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2022 was one of strong growth towards our programmatic goals. After a few quiet years due to the Covid pandemic, we are overjoyed that our work is expanding to include more people with neurological and intellectual differences (ID) across all of Soltane’s areas of operation, including: Soltane’s social enterprises (Soltane Café, Entwine, and Soltane Horticulture); Soltane Therapeutic Services, LLC, which provides clinical therapies, our popular Healthy Eating Club, Empowered Healing Immersions, and Trauma Doula Trainings; and our flourishing campus life at Kristina’s House, the Greenhouse Café, our Memorial Garden expansion, as well as in the Entwine textile design and Soltane Pottery studios, and in our many cultural enrichment offerings such as Bell Choir and our festival life. 

After two years of preparation we celebrated the grand opening of Soltane’s Memorial Garden; we’re so glad to be able to honor our dear departed friends and family in this way. We welcome people to come and walk the path, ring the bells, and enjoy the memorial garden and Greenhouse Café inside Kristina’s House; it’s open all year, warm and inviting! 

We’re excited about the growth of our social enterprises. Soltane Café, our fully integrated artisan coffee shop and bakery in downtown Phoenixville, now employs eight people with ID and is drawing significant attention from outside our local circles, with two separate television features on Philadelphia news stations! We’ve moved our art and craft work back to Soltane’s campus where it is truly thriving, including thirty people with ID in Soltane Pottery and fifteen people in Entwine. One individual now engaged in our pottery, who first came to Soltane through our Healthy Eating Club, is now an apprentice in the pottery and helping others learn the craft! Along with providing opportunities for meaningful and fulfilling work, our enterprises are a place to make friends; people look forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones in a safe place with supportive people around them.

Soltane Therapeutic Services, LLC, is up and running! We’re building relationships with practitioners and a range of agencies, going through steps to draw down public funding for individual and group therapies, with intentions to seek funding for other therapies not typically offered to people with ID that we stand by and see such good results from.

We are proud to share that we have brought our attention back to the development of self-advocacy in our region, through our active support of the Chester County chapter of Speaking for Ourselves (SFO) of which longtime Soltane community member, Thalia Dafermos, is the mentor. The chapter includes individuals with ID from home living situations, Parzival, Camphill Village Kimberton Hills, as well as various other agencies and residential supports settings. At SFO people with ID are supported to talk about key issues that affect them, and to advocate for the programs, legislation and care that affect their lives. Attendance at our regular meetings has grown; people light up when they see each other and a good time is had by all. 

In addition to the growth of Soltane’s impact this year, we have also welcomed several Camphill-related organizations to share our campus, including Camphill Foundation, Camphill Academy, and Karl König Institute, who have joined with Camphill Soltane, Parzival, and The Camphill School as valued members of our campus community. 

We hope you enjoy our virtual annual report which highlights many of these exciting aspects in more detail. As always, we are immensely grateful for your continued support of Camphill Soltane, without which this good work would not be possible. Thank you for being an essential part of this community.

Warmly,

The Sound of Soltane 

If you listen, there is a sound that lives in the heart of Chester County

The start of the orchestration begins in Iduna. Jessica softly snips recycled jeans across from Brian’s rattling loom as he weaves a prussian blue fabric. Around the corner, the spinning pottery wheel is surrounded by subtle cheerful chatter between Tommy and Tevaki while cups, bowls, and a quirky cactus sit silently air drying on the shelf. A familiar tune can be heard flowing through the halls upstairs as Kathleen plays a piano duet with her teacher, Elsbeth. In the afternoon, Nantmel Farmhouse holds laughter and conversation as a ceramic bowl of chocolate is pushed around the table while the Leadership Team meets to plan for the days ahead. Outside, Pippin the goat tolerates the frenzy of crowing from his feathered friends while he drinks the fresh water put out for him by Michael. Kristina’s House is filled with soft background music and the hum of the espresso machine as Kathryn serves coffee in the Greenhouse Café. A few feet away, Helen gently waters the lemon trees in the sun-filled greenhouse. At Curvenal, Emily greets everyone in the office with an outpouring of joy as she does the mail run. In the evening, the clinking of dishes, chopping of fresh vegetables, singing, and laughter can be heard coming from Iduna kitchen as members of the Healthy Eating Club gather to create a beautiful meal together. Pleasant stillness and a restful calm fill the open spaces. There is no hurry to our song. No rush of the world pressing in to accomplish and achieve. Just a steady rhythm of purpose through meaningful working and creativity. Together, we are a symphony of artistic expression as we work together, discover our strengths, and celebrate our differences. This is the sound of Soltane. 

