Welcome Winter | December 2017 Newsletter

Welcome Winter | December 2017 Newsletter

Crowdfunding Update

This moment in history, with its escalating and interconnected political, environmental, and social challenges, calls for engaged, compassionate, and courageous individuals who sense and respond to the urgency of our times—of this world in turmoil, and of this culture in transition. The solutions must come from within, and they must come from all of us. They must start here, there, and everywhere—in hearts and homes and communities and organizations around the world.

There is no better time to invest in organizations like this one. As a home for inquiry, connection, and learning, the Whidbey Institute makes change possible by cultivating place, nurturing community, and co-creating experiences that develop the change-maker in each of us. This is where the leadership potential of each and every one of us can emerge, where we are supported and inspired to engage more wholeheartedly and effectively with the world’s complex challenges.

Our year-end appeal focuses on funding one Live Edge cabin—a small part of our capacity-building vision, with the potential to make a really big impact. The cabin you help fund will provide space for life-changing experiences for up to 100 participants per year!

Also in this issue: Remembering Dawna Fowler, Spotlight on Sanjay, Good Boundaries Free You, Site Evolution Update, the Language of Spaces.

Click here to view the full issue and read on! 

December 15, 2017

It’s Happening! | November 2017 Newsletter

Meadow Row Installation

 

 

We can’t say enough thanks to the team—Jade Craftsman Builders, J&D Wallace, Ross Chapin Architects, and others—who made last week’s installation of the new Meadow Row units so smooth and safe for all involved. Over the course of two days, this hardworking crew brought a total of twelve individual modules in and assembled them in place. Onsite completion, including roofing, decks, and interior furnishings, is scheduled by March 2018. Photos by Michael Foley.

Also in this issue: Community Equity Principles, Welcoming New Board Members, Recommended Reading, A Holy High, Seeking Donations of Truck and Golf Cart, Featured Events.

 

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November 20, 2017

Built by Friends | October 2017 Newsletter

Power of Hope Camp (pictured above) began at the Whidbey Institute in 1996. According to their website, “camps based on Power of Hope’s Creative Community Model exist in Canada, British Columbia First Nations, the US (Washington State, Oregon, and California), Jamaica, Brazil, South Africa, Uganda, the UK, and India.”

Built by Friends

$236k Raised at 2017 Gala
We’re so grateful to the many community members and new friends who joined us for the Down this Winding Road Gala fundraising experience on October 14. We had an incredible time celebrating in community and honoring Nancy Nordhoff for her exemplary leadership . . . and together, we raised $236,685 in support of our shared work as a home for transformative learning, inquiry, and action. This brings us significantly closer to our Whidbey Institute 2020 Phase 1 goal of $1.35 million to complete the Heartland lodging expansion already underway, and contributes sustaining momentum for our full four-year, $4.5 million capacity-building campaign.

Also in this Issue
Deeper than the Heart with Dan McKee, A Gift of Trees from Cathi O’Nan, and more! Click here to view the whole issue and read on. 

October 27, 2017

Picnics and Potlucks and Easements, Oh My! | July Newsletter

Celebration, Anticipation for Meadow Row North and Live Edge Cabins

At a July 22 Groundbreaking Community Picnic, we broke ground for Meadow Row North with a brief ceremony and a day of games, music, fun in the sun, and exploration of the building site. We’d like to thank photographers Michael Foley and David Stern, sponsors Pink Parasol Productions, Fine Balance Imaging, and Pure Indulgence, musicians Talia Marcus and Give Back Brass Band, and all our volunteers for making the day a success!

Four cabins are being constructed in the Maxwelton Valley by Kim Hoelting of Live Edge Woodworks, while Meadow Row North, designed by Ross Chapin Architects, is being constructed in Bayview by Jade Craftsman Builders. Installation onsite this winter means expanded program lodging expansion will be up and running in early 2018. We can’t wait to see the benefits of this added capacity for our program partners and participants.

