Changes at the Marion Institute
Neighbors and Friends,
Aside from wishing you a glorious, joy-filled 2017, I need to inform you of developments at the Marion Institute. Janet Milkman, our Executive Director, has been lured away from us by the Barnstable Land Trust.
Yes, it is a blow, but it is one of those ???offers one cannot refuse??? and so Janet has elected to move over to the Trust commencing January 15th.
Janet did an immense amount for the Institute and was very much appreciated by our community, our staff, our Board and contributed mightily to our success during the year and half she was at the helm. Heaven knows we are going to miss her but we also know she leaves with a sort of wistfulness and yet a lot of passion and keenness about what lies ahead. Who can ask for more?!
The good thing is that Janet brought us to a pivotal point in our development, about which I would like to add some words in the way of an update.??
As you all know, our last Connecting for Change conference was held in the Fall of 2015. The Connector Series carries on the spirit of C4C with periodic lectures and conferences throughout the year on a variety of subjects. The last offering was the two days with the amazing Temple Grandin, which was an immense success and greatly appreciated by the sellout crowds that attended.
GROW continues apace under the direction of Zoe and Adam, and is so much more than creating gardens in the numerous schools in New Bedford.
This is, yes, about growing food, but also about creating community, with children, parents, grandparents, teachers, and indeed the entire neighborhood surrounding each of these school gardens.
It is extraordinarily impactful in a much, much needed way today. We???ve had a successful year bringing energy conservation to lower income, non-English speaking New Bedford ratepayers through the SouthCoast Energy Challenge, which we took on last year.
With Janet???s leaving, we will be looking to transfer the Energy Challenge to one of our new partners to ensure the continuation of this important work.
The Biological Medicine Network is getting a major, and unexpected, quantum boost with a leadership gift to establish a new biomed clinic in Providence, R.I. This has been a ???pot of gold??? wish for years so we could serve the thousands who now go to Paracelsus or to the American Center for Biological Medicine in Scottsdale, Arizona, and also display to the world the miracle of biomed on the Northeast Corridor and elsewhere.
Our hope is to have this clinic up and running a year from now. All systems are ???go??? and Jane Dolan, the new head of the BMN is flat out working toward this end. In addition, we shall be initiating essentially a biological medicine CAMPAIGN in order to finally FULLY get the word about biomed out nationally.
This will entail seminars throughout the year, two every year in Louisville, Kentucky, under the guidance and direction of the incomparable Dr. James Odell, one of the original pioneers of biomed whom we have known since we started, now almost 21 years ago. And there will be additional seminars and lectures on the East Coast.
A huge marketing and communications campaign will also be undertaken, using the internet/social media primarily, and there will be books, pamphlets, eNewsletters, videos, etc. It will truly be a masterful blitzkrieg so that FINALLY biological medicine will get the boost it needs to have universal recognition (which we are convinced will lead to preference as a health and healing modality).
We are exceedingly ???pumped??? by this enormous renaissance of effort round this vitally important form of health and healing! ?? Naturally our greenhouse initiatives, now at 9, will continue apace, and be added to (please check the MI website to learn more, and also to check for upcoming events).
Finally, under the new stewardship of the How On Earth store, collaborating with Edward Roszak, the manager, we will also conduct educational classes at the store, obviously around primarily food and agriculture.
The decision has been made by our Board NOT to replace Janet at this moment.
The Marion Institute is in a new form of focus and commitment (education, food, agriculture and health) with amazingly competent leaders in each of the Institute???s program areas.
In the interim, Margie will act as Executive Director, and together with the Board, we will oversee the staff in the smooth running of the Institute. ??
We wish Janet all the very best in her new position. She will not be far away on the Cape and of course we expect to retain a close relationship with her after she leaves. She has been a godsend, and for ALL she has accomplished we remain exceedingly grateful, and wish her the very best in her new position.
Finally, it goes without saying how much we appreciate all of you and your ongoing support. We hope and expect our future to be even more robust and fulfilling than ever before! Please be in touch with any questions. Warmest good wishes,??
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