109 - American Pilgrims on the Camino: Stories, Support, and the Spirit of the Camino

Welcome to our third annual interview with members of the Board of Directors for   American Pilgrims on the Camino:
Joe Curro, Jr.  - Board Chair
Allison Venuto - Secretary
Rachel Ganzon - Board Member
Tom Coleman -Board Member

Embark on a pilgrimage through the voices of those deeply entrenched in the Camino de Santiago community, as we welcome Joe Curro, Jr., board chair of American Pilgrims on the Camino, alongside fellow board members who bring their personal tales and expert insights to our show. They're not just voices; they're the heart and soul behind the pilgrimage network that has seen a remarkable resurgence post-pandemic. From Rachel Ganzon's dive into the local chapters' impact to Tom Coleman's dedication to preserving pilgrim stories, this episode stitches together a narrative of passion and purpose that will resonate with both seasoned and aspiring pilgrims.

Feel the heartbeat of a growing family of enthusiasts as we discuss how membership fees sponsor vital Camino needs, including grants for infrastructure and potential new initiatives. The recent spike in membership signals more than just numbers; it's a testament to the thriving ecosystem of volunteers and mentors that nurture pilgrims' journeys before and after. Listen as Allison Venuto shares the importance of connection through our organization's activities, and learn how your participation weaves into the broader tapestry of support, community, and shared experiences.

Step into a community of kindred spirits, where joining the American Pilgrims on the Camino organization means entering a realm of shared joy and continuous discovery about the Camino. We spotlight the local chapters, the crucibles where knowledge and camaraderie flourish, and where the journey both begins and finds solace post-Camino. If you've ever considered starting a chapter or seeking a reintegration support network, this episode extends an open invitation to join a vibrant and diverse fellowship, bound by the common thread of the pilgrim's walk.

Links:
American Pilgrims on the Camino Website Home Page:
https://americanpilgrims.org/

Local Chapter Information:
https://americanpilgrims.org/local-chapters/

To Join: https://secure.americanpilgrims.org/np/clients/americanpilgrims/membershipJoin.jsp?forwardedFromSecureDomain=1

Connect with Leigh:

Camino News Update - Every Wednesday!
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The Camino Cafe's intro and outro song with thanks to fellow Pilgrim, Jackson Maloney. Original Song - "Finnis Terre" - written and performed by Jackson Maloney - Singer, Musician, and Songwriter. Connect with Jackson: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3fdQsSqq9pDSwKcWlnBHKR

Transcript

Leigh Brennan: 0:00

Hey everyone, welcome to the Camino Cafe podcast. I am so happy to have you here. If you haven't had a chance yet, I hope you will check out the new show I'm doing with Johnny Walker and a whole team of Camino Pilgrims, that's Camino news update. We do that every Wednesday night. We're having a ball doing it and I hope you're enjoying it as well. Well, today I am excited to have the American Pilgrims on the Camino. I have several of the board members with me and this is the third year that we've done this annual interview and it has always proven to be very popular. There's always many exciting things that we talk about, so let's get to it. First up, we have board chair Joe Coop. Last time I saw you, you were here in Santiago after a Camino.

Joe Curro: 0:41

That's right. I remember we had a very nice lunch together and I got caught out for leaving the cafe earlier that day, if you recall. I remember it was great to see you, and that was after I did the Camino Portuguese and had come in and had a brief amount of time in Santiago. Of course, my heart's still there. That's why I have the background.

Tom Coleman: 1:00

Let us today have.

Joe Curro: 1:01

Rachel Ganzon is one of our newest members and she's gonna talk to us today about a little bit about our chapters. Alison Venuto is secretary of the board and she's the most senior member out of the folks who are on the call today and she heads up our membership effort. And then Tom Coleman joined us last year and he is a co-chair of gatherings and he's also very interested in preserving the history and the stories of American pilgrims in the Camino and the involvement of Americans on the Camino de Santiago and on the board. Myself for the last two years and last month I became a chair of the board. But we really truly are a team.

Joe Curro: 1:40

All of us came up with a lot of different Camino experience. If you look at the board members, you probably covered just about all of the Caminos within Spain and beyond. We've had folks who walked, who biked. Yesterday Alison organized a great national event where one of our board members, bill Oughts, was a panelist. They talked about biking the Camino. Amongst our board members, out of the 11, five of us have served or do serve as chapter coordinators around the country. Others of us are very involved in our chapters. At least five of us are hospitalero trained and at least three have actually served as hospitaleros. At least three of our board members have volunteered in the pilgrims office. So we're real Camino junkies.

Leigh Brennan: 2:25

Welcome everyone, so glad that you're joining us tonight and we will come around and talk about all the different areas.

