The Grove

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/267495

An article about the growing population of Pagans in the US.

Originally found on Witchvox

I want to apologize for sending the last email three times. That certainly wasn't my intention but for some reason my email thing always seems to do something strange.

Don't forget the Meet and Eat next Friday.

I haven't selected a date for the rummage sale, once I do I will really get on planning it and get the details out a.s.a.p.
Start doing your spring cleaning so you can have things to donate.

I just wanted to thank everyone (rather belatedly) for coming out to Imbolc and a big huge thank you to Bethany and George over at Ancient Traditions for everything they are doing for the community.

Now, the next Meet and Eat is going to stay on Friday the 20th of this month. The La Madeleine's in downtown Ft Worth has closed so I will be having this one at the Lad Mads in Arlington on Cooper St.

Meet and Eat

February 20

7 - 10pm

La Madeleine's

4201 S Cooper St

Arlington TX

(In front of the Parks Mall)

I apologize for my delay in letting you guys know about our plans.

Coming (hopefully) soon: Plans for our rummage sale.

As you can see, I have changed the layout of the site a bit. I just felt it was time for a change.

I am in the process of up dating the About Us section.

Here’s a rough outline of what we have planned for the year.  

Any dates or plans are subject to change.

January 31st – Imbolc ritual at Ancient Traditions.

Either February 6th, 20th, or 27th – Meet and Eat

March 21st – Ostara Ritual (date may change)

April 3rd – The Grove’s 1st Birthday!*

May 2nd – Beltane Ritual (date may change)

June 5th – Meet & Eat

June 20th – Midsummer Ritual (Date may change)

July 17th or 24th – Meet & Eat

August 1st – Lammas Ritual (date may change)

September 4th – Meet & Eat

September 19th or 26th – Mabon Ritual

October 24th, 31st, or November 7th – Samhain Party

November 20th – Meet & Eat  (date may change)

December 19th – Yule Ritual (date may change)

Currently unscheduled or undecided events –

Sometime during the summer we would like to get the group together to volunteer at a local charity. Our two favorites right now are Meals on Wheels and Habitat for Humanity.

In April I would like to try and do a rummage sale to help us raise money for our 501(c)(3) application**. We would be asking for donations of some of the extra items you have sitting around to help us fill up our inventory.

We are considering doing a six part class/meeting for new Pagans to get together and discuss a designated topic with a mentor who has more experience in the Craft. This group would be offered for a nominal fee in order to cover facility costs and refreshments. At this time, we have not decided whether we will indeed do this idea. If I can work out our facility time, mentors, and we have enough interested parties I will start setting this up.

Distant future-

Our plans are, as they have been since before we officially started this group, to form a multi-faith center that would be open to all members of the DFW community. The center could provide educational services, charity work, religious space for worship, weddings, or community events, child care, or any variety of activities.

*Our group will be turning one and we will be having some kind of celebration. I may combine this with the rummage sale

**We are in the process of getting 501(c)(3), or tax exempt status, with the IRS. The application fee for this is $300. The benefit of this would be any purchases made by the group would be tax free and any donations to the group would be tax deductible. This is an essential step towards many of our future goals.

Brittany and I got the chance to make it out to the full moon ritual at Ancient Traditions last night and we would like to thank Bethany and George for letting us join them. We are very excited by the idea of a multicultural community center in this area and it is wonderful that Bethany and George are willing to put so much of their own time and energy into creating this space for everyone.

Thank You!

I have also just started talking to Bethany about us leading the Imbolc ritual to be held at Ancient Traditions so I will keep you updated on that.

So, we had super low turnout for the Meet and Eat on the 5th, I think that part of that is because I didn't respond to RSVPs like I normally do. Sorry! I just assumed that I didn't need to if you didn't have a question but I realized afterward that it would seem like we might not have received it or something. I promise I'll get back on the ball with the upcoming RSVPs.

So, Yule will continue as planned. The details are available here.  

Website news, obviously, I was able to get on and update. Yay!

I am still in the process of getting all the legal things handled with getting the group incorporated and such but I've taken a little time away from it to take finals and deal with some of the junk at work we've been experiencing.

I am starting to plan our events for next year. We'll have a Meet and Eat or movie night or something in January. It's going to take me a little maneuvering to find a good date because mine, my mother's, and my brother's birthdays are all in January. Then there's New Year's festivities and I don't want it to be too close to Imbolc. However, over the past few years (during the time that we ran a group for teens) we somehow always ended up celebrating Imbolc so it has become a favorite holiday of mine so I'm excited to do it this time around. As soon as I've started working out plans I'll let you all know.

