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.
Your Donations are Tax Deductible.
August 2022
First Nature Notes
Dear Friends of First Nature Foundation,
We’re excited to be hosting our next Appreciation Day on Sunday, September 18 from 1 - 3pm for donors, sponsors, staff, and volunteers at the ranch. Our totally amazing Promotional Director, Allyn Carnahan (photo below), will be sourcing local ingredients to make homemade popsicles and ice cream for our event, and we will have the incredible Kristen Benson available to photograph everyone with the horse of their choice (the fabulous photos immediately below are those she took during our Appreciation Day this past January). Sounds like a fabulous event, right? You’re already on the invite list if you’ve made a donation in the past, though if you haven’t gotten one please let us know right away!
Haven’t made a donation yet? All it takes is a donation of $50 or more and we will send you an invitation. Here’s a link to donate.
Kids are back to school here in Central Florida, and we are happily welcoming quite a few new young volunteers as they contact us to get hours for their Bright Futures scholarships and their Veterinary Assistance program requirements at Harmony High School. Many of them have never been around horses before, so it is exciting to introduce and educate them, not only about horses, but also about what we do at the ranch.
We are 2/3 of the way through our next cohort of veterans in our Horse Wisdom for Heroes program, and are excited at the feedback we’ve been getting. We are looking forward to the data from our additional assessment to the program that will indicate how it might be helping to build resilience in the participants. You’ll hear more about that in the next newsletter after this cohort has completed the program and we’ve analyzed the data.
In wonderful news, we have a new Horse Care Professional, a new Groundskeeper, and a new Development Director, all of whom started very recently! You’ll meet them if you come to our Appreciation Day, and we will include photos and bios next month. Their contributions to our work at the ranch will keep the place looking awesome, the horses in wonderful shape, and the nonprofit finding new sponsors, grants, and increasing local awareness. So this fall we are ramping up our regional networking to welcome even more folks to the ranch for ranch tours as potential sponsors, donors, clients, and volunteers. We are working on scheduling playshops for fall. Let us know if you’re interested in a playshop for your group or renting the facility for an event or retreat.
And we are looking for new board members! If you have some financial expertise to help guide our budgeting decisions, or are well-connected in our region to help create more visibility for our nonprofit, we would LOVE to talk to you! Just reply to this email. If this is your first newsletter and you’re not really sure what we are about, check out this recent video.
We are willing to host retreats and other events at the ranch as long as there is some alignment with our mission, so please do refer us to those you think would be interested, or reach out if you have an event you think you’d like us to host. Or, perhaps you know groups or experts who might want to run a program or two at the ranch now that we are scheduling them?
As always, I’d be happy to give you a private individual tour. Please contact me at kerul@firstnaturefoundation.org or click one of the following links to conveniently schedule a tour!
Take care and stay healthy!
Kerul and Crew
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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