Joe Curro: 2:32

We really appreciate you having us come on and give these updates. For those of you who aren't familiar with us, american Pilgrims on the Camino is the National Association, for many countries have associations, friends Associations for the Camino and for Pilgrims, and really the Association in the United States that supports those who are getting ready to do a Camino, those who are coming back from a Camino and want to meet with fellow travelers, so to speak, and we also are folks who we engage in supporting the Camino. We're really pleased to be on here. We are an all volunteer and we have folks from Alaska to Florida and Maine to California and everywhere in between, and some folks out in Hawaii and not even within the United States borders who are members or who participate with American Pilgrims. We are run by an 11 member board, so you're meeting four of our hardworking board members here today.

Leigh Brennan: 3:32

I want to touch on first what type of membership numbers are we talking? How many people are part of American Pilgrims on the Camino?

Joe Curro: 3:39

So we've had an explosion, as has been an explosion of activity on the Camino and Allison will be able to speak to us more when we get to her segment, but we're hovering near 3000 now, around 3000. It's been just extraordinary, and we've also seen requests for credentials go through. As you may know, one of the things we do is we issue credentials at no charge, just on a donatevo basis, and our request this past year were up 33% almost 10,000. We're almost at 10,000 credentials that were requested from the organization that maps very closely.

Leigh Brennan: 4:15

I don't know, maybe Allison, I don't know, did you want to go around the horn? Okay, yeah, let's go around, but I wanted to say what's your local chapter, just so people are aware of the area. Yeah, yeah.

Joe Curro: 4:26

So folks didn't pick up and maybe you should turn on captions when you're listening to me. I'm out of Boston, so I was. Until this past October I was for two years I served as Boston chapter coordinator. So that's what I'm gonna do Okay.

Leigh Brennan: 4:43

and what about you, rachel?

Rachel Ganzon: 4:44

I'm in the Pacific Northwest. I'm in the Portland Oregon area. I actually live across the Columbia River in Washington and Ridgefield Washington.

Leigh Brennan: 4:52

Oh, beautiful area of the world it is a D. And have you walked a Camino recently in the last couple of years?

Rachel Ganzon: 4:59

2017 is when I walked and I did the Camino Frances. I'm one of those working people that does not have time to do the entire 500 miles, but I really wanted to do a portion of it, and so I just took that opportunity, when I had it, to do the first part.

Leigh Brennan: 5:14

Yes, fantastic. I think you're the same, but with a lot of people right and I don't know. I always try to stress here it doesn't really matter how many kilometers you do. I think it's all about the intention that you put into your walk, no matter what route, no matter how far you go. And what about you, allison?

Allison Venuto: 5:30

I am in the Dallas area and my husband and I walked the Norte in 2018. We're supposed to walk the Camino Codo in 2020 and that did not happen. So we walked the Inglis in 2022 and then we plan to walk from Santiago to Moosia to Finestere this year. So in a couple of months we'll be back in Spain, which we're excited about.

Leigh Brennan: 5:52

Oh, fantastic, that's a beautiful route. All right, and last but not least, Tom tell us where you are in the States.

Tom Coleman: 6:02

I am Joe's nov and neighbor. I live in New Hampshire and my last Camino experience was in 2019. I walked the Portuguese from Porto and then onward to Finestere and Moosia and looking forward, I will be returning this year. We sponsor a cultural trip and we'll be going to La Rioja with a group of our what we see as ambassadors from American pilgrims and hopefully I'll get some Camino time when I'm over there.

Leigh Brennan: 6:34

Now that you brought that up, I wanted to say I've heard such great things about that last cultural trip that you guys did, so does anybody wanna speak to that? And then about this next one that's coming up. Or is there still a chance for people to sign up for the next one? No, already sold out.

Tom Coleman: 6:49

Yeah, unfortunately it's sold out quite quickly. And it really is. Both our external relations committee and our cultural committee do a superb job and we were really gratified by the hospitality we were showed in Nevada. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend that trip, but I'm really looking forward to this year and it's really. It is an association to association exchange. It truly is a cultural exchange. It's well beyond a travel tour or anything like that. It is a Camino exchange and we're very grateful to our Spanish counterparts.

Joe Curro: 7:32

And I'll just add as a footnote, Leigh, that actually some of the representatives from the Nevada Association will be joining us at the gathering this year. Oh, how exciting. We continue those relationships.

Leigh Brennan: 7:45

Fantastic. The gathering was the next topic I was going to bring up, but I wanted to say to start off with it. Looks like when you put out a notice about an offering, people better sign up quickly because things are selling out. The gathering is sold out for this year in San Antonio already, and do any of you want to speak to what folks that are going? If they're going to be hearing this show, what can they look forward to doing and seeing and meeting while we're there this year?

