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Joel Solomon
Board of President of Hollyhock Retreat Centre
Something shifted in me as a 14-year-old when "the whole world
was watching" protests televised from outside the 1968 Chicago Democratic
Convention. I wept seeing the police beating kids, while the power
men inside cut deals.
By 1981, living with the orcas as caretaker, gardener, and lab assistant
at the Spong’s research facility in the Johnstone Strait near Alert
Bay, the power animals (spirit guides) won my soul. Paul Spong,
who has devoted much of his life to saving whales, wizarded me further
out of the norm.
He and they, helped me remember to look beyond the human realm for
wisdom and guidance.
My 1983 return to Cortes Island to partner as a steward of Hollyhock,
sealed my intention to work to bring business and my family legacy,
back towards harmony with community and nature. Hollyhock founders
Rex Weyler, Shivon Robinsong, and their cohorts helped me to open
my heart and expand my family. I took money inherited from shopping
malls and put it into community and natural foods businesses. I
joined networks where I could learn about providing grants to social
change organizations.
In the nineties I met, my current business partner, Carol Newell
and we cooked up the work which inspires and defines me today.
Awakening and activating dormant and distracted capital towards
investment in positive societal futures infuses the concept of Renewal
Partners Company and the Endswell Foundation. Renewal Partners Company
makes investments in conservation economy early stage businesses,
mostly in British Columbia. The Endswell Foundation supports charitable
organizations working towards a BC environmental movement.
As madmen rule the superpower I once called home, I am moved to
dig ever deeper into the soil of myself. It’s time to find powerful
change agents, within ourselves and each other, which can stop looking
global disasters.
BC is one of our best chances for balance. Canada is one of our
best chances for peace. We each have the rest of our lives to make
a contribution. Let’s get on with it. Let’s celebrate, keep learning,
and love as much as we can while we do it.
The Hollyhock Centre web site can be found at www.hollyhock.bc.ca.
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