Stories of Resilience for the Next Generation
Danika's hair color changes monthly and her jeans jacket is covered with sassy activist buttons, but her favorite way to spend a day is volunteering at the Philip Foster Farm with her friends, clothed in the 1850 dress she made herself. I'm so glad this place of history and community is here for her, and so afraid it won't be here for her children.
Whether they come to volunteer, like Danika, or for a two-hour tour or family reunion, thousands of kids experience Oregon's pioneer life at this historic farm. Their comprehension of history is permanently affected at every level by this "second person living history", where they become a pioneer.
We have survived the Pandemic, but there is still a ways to go in making this important history complete and sustainable. We really need to have a full time Executive Director and office staff that can manage the business of camps, tours, reunions, and weddings, as well as the archives which continue to grow as donors share their precious artifacts and documents with us. Much of our history is going into landfills because local museums don't have the resources to preserve them.