Tom Coleman: 8:11

First of all, I just want to say that all of us are very fortunate for Dave Donsler and his wife, amy, who are just the consummate gathering planners, and it's been my pleasure my personal pleasure to work with them on the last three gathers, and so we have 300 people who are attending. This year, we're doing something differently. We're actually running an Albregain of 100 people and we're really excited about that, and actually our participants are very excited too. We've had overwhelmingly positive feedback. We weren't sure how it would play in the United States, but it's been really embraced, well received. We have, I think, an outstanding selection of presenters. We have three professional music acts, including our own beloved Dan Mullins, and we're looking forward to him, and we're also very honored and privileged to have you, lee, help me to bring out the best pilgrim in each of our attendees, and so thank you, thank you for stepping forward to do that.

Tom Coleman: 9:28

We were also very excited about the 2025 gathering in Vancouver. This will be. We're deep into planning on that, we're putting this on with the Canadian companies of pilgrims and we again will have 300 people. So this is going to be a little bit of a bedrush in Camino terms, because we're going to have two countries going after 300 attendees slots, but we are lining up a truly international panel of speakers and we already will have speakers from CSJ, from the Dutch Association, our region association, several associations in Spain, perhaps France. So we're really looking forward to an international celebration.

Leigh Brennan: 10:17

Tom, that sounds like that's going to be a really hot ticket. So if not only 300 between the US and Canada, will there be opportunities to attend just as an attendee? If there's not enough space to spend the night, can more people still come and just go to the sessions?

Tom Coleman: 10:34

We obviously, when we gather people together, it's about sharing our esteem for the Camino and for each other. So we're going to widen this as much as we possibly can and thank you for holding that up. And I do want to say that, as far as save to date, it will be from the 15th through the 17th of May in 2025.

Leigh Brennan: 10:57

Yes, and do you know yet when registration will open?

Tom Coleman: 11:01

We were looking at, probably January of that year.

Leigh Brennan: 11:07

All right, that's going to be exciting. What a tremendous opportunity for folks to go and meet people from the candidate group as well as all over the world that's going to be. How did that come about? Even.

Tom Coleman: 11:17

It's interesting when you actually look back in our history. We had a co-produced gathering in 2005 in Toronto. It was quite small but with the Canadian company of Pilgrims. The Canadian company of Pilgrims is older than the American Pilgrims on the Camino but since then it's very common we have Canadians attend the American gathering and we don't really see. We see ourselves as one Camino family and it was over a lunch conversation that this came up two years ago and again, dave Doncelor is the one who made this happen.

Leigh Brennan: 12:04

Yeah, how exciting let's talk a little bit about. Let's turn to membership. Alison, tell us some of the new things that are going on with membership. What are your goals in the next year? What are things looking like?

Allison Venuto: 12:17

Thank you and Lee, I want to say thank you for all the partnership that you've had with American Pilgrims on the Camino. You've been a wonderful colleague in all of this and Pilgrim and helping us know more about how we can help as well. So thank you for the opportunity to share. We have seen, as in a lot of places we've talked about, the interest in the Camino has increased over the last few years, especially post pandemic. We've seen our membership numbers increase in all of our categories and for our categories we have individual, household, lifetime and student, and those have just grown in every single category for 2023. We anticipate that will continue for 2024.

Allison Venuto: 12:54

We've had growth in our chapters, so these are dues paying members that I'm talking about, but we definitely have Pilgrims who are engaging in chapter activities and the numbers of chapters are increasing over the last few years, which I know racial will probably talk about as well but just that interest and appreciation for what members are doing on the Camino and with our organization. Again, we're an all volunteer organization and so what we try to do is, as we have folks coming in, we try to look at ways that we can have them connect with the Camino, either before they go or after they go, because we know that experience is so valuable to them and we want to help with that life of the Camino that Pilgrims live.

Leigh Brennan: 13:35

So what do you think is driving membership and increasing it?

Allison Venuto: 13:38

I think and Rachel again can speak to this as well but our chapter coordinators are fantastic. We have chapters all over the United States. They're doing incredibly engaging activities, creating mentorships for new Pilgrims. We're doing national events so even Pilgrims who are maybe not so geographically connected to a chapter can still participate. Our coordinators are keeping in touch with people. We as an organization are trying to help give information about the Camino a little earlier in your membership as well, so sending out emails hey, have you connected with a chapter? Do you know about this? So that we are also pushing out that information to our Pilgrims as well. And then, of course, Pilgrims have a heart for the Camino, and so, because our grants program continues to fund tens of thousands of dollars for various groups in Spain, we know that people are connecting to that part of our work as well.

Leigh Brennan: 14:33

Yeah, and that's one thing I always want to highlight when we do these interviews with the board is that where does this money go when you make that membership payment? What happens to that money? Because I think a lot of people in the past weren't aware of where those dollars and how much good is being done with the membership students that we're paying.

