About WFC
WFC is a secular, unaffiliated camp and conference center offering summer hospitality, educational social justice-related workshops and lectures, outdoor recreation and creative opportunities for all ages near the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire.
MISSION
WFC promotes global justice and connections between people, communities, and nature through education, recreation, and creative expression.
VISION
We envision a world where people are deeply rooted
in our shared humanity and the pursuit of justice.
Mind, body, and spirit can learn, relax, and play as you opt in to educational programs, recreational activities, and informal sharing throughout the day. Community sharing continues over meals prepared for you and yours.
Engage with a variety of people – a mix of visitors, staff and volunteers – as folks engaged with the defining issues of our time gather and share experience and hope in a wilderness setting in the White Mountains.
You can vacation or bring your work retreat or get married in this place that prioritizes progressive politics, environmental harmony, offers opportunities for the enjoyment and understanding of nature, and models organic gardening.
WFC strives to create a culture beyond kindness and inclusivity, to build respect and cooperation among all peoples. We work for liberation from the socially-constructed limits of race, class, gender, sexuality, age, abilities, experience, nationality, ethnicity and beliefs.
History
This “intergenerational camp and conference center with a social conscience” has a rich history of speaking truth to power, defending civil liberties and promoting peace while valuing issues of justice and freedom as our society shapes itself for future generations.
World Fellowship Center was founded in 1941 by Charles and Eugenia Weller (with help from Lola Maverick Lloyd and scores of contributors), in Albany, NH on 290 acres in the White Mountains as a non-profit organization. The opening taglines: “In a time of war, prepare for peace” and “Rustic but adequate.”
In 1953, Willard and Ola Uphaus became Directors during the McCarthy era. Soon after, the New Hampshire Attorney General demanded that they turn over lists of guests and presenters. They refused to provide names his committee could investigate.
Though subversive activity was never established, after six years of litigation, the US Supreme Court upheld the State of NH’s ‘contempt of court’ finding in 1959 and Willard Uphaus spent one year, his 70th, in jail.
From this act of conscience, World Fellowship Center continued to welcome ‘radicals’ over the following decades: interracial couples, gays and lesbians, union organizers, the progressive left and all committed to a more just and peaceful world.
CHRONOLOGY
1893
First Parliament of Religions, in conjunction with World Expo, Chicago.
1918
League of Neighbors commenced working for Racial Unity
1929
World Fellowship of Faiths founded an inter-religious, intercultural peace organization, bringing together the League of Neighbors for common human unity; Union of East and West for cultural unity; and Fellowship of Faiths for religious unity.
1941
World Fellowship Center, a secular summer camp and conference center, is founded by Charles and Eugenia Weller (with help from Lola Maverick Lloyd and scores of contributors), in Albany, NH on 290 acres in the White Mountains.
The opening taglines: “In a time of war, prepare for peace” and “Rustic but adequate”.
1953
Willard and Ola Uphaus became Directors in the McCarthy era. Soon after, the NH attorney general demanded that they turn over lists of guests and presenters. They refused.
1958
Purchase of Weller House and 30 acres – home of the first World Fellowship organic garden.
1959 – 1960
Though subversive activity was never established, after six years of litigation the US Supreme Court upheld the State of NH’s ‘contempt of court’ and Willard Uphaus spent his 70th year in jail.
1970
Christoph and Kathryn (Kit) Schmauch became Directors. During the Schmauchs’ 30-year tenure the Center grew to include: Children’s Fellowship; weekly cultural offerings; organic vegetable gardens; 135 additional acres; nature trails; Schmauch Meeting Room…and much more.
1982
Uphaus Lodge purchased.
2001
Andy Davis and Andrea Walsh became Directors. A year-round home for directors and office built on site. Program offerings expanded to include spring and fall weddings, summer Recreation Program, Art on the Porch, additional trainings and workshops, and more.
