And Some Letters We Have Received ...

Dear Heron Dance...

Thank you so much! The print has arrived, and it is so beautiful and very calming to gaze at. I appreciate your generosity for the print as well as the publications. We will be sure to publicly thank Rod and promote Heron Dance

Annette Pearl

The Heron Dance newsletters are such a welcome sight when my email opens. They are a cause for pause and reflection bringing peace and a bit of balance to my day. Several friends are now familiar with your art, your site and newsletters, too. I keep spreading the word as best I can about something that is special to me. As our annual fundraiser grows in popularity and attendance, I would like to use that venue again to also help spread the word about Heron Dance and your work.
Last year, you graciously donated a signed limited-edition watercolor print of Swan Reflection to Medina County Community Fund. It caused a flurry of bidding and comments that would be nice to repeat or develop, if you are able to donate again. May we add a print to that listing for this year's silent auction?
The mission of our permanent endowment fund is to improve the quality of life for residents in our county. If you would like an annual report showing our activities, I would be happy to provide one. This quarter is the first time in ten years that the fund has stepped over the $1,000,000 mark. It is cause for celebration for us. As we grow we can make more and more of a difference in the community at large. We would love to make you part of that growth.

A devoted fan,
Barbara Cumming
Medina County Community Fund

You are very generous! I am thrilled to be able to offer such beautiful art at our "Heart of Winter" event. Thank you VERY much! We will add your site to our website after the Auction and acknowledge you. I am a heron-o-phile from way back and so happy to find you on your website. I also am the co-founder and Executive Director of the Virginia Thurston Healing Garden, a small non-profit in Harvard MA that offers a community of support for those experiencing breast cancer, with no financial barriers. Blue herons have played a large part in my own experience of breast cancer (twice) and they are indeed my spirit guides. The Healing Garden has a fund-raising auction on February 6th and we would be so honored to have a print and/or notecards to offer our guests. Many thanks.

Sincerely,
Betsy Tyson-Smith, M.A.
Virginia Thurston Healing Garden |link!|

I just wanted to thank-you personally for the 100 greeting cards that you donated to the Earthhaven Learning Center. They are beautiful! I was so excited to be able to use them to thank donors. What a blessing you are!

Tracy Kunkjler
Earthaven Learning Center:|link!|
Programs for Personal
and Planetary Healing

I have been writing to various men who are now, and some who have been for a long time prison inmates. Most of those I write to are prisoners of conscience. There are about ten of them on my list. Seems like somewhere I read that prison subscriptions are free, for Heron Dance. Is this true?

Thanks,
K.M. Orion

Yes, that is true. We will give free subscriptions to any prisoners recommended to us by subscribers.

Thanks, Heron Dance,

I received the print last week and it is beautiful. I never would have been able to choose. All of us at Aldo Leopold School thank you for your generosity and the beautiful thoughts you share.

Peace and Joy,
Kristine Schwartz

My Name is Nancy Schaufele and I have been a subscriber for years. I read in today's email that you send donations to non profit groups. I am the director of a small nonprofit organization called Medicine Horse. We use horses and wilderness to help adults and children who have suffered from trauma and/or abuse. We are connected to local agencies such as Hospice, Child advocacy, the battered women's shelter, the school systems and the Navajo and Ute tribes. We are located in the Four Corners area near Mesa Verde National Park. Essentially, we live in the middle of nowhere. This poses a problem with resources. Large cities have resources to sustain programs such as this. We essentially exist on our fundraisers and grants. This said, we are having our annual fundraiser and silent auction this Saturday, November 2nd. The community is very, very supportive and we normally raise a large percentage of our working funds from it (unlike a ropes course, horses continue to eat).

I would be most appreciative if we could use something from Heron Dance for this event. Of course, this is last minute and living in the middle of nowhere kind of slows down the mail. I would be happy to personally pay for any express postage in order to get it here in time.

Let me share a little story with you. One that happened last week:

A ten year old child was referred from hospice. Her father had committed suicide, the mother was in drug rehab and she was sent to live with grandparents. Her grandfather is dying of cancer and the grandmother is deep in grief. The therapist called me and asked if we could see if horse therapy would help this child. She was completely shut down and would not speak to anyone.

When she came I introduced her to Alex, our little rescue mustang. He had been tied to a fence post and beaten until nearly dead. We rescued him and have used him with children - he loves kids but distrusts adults.

I told this child about Alex before I took her out to the paddock to meet him. She marched up to Alex, threw her arms around him and told him her entire story, sobbing into his neck. The therapist and I stood in shock as we watched the two of them "talk". I left them alone for quite awhile. Then I as stepped closer this beautiful little ponytailed blond told me to "stay still and be quiet - Alex has something to tell me." Then she put her forehead on his forehead and they stood there head to head. This is amazing because Alex does not like his head to be touched (being tied and beaten will do that). Then she stepped back and told me that Alex had said that he had been very, very sad like her but he told her that he was better now and that she will get better too. But she has to trust us.

This is a true story and only one of many. I spent twenty-five years in the mental health field but in my later years turned to wilderness and animals to help others heal. I like to say that in working with this program I have never had so much fun for so little money in my life. Very, very few of the people we see can afford anything. We give our services away to anyone who comes. Life is too short not to do so.

So... this is most likely more information than you want to hear. However, I wanted to give you a picture of who we are. There is a web site that may help: www.medicinehorsecenter.org |link!|

I would appreciate your sharing this with Ann and Rod. I have used so much of Heron Dance in my work.

Blessing to you.
Nancy Schaufele, M.S.
Director Mental Health Services
Medicine Horse Center

We featured this letter from Nancy in our weekly email, A Pause For Beauty.
We received this letter from her a few weeks later:

Please let Rod know that we have received nearly $1,500 from Heron Dance Nature Art Journal subscribers as well as an offer of art. One artist in Montana wants to do some art of Alex, the little buckskin mustang I work with.

Actually, Alex did something quite spectacular on Friday. We had been seeing a teenager who, I felt, was in trouble but she had been denying any problems. Alex kept trying to pull the sleeve of her sweatshirt up. He even nipped at her arm which is very unusual for him. When I asked her what was going on she started crying and lifted her sleeve to show me where she had started cutting on herself again. Then she told Alex how sorry she was and that she would not hurt herself any longer. He let out a huge sigh and went back to grazing. I had a new therapist with me who has never been around horses. She said that if she had not seen it with her own eyes she would never have believed it.

Anyway... Just to say, thank you again. And Alex thanks you.

Blessing,
Nancy