- From left: Charles Krezell, Haja Worley, Ellen Belcher, Vandra Thorburn, Karen Washington, Raymond Figueroa-Reyes, Eric Thomann, Brooke Lehman, Aresh Javadi, Mara Gittleman, Magali Regis, Sean-Michael Fleming, Daniel Bowman Simon.
The board of directors of New York City Community Garden Coalition recently took part in Omega Institute's Service Week, using their brief time at Omega's beautiful Rhinebeck campus to strategize how to better work together in serving the community gardens of our city. Former board member and current volunteer, Ellen Belcher, shepherded the retreat, applying for the Service Week scholarship this past winter.
While the setting at Omega was idyllic, the work was intense. Some partook of the free morning yoga, movement, and meditation classes, but the evenings and days were devoted to work, and we had to pass up film screenings, mixers with other nonprofit groups in attendance - even a drum circle!
We were proud to welcome new members to the Board, part of our ongoing effort to develop and support new community leadership. We also met with NYCON (The New York Council of Nonprofits), an amazingly knowledgeable group of nonprofit sector experts that we hope to engage with further.
NYCCGC thanks our facilitator, Brooke Lehman, who guided us through some intense sessions with intuitive skill.
We also thank Omega Institute, for their warm hospitality and great food (it's a vegetarian's paradise!). We all wish we could have stayed longer to explore the campus and enjoy the pervasive, positive energy there.
