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Every May we host our annual Spring Retreat for the entire internal Stepping Stones village. This means all our Leaders, Elders, Board members, Staff, Mentors and regular volunteers are all invited to spend a long weekend connecting and diving into the heart of the work we do with the Stepping Stones Project. This year, we were blessed to be welcomed to host our retreat on the beautiful grounds of our sister organization, Leap Now. Leap Now is a rites of passage based gap year program for youth finishing or just finished with high school, seeking a guided process for that special year in between high school and whatever is next. Our community enjoyed a full weekend amongst the oaks, bays and redwoods, ate great food, shared deeply in Council, and connected ages 25 to 75 through words play and music and dance. We also hosted an all-day Diversity & Inclusion Training with our special guests, the Mosaic Project. Mosaic Project offers immersive, experiential education programs in diversity, empathy and conflict resolution. Thank you everyone for joining and bringing so much heart to our community, and special thanks to Leap Now and Mosaic! If you are SSP Staff, you can view the full post & MOSAIC online resources HERE.
Dear Stepping Stones Community, As a parent, family member, volunteer or friend of Stepping Stones, you know that SSP is both a program for youth, and a community for many. As such, when good or bad things happen, we want you to know about it. And sometimes we need to ask for your support. We are saddened to have to tell you that Danielle Gladd, our Executive Director for the past two years, has recently taken medical leave due to a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. Our community is deeply saddened. Her condition is worsening and treatment is difficult. The purpose of this letter is to update you as part of our community, regarding Danielle’s condition and what you may wish to do if you are called to help. Naturally, we’ve received questions from leaders, parents, and friends of SSP, and we want to answer them. Is there anything I can do to help? As you can imagine, Danielle has encountered significant expenses in health care. At this time, we encourage anyone who feels called to make a direct contribution (large or small) to help Danielle with these expenses via the website below. A donation of any size will be very appreciated and you will be able to send comments of support for Danielle on the website as well. Donate : https://www.youcaring.com/daniellegladd-799943 How is SSP moving forward? We want to assure you that we are coordinating a plan to move forward. Our Board has named Emily Frost, who has been working with Stepping Stones for the past 3.5 years, as our new Executive Director. Emily is very experienced with the elements of operation in Stepping Stones and will be working through the summer to guide staff and continue with important processes such as group starts, leader hiring, and many other critical items. We are confident in her ability to serve as a caring and effective ED in this transition. Other staff members (Madhavi, Shena, Laurie, and Laura) will be picking up some of the task areas as well. Meanwhile, the Board, along with key members across our organization, are initiating succession planning as appropriate. We have increased hours for staff to make sure that administratively we are meeting our many program tasks. We appreciate your patience during this time of transition. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns. SSP is a wonderful community of caring people engaging their skills and hearts to help youth in a challenging world, one we all share. We appreciate your care and concern during this time. Respectfully, Eric Poncelet Board President  |
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April 2019
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