big

The largest athletic event is Blue Ridge Running Camp, involving 40 to 50 coaches from NCAA Division I, II and III schools across the country. The biggest church group is Apostolic Eastern Camp, involving several Apostolic churches from across the Eastern United States and Canada. These two groups, with populations reaching several hundred each, run back to back.

Auxiliary services prepares for Apostolic Eastern Camp to fill every single dorm room for a week in July, and then spends the weekend afterwards preparing the rooms again for Blue Ridge Running Camp. This weekend might be the most stressful time on campus during the summer.

The largest youth event is a summer camp held by Lift Ministries, a Baptist group that involves several youth groups. This event runs early in July.

32 major events

The events calendar linked to the auxiliary services section of EMU鈥檚 website lists 32 major events running from the first of May to the ninth of August this year.

Outside of church, youth, and athletic events, EMU serves family reunions, wedding receptions, travelers, and other one-time events by renting out Lehman Auditorium, the gymnasium, dorm buildings, or other facilities. Some traveling groups simply need to use the dorms for one night, or some performing groups, such as Rockingham Ballet Theater, may need Lehman Auditorium for a few shows.

EMU serves Augusta County Public Schools by renting out the University Commons for the graduation ceremonies of four county high schools. Over the course of two days, 8,000-10,000 people pass through the Commons to attend these graduations.

EMU聽rolls on too

The main EMU-sponsored events after spring graduation ceremonies are the Summer Peacebuilding Institute, Summer Preparatory Music Program, the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival, the Interfaith Peace Camp for children, Adult Degree Completion Program classes, and the Summer Institute for Spiritual Formation. This year, especially, construction workers are on campus, updating and remodeling the Suter Science Center and renovating Roselawn into office and classroom spaces.

Veurink points out that EMU hopping over the summer is 鈥渁 matter of stewardship 鈥� by using your facilities you generate revenue.鈥� If EMU didn鈥檛 invite others to use the campus, it would be wasting the potential of the campus. The revenues, which hit an all-time high gross of approximately $600,000 in 2012, says Veurink, support EMU鈥檚 general fund. More than that, many of these groups form intimate connections with the EMU community, as about 80% of the groups are returning groups. Veurink described the connection by saying that 鈥渢hey kind of become like family to us.鈥�

Groundskeeping staff聽 鈥� including up to six full-time work-study students 鈥撀燾ontinue to pull weeds, mow lawns, care for trees, plant flowers and edible landscaping, repair buildings, and perform general maintenance. In the words of grounds supervisor , 鈥淚t鈥檚 not like the grass takes a break.鈥� Work-study student Shay Whetzel says he enjoys getting to the end of the hard day鈥檚 work, then realizing he helped make the campus 鈥渓ook amazing.鈥�

Other vital contributors include library staffers who take care of one of the best places to study, housekeeping crew members who make sure the facilities stay clean, and dining hall workers who take care of the people taking care of everything else. All these groups have student workers to help out while caring for each other, the campus, and the events that visit the campus.

, with three full-time and eight work-study and/or temporary employees, handles the events that use the EMU campus by coordinating with leaders, communicating with various departments, setting up furniture for use, and making sure everything needed by a visiting group is available.

鈥淲e stay extremely busy over the summer,鈥� says , assistant director for auxiliary services. Generally speaking, he says EMU hosts three kinds of large events, as well as a number of small events. The large events include church, youth, and athletic groups. Churches come to campus for meetings, retreats, and conferences. Youth groups come to worship and learn. Athletic groups come to practice and learn using EMU鈥檚 equipment and fields. Many of these events go on for days at a time, so visiting groups must use the dorm buildings.

Blue Ridge Running Camp is largest

The largest athletic event is , involving 40 to 50 coaches from NCAA Division I, II and III schools across the country. The biggest church group is , involving several Apostolic churches from across the Eastern United States and Canada. These two groups, with populations reaching several hundred each, run back to back.

Auxiliary services prepares for Apostolic Eastern Camp to fill every single dorm room for a week in July, and then spends the weekend afterwards preparing the rooms again for Blue Ridge Running Camp. This weekend might be the most stressful time on campus during the summer.

The largest youth event is a summer camp held by , a Baptist group that involves several youth groups. This event runs early in July.

The events calendar linked to the auxiliary services section of EMU鈥檚 website lists 32 major events running from the first of May to the ninth of August this year.

