Community. Friendship. Family. These are the qualities you find on the retreats that our Diocese of Southern Virginia used to let us go on in Blackstone, Virginia. They have now decided that we can no longer use Blackstone because they would rather use our own camp/conference center at Chanco in Surry, Va. They’ve changed the name of the retreat from “Blackstone” to “March Weekend”. The reason Blackstone is important and essential as a retreat place (at least to us) is because of the way the community bonds together within the building itself. When you’re “stuck” in a building with about a hundred other people for a weekend you’d think the atmosphere would be full of tension, but at Blackstone Weekend, everyone knows the sole reason we all came is to be with other people who share the passion and love that we have in our religion. At Blackstone, the community becomes one and people from as far away as Danville to people as close to home as Portsmouth come together and create friendships that last a lifetime. Please sign this Petition to save one of the greatest weekend retreats at one of the most spiritual of places that we have ever had the privilege of attending. Thank you for your time.