Joe Curro: 14:51

But we part of the money that we collect from dues does go to operating the organization and some of the basic technology tools and administrative support and such that we need to run the organization to support the chapters in some new initiatives. For example, one of our newest initiatives was to do bulk purchasing of shells. We actually from Ibar there in Santiago to support shell ceremonies, the various chapters, but the biggest chunk of what we're expanding is is to support the Camino and support the infrastructure. So in this year's budget, $100,000 budgeted for the support of nonprofit associations and albergues within Spain, portugal and France to help if it's an albergue, if they have a project where they need to replace some windows or a boiler or whatnot or the bedding. Some associations are engaged in trail marking activities, those types of grants, and it's an application, so competitive application process, and I know there's a lot of interest in it.

Joe Curro: 15:56

We've received, I think, 60% more requests than we appropriated. So that's a search. In addition to that, we've also appropriated another $60,000 in the coming year for major projects that we anticipate one. I don't think this isn't any secret because we have discussed this in previous forums. We've been talking to some of the associations that are engaged in trying to stand up a welcome center and albergue in Madrid to support pilgrims who are flying, because we know that a lot of pilgrims are flying into Madrid before they go off to their Camino starting points or they're doing the Camino Madrid Camino and that's something that we have our eye on in the future is how can we also support some of these bigger initiatives? So I think that's where the bulk of what we get in donations and membership do is where it goes.

Leigh Brennan: 16:52

What would you say in the past year or two? What would be one of the things that the organization has supported that people would be familiar with and be excited to hear about from a grant perspective?

Joe Curro: 17:05

We sound like a small thing but we just keep seeing a lot from the CSJ. So the confraternity of St James and the UK in their annual reports and everything we keep seeing shout outs there. They were very grateful for a grant we gave them on the north at their albergue on the north, for some new fencing. I think they needed the fencing. I think they had issues with livestock roaming into the property and such, and so it's actually artistic fencing that pilgrims cut out and such, and so I think that's been one that has been very grateful for that.

Joe Curro: 17:42

I know a lot of the grant, so it might not be the types of things that you'd immediately see. We would be new bedding, for example, or new bunks, or new plumbing or what not the types of things that we all know. When we get to an albergue we want to have a hot shower and make sure that it's working, but it's behind the scenes. That's what I think I would say and I'll just say as an aside I one reason I was attracted to American pilgrims on the Camino was when I was doing my first Camino.

Joe Curro: 18:13

I was walking up in Fonsen Badon on my way to Cruz de Ferro, and there is a I think it's a pro-Kiel albergue. At the top they actually had a little plaque. I would say they did a renovation. They had something thanking American pilgrims on the Camino for their support. We don't ask for that type of recognition or what not, but this albergue happened to do it and I looked at my car and I said, wow, that's cool. That makes me really proud. I made sure that we kept our membership up to date after that.

Leigh Brennan: 18:42

Yeah, fantastic, somebody is sitting here listening to the show. What would be the reasons that you guys would say please join if you haven't already joined us as an organization of American pilgrims? Here's why here's maybe the number one and two reason we think you should join and be a part of our great group.

Allison Venuto: 19:03

I think one of the things that we always talk about as pilgrims is when you get together with pilgrims. People want to hear your Camino stories and not everybody right in your life always wants to hear your pilgrim stories, because you can tell your pilgrim stories for days. So number one the connection to other pilgrims. So you have the opportunity in various ways, over zoom, in person, when you're walking the Camino. There's lots of ways to connect with pilgrims at the gatherings, at the cultural exchanges that we've mentioned here before. So the gathering of pilgrims number one.

Allison Venuto: 19:33

Number two the information that we provide to pilgrims as well via our Facebook page, our YouTube channel.

Allison Venuto: 19:40

We keep folks up to date, particularly when there's a big update, if something is changing or something is different or new. We try to push that information out to pilgrims, and also pilgrims can come to our website, our YouTube pages or Facebook page to interact with people, ask questions, to say what is it going to be like here or what's the next thing I should do, or does anybody have a recommendation about this? Because we want to be a place where we're giving that information to people. And then the other thing is the connection when you come back as well can be really powerful. How do you process through that? How do you come back into your real life? How do you come back and engage, maybe in new ways, in different ways that you've learned on the Camino and maybe changed in some ways as well? And so I think being around pilgrims can help with all of those things, and so I'll let the other speak, but those are the big three that come to mind for me.

Joe Curro: 20:32

One of the most important places that activity happens is in our, our chapters, and I think Rachel can can speak to that, because that's the real human one to one thing with an annual gathering. We'd love getting together then, but throughout the year the chapters are playing a very important role.

