Daily Archives: September 1, 2017

Details about the Elderberries Initiative

Dear Friends – I have been asked to help fill out the picture of the Elderberries 3-Fold Café Initiative for Chicago currently being proposed.

Elderberries has been in business for over 9 years in LA & has a spotless financial record. They have even been able to finance buying a house for their co-workers to live, as well as renting a new space for their cultural hub. They are paying around $5000 a month for all 3 properties in LA, & have never missed a payment .

The plan is to bring a team of co-workers to Chicago to build out the Café, as they did in LA, then Dottie Zold, Daniel Evaeus & Frank Agrama would stay to start-up & run the Café in Chicago. These & other young people go thru a training in Café management as part of their 3-fold work. The crowdfunding page speaks a bit about that process. This empowers individuals to take the lead & run the Café after the original crew returns to LA.

Ann Burfiend has offered to put them up at the Christian Community Church, so they would have a place to live while the enterprise is getting up & running.

Elderberries has agreed to pay the Rudolf Steiner Branch $2000 a month rent. We have another prospective tenet for the back space (Warner DeJulio who is a wine maker, willing to invest $25,000 of his own money to build out the back space for his business, put in his own HVAC & pay his own electric, & water, as well as construct a firewall which our building has been in violation for not having all these years) Warner would pay $1000 per month giving us a total income of $36,000 per year which covers our expenses.

The Branch Council has asked Elderberries to crowdfund to bring an initial down payment of $25,000 for the build out (realistically it will cost less than that since the work will be done by the co-workers) And also after getting established to bring another $ 25,000 so the branch would have a reserve for tax increases, building maintenance, etc…

The crowdfunding page has been up for about a week with folks around the world contributing. Thank You! This initiative can’t happen without our tangible good will. It’s up to all us to engage our will thru the New Mysteries of Money*, even if it’s just $10, which shows a gesture of unity. Otherwise we shall be forced to sell the building. And unfortunately we have discovered that there is an encroachment on the south side of the property which makes it undesirable to a developer & will not get us a very good price.

Elderberries will bring us more than just financial security, besides supporting you – the future of Anthroposophy, it will enliven our branch life:

The 3-fold conference *‘How We Willput on by Elderberries is happening right now. Over 150 folks from around the world have gathered, (each paying $350 to attend) with guest speakers like:

Nicanor Perlas, in the core group of People Power 2 that deposed former Philippine President Joseph Estrada who was starting to violate key provisions of the Philippine Constitution. He spearheaded the formulation of Philippine Agenda 21, the sustainable development blueprint of the Philippine government, which introduced into mainstream policy and development circles the societal threefolding approach to participatory governance.  He serves a consultant to government, business, and civil society on integral sustainable development and its local adaptation for towns and cities, Sustainable Integrated Area Development or SIAD. For the national and global impact of his work, Perlas received the Right Livelihood Award, also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize, in 2003. Earlier, he also received The Outstanding Filipino Award and the UNEP’s Global 500 Award. 

Orland Bishop Founder and Executive Director of ShadeTree Multicultural Foundation in Los Angeles, California, a unique organization of social architects and entrepreneurs devoted to creating new social forms and collaboratives for systems change. ShadeTree’s Genesis Pathway is a human development process designed to mentor youth through self-knowledge and the creating of community. Shadetree uses the core idea of “genius to genius” mentoring which helps to reveal the inherent gifts in each individual while seeking ways for each to live productively and originally in the world.” Orland is an active member in several working groups on the futures of money and systems that leverage monetary wealth and social capital for emerging economies.

Gerald Häfner has been active as a German politician with the Green Party. From 1987 to 2002, he served three times in the lower house of parliament and was a member of the European parliament from 2009 to 2014. Waldorf teacher, publicist and co-founder of numerous initiatives and foundations like ‘More Democracy’ and Democracy International, Häfner is now also head of the Section for Social Sciences at the Goetheanum since 2015.

Bart Eddy is an educator, social entrepreneur and community development advocate who has worked in Detroit for more than 30 years. During that time, he has Co-Founded the Barnabas Youth Opportunities Center (1983), Detroit Community Schools (1997) and the Sunbridge International Collaborative (2012). He currently directs the “Brightmoor Makers” program for youth employment and advocacy and is passionately committed to helping young people find their sense of vision, mission and purpose in the global community. Bart was a class teacher at the Detroit Waldorf School from 1988-1996.

John Bloom Vice President, Organizational Culture at RSF Social Finance in San Francisco, the new General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in America.

John Beck director of communications in 2009 for the Anthroposophical Society in America. He has recently completed a book, Being Human in the Millennial Age.J

And many others including Daniel Evaeus & Frank Agrama https://howwewill.blog/speakers/

Dear friends – This is the kind of gift they could bring to the Rudolf Steiner Branch in Chicago as well.

As members & friends of the Rudolf Steiner Branch, & of AnthropoSophia, we need to perform our due diligence by actually researching Elderberries & their initiatives for ourselves as free individuals. If it is our will, we can have a 3-Fold Café here in the Heart-land.

Unraveling the true identity of civil society is an urgent matter. It is not a mere intellectual exercise. The answers we give to this quest will determine the effectiveness with which we engage the world.” –Nicanor Perlas from “Shaping Globalization: Civil Society, Cultural Power and Threefolding”

Here is the crowdfunding link https://igg.me/at/michaelgrailroad/x/17233652

Here’s another look at what the youth are doing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0aAs3alndU  They raised enough money 2 years ago to send 10 young people to Dornach.

Will you help support the future? Or will the branch become part of the past?

If you have any questions please contact me or the branch treasurer Chuck Ginsberg  (he is currently attending the ‘How We Will Forum’ & will return Sept. 6th)

~Yours in service Hazel Archer-Ginsberg

Ok now i need to get back to working on:

Michaelmas & the Horn of Plenty – Fall Festivals Ancient and New

Saturday September 23rd, 2017 – 4 pm – 6 pm at the Rudolf Steiner Branch,4249 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago, IL.

Saturday September 30th 10:30 am – 4:30pm at the Theosophical Society 1926 N Main St, Wheaton, IL. 60187 – Pre-registration (630) 668-1571 

Come join our Experiential Workshop celebrating the Autumnal Equinox to prepare us for the journey into the dark of the year. We will look back to the fruits of the past, and prepare for what is coming toward us from the future. Our ancestors called this Sabbath – Harvest Home or Mabon. The Hebrew folk count this as part of the High Holy Days. In Greece and Rome it is dedicated to Dionysus, or Persephone and Demeter.  Today, we are invited to stand with the powerful Archangel Micha-el, in balance, between the light and the dark, as we create the ‘festival of the future’, which we call ‘Michaelmas’. Forging confidence thru Heart-Thinking, Michael strengthens our Will & reinforces our higher “I” so that we have the Courage to find the Spirit behind the living cosmos.

Hazel Archer-Ginsberg – is a Spiritual Midwife, and Trans-denominational Minister, working in an eclectic style that inspires connections – initiating us into the magic, waiting to be revealed, in the cycle of the seasons.   Festivals Coordinator & Council Member of the Chicago Rudolf Steiner Branch, and the Central Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society. Founder of Reverse Ritual – Understanding Anthroposophy Through the Rhythms of the Year