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Responding to COVID-19: Our Great Hope

Published March 17th, 2020

Dear Wild Earth Program Participants, Families, Staff and Community,

With the rapid developments of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic, which resulted in the declaration of a national emergency on Friday, we are starting this week facing an unprecedented, new reality for all of us.

While sifting through emerging news and information can create uncertainty, signal feelings of anxiety and emphasize global upheaval, we believe that our community connections are the keys to our resilience.

COVID-19 will disrupt our work day existence, our always-on busy-ness, and consumptive economy for some time.

It will impact each of us in many ways: physically, mentally, emotionally and financially.

It will unfairly impact the lives of the most vulnerable among us. Still, I believe we are being offered an opportunity to join together, love each other more, and emerge even stronger.

At Wild Earth, our greatest hope is that:

  • we rise to the opportunity
  • we focus on self-care
  • we become more attuned to the needs of our neighbors and community
  • and we live more simply and lightly on the earth.

We need to slow down and take care of each other. It’s time to reach out to our elderly neighbors and make sure their needs are met, and to ensure that everyone in our community is well fed. Those with extra abundance and capacity are being called upon to help those in need.

At Wild Earth, we are monitoring the pandemic closely, following our local, county and state protocols, and responding in a balanced and sensible way.

Program Payments, Credits, and Refunds

UPDATED (3/20): Please refer to our Wild Earth’s Updated Cancellation & Refund Policy blog post for guidance.

Mobilizing to Support Basic Needs & Encourage Outdoor Learning

During the next two weeks, our office and program staff are mobilizing toward supporting our local communities in various ways. We are plugging into community organizing efforts to comfort and sustain our most vulnerable neighbors. We are also gathering resources for remote nature connection learning opportunities that we will be sharing with you. We will share information for both efforts through our communication channels listed below.

NEW Information will be shared through our BLOG, FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM STORIES

Over the next few weeks, Wild Earth will seek guidance from local, county, state and federal sources to make balanced and sensible decisions regarding our staff, programs and community.

We will maintain blog posts at wildearth.org/blog with reliable external resources and new information regarding Wild Earth’s programs. Please also look to our Facebook page and Instagram stories (@wildearthny) for updates.


As we all practice social distancing, we strongly encourage families to get outside together whenever possible, as doing so seems to be one of the safest and most nourishing ways we can stay connected with each other and the Earth.

We all have a responsibility to make personal choices that minimize the spread of this virus. It is our response to this challenge that will make all the difference in deciding if this was a horrible catastrophe or the germination of the creation of the world we want for our children and the next generations.

Let’s stay committed to keeping each other safe!

David & the Wild Earth team


David BrownsteinDavid BrownsteinDavid Brownstein, Executive Director

In 2004, David co-founded and, today, is the Executive Director of Wild Earth, where he seeks to help regenerate healthy community culture and create opportunities for people to connect with themselves, each other and the Earth. Prior to founding Wild Earth, David worked as a wealth advisor on Wall Street for twelve years before realizing a life dream – fully sharing in the care and parenting of his three children, and creating a small family farm. Today, the Brownsteins raise dairy cows, goats, chickens, bees and vegetables in season. David also maintains an active counseling practice called Root Connections, where he focuses on helping individuals, couples, groups and business leaders identify and manifest their unique vision. More about David's work.

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