Click here to view full issue and read on

Also in this issue: 

How to Build Bridges During Polarized Times by Mark Forman for Whidbey Life Magazine

Conservation Futures Funding to Help Protect Whidbey Institute Land in Perpetuity

Volunteer Week, Site and Facilities Work Coincide

Pint With a Cause Funds SW Non-Profit Program

Community, Deep and True: Potluck Picnic with Aldermarsh and Organic Farm School

 

 

July 28, 2017

Breaking Ground | June 2017 Newsletter

In this issue, find news about Meadow Row North Groundbreaking, development plans at 23rd & Union, Waldorf Potlatch, Thursdays in the Westgarden, our new Art Barn roof, and more!

Click here to view the entire issue and read on. 

June 22, 2017

Big Love | May 2017 Newsletter

You showed us BIG love during Seattle Foundation’s GiveBIG on Wednesday. Our community of 225 donors, including 61 new donors, gave $50,048. Combined with $40,000 from two matching grant donors, we are looking at a record-breaking $90,048! This is an essential step for our WI2020 capacity-building campaign as we raise $4.5 million over four years to better serve a growing community.

We especially enjoyed the loving words we received from donors throughout the day. Here are just a few comments that touched our hearts:

“My time at the Whidbey Institute enriched my life beyond explanation. The people and the land combined to enlighten both my mind and soul and I am eternally grateful.”

“There is an abundance of need for us to come together for collaborative inquiry in these turbulent times. The enlivening and contemplative space for learning and connection to earth and others at the Whidbey Institute gives me hope.”

“There is a saying, ‘You can’t choose your family,’ but I was raised to know this is not true. The folks at Whidbey Institute are my neighbors, my friends, my family, and my spiritual home.”

Click here to view the full issue and read on.

 

May 15, 2017

Blossoming Connections | April 2017 Newsletter

BLOSSOMING CONNECTIONS

April 2017 Newsletter: view the issue here

In mid-March, staff member Madisun Stern was tasked with obtaining centerpieces for a donor event at the Whidbey Institute. She wrote this piece about her ensuing experience of community generosity:

With local floral arrangements hard to come by in March, I imagined our flower fund going towards the lush, gorgeous greens that had survived a devastating barn fire at Willowood Farm earlier this spring. My ask to Farmer Georgie for this was instantly met with refusal, and the most gracious generosity—she wouldn’t sell, but would gift us all that I asked as a donation to the Institute. Just weeks before, she’d lost her entire business, except for the produce in her fields—produce that will now adorn the tables at our event. To top it off, their farm assistant (one my dearest friends) surprised me again, going above and beyond by creating the glorious arrangements herself—a service never provided by the farm before! I was humbled to assist on finishing touches, including an adventure to find the perfect beach stones to weight the vases. Read More →

April 25, 2017

March 2017 Newsletter

C O U R A G E O U S • C R E A T I V E • C O N N E C T E D
March 2017 Newsletter

“You develop courage by doing courageous things, small things, but things that cost you some exertion–mental and, I suppose, spiritual exertion.” —MAYA ANGELOU

Click here to view the full issue.

 

March 21, 2017

Resolutions | January 2017 Newsletter

The air is cool, the nights are long, the gardens are asleep. Perhaps it is nature that inspires us to draw inward, treating January as a month for reflection and resolve. Many of us experience the new year as a time to become more fully ourselves—more committed to our heartfelt principles and healthy practices, and more fully engaged in sharing our passions, talents, and longings on behalf of what matters most to each of us.

In a changing world, how will we build and sustain resilient, equitable communities? How engaged can we be in issues that affect us and our neighbors? Together, can we counter hate with love, fear with gratitude, and complacence with hope grounded in practical action?

Read More →

January 31, 2017

Grateful Hearts | October/November 2016 Newsletter

“If we surrendered to earth’s intelligence we could rise up rooted, like trees.”― Rainer Maria Rilke, Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God

Read on for these articles and more—Gala and Community Festival Photo Albums; A Fond Farewell to Jenna Barrett; Development Manager Sought; Thanking Garden Intern Anna Strick; Board Member Gabriel Shirley Completes Final Term; A Plan for the Future: Whidbey Institute 2020.

Click here to view the full issue.

November 14, 2016