There are so many exciting ways that we are continuing to write our community song. We are pleased to announce that the arts have returned to our beautiful campus this year and our textile and ceramic studios are at capacity. Additionally, our artists are currently expanding their eco-friendly efforts by collecting donations of used denim to recycle into handcrafted rugs. In 2023, more colorful artistry will come to life on our campus with the return of mosaics and stained glass. We are also excited to share that Soltane Café, our local Phoenixville coffee shop and bakery, will undergo extensive renovations to update the space and improve customer experience. Soltane Horticulture has also had a big year with the reimagination of Kristina’s House. It is now filled with gorgeous foliage, bubbling water fountains, welcoming seating, and the Greenhouse Café. The menu offers delicious coffee, hot chocolate, kombucha, and lemonade. We look forward to offering fresh pastries on the menu in the new year! Outside the greenhouse, our healing Memorial Garden has been completed with a walking path that winds around thoughtful seating, soft landscaping, and outdoor bells that chime in the breeze in memory of loved ones who have gone before us. Soltane Horticulture is also anticipating the addition of baby goats to our loveable group of barnyard companions, cared for by our animal husbandry program. And finally, we are ending 2022 on a high note celebrating the launch of Soltane Therapeutic Services, LLC, which provides clinical supports for those healing from trauma including individual therapies for the whole body and mind.

Our anthem for the coming year will be one to celebrate Soltane. As we commemorate our 35th anniversary in 2023, we reminisce on the history of our rich culture and the community members, friends, families, volunteers, and donors who have carried us along the way. We know that our mission will resonate for years to come as one voice with the sweet sound of inner harmony cultivated through learning, creating, and healing for people of all abilities.

—Allison-Rose Cisik, Development Coordinator

Meet Our Development Team

Hello from the newest members of Camphill Soltane!

We would like to introduce ourselves: Kimberly Reinard-Immersi, Director of Development, with an extensive background in fundraising and event planning, and Allison-Rose, Development Coordinator, who has held multiple creative roles at The Camphill School for almost ten years. Our office is located on Soltane’s campus in Curvenal, and the highlight of our week is when Nick, Brian G, and Emily stop in on their mail run to warmly greet us and visit the candy dish on their way out the door. We are excited to jump into the work at Soltane and are committed to building meaningful relationships with our board members, volunteers, and generous donors.

Looking ahead to 2023, for the first time in the history of our organization, our 19th annual wine and fine dining event will be held off campus at a historic local venue. We are pleased to invite you to “An Evening At Loch Aerie: A Premiere Live Wine Auction & Fine Dining Experience,” on April 22nd, 2023, at the elegant Loch Aerie Mansion in Malvern, PA. The evening will kick off with champagne and the always highly anticipated decadent oyster bar, followed by a gourmet dinner with wine pairings selected by our honorary vintner, Tom Gamble of Gamble Family Vineyards, a live wine auction featuring Napa Valley and Oregon wines, and live music! Each year this event raises crucial funding for Soltane to support our mission in providing opportunities for education, healing, and meaningful work for individuals with intellectual differences. We are expecting a large attendance and tickets will be limited so please, save the date, invite a fellow wine connoisseur, and raise a glass to support the mission of Soltane! 

