the OCP blog

Redemption The day misspent, the love misplaced, has inside it the seed of redemption. Nothing is exempt from resurrection. -Kay Ryan, poet To be human is to embrace memory, or to grasp recollection the way a child squeezes a rubber ball in his tiny, clenched fist....

On Top of the World  On a clear, sunny day in May, the staff and 20+ community members took a field trip to Reddish Knob and later a picnic at Hone Quarry. If you are local, you know that Reddish Knob is one of the highest points in Virginia, rising 4,397 feet on the...

Featured Volunteer of the Month: John Revercomb “Some of you say, “Joy is greater than sorrow,” and others say, “Nay, sorrow is the greater.” But I say unto you, they are inseparable. Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that...

 Not long ago the nonprofit information service, Guidestar, along with two other prominent competitors, published an open letter titled “The Overhead Myth.” The letter sought to dispel a common perception among funders that money spent on “overhead” is inherently...

To cope with the turmoil and bumps in the road that we go through on a daily basis, it is helpful to remain diligent and develop a way to positively welcome what life puts in our path. Only this way can we go about our day with peace, joy and serenity. It took more...

The Perfect Plants for Your Backyard  “We have the world to live in on the condition that we will take good care of it. And to take good care of it, we have to know it. And to know and to be willing to take care of it, we have to love it.” –Wendell Berry When the idea...

Industry Workers Update The folks who are hired into the OCP industries are folks who have shown up for themselves in our community by joining the official membership, coming to meetings and building credit in our “star” system, basically giving back to the community...

Featured Volunteer of the Month: Tiffany Carter As you enter the vicinity of Our Community Place and into the main building, the walls speak of peace and love. They have a quiet way of shedding light on past triumphs and hardships, revealing the many people who have...

Taking It to the Next Level OCP has once again entered the world of social entrepreneurship with our Box Lunch Catering Business, Friday Lunch Restaurant, and soon-to-come Pesto Micro-Industry - creating competitive products at reasonable prices in order to create...

Art Classes at OCP! In Ron’s last blog post, he quoted Bessel Van Der Kolk who says that the natural state of the self is “confident, curious and calm." When people have experienced some form of severe trauma, their natural is state of being is no longer confident,...

As a recent member of the OCP management team, I was asked to start a new tradition of choosing a volunteer and elaborating on their unique value to the OCP community. For March, I would like to introduce you to Tamara Jo Robinson, beginning with a poem expressing the...

A Farewell From Alex In the winter of 2010, in the middle of a nine month backpacking journey from Maine to Missouri, I was picked up by a kind stranger on Route 11 near New Market. I jumped in the back of his pickup and he dropped me off at the front door of Our...