Join your Barn friends for a frightfully festive
Halloween Hoe Down
in support of The Barn’s life-enriching programs for children with disabilities!
The evening will feature a devilishly delicious dinner, bewitching beverages, enchanting entertainment, and a spooktacular silent auction!
Come as you are or as who you’d like to be – costumes encouraged, but are optional.
See below for tickets and sponsorship information.
Your tax-deductible donation to The Barn is always appreciated – CLICK HERE to donate towards the 2023 Halloween Hoe Down!
ALL SPONSORSHIPS INCLUDE:
• Your name or logo in the Hoe Down program
• Your name or logo on The Barn’s website
• The great feeling of knowing you helped make a difference in the lives of children with disabilities!
• The opportunity to mix and mingle with 149 other like-minded guests!
Platinum Sponsorship $10,000
All benefits described above in orange PLUS
• Admission and reserved seating for 10 guests (including yourself)
• Name or logo on event signage
• Full page ad in the event program (8.5″ x 5.5″ vertical)
• Link from our website to yours
Gold Sponsorship $5,000
All benefits described above in orange PLUS
• Admission for 8 guests (including yourself)
• Name or logo on event signage
• 1/2 page ad in the event program (4″ x 5.5″ horizontal)
• Link from our website to yours
Silver Sponsorship $2,500
All benefits described above in orange PLUS
• Admission for 6 guests (including yourself)
• Name or logo on event signage
• 1/4 page ad in the event program (2″ x 2.75″ vertical)
Bronze Sponsorship $1,000
All benefits described above in orange PLUS
• Admission for 4 guests (including yourself)
Friend of The Barn Sponsorship $500
All benefits described above in orange PLUS
• Admission for 2 guests (including yourself)
The Barn at Spring Brook Farm invites you to Autumn Fest, a fun activity-based socialization event for children with disabilities and their families.
Autumn Fest will take place on Saturday, November 4th from 12 to 3pm right here at The Barn! A minimum donation of $5 per child is GREATLY appreciated. To make a tax-deductible donation, click here.
We are looking for volunteers to help with set up, parking, crafts, activities, and clean up. If you are available and interested in volunteering, email us at volunteer@springbrook-farm.
The Barn at Spring Brook Farm invites you to Pancake Palooza, a fun activity-based socialization event for children with disabilities and their families.
Pancake Palooza will take place on Saturday, December 2nd from 9am to 12noon at Northbrook Marketplace in West Chester, PA! Interested attendees must RSVP and provide a minimum donation of $5 per child. To RSVP, click here. To make a tax-deductible donation, click here.
We are looking for volunteers to help with set up, parking, crafts, activities, and clean up. If you are available and interested in volunteering, email us at volunteer@springbrook-farm.
The Barn’s 2022 Annual Appeal Letter
At the start of the new year, The Barn welcomed 5 new friends! Beezus, Ramona, Thyme, Echo and Bay are part of a 3-generation Nubian goat family from Point Lookout Garden and Farm Life, a non-profit located in Wilmington, DE. Point Lookout Garden and Farm Life started in 2009 by the late Phyllis Wyeth, and has focused over the years in providing a green space, organic vegetables and an educational experience surrounding animal husbandry to youth, including the Boys and Girls Clubs of Delaware. We are so excited to have these cuties as part of The Barn at Spring Brook Farm’s programs this year. Be sure to say hi to the crew the next time you visit!
Pictured from left to right: Echo, Thyme, Beezus, Ramona and Bay
Pictured from left to right: Ramona, Bay (mom and son), and Thyme (cousins with Bay)
Thyme being silly and sticking out his tongue!
Here is Echo, who looks almost identical to her mom Beezus (below)
Board President, Sharon Cichocki, and Executive Director, Nan Latona, are joined by assorted vegetables from West Chester University of PA on March 28th at the Sweet Charity fundraiser benefiting the Chester County Community Foundation.
What a gift! The Barn at Spring Brook Farm has been awarded a $20,000 grant through Volpe Koenig firm’s 15th Annual IPromise Charitable Giving Fund competition!
“All at The Barn at Spring Brook Farm are extremely appreciative to have been selected as the 2022 IPromise Charitable Giving Fund winner in the Education and Research category,” said Nan Latona, Executive Director. “Thank you, Volpe Koenig, for recognizing the impact of animal-assisted and nature-based activities on the lives of children with disabilities in such a meaningful way.”
We are so very honored to have been selected for this grant and are forever grateful to those who see the value of our work here at The Barn! Thanks Volpe Koenig!
To learn more, visit here.
Thank you to our friends at The Crane Fund for Widows and Children and CPI for their generous support! It took three of us to lift the giant check!
L to R: Raichel Barzilay, Program Manager; Chris Guldin, Facilities Manager; Nan Latona, Executive Director.
Dear Friends,
I hope this email finds you and your family safe and well. All of us at The Barn have been very busy the last three months reconfiguring our programs, developing comprehensive protocols to keep our children, families, volunteers and staff safe, and planning for the future amid vast uncertainly. Who could have imagined the degree to which the world has changed in the last three months?!
