The New Volunteerism Project

The Archival Collection of
Ivan Henry Scheier

The Capsule Dedication Ceremony

The VOLUNTAS Time Capsule
on Volunteerism
          1990 – 2050
@ -- permission for use-with-acknowledgment

In celebration of International Year of the Volunteers, 2001
the Time Capsule will be rededicated on Sept 20, 2001 at Regis University in Denver, Colorado 

  THE INVITATION

You are warmly welcomed
To the

Time Capsule Sealing Ceremony

Designed and conducted by The Reverend Fred Swearinger

Sunday, December 2, 1990
11:30 a.m.
at
Plaza del Monte Study and Conference Center

417 Paseo de Peralta
Santa Fe, New Mexico
(north of the Downtown Post Office and west of the Masonic Building)

Please be prompt.
The news media has been invited.
Event will be no longer than one hour.
Families are invited.
R.S.V.P. by Friday, November 30, 1990
983-8414 or 471-6989

TIME CAPSULE SEALING CEREMONY

The Dedication

Presented by the Reverend Mr. Alfred F. Swearingen, Minister, Presbyterian Church (USA).

I feel a bit threatened this morning. This marks the first occasion I have ever been invited to "seal" and dedicate a time capsule. So at the very outset I want to thank Ivan Scheier and the members of the Board of the Center for this opportunity to make up for a grievous lack in my character. While I have been grappling with procedure, I have no hesitation in conveying my enthusiasm for the purpose which gathers us.

I am strongly motivated to be joining you in this event because of the inherent message this gesture connotes. And it is this: we are bearing a witness to the future.

Buckminster Fuller once observed: 'We are called to be the architects of the future, not its victims." I ask that you write "Bucky's" dictum with indelible ink on your memory just now as I add another.

The second is the telling conclusion of Alexis de Tocqueville, a French philosopher/sociologist/historian who came to our country in the late 1800s in an effort to discover why this relatively young nation had such an obvious vigor and motivation to address the common good and well-being of our society. Indeed, most of Europe was curious. The "secret weapon" he discovered was I/volunteerism." In a benchmark report he wrote of "the willing volunteers" within the private sector. We need to remember that this was a unique aspect of our journey as a people. It was this same spirit of volunteerism, aided and strengthened by countless synagogues and churches that permeated our culture's way of "doing" and "being". He wrote: "Countless little people, humble people, throughout American society, expend their efforts in caring and in the betterment of the community, blowing on their hands, pitting their small strength against the inhuman elements of life. Unheralded and always inconspicuous they sense that they are cooperating with a purpose and a spirit that is at the center of creation. The Constitution of their nation undergirds and strengthens this activity."

Putting Buckminster Fuller and Alexis de Tocqueville together I arrive at a single observation: It is this spirit of volunteerism today that summons us to wager our lives upon the future.

I submit that the Center for Creative Community is serving as an architect for the future in a time when we seem to be running too many risks of being victims. In my own bleak moments of reflecting on our present condition, a huge part of me can be found standing in that chorus of voices which insists that our American society is a falling star, that our time of greatness is in eclipse. But then I observe "the little people, the humble people", who are socially in earnest, who never run out of hope. Perhaps you noticed that young woman lawyer who was seen on TV just this week who gave up law practice to join the Salvation Army because, as she put it, "I wanted to give myself to something that lasts."

I cannot be certain that my human pilgrimage traversed the same philosophical territory as your own, but some of us-as children-became aware of a purpose in our home, an underlying intention in the family. It was intended that we should be educated, trained for some work, that we should live useful and creative lives. That undergirding purpose in the family did not take responsibility from us. It put responsibility upon us. We worked hard, but always with this stimulating fact in view-we were cooperating with a purpose greater than our own, by which everything we contributed was caught up, backed up, carried on. We never would have gotten anywhere without that! Is there not an abiding purpose, an eternal will to wholeness, by which what we sow is caught up, backed up, carried on? And is it not this abiding purpose which breathes through the Center for Creative Community?