Leigh Brennan: 20:49

Okay, rachel, we need to get to you, okay. So we were talking about why should somebody join, and you're heading up an area that I think is just so close to all of our hearts. So let's talk about what would you say to people why should you join if you haven't joined yet?

Rachel Ganzon: 21:03

Absolutely. You will have interaction with other pilgrims, maybe like yourself, where you're just gathering information and you have questions. They have questions, but when you are in a chapter, you have folks that have done it and many times, multiple times, so they have this really rich wealth of information to share with you, like really logistics, preparing for your inner Camino, how to cope when you're returning. There's just a wide range of information that they can provide and, in addition, the chapters have all kinds of really wonderful events. They do strolls, they do shell ceremonies, rei events and informational sessions at libraries, cooking classes, spanish classes. They just really offer these really creative ways to learn about the Camino and share that, that joy that you had when you were on the Camino. So it just continues.

Leigh Brennan: 22:03

Yeah, totally agree. I'm always hearing pilgrims talk about how important their local chapters are to them.

Rachel Ganzon: 22:09

How many chapters are there across the US right now we have 59 and we have several other interested states that want to have chapter formation. So we're working with several that are just very active and wanting to become a chapter American pilgrim, so they can also share their Camino Joy.

Leigh Brennan: 22:28

Yeah, and if somebody wanted to start a chapter let's say they live in an area where there isn't one that's closed and they'd like to start a chapter how would they go about doing that? Who would they contact?

Rachel Ganzon: 22:37

Yeah, so on our website we actually do have information under the local chapters section, but they would by filling out the form that's there. Then it'll come to the chapters committee and then we can go from there and help them pursue that.

Leigh Brennan: 22:51

Fantastic and time. We don't want to leave you out. Do you have some other things you'd want to add about why someone should join right now if they haven't had a chance?

Tom Coleman: 22:59

I think when it comes down to, we're all about sharing the love, and the world needs more Camino, and I think I have never met anybody who was worse off by being a pilgrim, and I think that it's so affirming that we know each other out here, and, like Rachel said, the joy in a chapter in Allison alluded.

Tom Coleman: 23:25

Nobody understands it and what's there at Pilgrim themselves. So I think that it's so important for all of us. We sought out the Camino, we sought to become a pilgrim. It's not an accidental behavior, it's a deliberate behavior and I think we keep that alive. We keep that candle lit in our hearts by supporting each other. And the way to support each other is to be part of a bigger group and to inform new people, to experience this, to invite them to the Camino. The Camino really people talk about there's too many people or whatever we could accommodate that. There's no limit to love and I think we can. We can share the love with people. So, yeah, membership is powerful.

Leigh Brennan: 24:15

So, tom, there's no limit to love my goodness. So the world needs more Camino. Did I hear that's going to be a new slogan on a t-shirt? I think that would be a big money maker.

Allison Venuto: 24:28

I added that to my to do list Lee, I love it, I love it.

Leigh Brennan: 24:33

Tom, did you? Just you came up with that, we all came up with that.

Tom Coleman: 24:41

I think we all know that. Maybe I just accidentally said the words, but we all know that.

Leigh Brennan: 24:48

Most definitely the world needs what the world needs now is coming.

Tom Coleman: 24:57

That's staying in the show, joe, I would love it Okay, I think when it comes out to, we're all about sharing the love, and the world needs more Camino, and I think I have never met anybody who was worse off by being a problem, and I think that it's so affirming that we know each other out here, and, like Rachel said, the joy in a chapter in Allison alluded.

Tom Coleman: 25:28

nobody understands it and what's there at Pilgrim themselves. I think that it's. It's so important for all of us. We sought out the Camino, we saw it to become a pilgrim. It's not an accidental behavior, it's a deliberate behavior and I think we keep that alive. We keep that handle it in our hearts by supporting each other. And the way to support each other is to be part of a bigger group and to inform new people to experience this, to invite them to the Camino. The Camino really people talk about there's too many people or whatever. We could accommodate that. There's no limit to love and I think we can share the love with people. So, yeah, membership is powerful.

Leigh Brennan: 26:18

I said, tom, there's no limit to love my goodness.

Joe Curro: 26:22

It's like a plug leak, because one other thing that's happening at the gatherings is we have the merry band of pilgrims for our fourth appearance, the way to see it, so we've got ever growing. We have some of the attendees at the gathering. They bring their ukuleles, bring their guitars, bring their harmonicas, bring their kazoo's and we do a little bit of a set to warm folks up before Dan.

Leigh Brennan: 26:45

Fantastic.

Joe Curro: 26:46

And I guess that's my plug for it.

Leigh Brennan: 26:48

Yeah, I just interviewed Dr Christina Jacobson. I cannot wait to see her session.