Outside of church, youth, and athletic events, EMU serves family reunions, wedding receptions, travelers, and other one-time events by renting out Lehman Auditorium, the gymnasium, dorm buildings, or other facilities. Some traveling groups simply need to use the dorms for one night, or some performing groups, such as , may need Lehman Auditorium for a few shows.

Site of four Augusta school graduations

EMU serves Augusta County Public Schools by renting out the University Commons for the graduation ceremonies of four county high schools. Over the course of two days, 8,000-10,000 people pass through the Commons to attend these graduations.

The main EMU-sponsored events after spring graduation ceremonies are the , , the , classes, and the . This year, especially, construction workers are on campus, and renovating Roselawn into office and classroom spaces.

Veurink points out that EMU hopping over the summer is 鈥渁 matter of stewardship 鈥� by using your facilities you generate revenue.鈥� If EMU didn鈥檛 invite others to use the campus, it would be wasting the potential of the campus. The revenues, which hit an all-time high gross of approximately $600,000 in 2012, says Veurink, support EMU鈥檚 general fund. More than that, many of these groups form intimate connections with the EMU community, as about 80 percent of the groups are returning groups. Veurink described the connection by saying that 鈥渢hey kind of become like family to us.鈥�

At the 2014 annual meeting of Coming to the Table, two participants read emotionally charged poems that they exchanged after learning they were descended from the same plantation in Missouri. During one discussion, a participant of European origins shared her suspicions that the systematic abuse in her family was a legacy of the psychological impact of owning slaves.

More than 150 years after the end of slavery, the historical trauma of a system that turned people into property remains throughout the nation. It鈥檚 a trauma that members of Coming to the Table are trying to address through a four-step process:

(1) uncovering and acknowledging history,
(2) making deep connections across racial lines,
(3) working toward healing together, and
(4) taking action to make systemic and institutional change to end racial inequality and injustice.

Conference was at capacity

Coming to the Table held its 2014 national gathering May 23-25 at 草莓社区, a site chosen in recognition of the organization鈥檚 birth at EMU in 2006. EMU professor and expert joined this year鈥檚 meeting for a keynote talk 鈥� he was also present at the 2006 gathering. The 2014 gathering occurred on a weekend break in EMU鈥檚 annual . Some participants extended their time at EMU to take institute courses.

Initially Coming to the Table focused mainly on exploring the stories and experiences of people linked by their ancestors鈥� enslaved-slaveholding relationship. But the group鈥檚 focus has expanded far beyond this over the last eight years.

With 80 enrollees, the 2014 conference was at capacity, said organizers. During the three days participants focused on each of the four steps in the change process.

Taking four steps

As an opening activity, participants created a map that highlighted linkages, including shared ancestry. They deepened their connections during workshops and activities, which included light-hearted events like shared meals and a talent show. As a step toward healing, people of both races dialogued about their encounters with privilege and discrimination. For the taking action step, participants discussed ongoing economic and social discrimination in areas like the criminal justice system, and they wrestled with how to tackle these problems.

Two members of Coming to the Table 鈥� Sharon Morgan, who is black, and Tom DeWolf, white 鈥� met at one of its early gatherings and eventually co-authored . The book describes their painful yet ultimately hopeful journey over a three-year period, covering thousands of miles through 27 states and beyond the U.S. border.

“We embarked on this journey because we believe Americans must overcome the racial barriers that divide us, the barriers that drive us to strike out at one another out of ignorance and fear,鈥� they explained in their book. 鈥淭o do nothing is unacceptable to us. The legacy of slavery remains a horrendous and unhealed wound, a disease that must be diagnosed, treated and cured.”

Interviewed at the 2014 conference, Morgan, a genealogist, said Coming to the Table has 鈥済one beyond [genetic] linkages because it is difficult for many descendants of enslaved people to find reliable genealogies.鈥�

Coming to the Table was launched with a four-day gathering in January 2006 at EMU. The idea for the gathering came from , EMU鈥檚 supervisor of grounds, and Susan Hutchison, both white descendants of significant American enslaving families.

Words from Martin Luther King Jr.

, a white woman who raises funds for EMU鈥檚 , followed in Hairston鈥檚 footsteps and became an early member of Coming to the Table after discovering connections with the descendants of slaves on a farm owned by her ancestors. She got in touch with Betty Kilby Baldwin, an African-American woman who wrote Wit, Will & Walls (Cultural Innovations Inc., 2002). They now call each other cousins.