With gratitude,

Kimberly Reinard-Immersi & Allison-Rose

Celebrating our Memorial Garden

A Place of Healing, Peace, & Remembrance

The opening celebration of our Memorial Garden took place on a sunny Saturday in early September of this year. This project has been a long time coming! I remember sitting outside of Kristina’s House (our greenhouse and horticultural center) back in March of 2021. Although the permeating uncertainties and stillness that Covid invoked were still lingering, the space felt ready for growth and intention. Through a generous gift from the Benzon family, we were able to hire SALT Design Studio to help us reimagine the greenhouse, and expand our memorial garden formerly known as Jacob’s Garden. Amidst each phase of this project, we prioritized the employment of local businesses and artisans to bring our dream to life. Camphill Soltane and SALT hosted various forums to creatively compile the wishes of the Soltane community fittingly for the space. We envisioned a space that was both expansive and light-filled, as well as cozy and intimate. A space that was full of life and growth, as well as quiet and contemplative. A place that friends could meet and connect with one another, and also where solitude could be respected.

The plans for our Memorial Garden expansion were drawn up to include a recycled rubber walking loop framing a native pollinator garden, large boulders unearthed from our land, curved wooden benches, and stunning, handmade ceramic bells to sound in the breeze. The path leads to the large doors of Kristina’s House, now home to our lush tropical plants. In Kristina’s House, you can find seating nestled between large bird of paradise plants, enjoy the ambient sound of the flow form fountain, and smell the blossoming orchids and citrus flowers. To remain true to the original intention, gorgeous murals were painted on the greenhouse walls by a local artist, and the hanging bamboo panels from a women-owned woodworking company nearby. 

On any given day, you will find volunteers and supported employees with intellectual differences (ID) caring for our gardens. The Memorial Garden project serves many purposes, one of which is the creation of paid employment and training opportunities in horticulture for individuals with ID. A few mornings a week, our new coffee shop, the Greenhouse Café, invites the community and neighbors to enjoy the space and visit our campus and provides a place for baristas-in-training to gain invaluable experience in serving the public in a slow-paced setting. The space provides inspiration for spontaneous music gatherings, a place to play boardgames, and an environment to have healing conversations and fulfilling connections with friends. 

Working with this project has deepened my respect for all that has come before my time here at Camphill Soltane. Many of the souls remembered in the garden are those that I have never met in person. Through boxes of photos, countless shared conversations, and a willingness to hold space for those that have passed, I feel in some small way I have met the people that have been a part of this community and have now passed on. I am encouraged to witness how this space continues to evolve while still staying steadfast to its healing roots of remembrance and contemplation.

—Alyssa Scarborough, Land Planning & Protection Director

Soltane Therapeutic Services, LLC

Providing healing and training for people with intellectual differences & Their supporters

People who are marginalized, including people with intellectual differences (ID), are often disadvantaged when it comes to having the most promising practices for health and healing. Typically, professionals will look at clients with ID in terms of behavior management, without looking for the root cause of the behavior, which could truly help heal the person, in body and mind. At Soltane Therapeutic Services, LLC, our clinicians take tried and true practices that are being used amongst the more privileged population and apply them to people with neurodiversity. This includes the cutting-edge trauma informed approach, which includes the exploration of how our bodies and brains are changed due to trauma. Trauma can cause behavioral issues including rage, self-isolation, distrust in others, risk-taking or risk-aversion, not being able to blossom in life, and much more. We’re offering people with ID an opportunity to experience some of these healing interactions such as eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), somatic healing strategies, healthy eating, understanding what happens when we’re traumatized, and learning ways to calm the nervous system so we have more access to our thinking brain and not just our reacting brain. We do this through various healing modalities that help sooth us, make us feel valuable, productive, and excited to be in relationship with others. After the Covid pandemic, we know better than ever how important these tools are for mental health. We’re seeing a great increase in anxiety in every population because people’s lives have been so disrupted, pulled away from their work, learning, cultural, and social communities. 

