July 2018 – June 2019 the Threefold Community Contents Welcome to the Threefold Community
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July 2018 – June 2019 The Threefold Community Contents Welcome to the Threefold Community...........................................................................................1 Threefold Educational Foundation and School ................................................................................2 Green Meadow Waldorf School .....................................................................................................4 The Otto Specht School .................................................................................................................5 Eurythmy Spring Valley ...................................................................................................................6 The Pfeiffer Center .........................................................................................................................7 Fiber Craft Studio ...........................................................................................................................8 Steiner School of Speech Arts ........................................................................................................8 Camphill Foundation .....................................................................................................................9 The Christian Community – Movement for Religious Renewal ........................................................9 The Fellowship Community ..........................................................................................................10 The Nature Place ..........................................................................................................................11 The Seminary of the Christian Community in North America ........................................................11 Sunbridge Institute .......................................................................................................................12 The Waldorf Early Childhood Association (WECAN) ......................................................................13 Threefold Branch of the Anthroposophical Society in America ......................................................14 Hungry Hollow Co-op ..................................................................................................................14 Meadow Lark Store ......................................................................................................................15 Threefold Café .............................................................................................................................15 Directory of Threefold Community Institutions .............................................................................16 II | The Threefold Community, July 2018 – June 2019 Welcome to the Threefold Community In 1926, several young New York City anthroposophists who called themselves the Threefold Group bought a farm in Spring Valley, NY, and set about creating a living community of practical work inspired by the teachings of Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925). The project they began more than ninety years ago continues to this day in the activities summarized in this report. Steiner’s ideas touch on every facet of human social life, including education, the arts, agriculture, economics, science, and medicine. With every observation and indication, Steiner exhorted his students to take his research further — to put it to the test in the laboratory of human life. That is the work of the Threefold community. Today, our people and institutions are carrying a wide array of programs based on Steiner’s work and insights, including: THREEFOLD EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION AND SCHOOL, Waldorf education: Green Meadow Waldorf a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational School, The Otto Specht School institution, was chartered by Nature education for children: The Pfeiffer the New York State Education Department in 1965. Our charter Center, The Nature Place states that the mission of Adult education: Eurythmy Spring Valley, Threefold Educational Foundation Sunbridge Institute, The Pfeiffer Center, Fiber Craft is “to preserve, encourage and further spiritual values in all Studio, Steiner School of Speech Arts fields of science, art, religion The arts: Eurythmy Spring Valley, Fiber Craft and social life in accord with Studio, Steiner School of Speech Arts, Threefold the anthroposophical and spiritual scientific teachings and Mystery Drama Group methods of Rudolf Steiner.” The Medicine, therapeutic and curative work: Foundation cares for the land, The Fellowship Community, the Fellowship buildings, and facilities that comprise much of the Threefold Community’s Medical Office, the Otto Specht School community’s physical setting, Community life: Threefold Branch of the and provides the legal and fiscal Anthroposophical Society, Hungry Hollow Co-op, umbrella under which many of the Threefold community’s Threefold Café, Meadow Lark Store, The Christian institutions operate. Community, the Pfeiffer Center CSA, the Hand & Hoe, the Pfeiffer Center/Duryea Farm Farm Stand The Threefold Community, July 2018 – June 2019 | 1 Threefold Educational Foundation and School The year 2018-19 brought significant challenges and notable accomplishments. Eric Silber, who became Executive Director of the Foundation at the start of the year, enlisted Joachim Ziegler of Mira Companions for Development to facilitate a series of community-wide envisioning workshops. Individuals representing every project, initiative, and institution in the Threefold community took part in some aspect of this effort to articulate a shared understanding of our tasks in the world and our purpose as a community. This work sparked a renewed appreciation for what we do in our community every day; brought us closer to understanding what is being asked of us today; and helped us begin to articulate the direction we must take up to fulfill our mission in the future. We worked deeply with our mission statement over the course of the year and will present a renewed version this fall that we hope captures the essence of the Foundation’s call for the future. The heart of our work now is collaboration — laboring together — with each other, with other anthroposophical organizations, with our neighbors, and with the wider world. We earnestly dedicate ourselves to this work, and to tending our financial and physical resources, while nurturing our community’s social fabric of people and organizations. Many events of the past year highlighted new capacities for collaboration. In April, for the second year running, we hosted a week of trainings for anthroposophic physicians and nurses (IPMT and NAANA). To accommodate nearly a hundred visitors at that busy time of year requires a lot of stretching and cooperation. Our efforts were rewarded, as IPMT and NAANA committed to return in 2020. We sponsored or hosted talks and workshops by Peter Heusser, Abraham Entin, Nicanor Perlas, and Gary Lamb, plus a conference on artificial intelligence co-sponsored by the Hawthorne Valley Center for Social Research; the annual conference of the Science Section of the School for Spiritual Science; and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Gathering of branches of the Anthroposophical Society. The Threefold Music Series had a successful second season of concerts in November, February, and April, sparking new connections with other cultural and arts organizations in Rockland County. The Bread and Puppet ensemble of Glover, VT, played Threefold Auditorium in December. Other dramatic performances included This War Is Not Inevitable by Michael Burton and We Need New Roses by Laurie Portocarrero. In late 2018, a measles outbreak in Rockland County brought unprecedented challenges to Green Meadow Waldorf School, the Otto Specht School, and our entire community. Even though no cases of measles occurred in our community, the county health department issued an exclusion 2 | The Threefold Community, July 2018 – June 2019 order prohibiting unvaccinated children from attending school. The impactsEducational of the exclusion Organizations order Foundation Operations were broad and deep, affecting the social fabric of every class and theIncome educational experienceExpenses of every childIncome and family associatedExpenses with our schools. As the year came toEducational a close, the NewOrganizations York Foundation Operations state legislature passed a mandatory vaccination law. This issue will continueIncome to affect our schoolsExpenses and community forIncome the foreseeable future.Expenses It calls on us — individuals and institutions alike — to be supple and adaptable in our thinking, to face our challenges with courage and poise, and to continuously strive to hear and understand the needs and concerns of others. The Foundation cares for 140 acres of land and dozens of buildings, and our facilities staff works tirelessly to provide a suitable home for our people and activities. Our continuing efforts to bring our properties into compliance with village andEducational county rental Organizationsregistries is part of an ongoing project Foundationto Operations maintain and improve our relations with local governmental bodies. IncomeEducational OrganizationsExpenses Income FoundationExpenses Operations As the year came to a close, we neared the completionIncome of a historic project:Expenses To combine the Incomeagricultural and educationalExpenses programs of Threefold Educational Foundation’s Pfeiffer Center and the Fellowship Community’s Duryea Farm into a new, mutually supportive association of work and community. Encompassing