2020
The Kathryn ‘Kit’ Schmauch Conservation Easement established with Upper Saco Valley Land Trust to permanently protect nearly 400 acres of wilderness and green space.
2022-2023
Octavia Driscoll serves as Interim Executive Director and is then succeeded by the volunteer Interim Management Committee in 2023 that helped WFC have its first real “come-back” summer post-pandemic and demonstrated the community’s strength. In December 2023, Megan Chapman and Andrew Maki assumed responsibility as Directors.
Year-Round Staff
Co-Executive Directors
Andrew Maki & Megan Chapman
Albany, New Hampshire & Lagos, Nigeria
Andrew and Megan grew up in Massachusetts and came up regularly to the White Mountains for hiking and, in Megan’s case, to Whitton Pond where her family has had a camp since the 1930s. Megan and Andrew met in law school in Washington, DC, and were married on Whitton Pond and held their reception at World Fellowship.
Megan and Andrew’s lives have been built around social justice and human rights. While earning a degree in U.S. History from the University of Chicago, Megan began working with refugees and immigrants in Chicago, including running a project focused on helping improve health access for immigrant detainees in county jails across the Midwest and later working on complex deportation defense. After four years, she left to travel across West Africa ‒ going overland from Morocco to Cameroon in public transportation and winding up working with a Kiva-supported microfinance organization in Bamenda. She returned from these experiences to law school with a clear vision and dream of blending economic and legal empowerment strategies to support grassroots communities in West Africa. After obtaining her JD from American University and a variety of professional experiences at the intersection of human rights and economic development, she and Andrew began working together with urban poor communities facing land grab and mass forced eviction in Lagos and Port Harcourt, Nigeria in 2011.
Megan has worked with the Midwest Immigrant and Human Rights Center (now the National Immigrant Justice Center), the American Bar Association – Rule of Law Initiative, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Development Law Service, the World Bank’s Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), Global Rights, the Socio-Economic Rights Institute (SERI) of South Africa, and the Social and Economic Rights Action Center (SERAC) in Nigeria. She holds a BA in History from University of Chicago (High Distinction), where she was a Dean’s Fellow, and a JD from American University Washington College of Law (Summa Cum Laude), where she was a Public Interest/Public Service Fellow and served as the Co-Editor in Chief of the Human Rights Brief and the International Editor of Sustainable Development Law & Policy. She has served on the Board of Slum Dwellers International and currently sits on the Board of Global Rights – Nigeria.
Andrew began his career working on international criminal justice in the Balkans and transitional justice in Uganda until recognizing the disconnect between these efforts and the everyday lives of victims. Since 2011, he has been working with urban poor communities and social movements across Nigeria to defend and advance their rights, becoming ever more convinced that the recipe for meaningful social change amidst pervasive impunity lies in community organizing and legal empowerment. Andrew holds a BA in International Politics and Latin American Studies, and a JD from American University Washington College of Law, where he was the Co-Editor in Chief of the Human Rights Brief and earned the award for the highest number of pro bono hours. He has worked with Physicians for Human Rights, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Montenegro, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, the International Center for Transitional Justice in Uganda, the American Bar Association – Rule of Law Initiative, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Netherlands, and the Social and Economic Rights Action Center (SERAC) in Nigeria.
After several years in Nigeria, Megan and Andrew co-founded Justice & Empowerment Initiatives (JEI), a human rights and development organization that operates locally in Lagos and Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and in Cotonou, Benin, working in close partnership with urban poor communities and grassroots social movements. From its launch in 2014, JEI has trained over 27 classes of paralegals from urban poor communities in English, French, Hausa, Egun/Goun, Fon, and sign language, and supports every paralegal who qualifies to become active in providing free grassroots legal aid and education to their communities. JEI also supports grassroots data collection, mapping, and creative storytelling/media advocacy so that urban poor communities can tell their own stories and engage policymakers directly around the development priorities of their communities. Over the years, JEI has also supported grassroots-led community health education and small-scale community development projects, as well as larger-scale multi-city/country participatory action research projects, all aimed at building community resilience and demonstrating the advantages of win-win partnerships and community-led planning as an alternative to top-down and often anti-poor policies that result in mass forced eviction and exclusion of poor and marginalized urban communities.