Joe Curro: 26:53

She's playing with us.

Leigh Brennan: 26:54

Yeah, you're also what I've heard it's gonna be so fun, so fun. Okay, so let's talk a little bit about oh wait, there we are, the merry band of hold it up a little higher. Merry band of pilgrims. There we are.

Joe Curro: 27:10

And then we got it's our fourth annual.

Leigh Brennan: 27:13

Oh my gosh, how fun. I wanted to touch back on LaConcha Phenomenal. The last couple of publications have just been outstanding. Who is responsible for this? Right now, Because it's beautiful and so much information in it.

Joe Curro: 27:31

We have such a great communications team that's working on that and it's been developed over the years. It was led by a succession of board members and continuously improved. But right now our editor in chief, amy Horton, who actually pulls double duty because she's a St Louis chapter coordinator as well, has. She's a communications professional by profession and she has really embraced this. And her partner in crime, so to speak, is Francine Mastini, who's also, she's, seattle area, so you might have crossed paths. And Francine is also a professional.

Joe Curro: 28:12

She's our creative director on the digital magazine and in addition to that there are probably eight to a dozen volunteers who do copy editing. There are multiple rounds of copy editing, multiple rounds of proofing of the final mockups of the issue. And again, we keep emphasizing all volunteer and people are just giving of their talents freely. And, lastly, I'd be remiss if I didn't note that one of the membership benefits is being able to submit to LaConcha. I think you saw this last issue. It was all on the artist's way. We have so many creative programs in our organization, so virtually everything that was submitted to LaConcha the articles, the reflections, the poetry, the artwork, paintings, the photography it's all of our programs just volunteering their time and submitting Phenomenal you know how many newsletters we all get, and this is one that I really look forward to opening up.

Leigh Brennan: 29:15

I mean, it's just truly packed with so much great stuff. This last edition is fantastic. Let's talk a little bit about one of the things I really admire about being a member of American Pilgrims on Camino is the opportunity to give back that we provide. So can we talk a little bit about the ways that we can participate and give back to the Camino?

Allison Venuto: 29:36

We offer, obviously, donations. That's one way that folks can give back. We also offer opportunities for different means of volunteering and engaging with those activities. In terms of volunteer opportunities, like Rachel said, we have chapter volunteers, so this could be either a chapter coordinator this could be in the North Texas chapter. We have some folks who are doing different events. So then instead of they're not necessarily coordinators but they're leading different events within the chapter, we have folks who are serving as chapter coaches, so they're helping support the chapter coordinators.

Allison Venuto: 30:07

Obviously, board service is one of the options as well, and we also have volunteers who are going to Europe in serving. So they're serving in the Pilgrim office. They're serving in our Rebediso welcome service. They're being trained as hospitaleros here in the US but then going over to Spain and serving over there. So there's lots of different ways to engage. We also have needs for sometimes one-time volunteers or specific needs. I know one of the things Tom's team is looking for right now are some videographers with some editing experience and things like that. So we often have volunteer needs that are quite specific to different projects. They're going on so folks can give of their gifts to the Pilgrim community as well.

Leigh Brennan: 30:50

And as far as opportunities to volunteer here this year, in 2024, are there opportunities where people could still apply, or are those spots already taken, especially when it comes to working at one of the albergues? So we're ribadizol.

Joe Curro: 31:06

So those are two different processes. Okay, as far as the albergues go. So we offer hospitalero training. We're the the only organization in the United States that's authorized by the Federation of the Spanish Federation of Associations of Friends of the Communion of Santiago. Don't ask me to say it in Spanish, I can, but it will take me a little bit. We offer the training, and four times a year in different parts of the country, but after that it actually is on the responsibility or of the individual to apply directly to the Federation end or individual albergues after receiving that training. And I think at this point, I think since we started doing this, we've trained something like 850 hospitaleros.

Joe Curro: 31:54

Ribadizol is a different story. So ribadizol doesn't involve the cleaning or cooking that sometimes takes place with the hospitalero service. It's literally a welcome service through an arrangement with the Junta and Galicia, and we have 20 spots per year. At the albergue we have two volunteers who serve concurrently with one another, but that's an application process which just recently closed and I know that this year we had 68 applications for 20 spots, Wow. And we really emphasize it's not a hard and fast rule, but we really emphasize Spanish language skills for Ribadizol service and as far as some of the other opportunities a lot of those are individually also that you apply. We do have links on our website. So how to apply to the Pilgrim's office, how to apply to Pilgrim House some people like to volunteer at. I think we have a link on how to apply to the Pilgrim office in San Juan, Piedecor. We're going to put that on there. I'm not sure if that's there yet.

