About 120 members of the John Frederick Oberlin Society will be in Oberlin during the first weekend in May. They will attend classes and go on campus tours Friday 5 May; listen to and participate in discussions, take field trips, and dine and dance on Saturday 6 May; and on Sunday 7 May they will hear President Nancy S. Dye address the theme of the weekend: Learning to Make a Difference. Community outreach coordinator Bridget Hardy has organized Saturday's three field trips. Guests may choose to visit the Habitat for Humanity building site in Oberlin, the Black River and Camden Bog, or the Lorain County Free Clinic.
The JFO Society is a group of people "very important to the college," says director of the annual fund Kathy Mead. Each member has donated at least $1,000 to Oberlin this year. Total membership is fewer than 800 people, out of approximately 12,000 donors, but last year JFO society members contributed $1.4 million to the annual fund, more than half the total annual-fund dollars raised, Mead says. The society was established in 1973 to raise unrestricted gifts for the college.
