Soul Camp
Donation protected
What?
JL Soul Camp is an annual creative and restorative affinity space for Black and first Nation womyn/non-men with emphasis on wellness and community as tools for liberation. At JL Soul Camp womyn/non-men are given space to build and redefine wellness for ourselves. There are workshops that offer body movement, art therapy, and facilitated manifestation practices. There are nightly meetings that explore sensuality, inner-child work, team building exercises and inner child veneration such as roasting marshmallows around a campfire while sharing experiences and stories and camp activities such as scavenger hunts that also reconnect us with nature. Solo options are also available for Campers who feel safest facilitating their own needs alone. “Succulent naps” (as one Camper put it), resting in a hammock/ swimming at the nearby lake, personal time in the sauna or Jacuzzi, or a long intimate hike and cry around our 80-acre wildlife preserve are just a few options at JL Soul Camp.
When
JL Soul Camped launched in August 2023 and hosted 16 Black and Brown womyn/non-men for 3 days and two nights. The goal for JL Soul Camp 2024 is to host 26 Black and First Nation womyn/non-men for 5 days and 4 nights, annually.
Where
Occidental Arts and Ecology Center in Sonoma County California has helped midwife JL Soul Camp as a grassroots project.
Why
JL Soul Camp exists for a plethora of reasons but the short of it is real wellness and community for real oppressed and targeted peoples. Rest, open expression and community are privileges that Black and First Nation folks are being denied. These simple privileges hide in plain sight and directly impact our health and therefore our mortality rates, quality of life family structures and communities.
- Those of us who need rest most are least likely to have the means to afford it. If we can afford it our options of receiving it in Black and Brown non-men affinity spaces in the United Stated of America are slim to none.
- Black and First Nation womyn/non-men are paid on averaged $5,500 less than our white sisters while silently suffering the macro and micro aggressions of misogyny and racism. We are most likely to be murdered by our significant others, most likely to be the victims of our Suns, brothers, fathers etc. incarcerated or murdered by the law, we are most likely to suffer sexual assault and least likely to be believed or report it and the world remains silent while we continue to go missing.
- JL Soul Camp provides the framework for oppressed peoples to feel out loud so we can heal out loud and together. We deserve and need space, time and each other.
- Who else can heal us but us?!
Who is JL?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlmRJmnh7kU&t=78s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">JL Soul Camp is about as grassroots as an organization can get. Poet/storyteller/ educator Joyce Lee founded JL Soul Camp 2023 during the pandemic with the gracious help of OAEC and the generous donations of allies and community members.
Soul Camp's Founder, Joyce Lee :
Thank you for the opportunity to share this vision of Soul Camp with you.
We welcome you to be a vital catalyst for social and economic growth and change through this experience.
How?
JL Soul Camp 2024 will need approximately $60,000 to run smoothly. Room & Board alone for 26 womyn for 5 days at OAEC costs $32,500. Here are some activities and components we invite you to sponsor:
- JL Soul Camp pays for transportation for womyn who cannot afford it. In 2023, 7 of the 16 Campers needed assistance with transportation to and from JL Soul Camp, some came as far as South Africa. The womyn banned together and made it happen with a very limited budget. For JL Soul Camp 2024 the goal is to have at least $5,000 set aside for travel expenses.
- There were single mothers who needed financial assistance with childcare. JL Soul Camp 2024 would like to host a JL Lil Souls Camp 0.5 miles away from OAEC where parents can drop off their children who will spend 5 days learning the importance of wellness, rest and community too. We will need money for food, boarding, activities and an appropriate number of children to adult ratio of caretakers. $7,000 will be set aside for childcare.
- Most of the womyn who need a 5-day wellness interaction cannot afford to take 5 days off of work and make rent/eat when they return home. This affects their mental rest/wellness and ability to completely own all of their own time and experience. JL Soul Camp would like to offer compensation to the womyn who voice needing it in order to rest and heal. $7,000 will be set aside for womyn who cannot afford to take 5 days off of work.
- Another $5,000 will be set aside for womyn leading workshops at JL SOUL CAMP 2024.
- $4,000 will be used for gifts bags, memorabilia and incidentals.
If you would like your donation to be tax-deductible, you can donate directly to The Occidental Arts and Ecology Center. Under donations for Contribution Details, select "Donation Dedication". Please indicate that you are donating on behalf of Soul Camp. All donations to OAEC will go directly to the expenses for Soul Camp.
In Gratitude and Solidarity,
Joyce Lee
Founder and Director of Soul Camp
Organizer
Joyce Lee
Organizer
St. Paul, MN