At World Fellowship, Megan and Andrew bring their global perspective on issues of social justice and human rights, along with experience in fostering and supporting community action towards proactive change, and of course the nuts and bolts of running a small non-profit organization. Transitioning back to the United States after over twelve years based primarily in the biggest city in sub-Saharan Africa (Lagos), they are eager to reground themselves and their young family in nature and also to urge and support U.S. communities to take more urgent action on the pressing threats to sustainable global peace, from the looming climate crisis to backsliding democracy – understanding full well the role that those of us in positions of global privilege must play to meaningfully backstop and amplify the efforts of communities on the frontlines of these global struggles.
Matt Parks, Buildings and Grounds Manager
Tamworth, NH
Matt first came to the World Fellowship Center in 2014 as a young person looking for a way to pass some time before going back to living on the road and as a way to honor everything his grandfather taught him about fixing the world around him. He’s come back summer after summer ever since because of the welcoming people, incredible learning opportunities both professionally and personally, and the beautiful and comfortable environment that WFC provides. Following Andy and Andrea’s departure, Matt took on the role of full time year-round Buildings and Grounds Manager, where, in addition to keeping up with the busy summer season, in the off-season he opens and closes all of the buildings, tends to their snow and winter needs, and makes many spreadsheets and plans for the future seasons. With every second of his non-WFC time, you’ll most likely find Matt working on his goat farm that he runs with his wife, Lia Geller, being the best goat papa he can be. While he doesn’t know exactly what the future holds, he knows WFC will be a big part of his life and heart.
Hannah Lally, Office Manager
Tamworth, NH
Hannah Lally grew up coming to WFC and has been working on staff for many years. Her current role of Office Manager continues to grow with increasing need, supporting the administrative needs of the organization. She is responsible for maintaining the main office operations, the hub of all World Fellowship Center administrative activities. This includes booking and visitor registration, monitoring email and phone lines, updating and managing visitor registration programs, communicating within the WFC community, bookkeeping, and other administrative duties to support WFC leadership and the Board of Trustees.
Board of Trustees
Stu Ball
Montclair, NJ
I grew up in Evanston, Illinois and escaped the sterility of the Midwest to go East to College. I majored in sex and drugs and rock and roll and minored as a third-string jock. Though immersed in the heart of mainstream, conservative, privileged America, I also (probably thanks to my “major”) began to discover politics. The Cuban missile crisis was the first eye opener. I went to law school as a default and because of a massive personality profile my dad paid for. There I really discovered politics via the great Arthur Kinoy (I became one of several AK groupies). We shut the law school when the U.S. invaded Cambodia – final exams were cancelled!! (the real “cancel culture”). I hitchhiked across the US in the summer of 1968 landing in Chicago for the Democratic Convention – a life shaping experience. So, when the Chicago 8 (later 7) indictments came down and I was graduating law school, I signed up. During the trial, I actually became quasi-famous – and hopelessly puffed up and self-important. After the trial I became instantly and totally unknown. That life lesson has stayed with me forever. I settled back in NJ and started a law practice (we grandiosely called it a “law commune”). 50 years, and a few professional reinventions later, I am still here. For my mid-life crisis, I discovered coaching and teaching. Turns out, the opportunity to “pay it forward” is perhaps the most fun and rewarding discovery I have ever made. Now, I live in a magnificent Stateroom… on the Titanic. And renew every summer at the Pond and Soccer Field at WFC.
Julia Busto
Brooklyn, NY
My name is Julia (she/her) and I live in Brooklyn, NY. I work for the Department of Social Services for NYC and I’m a data analyst for the SNAP program. I’m passionate in mitigating health disparities and protecting reproductive rights. I’ve been visiting WFC as long as I can remember and it holds a special place in my heart. I particularly cherish memories of going for swims at Whitton Pond, hiking the White Mountains, and learning about nature while camping with friends and family. It’s important to me to keep this special place alive for generations to come.
