The following is a guest post by Kendal resident Harry Hammond. Harry has sent a detailed comment on the draft Kendal-Crosslands “values” document to Michele Berardi. This post contains an introductory statement, plus a link for downloading the entire text of Harry’s comment.

In her August “Community and Operation Update,” our CEO mentioned that KCC’s “Foundation Pamphlet” (the draft that we’ve been invited to respond to) will have in it our…

“Mission and vision statements, Quaker influence, our history, and our Values

– all of which are KCC’s foundation of how we live and work.” 

The pamphlet is an important project, as it’ll be the publication that most authoritatively communicates KCC’s reasons for being, role in the world, ambitions, and ethos (values and practices).  Ten days ago, when Michele Berardi invited all KCC residents to respond to the draft, I asked myself, “What depth and breadth of content, and what qualities of phrasing would be right for a publication that is to replace the current “Values and Practices” booklet?” – which years ago convinced me that Kendal at Longwood would very likely prove to be the centered, generative, lively, responsive, and hopefully affordable community that my older Quaker friends, Joanna Savery, Curtis Clapham, and Anne Harrington so often said it was.

With that reputation in mind, I became concerned that the tiny draft would fall short of adequately communicating KCC’s ethos, which to me sets KCC apart from most other Life Plan Communities.  Click the link below to see the list of observations about the draft that I sent to Michelle.  And please send your thoughts about the draft to mberardi@kal.kendal.org

To download the full text of Harry’s comments to Michele, click this link.