Response to Questions for the Candidates - Members - Part Four

Welcome back! I am continuing to respond to the questions from ADF members directed to the candidates running for office. 

Today's responses relate to the subject of Member Involvement.

Image by Gerd Altmann (Creative Commons CC0)

EF: A secondary question: How will you encourage ways of making ADF accessable to children (with parental consent, of course)? 



My grove is family friendly and we cherish the children of our grove. We have a time slot in our event schedule specifically for children’s activities and they are welcome to attend not only our high day rites, but the majority of our activities. We even do two separate Samhain rites, with the earlier one specifically geared for children, and then we provide childcare for our main Samhain rite, as emotions often run high and we do not wish to create trauma for the children, but feel it is important that they are still able to attend ritual.

The festivals that I attend are also family friendly and it was not until I began to really ponder this question that I realized there are others which are not. I am not certain at this time what can be done to make ADF more accessible in other areas, but I will happily work with the parents in those areas to help generate ideas and activities so that their children can be included.

BE:  How do you view the role of solitary members within ADF and how do you anticipate that role will change over the course of your proposed term?

SSP: How would you look to heal divisions in the organization, bring the organization to a sense of more inclusive wholeness and create a positive vision for all members regardless of whether they are clergy, dedicants, solitaries, old-timers, newcomers, etc. Do you feel that all members are equal?

CH:  How would you ensure fair treatment of members regardless of ethnicity, nationality, gender identity, sexuality, or immigration status?

VMLC:  Or ability or class.

SSP:  Or age.

I feel that the answers to all of these questions are tied together, and I believe that the first step is to complete the SWOT analysis which we are working on. Part of that process will involve collecting feedback from the members and I will encourage all members to contribute.

This can give us a baseline that tells us where the majority of our members stand on the issues that they believe are most important. While there are certain to be a number of matters where our visions all align, there are also certainly some matters on which members disagree.

On the matters of disagreement, it will be vital to listen to and engage with all sides, and to work together to reach a compromise that everyone can live with. Depending on the issue at hand, this could be something simple, in which everyone can be made happy. Or it could be something complicated where it is simply not possible for everyone to leave the table happy. We need to be honest about that possibility, while still pursuing the best possible outcome for all sides.

I think, though, that extra measures should be extended to the solitaries to be certain that they know they do have a voice and that we value them as much as we value the members who were able to become part of a grove or protogrove.

As far as discrimination goes, we have an official policy against it, but words sometimes require actions to give them force. If I personally see or am advised of an event which does not adhere to that policy, I will speak up and continue to do so until the matter is addressed. Personally, I have a zero tolerance policy for any sort of intolerance. We are each unique, with our own strengths, abilities, and challenges, and if we work together, we can figure out how to overcome the challenges.