Non-profit Summerland Explains

[DonMackenzie]

Summerland Public Statement

The tiny town of Cajones is home to the activities of 4 nonprofits (1) Resplandor International, (2) Summerland Monastery (501©3 and (3) Tierra de Verano, AC. and (4) Rancho Lumeria. This email is about clarification.

Summerland Monastery (501©3 and Tierra de Verano, AC have a legal relationship and some of the directors are the same people.

Resplandor International is a separate entity with a different mission: maximizing human potential. Rancho Lumeria is a separate entity with a different mission.

Tierra de Verano, A.C. is a service only nonprofit. There are no assets. We will not seek fundraising or any financial help in Mexico. We offer our services as labor only and offer Hacienda information about the labor we have given to their country. Our work and our volunteers will continue to be supported by Summerland Monastery, Inc. a 501?3 with all financial assets, all fundraising, all grant receipts, all donations remaining in the USA or being funneled to another nonprofit as their fiduciary agent. Physical assets of ours in Mexico (we do NOT own land) will be passed on to other non-profits at our deaths.

Last Saturday Summerland finalized a plan to build about a 2,000 sq. ft. enclosure on this indigenous-owned property that will become a library and outdoor patio. The library will be built by the locals under the direction of an architect and a contractor: both volunteers. The money is coming from the USA and is being handled by another volunteer (a very experienced businessman and expatriate) and two international organizations (one USA one MX). After the library is up and running we will establish a mobile means to get books and teacher visitors into outlying areas to educate. When a community wants to create their own library, we will show them how and help them to gather the resources. We have already located about 10,000 bilingual books to be shipped to GTO from the USA. We intend to locate many more to give to those lacking access bilingual books so that they can improve their lives. We are only the conduit providing the space, our time and our love of the land and of teaching. We receive no assets of any kind from our service labor for a library.

This is an arrangement identical to our service to Resplandor International since October 2008. We give labor and we get nothing in return. We have donated over 3,000 hours there by designing, construction, loaning tools & vehicles, transportation, accounting, payroll, overseeing projects & volunteers, gathering and distributing donations, 46 weeks of teaching English and numerous other help. We assisted them in their mission, but they are a separate entity.

Summerland is building two comfortable sleeping rooms with a shared kitchenette and private bathrooms for visitors from universities, foundations, corporations, etc. who might have an interest in our work. We expect them to reimburse us for staying there, but the rooms are not for earning money, they are there for access by appropriate visitors who might benefit this rural community, or other rural communities, in some way. We feel that some visitors will come to study and others to look at the new library because of the innovative way it is being built. We found this occurred in AZ where we already established a reputation for our alternative building techniques implemented there (www.summerlandmonastery.org).

As both of those projects continue, Jacquie will be teaching twice a week at Titularies de Minories (Tues & Thurs), at the Cajones primaria (Fridays) and at the Cieniga primaria (Thursdays) so that the local children can learn English. Jolene will continue to teach at Resplandor International by private arrangements when it is open for other events, not as a part of any on-going program. We three will continue to offer equine therapy (usually on Wednesdays and some Sundays). We three will continue to offer agua therapy and swimming lessons (always on Wednesday, some Tuesdays and Sundays). We will also work one-on-one with children with disabilities and their families; people who frequently emigrate to the USA for better special education services.

If there is still confusion, please feel free to email or call with any questions: 473-108-25-78.