Patricia Cantor Petrucelly, Co-Chair
Cambridge, MA
Since the early 1970’s World Fellowship has inspired me to work for social justice, to savor the natural environment, and to develop life-long friendships. I am now retired after over 40 years of public interest law practice in Massachusetts and am honored to give back by serving on the board of this unique and essential organization, particularly during these challenging times. I look forward to working to ensure that WF continues for generations to come – and that I can share many more years there with children and grandchildren and the WF community of friends, artists, and dedicated activists.
Judy Kaplan
Cambridge, MA
World Fellowship has been my “home away from home” since the summer of 1978. I was born in Philadelphia and grew up on a chicken farm in Bucks County, PA. Since 1979, I’ve lived in the Boston area, where I work as an editor in the fields of public health, health policy, and medicine. I’ve co-authored two articles on the misuse of race in medicine, one published in the American Journal of Public Health and the other in JAMA. I also co-edited Red Diapers: Growing Up in the Communist Left, a collection of personal histories that was the culmination of a project that began at World Fellowship in the 1980s.
Sara Keenan, Secretary/Treasurer
Brooklyn, NY
I live in Brooklyn and have been coming to WFC with my two kids, my partner and an ever-growing group of friends since 2016. I bring my passion for WFC and my years of experience working in education. I feel so grateful to the people who have stewarded WFC throughout the last 80 years, so my family has the experience of vacationing while still engaging in learning and work for justice, of connecting to the White Mountains and Whitton Pond, of having fun in an inter-generational camp and feeling a part of something bigger. I am a relatively newer member of the WFC community, but already a deep believer in it, and I want to be a part of ensuring its health and longevity for future generations.
Dave Malekpour
Hanover, MA
I have been coming to World Fellowship since 1973 at age 10 and almost every summer since but for a few years here and there. I grew up in Brooklyn, then to Brookline Ma for 8th grade. We live in Hanover MA, about 30 miles south of Boston, I have been in the music industry for nearly 35 years, and owned my company for over 30 years designing, equipping and installing recording studios and making speakers for high end professionals and artists, employing 26 people. I grew up a child of progressive parents, Judith and David Woodruff, and have a blend of their social values and my business sensibility and creativity I bring to my work, clients and team. I was previously on the board about 7 years ago, and decided I wanted to rejoin in this critical transitional time to help create a stronger operating team-based system. I want to make sure that my children will be able to bring their kids to WFC when they grow up. I am a musician, audio engineer, cyclist, CrossFit addict, swimmer, vegan (mostly), lover of the outdoors and consider Whitton Pond my favorite place on earth. I love to swim out to Blueberry Island and look around to see the same view I saw for the last 49 years and find my ground every time I am there. I’d like to find a way to bring more music and arts to WFC, as well as incorporate more physical activities that the space lends itself to. I hope to facilitate positive changes, create a sustainable model for the future built on teamwork, volunteerism and make sure everyone has fun as we build this stronger for now and future generations.
Marc Mauer, Co-Chair
Silver Spring, Maryland
I am recently retired after a career in criminal justice reform, serving as Executive Director of The Sentencing Project in Washington, DC. My work involved engagement in policy research and advocacy to challenge mass incarceration and racism in the justice system. I bring to World Fellowship decades of experience in non-profit management, fundraising, and program development. Our family has been coming to World Fellowship for 30 years, and I particularly cherish my time hiking in the White Mountains, biking along the back roads of New Hampshire and Maine, and the camaraderie among long-time friends.
Ellen Perlstein
New York, New York
Ellen has been coming to WF every August for 22 years with her significant other, David Dosamantes who has been coming to WF for over 55 years. Ellen works in business development for a human resources consulting firm marketing executive coaching and outplacement services to heads of Human Resources for corporations and thinks of herself as a corporate social worker given how these services can improve individual’s lives in critical ways.
