Art Community and Farming becomes the Therapy.
We are looking for like-minded people to create an Artist retreat and therapeutic farming community for New Brunswick. Would you like to be involved?
Mahatma Gandhi said “The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.”
We have spent over five years volunteering and building a peace garden at a therapeutic community, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The farm-based program we envision for beautiful New Brunswick would be designed to help homeless and addicted people rebuild their lives. It would be minimal or no cost to the participants who would work to the best of their capacity on farm chores on a daily basis in exchange for food, lodging and treatment. We have learned an incredible amount about how effective this model can be and we would love to connect with people who are interested in creating something like this in New Brunswick. The environment would be completely free of drugs and alcohol and would be non-denominational. (Funding costs would come from government agencies and donations.)
We would operate a farmers market, selling high value crops, specialty soap products, and furniture and crafts made by the participants.
We want to include an Artist’s Retreat as part of the program which would play a big part in shaping the experience, but also help fund the ongoing costs.(Exciting summer Music work shops etc.)
Like San Patrignano in Italy (our inspiration) we would want to see a program that created a positive pattern interruption for those who are working towards leaving an unhealthy lifestyle. Along with a home and a daily farming routine, participants would be offered legal and medical support, life skills, and vocational skills training. Each individual would be supported as a “whole person,” in order to develop confidence, a positive value system, and a career plan to maintain personal stability and gainful employment. An essential element of such a program is the interaction and development of community that is associated with the residential context of a farm.
We would be seeking government and private funding and we know there is a need for many different skill sets to launch the idea. We want to be a catalyst in a process that shares a vision that can truly help in the face of the homelessness and opioid crisis we are seeing across Canada in recent months.
Please contact us if you are interested. We are looking for anyone who would like to volunteer and help in different ways such as social workers, woodworking, electrician, farm market skills, chefs, accounting, legal help, grant applications, gardening, Arts etc. We will also be seeking donations. Anything will help.
Deryk Houston and Elizabeth Wellburn (250 598 9908 Victoria BC Canada)
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