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January 2025
First Nature Notes: Off and Running in the New Year
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Dear Friends of First Nature Foundation,

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We hope the holidays and the start of 2025 have been sweet and happy for you. While we tried to take it easy over the holidays knowing the start of the year would be busy, we’ve had a lot of plans in motion and I’m eager to share them with you below.

Our chillier than normal winter has continued, and we’ve seen reports that northern Florida had an amazing and highly unusual 8” of snow! This last week, 2/3 of the way through January, was the most wintry for us yet. Thankfully it's starting warm up. The horses are particularly eager to come in for breakfast on colder mornings, as you can tell from the video above. This week’s rainy, cold weather has the horses wearing their blankets, getting extra alfalfa hay, and being given access to walled shelters, which we feel so fortunate to be able to give them.  

Remember that we recently announced our capital campaign? This campaign is to add outdoor lighting at the ranch so we can run additional evening programs for survivors of domestic violence, teens, veterans and others. We’re excited to let you know that we are more than half way to our goal, but we still have a long way to go, so please read on and consider giving if you haven’t already! And see more below on the details of our capital campaign.  

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Save the Date!

Love us and just wine-ing to support us? Yup! We’re hosting another Wine Tasting Fundraiser from 6:30-9pm on Saturday, March 29, so save the date and details will be out this weekend!  

We started a fun project for the new year! Several colleagues and I have teamed up to offer a new retreat called Wild Harmony: A Mother-Daughter Retreat…With Horses. We sold out in less than a week, partly due to the interest and support of the Poinsette Foundation, who is a Gold Sponsor for the event, as well as sponsoring 11 moms with 16 daughters to attend our program! Are you Interested in the retreat or know someone who might be? We have started a waiting list and are soon to consider offering additional dates. But if you want to come for a visit and hang out with the horses on your own you might want to book a Serenity Session, a sweet, supervised hour with the horse of your choice! Or give one for Valentine’s Day! What a special experience to give to someone you love!

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In program news, our virtual PASOS program continues on, and in February we will celebrate 100 sessions of this program, as we started in January 2021. In that time have served more than 50 people who have lost spouses/partners/children to suicide.

 

Here’s what one member had to say about our PASOS Grief Support Group: "Losing my son at 24 years young has been devastating for me. PASOS group support has been a comforting gathering.  Knowing that others have similar feelings and/or behaviors for these tragic losses. Everyone is very friendly and supportive. You only share what and when you are able. Thank you to Kerul for initiating and maintaining the PASOS Group!!".  The program is free for those who would like to attend, and is supported by donations from folks like you.

The first 2025 cohort of veterans in our Horse Wisdom for Heroes program is 1/3 through their 6 sessions, and Rebuild Yourself kids, Edgewood Ranch’s Ranchers, and Help Now’s Pathways to Hope kids in our Horse Sense for Teens program have all enjoyed programs at the ranch this month already. Help Now also joined us this past weekend to bring more families for Horses Healing Hearts, after a brief hiatus.

 

We’re super delighted to announce that we were selected as a finalist for Nonprofit of the Year by the Lake Nona Chamber of Commerce and enjoyed attending the black-tie affair this past Friday. You may recall we won this accolade last year, so we are thrilled to be honored to be a finalist this year. While we didn’t walk away with the trophy for this year, a very deserving nonprofit, Meals with Mission, did. Congrats to them!

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Volunteer Spotlight:

Please meet our first Volunteer Of The Month for 2025: Melissa Beard. Melissa has been volunteering at the ranch since October of last year, and she is a valued, enthusiastic, hard-working, horse-loving dynamo of energy!

“I love volunteering at the ranch. I always feel calm and recharged around the horses and nature. I enjoy taking part in their leadership programs because I get to meet new people and get to witness how the horses positively affect each individual person in different ways. I also learn something new about myself and my surroundings every time. I love the staff and fellow volunteers, they are all sweet and kind people that welcomed me right away into the herd.”

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A reminder about our Capital Campaign, if you haven’t given, now’s the time, please! As we are becoming more well known, we are getting more requests for additional programming, but most people either have work or school during the weekdays, and weekends are already filling up, so the next step in our evolution as a nonprofit is to add lighting inside and outside our covered arena so we can run evening programs. We are half way to our goal of $15,000, which will cover materials and labor, allowing us to light the interior of the arena as well as our parking area and open arena. Please donate to help us create a safe and well-lit space to expand our programming offerings to more participants.

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The estimated costs of the inside and outside lighting for our covered arena are $15,000.

 

We are half of the way there! 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.  

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A note from Allyn, our Assistant Executive Director: We started off the year strong with programs each weekend, and some surprise donations at the end of the month! It’s an encouraging way to start the year. However, there are eleven more months to the year and we need to grow. Will you please advocate for us and spread the word about the variety of programs we have? If you’re part of a business/corporation big or small who wants to provide top-notch professional leadership development that your teams will remember, our Horseplay for Leaders is a unique solution to your leadership training needs. And these programs help subsidize our programs for veterans, teens, and others that we offer to them for free!

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From Our Hearts to Yours,

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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First Nature Foundation - a Registered 501(c)3 Public Charity

 

FLORIDA REGISTRATION NUMBER: CH56652. A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATON MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING 1-800-435-7352 TOLL-FREE WITHIN THE STATE (OR AT http://freshfromflorida.com/Divisions-Offices/Consumer-Services). THE STATE REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE. 

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(407) 957-1494

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Address

7530 Old Melbourne Highway,

St Cloud, FL 34771, USA

©2024 by First Nature Foundation

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