Honoring Our Community, Brick by Brick
Honoring Our Community, Brick by Brick
Written by Tracey Gideon, Associate Director
Posted: December 23, 2025. This article was originally shared in our Winter 2025 Newsletter.
If you’ve attended Family Camp before, you have likely seen our Brick Garden that was displayed along the path from the Meeting House to the Inn. Since 2017, our community members have purchased bricks as a permanent way to honor loved ones, celebrate milestones and thank those who have supported them.
Due to overwhelming support and investment from our community, a few years ago, we realized we would soon be hitting our maximum capacity in this area. Last year, we began consulting with Geneva Point Center (GPC) to relocate our Brick Garden to a larger, permanent location.
This year at Family Camp, we were thrilled to introduce our newly redesigned and relocated Brick Garden—now located in GPC’s Labyrinth. The labyrinth is in a beautiful and peaceful spot for reflection and speaks to the reverence of this project. Once this new location was selected, Nancy Messina, NEHA’s Board President, longtime Family Camp attendee and volunteer, and professional architect, drew up numerous designs for the layout of the brick garden to reflect our community and the message we were trying to portray. She worked with community members, Tim and Brenda Sharpe, who donated countless hours of physical labor and craftsmanship to oversee the moving of the bricks and the construction of the new area. Tim’s employer, D.S. Jolie Landscapes, generously donated the pavers, materials and installation supplies needed to make this project possible. Finally, at Camp this summer, teens in Adventure Club installed the latest bricks purchased over the last twelve months as part of their yearly service project.
Thank you to everyone who contributed their time in planning, designing and physically constructing this massive undertaking, and thank you to Geneva Point Center for working with us to give us this spot that is so special to our community.
If Family Camp has meant something special to you or someone you know, you can get them a brick in our Brick Garden!