While entertaining these thoughts I recalled how Gladstone allied himself with the Liberal Party in Parliament. You know, of course, that Gladstone was a male version of Margaret Thatcher and there was a shaking of the foundations that day when, in the face of bitterest opposition, he made a brilliant appeal for Lord Russell's Reform Bill. Some of his colleagues were jesting that such a momentous change in his customary position was akin to announcing the Second Coming. Note Gladstone's eloquence as he addressed the Parliament: "You cannot fight against the future. Time is on our side. The great social forces which move onwards in their might and majesty, and which the tumult of our debates does not for a moment impede-these powerful social forces are marshaled on our side; and this banner, which we carry in this fight, will float in the eye of heaven and bear us to a certain future victory. Let us be wary how we vote on this issue for we are shaping the future and all of us will spend the rest of our lives there!"

Do you join me in hoping that our Congress might one day very soon take time to listen to the counsel that we cannot fight against what is to endure in the future?

But I must hasten to summarize these reflections. To be architects of the future, to be socially in earnest as agents of constructive change--this is the appeal we make from this present moment to the future. The philosophy of life which empowers the volunteer declares, "I never expect to see the total victory of this cause which impels me in my lifetime, and yet I wager my life that the future belongs to it." Every great character in our human story who has sacrificially appealed from a hostile present to a promising future has, so far as I am aware, believed in some kind of cosmic backing whether they called it "philosophic dialectic" or God.

Over against fretful impatience-which is all around us in debilitating quantity-we honor today another type of character who says, "In all probability I shall not live to see the total triumph of my cause. Nevertheless, for it I stand; in it I believe; on its behalf I work, and, as for its triumph, I entrust the vindication of my faith to the future. "This morning, in this present moment we seal those things for which we stand, in which we believe, on whose behalf we labor as those committed to the cause of the Center for Creative Community--and may it be that our children, and our children’s children, opening this time capsule, looking back to us who are gathered here, contemplating it contents, should say of what we do this day, "That was the creative enterprise to which the future was to belong."

Ivan has provided messages from the whole world, which are to be placed in this time capsule which is to be opened November 2050. Indeed, messages are still coming. Carolyn and I have constructed a collage of certain key comments, which have come to the Center and have put them in the form of a litany of responses.

As we dedicate this time capsule and commit it to the discernment of those who follow after us, I invite you to join me in a responsive reading of the observation of our colleagues in volunteerism throughout this world.

 

+ + + +

A LITANY OF HOPE

To Colleagues in Volunteerism in the year 2050

It is our faith that you have kept what is best from our volunteer world, while creating your Utopia, by retaining access to historical memory and providing continuity in the field of volunteerism;

• by broader recognition of the range of available human resources,
• by eliminating the walls between business and communit needs to which volunteers may respond.

Response: TO THIS END WE DEDICATE OUR TIME CAPSULE THIS DAY.

It is our hope that volunteerism is no longer exclusive to human services, but includes broader issues such as the environment, the arts and community-building.

Response: THEREFORE, WE DEDICATE OUR CAPSULE IN HOPE.

It is our dream that volunteerism is the uniting element equally needed in the Third World, urban areas and neighborhoods everywhere, with global issues being addressed through volunteers at the local level.

Response: WE DEDICATE THIS TIME CAPSULE IN THE TRUST THAT THIS DREAM WILL COME TRUE.

It is to honor the leadership in the Volunteer World that is infusing everyone with the spirit and philosophy of commitment. Rather than task and process, let conferences and leadership meetings focus, always on values so that Volunteer Centers are the "conscience" in the field and community, accepting and carrying out this responsibility.

Response: TO THIS HONOR AND RESPONSIBILITY, WE DEDICATE THIS TIME CAPSULE THIS DAY.

(Observations above were contributed by Mary Ann Lawson, retired director for a Volunteer Center in Salinas, California, for a meeting of volunteer directors)

It is in expectation that Volunteerism will be seen increasingly as a necessary characteristic of good citizenship and that because of this volunteer effort and commitment to a simpler life style which will 'preserve the vital systems of our earth and ensure that you will be able to read this message.
(Contributed by Ivan Scheier and Carl Boaz, Santa Fe, New Mexico).

Response: IN THIS EARTH-SAVING EXPECTATION, WE DEDICATE THIS CAPSULE WITH BREATH AND LIFE GRANTED UNTO US IN THIS MOMENT OF HISTORY.