In our Trauma Doula training program we’re helping people with and without ID to support others to learn ways to heal trauma and create enjoyable everyday lives. We’ve found that if a person receiving therapy has a homelife that isn’t conducive to healing, we can do the best therapy in the world and it doesn’t make a difference. Our goal with the Trauma Doula program is to help people and their supporters, no matter where they live, to be successful in their work as trauma healers. We are working with practitioners in our local network to see how we can support and reach more people. 

Unfortunately, much of the kind of work we’re doing at Soltane Therapeutic Services, LLC, is not funded by conventional funding sources, so we are dependent on the generosity of our donors to give people with ID these opportunities to break the behavioral cycles that trauma has launched them into. Most challenging behaviors are in some way related to trauma, and not caused by an intellectual disability in and of itself. We offer help with various therapies and we’ve had some exciting results using these approaches.

We’ve been giving talks for different organizations, parent groups, and family networks: Pennsylvania invited us to do a series of trainings for families, during which we trained over 100 families from across the state. The first year of our Trauma Doula program trained eight people, and thirty people participated in our Empowered Healing Immersion. We’re seeing eight individuals privately for clinical services, in addition to families and caregivers receiving private therapy. We now have a waiting list and are trying to outreach more like-minded practitioners, some of whom Soltane’s Director of Healing Focused Services, Joey Shannon, and I have trained in our university programs. 

The wider Camphill community has been very supportive of this new path and we’ve provided lectures and consultations for staff from Camphill Academy, Heartbeet Lifesharing, The Camphill School, and Camphill Village Kimberton Hills. We have found that people are very eager to grapple with this material because they are directly experiencing the need in their own communities–they don’t like watching staff and volunteers burn out, or having to discharge residents with ID because of overwhelming behaviors. Participants have indicated that learning about alternatives has been exciting. More and more, people with ID who are referred to us are people who are harder to support because their behaviors are so challenging. We see ourselves as helping to perpetuate traditional Camphill community settings by helping staff to learn new methods of support, which will help them to go the distance with people and feel more successful. 

Our Healthy Eating Club came directly from Soltane’s Empowered Healing Immersion. The huge excitement around cooking and eating together led us to create an extension of that experience as a biweekly club. Part of what we teach is that to have a healthy brain, you have to have a healthy gut, and this mind/body health is essential to develop new neural-connections, which will help us break out of our trauma cycles and live healthier, happier lives. This isn’t possible without the building blocks, such as serotonin, which are made in the gut. Contemporary neurologists say that we need to eat thirty different fruits and vegetables every week! In the Empowered Healing Immersions we cook together two meals a day. We counted the fruits and vegetables we included and we came up with forty-three over three days! Along with this important learning, Healthy Eating Club is about cooking and enjoying food together. We find people’s relationships are getting better; they’re not as volatile with each other, and they are growing new friendships. The fifteen people in our club taste things we don’t usually get to taste, and unlearn the negative mystique about “health food.” We’re excited to see how Soltane’s Healthy Eating Club will continue to grow in the year to come!

—Beth Barol, Executive Director

Donors

Reflecting Fiscal Year 7/1/2021 – 6/30/2022

$10,000 – $19,999

Patron

William Kronenberg

Carol Levin

James Norris

Mark and Linda Stull

The Arthur Loeb Foundation

Crosby Wood

$5,000 – $9,999

Builder

Francis Kinniry

Janet Smith

The Benevity Community Impact Fund

Ronald Viera

$2,500 – $4,999

Benefactor

Anonymous

Michael Dinda

Troy Hamilton

Paul Jakubowski

Samuel Morris, Esq.

John Philips

Terry Scullin

$1,000 – $2,499

CHAMPION

Greg Ambrose

We make every effort to ensure the accuracy of our records. However, if you find an error, omission, or misspelling, please contact Allison-Rose Cisik at arcisik@camphillsoltane.org.