SPRING HILLS FOUNDATION

Programs

1. The Art and Nature Retreat workshop series has been offered once a year starting in 2022. Participants come to Spring Hills Farm and experience immersion in the farm's natural surroundings while completing art in the medium of their choice in their own outdoor art studio. These four day retreats are funded in part by grants from the Lackawanna County Arts Alliance, by individual donations, and through participants tuition payments. The Board of Directors allocates less than 1% of time commitment to this retreat by applying for grants and providing administrative support. This workshop accounted for approximately 2% of the Foundation expenses in 2025 This program directly furthers our mission, as it provides art education inspired by the natural and working landscape at the Farm.

   $5,665 spent$3,980 earned by the program
   3% of program spending

2. All About Theatre is a week-long camp for both kids and separately, adults with disabilities. Facilitator Michaela Moore, M.F.A. and owner/operator of the All About Theatre Performing Arts School, conducts this workshop, with 2 assistants. (Michaela is also on the Foundation's Board of Directors.) Since 2021 this one-week camp has been held at Spring Hills Farm. Participants meet daily for 2 hours per day. The first day includes a tour of the farm, which provides inspiration for the remainder of the week. The participants write and act in a short theater production, which is performed on the last day of camp. This camp is funded in part from a grant provided by the Eureka Foundation, and from tuition payments made by participants based on a suggested amount. No participant is turned away for lack of payment. The Board of Directors and Programs Sub-Committee spent less than 5% of annual time on this program in 2025. This program is fully sustainable using grants from the Eureka Foundation and tuition payments. This program directly furthers our mission, by providing arts education to our community, inspired by the natural and working landscape.

   $3,472 spent$3,200 earned by the program
   2% of program spending

3. The Nature Journaling Workshop was established in 2025, this two day workshop held at the Spring Hills Farm, invites participants ages 14 and up to explore the Farm's stunning landscapes while engaging in a variety of hands-on activities designed to inspire greater creativity, promote personal and mental physical wellness, and foster a more profound connection with nature. The workshop is led by Tim Butler, an accomplished nature photographer, artist and educator. For the 2025 offering, additional instructors included Megan Wolfe, a certified forest bathing guide and retired science teacher, Olapeju Simoyan, MD, MPH and M. Eva Weicker, MD, MBA, specialists in wellness activities. The workshop emphasizes the art and science of nature journaling, providing a unique opportunity to learn the basics of observing, recording, and reflecting on your experiences in nature and incorporatingthis rewarding practice into everyday life. Activities include nature walks to explore diverse ecosystems, wellness activities designed to use nature immersion to improve well-being, sketching and painting sessions to capture the essence of nature through art, identification of common flora and fauna,…

   $5,700 spent$200 earned by the program
   3% of program spending

4. The United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania (UNC) is focused on meeting the needs of local families facing financial challenges, seniors, youth, and new immigrants while also empowering them to attain self-sufficiency. In 2025 the Spring Hills Foundation started a collaboration with UNC, to provide a week-long day camp for children ages 8 through 12 at the Spring Hills Farm. The camp combines hands-on sustainable learning with inspiring artistic activities, helping kids connect with the wild in meaningful ways. The program is facilitated by Megan Wolfe, a certified Forest Bathing Guide and retired elementary science teacher who has applied the hands-on methods of Maria Montessori and Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences for over 35 years, and Leanna Yatcilla, B.A. in Art with a minor in theatrical design. In the mornings, the children are led on science explorations in different environs on the Farm. These emphasize the importance of regeneration, with activities to explore farm and forest habitats, and how plants, animals, and people can work together to sustain life. Campers are encouraged to use their creativity to solve challenges, from designing…

   $2,663 spent
   1% of program spending

5. Francine Shore, a prominent painter and art instructor based in Philadelphia, has led adult artist workshops at the Spring Hills Farm for several years. Starting in 2025, this workshop is officially sponsored by the Spring Hills Foundation. Participants in the workshop are mainly from the Philadelphia area. As with the other adult artist workshops supported by the Foundation, artists experience an immersion into nature and the working landscape at the Farm which provides inspiration for their art. They typically paint in outdoor, open-air painting studios. In 2025 the Foundation helped with advertising and administrative support. Going forward we expect to be able to provide scholarships for some workshop participants. In 2025 the Board of Directors spent less than 1% of their time to support this workshop, and expenses were under 1% of total Foundation expenses. * This program directly furthers our mission, as it provides art education inspired by the natural and working landscape at the Farm. (2025 is not complete, so the percentage is an estimate.)

   $6,280 spent$9,803 earned by the program
   3% of program spending

6. The Greenhouse Project is a non-profit based in Scranton, PA, focused on educating children and adults about horticulture, holistic health and disease prevention. Starting in 2022, the Project has collaborated with the Spring Hills Foundation to host Nature Walks at the Spring Hills Farm. These Walks, geared towards older adults, typically occur in the Fall. They include a guided walk through various environs at the Farm that emphasizes environmental stewardship and sustainable farming practices, followed by a crafts session in which participants create decorative art from materials found on the Farm (e.g., colorful leaves, pine branches, pine cones). This program directly furthers our mission, as it provides education inspired by the natural and working landscape.

   $225 spent$450 earned by the program
   0% of program spending

7. For more than 2 decades the Norristown ARTS Building (NAB) has hosted multi-day workshops for adult artists each year at the Spring Hills Farm. Participants in the workshops are mainly from the Scranton and Philadelphia areas, but some come from other parts of the US and from abroad. Several of the participants are high-school teachers, who take some of their learnings back to their classrooms. During the workshops the artists experience an immersion into nature and the working landscape at the Farm, which provides inspiration for their art, and helps them in the process of creating art through a connection with their inner voices. The Foundation has been providing scholarship money for artists attending the NAB workshop since 2023, funded through grants provided by the Maslow Family Foundation and through individual donations.

   $4,250 spent
   2% of program spending

8. Spring Hills Farm Barn Building : The foundation sponsored the build of a new barn building. As an long term infrastructure project, the foundation is creating a physical education center at Spring Hills Farm to house the future programs. Spring Hills Farm is moving from thier current barn space into the new barn space, and an education center

   $153,946 spent
   84% of program spending

9. Spring Hills Farm Bee Habitat

   $300 spent
   0% of program spending

The 9 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $182,501.