"My mother told me a long time ago (40 years), 'If you want to affect change in the community you live in, you must become involved. You do not have to be paid to become involved and you will see change. Give of yourself and it will come back to you."
(A quotation of Shirley Benitez, Bureau of Community Corrections, Minnesota).

Today, about half of Americans volunteer. I hope that by the time you open the capsule it is 100% and that the country no longer has racism. sexism, ageism and that diversity is celebrated! (Comment of Kathleen Hartmann, Minnesota, staff and volunteers).

Response: WE DEDICATE THIS CAPSULE THIS DAY IN THE LIVELY WISH THAT THROUGH VOLUNTEERISM, DIVERSITY IS CELEBRATED AND RACISM, AGEISM, AND SEXISM WILL HAVE BEEN ELIMINATED.

It is our belief that personal generosity and the spirit of caring...

... creative energy

... returning something to a community that has been good to you

... the faith that individual people and small groups can make a difference sharing with others

... the recognition that people still need one another

... that beautiful people create beauty

... and that without volunteers many prized institutions would not be able to provide for the needs of people.

(Observations of Susie Tucker, Grand Junction, Colorado, addressed to a Volunteer Motivation Workshop).

Response: WE THEREFORE SEAL AND DEDICATE THIS TIME CAPSULE DECEMBER 2nd, 1990, BELIEVING THAT SHARING AND HOPE HAS MADE YOUR WORLD BETTER ... AND THAT YOU WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO IN YOUR TIMES WITH ALL OF OUR CHILDREN PRESENT AND CARRING ON THIS GOODLY HERITAGE.

Litany composed by Carolyn Swearingen, Member of the Board, Center for Creative Community, excerpted from letters and messages which are being placed in the time capsule).

	Back Row: Danny Randall, Francis "Bitts" Bryan, Carolyn Swearingen, Fred Swearingen, Ron Hale Middle Row: Donna Marie (Schroeder) Randall, Lynn Gary, Mary Mokler, Liz Bryan, Ivan Scheier Front Row: Kim Cline and baby MacKenzie (This photo was taken by Bruce Cline)

People at the dedication of the Time Capsule

Status as of April, 1996.

Liz and Francis "Bitts" Bryan,
Both died within a few years after the Capsule dedication. As of 1995, their son Andrew Bryan (30 years old) lived in Seattle, WA. He’s in education and was working with an alternative school.

Ron Hale
Of Santa Fe, NM a consultant in organizational Development, also a Bluegrass Banjo player, is about 45, had two children (boys, I believe). Ron was on Voluntas Board.

Carolyn and Fred Swearinger, Santa Fe, NM. Fred was a retired Presbyterian minister; Carolyn a Deacon, prison chaplain, and member of Voluntas Board. As of 1996 they are in early to middle 70’s and have five children.

Mary Mokler
An education and Harvard graduate, lives in Albuquerque, and about 60 years old. Was chair of Voluntas Board. Husband, Brian of Albuquerque, NM.

Ivan Scheier
Age 70, no children, a nephew, Matt Scheier, about 22, now attending University of Vermont in Burlington, VT. Sister Allison Scheier, about 25 now resides at the family home (Ivan’s brother and his wife) in Norwhich, VT. Ivan at this time lived in Madrid, NM and as of 1996 plans to move to Truth or Consequences, NM.

Lynn Gary
Was at this time Director of the Volunteer Center in Santa Fe (Volunteer Involvement Center) later worked for the Governor of New Mexico, is single, about 40-45. Last know address Santa Fe, NM. Born in New Iberia, LA.

Bruce Cline
At time of the photo was Director of the United Way Volunteer Center in Albuquerque, NM. He later went on to become a program officer for Points of Light Foundation and Americorps, plus on the board of the Association for Volunteer Administration. He’s about 40-45, wife name Kim, and baby daughter is Mackenzie.

Isaac (Danny) Randall and Donna Marie (Schroeder) Randall
Born in Cortez, Colorado to Belarmino and Helen Randall. Please see his capsule message. As of 1994, still working for BLM but in now based in Farmington, NM.