Update 2/17/26
Greetings Brothers,
Adodi National is an intergenerational Brotherhood of Black Same-Gender-Loving (SGL) men — pronounced ah-DOH-dee.
For decades, we have gathered in fellowship, wellness, dialogue, and celebration of who we are.
“The 40th” and the Adodi National 40th Annual Summer Health & Wellness Summit are used interchangeably. Both names reflect the same gathering — the same intention — the same circle.
This message walks you through everything you need to know.
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ARRIVAL & TRANSPORTATION INFORMATION
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How Will I Get to Normandy Farm Once I Arrive in Philadelphia?
Please read this information carefully.
To coordinate pick-up, complete the:
Adodi National 40th Annual Summer Health & Wellness Summit Transportation Coordination Form
IMPORTANT
For arrivals on Monday, July 6, 2026 and Tuesday, July 7, 2026, there are no set pick-up times.
Transportation to Normandy Farm Hotel & Conference Center is provided as part of your Summit registration.
You do NOT need to arrange your own ride if arriving at:
• Philadelphia International Airport (PHL)
• William H. Gray III 30th Street Station (Amtrak/SEPTA)
• Greyhound – News Updates Related to Greyhound Location Changes – Click Here
ADODI shuttles are scheduled based on the travel details you provide. Again, your transportation is determined by the information you provide us about your arrival.
If your travel plans change, notify the Transportation Team immediately.
Transportation Team Contacts
Ado Alden Bell
(773) 495-7579
abc12554@gmail.com
Ado Kevin Hardy
(267) 636-3555
kevinhardy35@gmail.com
Back-Up Email
adodisummerretreat@gmail.com
Please save these numbers and remain reachable during travel days.
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PRE-GLOW INFORMATION
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• What is the Pre-Glow?
Monday, July 6, 2026 — 6:00 PM EST
Normandy Farm Hotel & Conference Center
1401 Morris Road
Blue Bell, PA 19422
The Pre-Glow is our warm welcome for brothers arriving into Philadelphia on or before Monday, July 6, 2026.
Please note:
The Pre-Glow is not an official event of “The 40th.” It is an informal gathering for brothers who arrive early and wish to connect before the Summit begins.
There will be:
• Food
• Fellowship
• Introductions of Wundias
• A relaxed space to reconnect
The official Summit begins the following morning on Tuesday, July 7, 2026 after breakfast.
• Pre-Glow Hotel Booking Details for Normandy Farm Hotel (Separate from Registration)
To book your stay for Monday, July 6, 2026:
Visit:
https://www.normandyfarm.com/hotel
Use Group Code: ADODPG
How to Book:
• Click “Book Your Stay”
• Under “Guests & Rooms,” select “Add Code”
• Change code type from “Discount Code” to “Group Attendee”
• Enter: ADODPG
• Confirm dates and complete reservation
Estimated Cost for Monday, July 6, 2026 (One Night)
Room & Fees: $170.86
Tax: $5.96
Resort Fee: $15.90
Additional Tax Due at Check-In: $8.94
Included:
• Full hot breakfast buffet
• Wi-Fi in each guest room
• Local shuttle service within an 8-mile radius
• Refrigerators in every guest room
Irons are also available at Normandy Farm.
If you have questions related to Normandy Farm Hotel & Conference Center, please contact Lemar Johnson:
adodisummerretreat@gmail.com
267-882-6636
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SUMMIT DATES & WHAT’S INCLUDED
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• When does the Summit begin?
Normandy Farm Hotel & Conference Center
Tuesday, July 7, 2026 – Friday, July 10, 2026
“The 40th” officially begins Tuesday morning after breakfast on Tuesday, July 7, 2026.
Your registration includes:
• Lodging (Tuesday through Friday afternoon)
• Meals (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner & Snacks)
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AFTERGLOW INFORMATION
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• What is the Afterglow?
After the Summit concludes on Friday, July 10, 2026, we transition to:
Sheraton Suites Philadelphia Airport
4101 B Island Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19153
Transportation will be provided from Normandy Farm Hotel & Conference Center to the Sheraton on Friday, July 10, 2026.
The Afterglow is our collective exhale.
No formal programming.
Just connection.
We eat.
We relax.
We laugh.
We continue building.