Imbolc Update! I am (as always) having a little bit of a hard time finding a location for Imbolc. It will still be too cold to have it out doors so I need an indoor location. I really want to use the church that kindly let us use it's facilities for All Hallows but cost might be an issue. Although, when I was dealing with all the All Hallows details I talked to Alice (the wonderful woman from the church) and she said they could cut us a deal if we use the building regularly. I'll be honest, I lost her phone number. But, I can find it again. If that is the case, I am going to talk to them about using the building for Imbolc and Beltane. For Beltane we would also have the option of using a park or something outdoors.
Now here's the problem, around Imbolc the church is only available on January 24 and February 6. The 24th seems too early for me and the 6th is a Friday. The weekend of the 30th is the church's rummage sale so it's off limits that whole time. I just need to know if people can make it out on a Friday evening. For Beltane I'd like to try for the 2nd of May but I don't have a clue about that yet.

If anyone is interested in hosting/leading any rituals in 2009 let me know. I've already promised Beltane to Brittany but if you want us to have it at your home I don't think she's mind.

I have updated with the information about Yule. You can get there from either the graphic or the link on the front page or from the Events page.

If you have any questions feel free to email.

We still haven't decided what we'd like to do for the next Meet and Eat. I have gotten the suggestion of doing a movie night or going to a tapas restaurant in Dallas. I don't know for sure what I want to do yet. I'll let you know, so try and be patient with me. We've got a little while yet.

Thank you to everyone who came out to the Meet and Eat tonight. We had some interesting conversation and yummy food. If you couldn't make it out, that is too bad. Try to come out next time!

We are still planning on doing a rummage sale for raise money but we're waiting until the weather warms up to do it. Start thinking about what you might like to donate.

I don't really have any other updates at the moment. If there's something I have forgotten please let me know.

The reason things have been so quiet around here lately is because, in order to get everything done for All Hallows, I had to put some things on the back burner and now I am getting back to them. Not to mention, I have a job (or two really) and school so sometimes my other priorities require that I let the Grove take care of itself for a little while. Don't worry, I'm still checking email daily and I will be around.

Stay warm!
Haley K

I forgot to post this here.

The November Meet & Eat was rescheduled from the 7th to the 14th. It will still be at La Madeleine's and it will still be at 7pm.

First, let me recap All Hallows Harvest for you. Well, my day started at 8am and didn?t end until 2am. We started our day with shopping, not being about to find the pumpkins we needed, me eating a pop tart while I looked for star shaped clips in Hobby Lobby, then pumpkin carving, favor assembling, pumpkin glittering, hours of decorating, and finally, the party could begin. Personally, I think we accomplished miracles simply because we didn?t leave anything at home that we needed. However, we would like to know what you thought. You can go here to take our survey so that we can know how everyone felt about the event and whether we should do this again next year.

I?ve added a photo gallery for All Hallows Harvest, and I am slowly uploading some pictures I took. If you have any you?d like to add just email them to me.

You may have noticed that the homepage has been updated to reflect our upcoming events which are

Meet & Eat ? November  7th

Meet & Eat ? December 5th

Yule ? December 20th

The RSVP page has been updated to reflect these as well. I?ll be putting up the information about Yule as soon as I get around to it.

Now that All Hallows Harvest has past, and I have some of my free time back, it is time to start working forward. We are making great strides towards a firmer foundation for this group. Firstly, we will be getting an official checking account for the Grove as soon as the necessary parties can make it to the bank at the same time.  After that, we will be seeking incorporation with the state of Texas as a not for profit organization. Then we would like to apply for 501 (c) (3) certification. That?s the big one. What does this mean for you and the group? Basically, we would have tax exemption status through the federal government. Anything we buy would be tax exempt and any donations to the group would be tax deductible. The situation with that is that the application fee is $300 and we would need some serious fund raising to make that happen. After that we would apply for state tax exemption.  All of the steps are necessary at some point if we would like to further the growth of this group, or eventually have a dedicated space.

So, we are asking for fund raising ideas from you guys. The raffle idea worked out really well but it isn?t something we can exactly do all the time. My other idea was to do a rummage sale. We would just need donations of new or gently used clothing, toys, or bric-a-brac that we could sell in a garage sale. We would also need volunteers to help us manage the sale. I don?t have a clue what day we could do it on yet but if you all think this sounds like a good idea then let me know and I?ll start putting it together.

If you have any other ideas for fundraisers let me know.

I think that?s all for now. Feel free to email or comment here with anything you want to let me know.