Close to the last minute (it’s due at 12pm later today) but I got it submitted.  A couple of new points:

1. If we receive Placement, we’ll be required to arrive before Gate opens to setup our camp.  This will impact our scheduling.  We’ll need at least 1 person on-site to secure our placed location, and they request we have our camp fully setup before the general public begin arriving on Sunday.  We’ll probably shoot for somewhere between 3-6 people to be part of the Build Team, possibly up to 12.  Our earliest arrival date will be Thursday, August 21, 2014.
2. We had to submit a name that was 33 characters or shorter for our Camp name.  I chose “Healing Foot Wash Life Truth Love” for this purpose, since our previous “official” name was too long.
3. I requested placement in the 9:00 Portal, 7:30 Portal and 9:00 Streets areas, each with 150′ of frontage area.

Here are some of the responses to key questions in the application:

2014 Burning Man Placement Application

Camp/Village Name?

Please provide the name of your Camp or Village. You will be limited to 33 characters.

You may wish to drop words like “A”, “The”, and even “Camp” from your camp name for better positioning in alphabetical listings.

To honor our principle of de-commodification, we ask that you not include the name of your commercial enterprise in your camp name.

“Healing Foot Wash Life Truth Love”

Interactivity Description

Please describe your Camp and how you will promote personal interactivity of our community within your Camp at this year’s event.  Please be as specific and concrete as possible.  We are interested in reading your schedule of events, your plans for service, gifting and hosting in detail. (This is the most important information we are collecting from you).

HEALING FOOT WASH

Our camp enthusiastically provides foot wash stations in a loving, safe, non-sexual environment where visitors can sit on comfortable chairs and have their feet washed.  In 2013 we washed hundreds of people’s feet, and received glowing reviews from everyone (see below for some of their comments).  Many people were surprised to find us (we were unplaced last year) and visited us each day once they found us.

OUR MOTIVATION

We’re asked why we wash people’s feet? Our goal is simply to love everyone who visits in the purest way we can, by providing a much needed and appreciated service.  We also discuss spiritual topics with visitors if they’re interested, and share additional gifts of loved spiritual books if appropriate.  Our motivation is based in the Biblical examples of foot washing as a pure service of love.

This year we’re returning with more camp participants, and plan to wash even more feet.  It was a totally awesome experience last year, and this year will be even better.

SCHEDULE

We provide manned foot wash stations primarily during daylight hours, from breakfast through dinner time.  Our goal is to have 10 stations ready at all times.  We’ve recruited additional participants to ensure there are always people available to provide the service.

INTERACTIVITY

We encourage our “customers” to return and wash other people’s feet, but they must have their feet washed first.  We provide the supplies (dilute vinegar, soap, water, basins, lotion) and example of how to do it.

METHOD

1) Sit, remove shoes, socks

2) Place feet in clean basin, rinse with dilute vinegar / water mixture using squeeze bottle

3) Apply dilute Dr. Bronner’s soapy water using squeeze bottle

4) Rinse with clean water

5) Towel dry

6) Optional (most people want this) – apply foot lotion and massage feet / calfs

7) Sit, relax, talk

8) Once done, dispose of water in evaporator, clean basin for next use.

We also provide fresh cold water to drink and light snacks like cold grapes.

SHADE STRUCTURE

We provide a 60’x40′ public shaded area that provides relief from the hot sun.  Our foot wash stations are located under the shade structure, but there are no walls, so it is a very nice open, airy relaxing environment.

OPEN TO ALL

We gladly welcome everyone to our camp, both to receive foot wash service as well as to give.

“CUSTOMER” RESPONSES

Some of the comments / notes people left last year:

“This is the best gift I’ve gotten at Burning Man, and I’ve been coming for many years”

“You bring love from my feet to my heart – Alana”

“Best Foot Wash Ever”

“This is Love – Nels S.B. C.A.”

“)'( You guys have made me shoot rainbows out of my toes. You are beautiful expressions of love!”

“Thanks for the fresh feet. Ethiopia Joe”

“A perfect find – Love Lee, NYC”

We are totally looking forward to this year and having a “home” within the Burning Man community for this much appreciated service.

Acculturation

Familiarizing newer Burning Man event participants to our culture and community is a vital role of Placed Camps.

How does your camp encourage Participation, teach about the 10 Principles and set expectations about what it means to be a Burner?

Please describe how your Camp acculturates its members and the greater community.

Our camp holds regular (every 2-3 weeks) conference calls going over Burning Man principles and how we plan to express them.  We also have a group that has been focusing on the spiritual as well as practical applications of the 10 Principles, and thinking of inspiring ways of embodying those Principles.

We love all 10 of the Principles.  The Principles we strive to embody / express most in our camp are Radical Inclusion, Gifting (the main reason many of our participants are coming with us), Communal Effort, Civic Responsibility, Participation and Immediacy.

We scored 100% clean on the MOOP map last year (aka we Left No Trace).  Our camp is very low impact, and we emphasize with all new participants the need to really embrace the principles of Burning Man, including subscribing to Jack Rabbit Speaks, reviewing thoroughly the Burning Man website, and learning from our past experiences at Burning Man.

Physical Description 

We need a description of the layout of your Camp. Please describe the physical aspects with as much detail as possible. Include a description of features like structures, buildings, vehicles, tents, platforms, and the locations of your power sources. Maximum of 400 words.

Our camp consists of a central welcoming area defined by a 40’x60′ open public shade structure.  This structure is composed of a central 6’x6′ column with 14′ bracing for reflective shade cloth that extends out in a cross shape.  We have a 30′ dome (from Shelter Systems) that we provide as a public quiet space for reading (as well as camp participant sleeping area).  We have additional tents for sleeping, a kitchen area, a water evaporator.  We use solar panels for our light power needs.  Our lighting is all solar powered LED.  We park cars and RVs in the back of our camp, as our purpose is expressly to be warm and welcoming to public interaction.  We have a private shower that is for use of our campers.  We have bike parking in the front of the camp.

Public Listing on our website:

What you should know when you submit your Camp description for the website:

1. Please limit your description to two sentences. Remember, this is our voice to the world. Please consider this when submitting.
2. Please give us the correct URL; any future changes to the web address will be difficult.
3. All submissions will be reviewed and may be edited.
4. After your submission it will take about two weeks for the description to appear on the site.

Please include the description of your Camp that you would like to have included on the Burning Man website.

Text for website listing

Come have your feet washed in a quiet, safe and loving environment.  You may come back and wash other people’s feet after you’ve had yours washed, all are welcome!

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Regardless of the decision of the Placement team at Burning Man, we’re confident we will be in our right place at 2014 Burning Man and will have the opportunity to be of service to hundreds of people during the week-long festival!