As seed money, Coming to the Table received grants from and the and initially was formally a program of EMU. Since then, the group has moved toward more autonomy while maintaining an EMU affiliation. It has attracted growing interest, with a mailing list of 985 persons and a with over 1,100 members.

The name 鈥淐oming to the Table鈥� is inspired by Martin Luther King, Jr.鈥檚 historic March on Washington speech, in which he prayed that one day 鈥溾�he sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners鈥� will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.鈥�

Will Hairston, EMU grounds supervisor, and his team, have worked throughout the summer to cultivate and maintain edible gardens on campus.

“A few of the trees are already bearing fruit and we hope to have more plants producing shortly,” said Hairston.

鈥淲hen these plants reach maturity and are producing, we hope to supply the cafeteria and have student groups harvesting them,鈥� added Hairston.

Edible gardens have been around campus for years, according to Hairston, and will become more prominent thanks to a grant from the student group .聽Hairston was able to buy more than 1,000 plants for landscaping around the Elmwood dormitory, turf field and Suter Science Center.

“We have apple and pear trees along the hill behind Roselawn dormitory and persimmon and pau pau trees around the EMU turf field.”

In addition, Hairston also maintains fig and crab apple trees, grape vines and cornelian cherry and black raspberry bushes.

Aly Zimmerman, a junior from Staunton, Va., said the push for edible landscapes around EMU began with the on-campus showing of the film “Food Inc.” The film focuses on the industrialized food system and its effect on environment, health, economy and workers’ rights.

“Almost immediately after see the movie Earthkeepers met and decided we needed to do something,” said Zimmerman.

Earthkeepers began using what they learned in “Food Inc.” to make changes around campus, including expanding the edible gardens.聽In addition to the fruit trees and plants that already existed they planted asparagus beds around the Elmwood dormitory and the Science Center.聽Asparagus can be harvested in March and April, so students will have ample opportunity to enjoy the vegetable before the end of the spring semester.

“We want to raise awareness to the availability and health benefits that these plants can provide,” said Zimmerman.聽“EMU is an environmentally aware university and we hope to attract more students to science and environmental sustainability through our work.”

Tyler Groff, a senior from Lancaster, Pa., adds that the edible garden landscapes around campus will also benefit from increased use of technology, specifically Google Docs.

“We will be able to schedule watering cycles for all plants to make sure that none are missed,” Groff said.

“We hope to build an interactive display that can showcase where each plant is on campus and how they can be best utilized,” he continued.

Groff, like Zimmerman and Hairston, notes additional benefits to edible gardens.

“Edible gardens can provide enjoyment and add a new experience to campus. Hopefully, this will get people thinking about other ways they can make an impact while they enjoy something grown right here on campus.”

Nearly 200 people celebrated “Hope for Peace Day,” which brought 125 to campus to join learners in Saturday workshops, forums, storytelling, youth activities, music, dance and fellowship — organized by the .

Katherine Morgan, Staunton, Va., adds a symbol to the ‘welcoming table’ at the opening ceremony of ‘Hope for Peace Day.’
Photo by Jim Bishop

An opening ceremony paired flowers with qualities symbolized, such as black-eyed Susans signifying justice; dahlias, eloquence.

Citing grass-roots peacebuilding successes, CJP faculty member Lisa Schirch said,”We keep getting asked, when can we go to higher levels?”

Security and Foreign Policy

The “3D Security Initiative” attempts that, Dr. Schirch said in a workshop titled “Influencing US Foreign Policy”

This year’s Dialogue on Race Week program, Nov. 6-10 at EMU, will invite participants to come together and to address the legacy of slavery in the United States and to work at the healing process.

A short video that documents a pilot event in which the descendants of slaves and slave owners came together to work at the healing process will be shown during university chapel 10 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 8, in Emu’s Lehman Auditorium. The documentary was produced by Shannon and Chandra Lanier. Shannon Lanier is a descendant of Sally Hemings, a slave at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, and author of “Jefferson’s Children.” It is part of the “Coming to the Table” project that has been housed in the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding‘s Practice Institute.

, grounds supervisor at EMU and a descendant of one of the largest slave-owning families in Virginia, and Shannon Lanier will lead a discussion following the video presentation.

More Activities

Later Wednesday evening, WORSHIP 808 will host a

On the hillside a short walk up from , people of all ages and walks of life may soon be seen walking in quiet circles.

A stone labyrinth, now under construction, will facilitate students, faculty, conference attendees and visitors from the surrounding community who seek a setting for prayer and meditation.

With a $15,000 grant from the