Afterglow Hotel Booking Details for Sheraton Suites Philadelphia Airport (Separate from Registration)
Friday, July 10, 2026 – Sunday, July 12, 2026
Group Rate: $169.00 per night
Estimated Taxes & Fees: $26.39
Convention/Tourism Fee: $1.27
Estimated Total Per Night: $196.66
Estimated Total for Two Nights: $393.33
Included:
• Discounted parking — $10
• Breakfast included for up to (2) guests per room
Reservation Deadline:
Wednesday, June 10, 2026
If you plan to stay Sunday night, July 12, 2026, please email adodisummerretreat@gmail.com so we can assess group need and coordinate an extension of the group rate.
If you have questions related to Sheraton Suites Philadelphia Airport, please contact Lemar Johnson:
adodisummerretreat@gmail.com
267-882-6636
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DEPARTURE COORDINATION
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• Friday, July 10, 2026 — Departure Coordination
Transportation will be coordinated from Normandy Farm Hotel & Conference Center to:
Greyhound – News Updates Related to Greyhound Location Changes – Click Here
When Should I Book My Departure Flight?
If using ADODI-provided transportation to Philadelphia International Airport (PHL):
Please book departing flights after 4:30 PM EST on Friday, July 10, 2026.
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WEEKEND PLANS
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What's planned for the weekend?
The Love Feast is the return of an ADODI tradition.
A small group of brothers comes together to prepare a meal for all of us.
It is culinary excellence offered as love.
It is collaboration in the kitchen.
It is care expressed through preparation and shared labor.
The Love Feast is tentatively planned for Saturday, July 11, 2026.
Additionally, a beach trip is tentatively planned for Sunday, July 12, 2026. Tentative location: Gunnison Beach within Sandy Hook Beach
Please be advised that Friday, July 10th officially concludes "The 40th." Transportation to weekend events should be arranged individually or through groups by use of Uber, Lyft, or carpooling.
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ABOUT THE SUMMIT LANGUAGE
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Why “Health & Wellness Summit”?
While the retreat foundation remains the same —
The intimacy.
The grounding.
The brotherhood.
The language “Health & Wellness Summit” reflects the fullness of what we intentionally cultivate when we gather — tending to mind, body, spirit, and relationship in one shared space.
It acknowledges that our work together is not only reflective, but restorative.
The experience hasn’t changed.
It has broadened.
What does Wundia mean?
If this is your first summer gathering with ADODI, you will join us as a Wundia.
The term derives from Yoruba tradition and refers to one entering sacred experience for the first time.
You arrive as a Wundia.
You leave as an ADO — an ADODI brother.
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WHAT TO PACK
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What Should I Pack?
Casual attire and comfortable shoes are recommended. Many brothers bring T-shirts from previous ADODI gatherings, and Afro-centric apparel is always welcomed and celebrated throughout the week.
Please also bring:
• Personal toiletries
• Prescription medications
• Insect repellent
• A small flashlight
For the Tribute to the Ancestors:
• A plain white outfit
OR
• A white African garment
No logos or colored stitching.
Optional items:
• African drums and bells
• Musical instruments
• Poetry
• Costumes for Talent Sharing
• Music, DVDs, board games, card games
• What NOT To Bring
• Large sums of money
• Expensive jewelry
• Alcoholic beverages
• Illegal drugs
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FINAL WORD
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Whether you arrive as a Wundia or return as an ADO —
This week is about connection.
It is about health.
It is about wellness.
It is about Black Same-Gender-Loving men choosing one another — intentionally.
We look forward to gathering beginning Monday, July 6, 2026.
In Brotherhood,
Lemar Johnson
Co-Chair, “The 40th” & Registration Team
adodisummerretreat@gmail.com <---Email Questions/Concerns here
Mobile: 267-882-6636
Date Sent2026/02/17 19:28
About this trip
Join us for a truly milestone celebration as Adodi National celebrates its 40th Annual Summer Health and Wellness Summit at the beautiful Normandy Farm in Blue Bell, PA, from Tuesday, July 7th through Friday, July 10th, 2026. This historic gathering will be a powerful reflection on four decades of community, brotherhood, and resilience for same-gender-loving men of African descent.
Drawing inspiration from the rich cultural traditions and bold expressions of Black same-gender-loving excellence throughout the 1980s, we will honor our past, celebrate our present, and collectively envision our future. The festivities begin with our Pre-Glow celebration on Monday, July 6th, 2026, setting the stage for an unforgettable week.
