Dear Beautiful Community of Hope Springs,
Wow! What a year we are having! I find myself incredulous at the events of the last several months. For each of you, I hope you are safe, healthy, and have the support of your friends, loved ones, and your pets! Also, my wish for you is that are doing what you need to take care of yourself. At Hope Springs, we are working to hold each other and to hold each of you during this unprecedented and contemplative time.
I want to give you a bit of an update on Hope Springs. Through the hard work of our Board, we were able to secure funds from the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program and their Economic Injury Disaster low interest loan program. These funds, along with some very generous donations at the beginning of the pandemic, have allowed us to sustain Hope Springs as we rethink and retool ourselves for the future.
As I shared back in March, (can you believe it has been 6 months), our highest priority has been to keep our people whole and safe during what has become an unthinkable near shut down. While some of our staff were better served to take the enhanced unemployment benefits offered during this time, others have continued to work. We are proud to have been able to support our staff in finding the safest and most suitable way to take care of themselves and their families, while still keeping operations going at Hope Springs.
Another critical focus has been to test and improve our Covid-19 practices to be able to offer as safe as possible space for those programs and retreats who do want to be on-site. Working closely with our local Department of Public Health, we have updated our cleaning protocols and have revamped our dining and food service processes to comply with current best practice given social distancing constraints. We also have the ability to offer single rooms to many of those who request it. And though these procedures increase our operating costs, for the time being, we are not increasing costs to participants.
As you can imagine, all of this re-tooling costs money. I know so many of us are in a different financial position than we were at the onset of this decade and this disease, but I also trust that our community will step up to support this beautiful place that has shifted the lives of so many of us.
One challenge we face is that we are living in a “wait and see” world. We do not know how long it will be until Hope Springs can return to operating at full capacity. Through this time of crisis, trust me when I say that every contribution, no matter the size, helps to maintain our ability to keep our doors open.
Please consider making a one-time donation, or better yet, set up a monthly offering to help Hope Springs weather this ongoing storm. At this moment, while we all need to love and support each other, she too needs your love and support. I am asking this with great humility and with the knowing that Hope Springs will be supported by those she has held and by those who are able.
Sending you love and health. Be safe, do what you know is right in your heart in this time, and let’s all pray, or send good energy, or whatever you do to literally heal our world.
With such gratitude,
Cindy
Cindy Bass
Hope Springs Institute
President, Board of Trustees
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