Tom Coleman: 32:57

We've been catching one with some other volunteer opportunities as well.

Joe Curro: 33:00

That are external relations. Folks have shot our way. So that's over in Spain and over there. Stateside, though, chapters always have a need. I want to just mention that Allison made reference to chapter coaches and Rachel, even though she's a brand new board member as of last month, she's no stranger to the organization. She's Portlandia chapter coordinator and she's been a chapter coach for quite a few years. I wonder if she could just say a few words about what a chapter coach is and some of the things.

Rachel Ganzon: 33:34

Yeah, absolutely. It was 2020 that some board members that worked with the chapters had asked for some volunteers to help the chapter coordinators, and so it was among other chapter coordinators and about six of us had volunteered, and so our job is to really support the other chapter coordinators, whether it is like just questions about where do I find this information? What do we do when XYZ? How do I get more business cards? How do I get more flyers? Technology sometimes we have a demographic that's not as tech savvy as some and we help them figure out their Google Drive or how to get their newsletters out and things like that. But we just help them through the process and if they have questions about operating because many of us have been in chapters for many years we share our wisdom with them.

Leigh Brennan: 34:28

Let's talk a little bit about. If you look at the area that you are leading for each of you, what are some of the dreams that you have? If you're looking bigger vision and looking out over the next couple of years, what would you like to see happen within the organization?

Joe Curro: 34:43

So we just met as a board and we adopted a set of goals in a couple of areas. We're flushing on some of the specifics, but we have really four big areas that we're concentrating on and we've laid out for the coming year and I expect will be carried through further. One is around international outreach, and I think you've heard some examples here today about ways in which we try to reach out to our partners in Spain with the Spanish associations. We also try to have regular check-ins with our counterparts elsewhere, whether it's the Dutch or British or Australian, and we've got a few more in the works. So that's one is international outreach. Another is around preserving our history and leaving a legacy, which is and Tom could probably speak more to this, but we're recognizing that we're becoming a much more mature organization now, at over 25 years since the first gathering, and a lot of the folks who laid the groundwork for this have gone on and we don't want to lose the history and the story. Tom has put a lot of work into trying to capture that. We just lost one of our founders a couple months ago, sandy Lenthal, who hosted the very first gathering in our living room in Williamsburg, virginia. So that's another area we want to really emphasize and take advantage of hearing the stories. You know about stories and the importance that they bring.

Joe Curro: 36:15

The third area of the four areas is around expanding our appeal, and we recognize that.

Joe Curro: 36:21

That's around expanding our appeal to different demographics. Our demographic does tend to be a bit older and maybe not always as diverse as one might expect, and we want to share that love that Tom is talking about. So we've discussed ways to do that. We have an intern right now from Kansas State who's helping us with some communication strategies and I know that our communications team is going to dig into that. And then the fourth one is really around organizational sustainability and that goes again towards being a mature organization and what are the ways that we can make sure that we are around and that we're able to continue funding the projects and spending the grants and supporting programs in the chapters and having a sustained membership base and helping folks to see the value in there in membership and being part of this community as we go forward. So I don't know if that quite answers your question, but that's from a board perspective. Those are the four areas that we just adopted last weekend when we met in Texas.

Leigh Brennan: 37:30

Wonderful. How do you reach some of the younger folks that are out there? Is there a TikTok yet for American Pilgrims on the Camino? Not yet.

Allison Venuto: 37:42

That is one of the things we're looking at is how broadly are we communicating with folks? And so, to jump on to what Joe was saying, that's one area Also looking at folks who are maybe working with students in some ways. We know that there are some incredible educators who are taking groups over. It may be connected to churches, maybe connected with the school. There's various ways to do that, but are there ways that we could help support those groups also so that those students or those younger folks who are building a life of Camino earlier? How can we help support them as well?

Allison Venuto: 38:13

Those are just a couple of the examples.

Leigh Brennan: 38:16

Yeah, I've got an idea. What about the rest of you? Are there any goals or a vision that you know, maybe, how the organization continues to evolve? Any dreams that you have?

Tom Coleman: 38:25

Lee, just to draft on something that Joe said earlier we are maturing as an organization and obviously we're in the United States.

Tom Coleman: 38:36

We're not on the Camino, we're not in Europe, but it looks like in our maturity we're actually developing what you could term a diplomatic relationship with some of our other associations and we embrace that because that is our reach, that is our embrace over the ocean. One of the things that we're very hopeful that we've engaged in is John Briarley actually reached out to the American pilgrims on the Camino shortly before his passing. I was fortunate enough to meet with him and several other people. He had a vision about the Camino Portuguese from Lisbon. We're working with the steering group of other world organizations and we're hopefully and optimistically moving forward to help, to help bring that vision to fruition and to honor John Briarley by planting an albergue 20 miles north of Lisbon and promoting that route as a viable alternative to a long distance Camino route. And as an organization we're honored to be a part of that and we just, we, just it was wholeheartedly embraced, both to honor John Briarley's legacy and to the privilege of working with our international partners.

