Dear Friend of Woolman Hill,
This has been a momentous year for Woolman Hill. Out of the unsettling chaos of the pandemic grew a beautiful two-story addition to our main building, offering an entirely new level of accessibility and welcome. The ambitious project also required installing three new septic systems and a new well. Throughout the construction we strove to retain the personal touch and spirit many identify with the hill. We developed meaningful connections with the workers and we kept a sense of the farmhouse character as a primary goal in our design decisions. We’re delighted at how many people have said that the new wing fits right in. And we’re deeply grateful for the many, many donors who made this accomplishment possible.
Despite all this amazing activity, we missed seeing so many of you who make visits to the hill for regular annual retreats and events. We were thrilled to begin welcoming groups back in the summer. In the July rain, several children playfully pranced under umbrellas at their grand-parents’ postponed fiftieth wedding anniversary celebration. Williams College’s orientation for the Zilkha Center for Sustainable Initiatives and Davis Center for Multicultural/ Social Identity was the very first gathering to use our new addition.
We are eagerly awaiting those planning to come to the hill in 2022: New England Yearly Meeting young adult and youth groups, monthly and quarterly meeting retreats, Jewish, Sufi and Buddhist groups, Northeast Organic Farming Association, family celebrations, individual sojourns, and more. And we’re looking forward to providing programs such as a Spiritual Practices weekend retreat and the next offering of the nine-month Nurturing Faithfulness course.
With a beautiful new addition and a new Welcome Fund (expanding our financial accessibility and program initiatives to increase our diversity, equity and inclusion efforts), Woolman Hill is now entering a new era. With hopes to restore our staffing to pre-pandemic levels, we are excited about the year ahead.
During midweek worship one evening in early autumn, a Friend watched through the Meetinghouse door as the perfectly full moon rose mysteriously from behind the nearby hilltop and cast its brightness across the open meadow. After 95 years of life, this Friend knew the moonrise was completely predictable. Yet watching it that night felt to him like encountering the experience for the very first time. Mystical moments like this occur frequently on the hill: grounding, restoring, inspiring, feeding our souls, and giving us the strength to address the complex needs of our troubled and wondrous world.
Thank you to all who made our new addition and Welcome Fund possible. Please now consider operational support to enable Woolman Hill to continue to be a place of welcoming transformation.
With joy and gratitude,
Margaret Cooley
Executive Director
You can donate on-line here. (Pay with a credit card, PayPal account, and/or make monthly installments.) For further information, and for questions about gifts of stock, bequests and wills, contact Margaret Cooley: margaret[at]woolmanhill.org, 413-774-3431. Thank you!