“your art
is not about how many people
like your work
your art
is about
if your heart likes your work
if your soul likes your work
it’s about how honest
you are with yourself
and you
must never
trade honesty
for relatability”
~ Rupi Kaur
Dear Springhouse community,
As many of you know, we are in a very large and important fundraiser at the moment. The funds we are trying to raise are not extra icing on the budgetary cake. We need $73,000 to complete our budget for the 2020-2021 year. Gratefully, we do have a $25,000 match. We need about $5,000 to raise enough for the $25,000 match, and then we need another $23,000 beyond that to fill out our budget from this past year. If you want to see what your investment would support, you can read how we got stronger through this pandemic and how our creative and resilient community was a light for others in the world.
Some time ago, one of my teachers said to me, “Jenny, if you are not experiencing resistance, you are doing nothing new.” Raising funds for something that is cutting edge, especially in an area like education that has been practiced a certain way for centuries, is not easy. When something deeply true, and counter to the larger culture, is born, resources often do not just flow in with ease. It is countercultural, so it is unfamiliar, hard to understand, and therefore scary for many. It takes a certain person to support this kind of work – people who understand the work and are actively engaged in it, or people who understand it, believe in it, and are simply glad someone else is doing it.
Springhouse is honest work where we experience daily resistance – inside and out. Relatability is not what we generally use to measure success. If we did, we probably would have given up a long time ago. It is honesty that is our measure. How honest can we be with ourselves? With each other? With our work in the world? Are we being as bold as we can be in service to a more loving and life-giving culture?
Unfortunately, our culture at large does not have an orientation around taking care of life. It is not the norm. Any place that has a mission counter to what is happening culturally is taking a risk. And Springhouse is not only orienting our work around vitality, but is also strengthening youth to carry on that orientation – that’s how we change culture. Change, for many, especially the comfortable, is very scary and even threatening. Who would support that? I know a lot of us would and do.
Springhouse still has a way to go to meet our goal. We know this work is needed. We have trust and deep faith that as long as it is needed, we will have what we need to do the joyful work of building regenerative culture. Along with this trust and faith, we also know that it is our responsibility to be as transparent and determined as we possibly can when it comes to our mission. At this time, we need roughly $58,000. We have a $25,000 match when we make it to $25,000.
Are you one of those people who believe in the work, and the example, of radically reorienting culture in ways that take care of and foster life? Being an on-the-ground example gives others hope – and Springhouse does. If you are one of these people, now is the time to give. We are grateful for any amount you can contribute to allow us to continue to serve our important and life-giving mission of designing education that brings all of us alive.
Gratefully yours and in service to love,
Jenny
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