Allison Venuto: 40:09

Oh, that's so good, and I want to give a shout out to Ruben Mendoza, who's one of our board members. He has done and his team of volunteers have done an extraordinary job building these links and I just want to say thank you to him and his team of volunteers.

Leigh Brennan: 40:24

Yeah, when you say links, I'll just elaborate on what you're talking about with Ruben in case someone doesn't know.

Allison Venuto: 40:29

Oh sure, Just to continue what Tom was saying with setting up regular meetings with other like groups so that we have better connections. We're not who is this person or who is this person. What do they do and how can we maybe come together, like Tom was saying, and support some project or support some pilgrims in ways that we've not talked about, or are they doing activities in a different country that maybe we need to look at here, and so I think any kind any time that we're able to link in those ways makes pilgrims have better opportunities to walk.

Leigh Brennan: 41:01

Yeah, yeah, fantastic.

Tom Coleman: 41:04

Just if I can I'm sorry, I just want to draft in there Alison's completely accurate on that and I just want to also say that it was through one of our volunteers at the Pilgrim office, tom Labyrinthsky, who was also a board member, and talking to Johnny Walker Santiago, who is a very valuable friend that we really treasure, that came about that contact with John Briarley. So it's working. It's working and we really want to hold up Johnny Walker Santiago for his good offices. He's the one who brought that group together.

Leigh Brennan: 41:45

Yes, fantastic, All right. So to close this up, if somebody is listening to this interview, we are five pilgrims sitting here who obviously care very much about the Camino and about the experiences that we've all had. If somebody's listening or watching tonight, what would you say to encourage them to walk that very first Camino?

Joe Curro: 42:13

I don't defer to Rachel, because I know she had a few things in her mind too, and maybe she didn't weave it together.

Rachel Ganzon: 42:18

Yeah, my thought was that I just want to touch on that question about dreams, and one of my dreams is that everybody in the US will associate Camino de Santiago oh, that would be American pilgrims Because we can share what we know about the, about what to expect and how valuable and transformative a pilgrimage is, and to not be afraid, because there are many pilgrims here to help.

Leigh Brennan: 42:51

Anyone want to add to that?

Joe Curro: 42:54

When I think of us, I think I heard, and I think a lot of us probably heard. This is an African proverb that says if you want to go fast, walk alone. If you want to go far, walk together. And I think we're here to walk together with pilgrims and to support them throughout their journey. We all know how meaningful this experience has been in our lives and I think we want to bring that to pilgrims throughout the United States and also in conjunction with our partners around the world, and we know that walking together we will go far.

Leigh Brennan: 43:29

We're all going to be in San Antonio soon. Can't wait to see everyone and to enjoy this great agenda that you've put together. Certainly, the last annual open house was fantastic with Rick Steves and Martin Sheen, and that just really got me excited about coming to this year's gathering. So I cannot wait to be there and be with 300, over 300 American pilgrims. Is that right, tom? Over 300 will be there. What a pilgrim gathering that's going to be.

Leigh Brennan: 44:02

So thank you for giving us this update. It's a joy to hear about all the good that's coming out of this coming together of American pilgrims. I want to thank each and every one of you for the service that you are giving back to this organization so that we can all have the opportunity to volunteer to learn more about the Camino, and I can't even imagine how many hours you are putting into your jobs individually and how many hours as an organization are being given. So I just want to thank each of you for your service, because I know this is no small job. You guys have very full lives and you also want to walk more Caminos. So thank you for serving in this way and giving back so that more pilgrims can realize the benefit of walking a pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago. Thank you so much.

Joe Curro: 44:57

Thank you for your service to the program community, lee, thank you. Oh, you're very welcome.

Leigh Brennan: 45:03

Thank you for having a joy. Yeah, it has been my joy to have you here tonight. I'm going to close out the show. You guys stay on, please, so that we can say goodbye. But if you haven't yet joined American Pilgrims on the Camino, I think tonight you have heard a million reasons why you should join. And if you haven't yet gone to any type of activity with your local chapter, please go. Your family only wants to hear so much about your Camino. This is your opportunity. It is a session where you can go and talk about all things Camino all night and everyone's going to want to hear your story, just like we hear stories with each other when we're walking. So if you haven't joined, please join. And if you are a member, get active. And if you have a skill that is needed, please volunteer and be a part of this wonderful volunteer group who is furthering and paving the way for future pilgrims. Thank you everyone, and don't forget to watch Camino news update. All right, bye, everyone.