My brother is coming to Camp Ultimate Peace!

Posted on May 10, 2016 by Josh

This summer I am thrilled to be returning to the Middle East to work at CampUP, a youth Ultimate camp run by a phenomenally amazing organization called Ultimate Peace.

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Caleb!

More importantly, I am beyond thrilled that my brother Caleb was accepted into the Ultimate Peace Leaders in Training program and will be joining me at camp!

This year, I am urging all of my supporters to donate to my brother instead of me. You can read all about his campaign right here or make a donation through this link.

You can read about my history with Ultimate Peace right here.

Thank You!

Posted on September 29, 2015 by Josh

Over the past 4 years 78 different individuals and organization have donated a total of $14,452 towards my work with Ultimate Peace!

To all of them, I say:

Thank you Alex, Allen, Amy, Andrea, Anne, Ariel, Barbara, Bay State Health, Ben H., Ben J., Bill, Breakmark, Brian, Catherine H., Catherine P., Charlie, Cheryl, Chris, Claire, Craig, Dale, David, Debra, Denise, Dick, Donna, Ethan, George, Helen, Holly, J & Ali, Janet B., Janet F., Jenya, Jesse , Jessica, Jim, Josh, Karen, Kate D., Kate F., Kate R., Katie, Kendra, Kim, Kris & John, Laura, Laurel & Dylan, Linda R., Linda W., Margaret, Marianne, Marise, Mark, Marybeth, Mat, Nancy, Nick, Priscilla, PVI, Rob, Robert, Robyn, Rona, Sandra, Sandy, Scott, Sharon, Suzy, Theodore, Thepthai, Traci, Valley Medical, Yoon Sun, Zach A., and Zach P.!

And we’re off!

Posted on July 26, 2015 by Josh

Camp Ultimate Peace 2015 is off to an incredible start! We’re now two days into camp and we’ve fully hit our stride with teams, campers, coaches, and CITs fully in sync with each other. Four new blog posts have just come online that outline what we’ve been up to:

6-year Ultimate Peace veteran Dani Glass perfectly encapsulates what it’s like to live through the awesomeness of staff training in “Something from Nothing“.

Dani Glass continues describing her beautiful UP story, this time talking about the simple power of simple truth in “UP Family“.

Coach Kelsie Brust talks about her first 24 hours working with her 2015 Camp Ultimate Peace team in “Off to a Good Start“.

Dani speaks of those that will never be forgotten in “To Our Fallen Peace Warriors“.

I have been posting lots of photos to a Facebook album. Check out the awesomeness!

You can also view lots more camp media on the Ultimate Peace Facebook page, including two incredible videos:

The Crane Project

Posted on May 15, 2015 by Josh

Would you like me to fold your message or prayer into the Western Wall in Jerusalem?

This summer I’ll be returning to the Middle East to work at Camp Ultimate Peace. Before camp begins, I’ll be settling in for a full day of crane folding in the plaza in front of the Western Wall, located in the center of the Old City in Jerusalem. My plan is to start folding on the morning of Thursday, 7/16 and to continue until sundown. The next day I’ll be traveling to Hebron to the plaza outside the Cave of the Patriarchs to do the same thing. On the third day I will be continuing to fold in Bethlehem outside the Church of the Nativity. My plan is to fold 1,000 cranes over the course of the three days and place them all in the Western Wall.

My hope is for all 1,000 cranes to be folded out of paper containing messages and prayers.

Over the past 70 years 1,000 paper cranes has come to symbolize peace, hope, healing, love, and a wish… five things that I hope to bring to the region with my work with Ultimate Peace.

I would be honored to bring your messages and prayers to the Western Wall. If that’s something you’d like me to do, feel free to write as many messages or prayers on as many square pieces of paper as you’d like and mail them to me at 3 Payson Ave. #1, Easthampton, MA 01027. They need to arrive in Easthampton by June 15th.

I’d also love to have company while I fold. Let me know if you’d like to join me at any of the folding venues.

What is UP?

Posted on March 7, 2015 by Josh

As I continued my work with Ultimate Peace, I get to see glorious answers to the question, “What is Ultimate Peace?” As part of the coaches application process, I asked the coaches to summarize UP in just three words. Here’s what they came up with.

[The larger the word, the more often it came up.]

Camp Ultimate Peace 2015 here we come!

All is well!

Posted on June 25, 2014 by Josh

Ultimate Peace Camp 2014 is flying along in a torrent of absolute awesomeness. There have been challenges, and many hours of work, but the kids are having a blast and so are the coaches. I am hoping to have a detailed blog post up in the next few days. Until then, you can check out tons of what’s been going on in these places: UP Blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube.

You can also check out my FB photo stream right here.

Here are some of my favorite media posts so far:

Identities, Realities, and Truths (Blog Post)
The Blues Brothers (Blog Post)

Kung Fu Pandas

24 hours to go!

Posted on June 19, 2014 by Josh

The view from the roof of the Austrian Hospice in the Old City of Jerusalem.

In about 10 minutes I’ll be driving down to camp from the West Bank. I have been here for the past two days meeting new Ultimate Peace friends and further absorbing the region. There really isn’t any place like the Old City of Jerusalem!

Camp starts getting into full swing tomorrow with the arrival of all of the coaches. Tomorrow is also the fundraising deadline. If you’d like the make a donation towards my work, today is your last chance! Thank you so much for all of your support. You can make a donation online right here.

Photos of my first couple days can be viewed right here.

Thanks again for all your support! Camp UP 2014 is just about here!

Fundraising Update #2

Posted on June 12, 2014 by Josh

One of my assistant coaches! STJA Alum Ava Schein!

Camp starts in one week and I couldn’t be more excited! The coaching teams have been set, the coaching manual is about to sent out, and this Monday night I fly out! I will be spending the few days before coaches training begins in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and hopefully up in Nazareth.

The big dance begins on the morning of 6/20 with coaches training! Three days after that… the kids arrive!

Than you, thank you, thank you for all your support! The fundraising deadline is 6/20, so if you’ve been thinking of making a donation, now’s the time. I couldn’t be more sincere when I say that every dollar counts!

You can make a donation online right here. You can learn more about what I have been working on right here.

Thanks again for all your amazing support!

Fundraising Update #1

Posted on June 2, 2014 by Josh

Thank you so much to everyone that has donated to my 2014 Ultimate Peace campaign. Ultimate Peace has truly changed my life and without your support my work with the organization would not be possible.

The fundraising deadline is the start of camp — June 20th — and it’s coming up quick! Over the past several months I have been hard at work with the coaching committee writing a new coaching manual and designing the coaches training sessions. It’s incredible how time has flown by! We are all so excited for camp to start in two short weeks!

If you’d like to help support my work with Ultimate Peace, you can make a donation online right here:

If you do make a donation on my behalf, please put down my name on the online donation form where it says “in support of”. Donations are tax deductible.

You can read lots more about my work with Ultimate Peace right here.

Thank you all again for your amazing support!

2014 Letter

Posted on April 26, 2014 by Josh

I just posted my Ultimate Peace fundraising appeal letter for 2014

You can check it out right here.

#herewego

Ultimate Josh

My Travels through the Ultimate World