A CENTER FOR 21ST CENTURY LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT:
Where the wisdom of the past, present, and future of leadership comes together for the dignity and benefit of all.
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Your Donations are Tax Deductible.
December 2024
First Nature Notes: Seasons Greetings and Fun!
Dear Friends of First Nature Foundation,
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We hope your holidays have been delightful and sweet! Ours certainly has been as our staff has been getting goofy for the holidays and has also been gifted cookies and carrots and more (more than one horse has had a piece of Christmas cookie, and more than one staff member, including yours truly, has had some of those yummy baby carrots! ☺)
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Late fall and now early winter have been chillier than normal here, but it’s still better than most of the rest of the country. Seems like the winter season will continue this colder pattern, so all our horse blankets and people jackets are at the ready! We’ve used them more than once so far to keep our horses warm and safe.
Speaking of safe, our capital campaign, which we announced last month, and is aimed at adding outdoor lighting at the ranch so we can conduct even activities for teens, veterans, survivors of domestic violence, and other program participants if off to a good start. We’ve raised $3500 in matching donations to date, so please give generously here so we can make our goal! See more below on the details of our capital campaign.
The estimated costs of the inside and outside lighting for our covered arena are $15,000. We are almost a third of the way there! Please help us reach our goal.
We had a somewhat busy schedule for the month, though we wanted to keep things relaxed because we know it will ramp up with the start of 2025. While holiday activity priorities nixed several scheduled programs, which we are tacking on to next year’s schedule, that gave space for some staff and volunteer horsemanship trainings.
We also hosted Serenity Sessions, a sweet, supervised hour with the horse of one’s choice, and are scheduled for more shortly, so book one soon before the heat is back! We’ve continued our virtual PASOS program, with amazing attendance from participants all across the country, and will be starting a new cohort of veterans in our Horse Wisdom for Heroes program in early January. Rebuild Yourself kids will be back next month, as will Edgewood Ranch’s teen Ranchers, and Help Now’s Pathways to Hope kids in our Horse Sense for Teens program. Help Now will bring more families for Horses Healing Hearts, too.
On a grateful note, we were selected by the Lake Nona Regional Chamber of Commerce to be the beneficiary nonprofit of their Chamber Swing fundraiser, and one of the beneficiaries of the Sons and Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War’s Annual Ball Fundraiser. We attended both events, the latter with 3 staff, 1 volunteer, and all of our significant others. We are also scheduled to host a Mother/Daughter Retreat in early March, so stay tuned for more on that next month.
While we do have a number of new volunteers to introduce you to, we’ll save that for next month’s newsletter since we are smack dab in the middle of the holidays.
Capital Campaign Reminder, though! The next step in our evolution as a nonprofit is to add lighting inside and outside our covered arena, so that we can run programs in the evenings. The lighting, estimated to be $15,000 in materials and labor, will light the interior of the arena as well as our parking area and open arena. Whether it’s busy teens, veterans who’ve rejoined the workforce, or women who are sheltered due to domestic violence, all of whom may only be available during weekday evening hours. We desire to create a safe and well-lit space to expand our programming offerings to more participants. Please help us reach our goal!
Want to use our ranch to host your event? Many events and retreats are private, and our rates are affordable, with discounted prices for nonprofits and governmental organizations, as well as for individuals. If you are looking for a venue for an event you may want to check us out and see if there’s a possibility to use our beautiful, serene, first class facility for your event: contact me at kerul@firstnaturefoundation.org if you’re interested.
As always, we depend on your ongoing support to continue our work. We so appreciate you for reading this deep into our newsletter and for those kind responses that keep us motivated to keep moving ahead! Please forward this newsletter to anyone you think would be interested in our work and in supporting us though donations, sponsorships, booking programs or events, or hooking us up with organizations who have participants who would benefit from our programs. Could you help connect us with any potential sponsors, or with interested businesses who might want to book a date for our Horseplay for Leaders playshops for their leadership teams (which help subsidize other programming expenses), or nudge your friends to donate, maybe through a Facebook birthday fundraiser it will help us continue our programs? And if nobody comes to mind, there are other ways you can help…please continue reading!
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How Can You Help First Nature?
Each person is bestowed with gifts or resources that are valid and valuable. Every little bit helps, and your support can make a big difference in our mission and out community. Below are some ways First Nature is looking for assistance:
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Advocate: Let your connections know about us. Share our posts on social media. Forward our newsletters to a community leader who could use staff development for their team.
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Fundraising: We’re looking for someone to help us garner more grants and sponsorships. Have you helped a nonprofit with fundraising? If so, reply to this email and let’s talk!
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Donate: Check out the information about our Capital Campaign and help us meet our goal!
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Volunteer: Are you interested in serving as a board member for our nonprofit? We are still looking for several local people to help us reinvigorate our board and increase our impact in the community.
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Sponsor: Make an impact in the lives of a veteran, a teen, a survivor of domestic violence, or a parent or spouse of suicide. Become a program sponsor or just sponsor the whole organization! Learn more here.
Wishing you peaceful holidays,
Kerul and Crew
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First Nature Ranch / First Nature Foundation
“Where the past, present, and future of leadership come together for the dignity and benefit of all.”
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