Wellspring 2010 was an incredible weekend of fellowship, frith and friendship. Enlightening workshops, powerful rites and fascinating conversations around the fire filled our lives for this brief time, bringing all of us in attendance closer together. And so we say, Thank You! to the Rev. A.J. Gooch and all of Stonecreed Grove for their hard work in putting this festival together once again.

But it's the volunteers all over ADF who make our religion possible. And I don't just mean our elected officers in the Mother Grove, Clergy, our Guilds, Kins and SIGs, but also those unsung heroes who toil behind the scenes to make our on-line experience as easy and comfortable as possible. And these volunteers deserve to be recognized by our entire church. So this year we have begun to create such a system, in the form of an awards committee, which will be chaired by our new Vice-Archdruid, Rev. Jim 'Seamus' Dillard. This committee will be tasked with finding out who our volunteers are, what they have been doing, and recognizing their efforts.

To kick off this idea, we created the ADF Volunteer of the Year award, which was presented to Beth Savage for all her hard work, often unnoticed by the membership, in answering so many of the e-mail queries that ADF receives each day from outside of our membership. And some of these queries are really oddball ones. She has responded to even  the most outrageous comments with tack, diplomacy and respect, truly showing us all in the best possible light. Her award was a beautifully engraved crystal chalice which she will get to keep. And we have more available for future years!

May the Kindreds bless us all with the joys of true communication, of fellowship and of fulfilling spiritual experience in the months and years to come. So be it!