Originally from Chicago, Ellen came to NYC to get her MA in Teaching English as a Second Language and still loves living in NYC as long as she can escape it regularly. While in college, she volunteered for Unesco in France, and Turkey and then later studied in Paris as well as lived on a kibbutz in Israel. She looks forward to working on the board to support WF to grow, thrive, and become that special unique place for others in the way it has been for herself.
Tomas Rodriguez
Brooklyn, NY
Tomas is a New York City-based guitarist who has captivated audiences nationally and internationally. He has performed at International Festival of the Guitar in Lima, Peru, the Brooklyn Museum, Merkin Hall, and Trinity Church in New York City as well as the New Jersey Center for the Performing Arts (NJPAC), the World Expressions Series at Boise State University and the University of Virginia. He has commercially released three full length albums: Guitarra de mi Alma, Dialogue, and most recently, Ruminations. A dedicated music educator, Tomas also runs a unique honors-level guitar program for young people in Brooklyn, using African, Latin, Flamenco, Jazz and Classical styles to teach beginners to advanced students. Previously, he founded and directed an innovative after-school guitar program at one of New York’s largest Latino social service organizations. He is a registered Suzuki guitar instructor and has also taught at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. In the 1990’s, Tomas worked at the Association of Hispanic Arts, Henry Street Settlement and the Hispanic AIDS Forum doing program planning, organizational development, and grant writing work. Some of these organizational skills were passed on to Tomas by his father, who trained with some of the founders of strategic planning in the late 1960’s and worked as a lead strategic planner with government agencies and corporations in the US and in Latin America. Tomas is a member of AFM Local 802 and ASCAP.
Saskia Talay
Queens, NY
I began coming to WFC as a child with my family, and later joined every summer as staff during my college and post-grad years. Time with friends, new and old, surrounded by the nature of the White Mountains has meant the world to me and deeply changed who I am as a person.
Born and raised in Queens, I currently live in Astoria. I work as Senior Philanthropy Officer at the Institute of International Education, a century-old organization working to promote and protect education in emergency, extending a lifeline to students, artists, and scholars around the world facing political, environmental, or financial threat.
Benedikt Wildoer
Münster, Germany
Being the youngest sibling of four, at just 4 years of age, Benedikt’s first time at WFC was in 1999. Since then, the family has spent several summers at WFC. Through his parents, Marike and Horst, the connection to the people, community and the place was always so lively, even though he doesn’t visit as regularly anymore as he would like it to be. In his professional life Benedikt focused primarily on Banking and Finance, then International Development and now Management Consulting in organizational, change and agile transformations. His need to continuously enable new opportunities to learn and develop is a determining factor in his professional and personal decision-making. In the past Benedikt has been (and to some extent still is), amongst others: A Yoga Teacher, a Meditation Coach and Facilitator, a Thai-Buddhist Monk, a Chef, a triathlete, a pianist, a boy scout, a marathon-runner and much, much more. His systems work best, when they are in motion and connected to musical expression (listening, singing, performing, dancing, …). Benedikt’s personal vision in regards to himself is best summed up in the poem “IF” by Rudyard Kipling. If you are interested in getting in contact with Benedikt, feel free to connect to him via LinkedIn.
Committees & Working Groups
Community management is a core part of the WFC model and members of the community serve voluntarily on a number of committees and working groups to help advance the organization and our mission throughout the year.
The WFC Board has three standing committees: the Governance Committee, Finance Committee, and Development Committee, which operates in tandem with a Grants Sub-Committee. Other committees include the Program Committee, the Building & Grounds Committee, and the Justice & Belonging Committee. In 2024, WFC launched an Accessibility Working Group and a Climate Action Working Group.
Contact the Board of the World Fellowship Center through office@worldfellowship.org