I’m writing today to let you know more in detail how we have responded and continue to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, especially now that we’ve entered the “green” phase.
As you’re probably aware, The Barn suspended its Individual Programs and Camp Geronimo. Our annual Spring Fundraiser was held virtually, and staff have been primarily working from home with the exception of Mr. Chris, our Facilities Manager.
We are currently running several no-cost virtual programs that are open to anyone who wishes to participate:
- Spring Brook Spotlight covers interesting Barn and farm topics, the animals and our neighbors. (Tuesdays at 11am via Facebook or Facebook Live)
- Zoom with the Animals is a live video exchange where each week a different animal is featured with little games (Thursdays at 11am via Zoom)
- Story Time with the Barn features a different Barn staff member each week reading a nature or animal themed story (Fridays at 1:00pm via Facebook Live)
- Our annual Summer Splash socialization event scheduled for July 11 will be delivered via Zoom.
This Monday, June 29, we will finally be welcoming children back to The Barn! Family Barn Visits are currently open only to our already-engaged families, but we anticipate enrolling new families in this program very soon. Each day one child/household unit under the direct supervision of at least one adult household member will be coached (from a safe distance of 6′) to participate in animal-assisted and outdoor activities.
We are also piloting a virtual Special Summer Session the week of August 3. This program will be limited to 16 children and delivered daily via Zoom so they can see and interact with each other. Each day will feature different activities such as games, music therapy, animal yoga, dance and crafts. Participating children will receive an activity box filled with everything they need to engage in the week’s activities.
(It is possible that Family Barn Visits and Special Sessions will be repeated into the fall provided social distancing restrictions are still in place.)
Save the date for our annual Hoe Down: Saturday, October, 17! This significant fundraising event will look a bit different this year, but be prepared for lots of (safe) fun, festivity and surprises! More information about the Hoe Down is coming soon!
We couldn’t have accomplished all that we did in such a short period of time without the help of several Temple University occupational therapy students assisting with our programs, as well as the diligence of University of Pennsylvania nurse practitioner students who worked tirelessly to create our comprehensive Communicable Disease Policy for Staff, Volunteers, and Participants which is serving as our primary reference resource to aid us in navigating our work at The Barn. (Please note: the link to our policy was recently removed due to ongoing recommendations for best practices requiring our need to continually make updates. Please contact me if you would like the most up-to-date information about The Barn’s Communicable Disease Policy for Staff, Volunteers, and Participants at [email protected].)
Our detailed protocols include:
- Increased cleaning and sanitization of our facility
- Requirement that masks must be worn at all times by staff and visitors
- Social distancing will be practiced in all areas of The Barn
- Required daily health screenings for staff and visitors
Moving forward, we will continue to monitor the guidelines and recommendations from the CDC, the Governor’s office, the Chester County Health Department, and other local and national experts and modify our programs and operations as needed to remain as safe as possible.
We look forward to growing the level of connection that makes our Barn community so special. Your encouragement, support, and patience are so appreciated at this time and we truly hope to see you soon!
With warmest regards,
Nan Latona
Dear Friends,
We are facing a truly unprecedented situation. The global coronavirus pandemic is affecting our families, our businesses, our communities and our way of life. During this time, I wanted to reach out and update you on how we’re dealing with this situation at The Barn.
First and foremost, our hearts go out to anyone who’s been impacted by the virus, either directly or indirectly. All of us at The Barn are focused on the health and safety of the children we serve and their families, as well as our animals, staff, volunteers and supporters- not to mention the community at-large.
Mr. Chris continues to come to work at The Barn daily to feed and tend to the animals, assisted by barn helpers Kathy and Alexa who help out on Mr. Chris’s off days. Miss Annie and I are busy working from home; however, we dearly miss the activity of our animals, volunteers and children.
At this time we have suspended our Individual Programs until further notice. Like you, we are tuned-in to the latest updates from our regional, state and national experts, which seem to change by the hour. For this reason we are unable to predict a date when we expect to resume business as usual. We recently made the tough decision to cancel our Spring Fling on April 4 and, although we are full steam ahead with preparations for this summer’s Camp Geronimo, we realize that we must remain flexible depending upon what the future brings.
To keep you and your family connected to life at The Barn, Mr. Chris will be regularly posting images and videos of our critters, so be sure to check Facebook regularly. We will also be live streaming our Baby-doll sheep – Sam and Samantha – as they get their spring haircuts! Again, we’ll be sure to announce this on Facebook ahead of time so you can tune in to watch.
Today reminds us that we’re all connected like never before. We’re called upon to be our best selves, with patience, understanding and compassion. All of us at The Barn are persevering right along with you at this challenging time. We’ll get through this together.
As we go forward, we’ll be sure to keep you updated, and know that we always value your questions, ideas and feedback.
Stay safe and well,
Nan Latona
Executive Director