October 2024
First Nature Notes: We've Been Busy!

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Dear Friends of First Nature Foundation,

Our hearts go out to those who have been devastated by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Some folks we know and love have experienced flooding, ripped-off roofs, and the loss of most of their belongings. At the ranch we were worried about flooding, because just 20 minutes into the beginning of the heavy rain when Hurricane Milton arrived our property already had 3-4” of standing water, as you can see in the video below. It turned out that we were very blessed that our beloved herd was just fine, if a little exhausted, and our facility was largely unscathed, save for a lot of standing water and hordes of vicious mosquitos. Our daily operations were only disrupted by the loss of our electricity for less than a day, and our internet for about a week. We decided to delay our long-planned Whiskey Dinner Fundraiser for a week because we couldn’t know the state of the ranch post-hurricane (more about that event below), and also postponed our Horses Healing Hearts that had been scheduled for the day after the hurricane passed through, but still held 2 programs and an additional event over that weekend. Our weather has been drier and cooler since, something everyone was looking forward to for many weeks. The grass growth appears to be slowing down, so our excellent Ranch Manager, Jason Wright, will finally be able to get to the many projects he’s been putting off over the summer months.

Volunteer Spotlight: If you’ve been reading our newsletters over the last four months, you’ll know we highlight one of our dear volunteers. Meet Gert Austin. Gert has been volunteering on Wednesday afternoons at the ranch for the last couple of years. Gert lives here in Harmony, and she and I have been friends for many years now. She started coming to the ranch on occasion, but became a weekly volunteer when her granddaughter started volunteering. Gert really enjoys the horses and finds Goldilocks especially entertaining.

She says, “I enjoy going and helping out at the ranch every week. I love the way the horses respond to the attention. Especially my girl Goldie!!😃” Gert is a wife, mom, grandmother, and a great grandmother, too! She is very involved in her family life, loves playing pickleball and walking her sweet dog, Lucy, but she has lots of fun line dancing with friends each week.

Have you been considering volunteering? You don’t have to get hot and dirty helping with horse care and programs, if that’s not your style. Maybe you could connect us with potential sponsors, donors, and clients, or help us with events and fundraising. Learn more about volunteering and applying here! And see below for other ways to support us. You might even end up on television!

When people visit the ranch, they usually exclaim at the beauty they see and the peacefulness they experience when they’re there. Aside from the trees surrounding the property and the attractive structures, a lot of that beauty comes from how well-maintained the grounds are, and we have Jason Wright to thank for that. Jason puts tremendous amounts of time, effort, and especially sweat in to keep our facility looking first class. He’s been a mostly unsung hero supervising staff doing the work of mowing, fence line trimming, week whacking around our structures, mucking, and eliminating ant mounds, which have been difficult to control this year, a lot of that by himself. Jason doesn’t need much recognition or reward…like me he was taught to do the job and not expect to be praised or celebrated, but we still want him to know how much we appreciate his efforts!

As mentioned above, we decided to postpone our Whiskey Dinner Fundraiser by a week. At the very least, we figured that would offer time for any flooding to drain and dry up, and the mosquito swarms to die back. Our plan worked, and we were rewarded for postponing with absolutely gorgeous cool, dry weather, including a brightly multicolored sunset. We want to again offer a shout out to The Transition House, who sponsored our custom whisky glasses, as well as arranged a gift basket from Gatorland, and 3Beez Honey Farm for covering the costs for our fabulous bartender and spirits.

Close to my heart is the personal donation by Carolyn Morrisey as our Pumpkin Sponsor, covering all of our decorations and event materials. Her sponsorship is in memory of her dear departed veteran husband George. Thank you, Carolyn, from the bottom of our hearts, for your support of our program!

We are still in the process of calculating our event expenses so that we can understand how far the ticket sales, sponsorships, and silent auction revenue will go to bring in the next cohorts of veterans. You may recall that the fundraiser was important because we’ve been running the Horse Wisdom for Heroes program without any sponsorships this year to date. The proceeds from this event will help cover the costs for putting close to 50 veterans through the program in 2024.

In programming news, It was considerably more challenging then expected to find a program to bring in teens for our Horse Sense for Teens grant programming. But we’re excited to announce that we’ve now started with Rebuild Yourself Inc., a local nonprofit helping adolescents build self-esteem, confidence, and empathy to overcome challenges, grow personally and academically, and thrive in their communities, has held events at the ranch before. They brought out a dozen kids to start the program earlier this month, and they’ll continue that over the next several months.

We are still looking for additional organizations to bring us more teens to meet our grant requirement, awarded through Central Florida Foundation, for a minimum of 100 teens through the program by the end of June 2025, so if you know of one locally, please do let us know A.S.A.P.

Our fourth cohort this year of our Horse Wisdom for Heroes program participants are now half way through their 6 sessions, and we’ll post more about that when they graduate in November. Our PASOS program continues; it’s the grief support group for parents and spouses of suicide loss and we serve people from all over the country. We’re grateful to Nicole Mocharko for her recent donation towards the PASOS program expenses!

The last 2 hurricanes resulted in postponement of our Horses Healing Hearts programming for Help Now of Osceola County. We will tack those 2 sessions to program’s end, and in the meantime, we’ve found some youth and adult coloring books to entertain the kids with and give the ladies some meditative “just be” time. Other activities included in the program are horse grooming (with hair chalk!), nature scavenger hunts for the kids, helping the ladies learn how to set physical and emotional boundaries through horseplay, and using journal prompt cards to help them think about their future (example: “What I’ve learned from love is…”). This program helps families who are recovering from domestic violence. We continue to get rave reviews, both from the ladies and kids who participate as well as the Help Now staff. The grant funding for this program covers only part of our expenses, so if domestic violence is a cause near and dear to your heart, please donate.

You deserve our gratitude for getting this far down our newsletter! We consider that a form of support in itself. We’ve also greatly appreciated your reply emails congratulating us on our growth and our work – those emails help us keep our morale up when things are slow and difficult. If you know others you think would be interested, we’d be delighted and very appreciative if you might forward this newsletter and share with them. For example, anyone who works for an organization that invests in employee wellbeing and leadership development, or that funds charitable organizations. We continue with making some progress with our “The Year of Revenue” but we are still short of our target, so if you could 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, if you would please continue reading!

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:

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.
Fundraise: We’re looking for someone to help us with grants and sponsorships. Have you helped a nonprofit with fundraising? If so, reply to this email and let’s talk!
Donate: There are a variety of donations we accept; one time, recurring, in-kind gifts, etc. You can find out more and donate here!
Volunteer: Your time and skills help us maintain our horses and facility. Get the application here. Or are you interested in serving as a board member for our nonprofit? We are still looking!
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 a lovely Autumn,

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.”

A big thank you to our sponsors! (1640 × 800 px) (1640 × 924 px) (2).png

A CENTER FOR 21ST CENTURY LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT:

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October 2024
First Nature Notes: We've Been Busy!

How Can You Help First Nature?

October 2024 First Nature Notes: We've Been Busy!

How Can You Help First Nature?

October 2024
First Nature Notes: We've Been Busy!