“Telling stories doesn’t solve anything, doesn’t reassemble broken lives. But perhaps it is a way of understanding the unthinkable. If a story haunts us, we keep telling it to ourselves, replaying it in silence while we shower, while we walk alone down streets, or in our moments of insomnia.” –Valeria Luiselli, author of Tell Me […]
I just returned from China, where I visited the orphanage that we adopted my daughter from 9 years ago. It was a powerfully moving visit, mostly because my daughter, who is now 12 years old, got to realize a long standing dream of holding, playing with, and feeding the babies, just like she herself was […]
One of the most heartening aspects about Something Good in the World having been in operation as a nonprofit for 16 years now, is that our original students are all growing up! Starting in 1998, Earth School programs began teaching children and families how to live sustainably and in harmony with the land, and how to connect with nature in meaningful and experiential ways that integrate with academic learning.
Since 2006, SGITW’s Earth School has been a farm-based education program for all ages, reaching further into the area to offer free workshops and courses for impoverished and underserved communities.
We have so many foundations to thank for continuing to support SGITW’s programs this coming year. We have most recently received funding from: The St. Faith’s House Foundation, The Atlantic Philanthropies Director/Employee Designated Gift Fund, The Deupree Foundation, The Jack DeVito Foundation, and a family foundation that prefers to remain anonymous, to be able to offer more free workshops and courses for children from underserved areas and high needs school districts.
It’s been a looong winter, and every year, people always ask us how we are able to continue Earth School all year long, including the winter months? Mostly, folks assume that we close down our outdoor, farm-based education programs during the cold weather, but not a chance! Learning how to live in harmony with the earth includes all seasons. Luckily for us, our off-grid, solar-powered Envira Pod mobile educational trailer always has power, even when schools are closed and homes lose their electricity. The Envira Pod proves that it is possible to thrive in this part of the world without connecting to
the grid.
For the past 12 years, our Earth School students of all ages have taken twice-yearly trips to the nursing home in our community to visit with the residents. I had always noticed that young children really enjoy engaging with the elderly, and that everyone wins, the young and the old, through these warm and loving […]
One of the aspects we love most at Something Good in the World about partnering with foundations, farms, and businesses, is the way that we all support each other and get this feeling of “win-win-win” in our projects together. A favorite collaborations year-round is with Glynwood Farm in Cold Spring, where grants from family foundations make free farm-based education programming possible for the First and Second Graders of the Harlem Children’s Zone, Promise Academy II.
