Nominee: Lynn Cameron
For: William Gibson Lifetime Acheivement Award
Nominated By: Earth Care House Church, Trinity Presbyterian Church
Lynn is presently pastoral leader of Earth Care House Church, the environmental arm of the home church, Trinity Presbyterian Church.
Lynn has shown Earth Care leadership in the following ways:
1. Took an overture to the 2002 GA in Columbus, Ohio asking PCUSA to accept as the Church’s position its desire to see grandfathered coal-power plants we need to research this and get the actual wording.
2. Led ECHC to its Fall Retreat at Lambert Cabin, a facility owned by PATC. The Potomac Appalachian Trail Club has many members in our congregation. Lynn and her husband are “Caretakers” for a section of the trail and maintain it with non-gasoline powered tools. Church youth are led by Lynn to use old fashioned cross-cut saws to remove fallen trees from the trail. She shows them how to use spades to form trenches to deflect runoff water from the trail reducing harmful erosion.
3. Expended countless hours getting organizations of all stripes and flavors to become sponsors of Friends of Shenandoah Mountain.
4. Does not simply talk: she walks the walk. She and her husband bought a tract of forest land adjacent to the Shenandoah National Park because she had found in her research as a professional librarian that this tract contain a very unique “wet land” high up the mountain side. This wet land provides water for flora and fauna.
5. Love of God’s creatures manifested in their ownership of several llamas. Church youth from area congregations not all Presbyterian, have mingled with her llamas; she shows these young persons how to pretend that they, too, have breaths which llamas need to sample before establishing llama trust. It is amazing to see a second grade girl, hands behind her back, leaning forward while breathing, in an effort to establish trust on the part of the beast.
6. Long history in environmental work in the church. For example, she was a long time friend with Ernie Dickerman who is considered by many to be the father and founder of the Virginia Wilderness Society. With his help, our house church was able to bring Richard Cartwright Austin to Harrisonburg for a three-day workshop and seminar.
7. Worked tireless to bring Harrisonburg’s “Friendly City Food Coop” into existence. Although no official count has been taken it is a safe bet that every member of ECHC is a partner here. One of our church youth (a college student) is an employee of the Coop working her way through JMU.
8. One year ago in 2010, Lynn was the driving force behind Trinity Presbyterian Church’s earning its “Green Congregation” status. After the award arrived here, she and her husband continued finding additional items of interest.
9. Earth Care House Church, the environmental house church at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Harrisonburg, VA, scheduled a retreat near Shenandoah National Park. Lynn and Malcolm Cameron are members of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. This club became owners of a most unique cabin near Luray. We were permitted to hold our autumn retreat 2010 in this cabin. The mountain setting, the crisp autumn weather, and the cabin’s legacy gave an extra spirituality to our worship and retreat. This retreat would not have been possible absent Lynn’s contacts in this outdoor hiking organization. Our pastor’s husband who recently died of cancer was a past president of PATC.
Lynn has been working for ten years to obain wilderness status for 90,000 acres located in the George Washington National Forest. Friends of Shenandoah Mountain is a voluntary local coalition of businesses, individuals, faith groups, hunters, conservationists, hikers, mountain bikers, and others who have come together to protect these areas. "From the top of Reddish Knob one can behold the breathtaking beauty of Shenandoah Mountain. As stewards of god's good creation, we need to preserve this unique natural area for generations to come."-Ann Held, Pastor, Trinity Presbyterian Church, Harrisonburg.
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