Prepare for days of profound connection, engaging dialogue, joyous celebration, and the creation of new memories that will undoubtedly add to our ongoing legacy of excellence and brotherhood.
Planning Update: Our dedicated planning committee is hard at work finalizing all the details to create an exceptional experience for every attendee. Please note that our Health and Wellness Summit schedule is different this year due to the summit site's availability to accommodate a summit of our size. We are currently focusing on securing transportation options and searching for affordable hotel accommodations for the bookends of our Health and Wellness Summit - what we lovingly call the Pre-Glow and AfterGlow experiences. Additionally, there may be weekend activities planned, so please schedule your flights accordingly.
We've opened registration early - even while finalizing these important details - to give you ample time to take advantage of our flexible payment plan options and secure your spot at this historic gathering. Stay tuned for more information as these exciting details come together.
First-Time Health and Wellness Summit Participants - If this is your first Adodi summer Health and Wellness Summit, we've designed special experiences just for you. During select free time periods and meals over the first couple days, you'll participate in Wundia engagement sessions focused on learning about Adodi's values and building meaningful connections with fellow first-time participants.
The term "Wundia" comes from the Yoruba language meaning "virgin," though we use it purely to indicate newcomers - those who have not yet experienced what we call "the fierce embrace of Adodi."
These sessions naturally lead into our Initiation process, which marks your formal welcome into the Adodi community. It's worth mentioning that Adodi is an experience meant to be felt more than it can always be fully explained - these initial sessions will help you begin to understand what makes our community unique. Both the engagement sessions and Initiation are designed to be supportive and enriching experiences, with plenty of free time remaining for you to enjoy all other Health and Wellness Summit activities.
Our Initiation team will reach out to you before the Health and Wellness Summit to walk you through what to expect and answer any questions you may have.
Refunds, Credits, and Carryover Policy
A non-refundable $50 registration fee is required at the time of online registration.
All payments apply to the upcoming Health and Wellness Summit for year 2026.
Cancellations and Credits
Full Payments: If you have paid in full but cannot attend, and you notify the Treasurer at least 45 days prior to the start of the Health and Wellness Summit, you will receive a credit toward next year's Health and Wellness Summit. No exceptions.
Partial Payments: If you have made partial payments and notify the Treasurer at least 45 days prior, you will also receive a credit toward next year's Health and Wellness Summit. No exceptions.
Late Notifications: If you notify the Treasurer within 7 days of the Health and Wellness Summit without a legitimate excuse, you will be eligible for only a partial credit toward next year's Health and Wellness Summit.
Only the Adodi National Board of Directors has the authority to make changes to this policy.
If you have questions related to this policy, direct them to adodifunds@gmail.com
About Adodi National
The Adodi National Summer Health and Wellness Summit is an annual event hosted by Adodi National, an intergenerational organization that focuses on the well-being of Black same-gender-loving men. The Health and Wellness Summit provides a space for these men to connect, celebrate their identities, and uplift each other emotionally, physically, and spiritually.
Here are some key things to know about the Health and Wellness Summit:
Focus: Fostering emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being for Black same-gender-loving men.
Activities: The Health and Wellness Summit includes engagement sessions aka workshops, discussions, cultural activities, and social gatherings that promote connection and brotherhood.
The Adodi National Summer Health and Wellness Summit is an annual event hosted by Adodi National, an intergenerational organization that focuses on the well-being of Black same-gender-loving men. The summit provides a space for these men to connect, celebrate their identities, and uplift each other emotionally, physically, and spiritually.
Here are some key things to know about the summit:
Focus: Fostering emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being for Black same-gender-loving men.
Activities: The summit likely includes workshops, discussions, cultural activities, and social gatherings that promote connection and brotherhood.
w/ Roommate
w/o Roommate
Tuesday's breakfast is included when you book Monday, July 6th at Normandy Farm. "The 40th" officially kicks off after breakfast.
For Monday, 7/6/26, your stay at Normandy Farm is booked outside of the registration cost, same as previous years. The link for booking your room will be added shortly.
For Friday, 7/10/26, your stay at the Sheraton is booked outside of the registration cost, same as previous years. The link for booking your room will be added shortly.
