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July 18, 2012

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Image Dear Friend of the ACO:

As this child reminds us, spring and summer are times of delight, of flowers and all kinds of blooming. Summer is now upon us -- a time for productivity and growth. But the summer could not happen without the renewal of spring. And what a spring we had here in New Jersey and at the ACO!

Spring. A time of birth and rebirth as dormant life springs again from the earth in preparation for the productive period of summer. Spring is a time to get rid of the old to make way for the new. Birds build nests and mating rituals are in evidence. The young of many species hatch or are born, and spend the summer growing and gaining the strength that will allow them to survive the winter.

And even though most of the country experienced a relatively mild winter this past year, spring always brings with it a sense of renewal and beginnings.

Another sign of fresh life and renewal: flowers that move and delight us so deeply, yet they actually evolved as nothing more than decorations to attract the attention of bees and other insects that are essential for pollination and the sexual reproduction of plants.

What we might call the superficial flower is essential, however, for the deepest function in biology, and is at the core of the creation function in nature that was first discovered and described scientifically by Wilhelm Reich, M.D.. Basic creation occurs with the energetic superimposition of two energy systems, like the sperm and egg that fuse and begin the development of a new, fresh, miraculous baby.

Thank You for Your Support
In my 2011 holiday appeal I asked for your help to continue our core function: making the world a better place for the future of humanity by supporting the health in the children of the future. We must continually remember that babies and the creativity they embody are the hope for the future, a future that we must keep alive in all of the details of the work that we do at the College.

I also spelled out the vital necessity of a home for orgonomy where this work can be safe and nurtured, and where we can be comfortable and even proud to bring family, friends and colleagues to learn about it. Your reaction was overwhelmingly positive. Even in the face of difficult economic times in the world, you, our friends of the ACO, came through with the most generous response we have ever had in all my years with the College.

I am more pleased and appreciative than I could ever put into words that we truly touched a nerve in you. As a result of that letter, we raised over $70,000, of which $30,000 was specifically designated for our new initiative to improve our property to both make a safe home for orgonomy and to attract new blood to what we are doing.

Through your generosity we can breathe easier this year and know that we will not need to further deplete our accounts just to keep our operations going. Unfortunately, this does not mean we are “out of the woods” financially. We will be self-sustaining only when we have sufficient income from tuition and new activities to cover our expenses. As I have often stated, our financial goal is to cover our expenses with ongoing income from activities and publications, and to cover the development of new activities and new initiatives with donations from friends such as you.

I am particularly encouraged by the fact that you responded to the holiday appeal by supporting both our general fund and our property improvement fund. Your support of our general fund “keeps the lights on” to continue our ongoing core operations of training, publication, public education and research. Your significant response to our new initiative to improve our home and property has already permitted us to make significant progress on our Property Improvement Project (PIP). This new initiative is vitally important to attract new people to current and new activities.

Contact with the Public
In my last report I reiterated that in order to survive and carry the invaluable knowledge of orgonomy and its practical applications into the future, we must attract new people to train and carry on the work. As I explained, the public we are looking to make contact with is not the “general public” but the group of people who already have that sense we talk about, of believing life can be more fulfilling.

Attraction and promotion are two key functions related to making contact with any element of the public. From their word roots, attract means to pull or draw towards, while promote -- indicating something more active -- means to move in front of or move forward. We must do both to make contact with more people. I believe, however, that the first thing is to improve our ability to attract people. Having an attractive home that will draw people is essential so that we can maintain excitement with them and not put them off as we exert the effort to actively promote our work.

We have made some remarkable accomplishments this year in the improvement of our home property but before outlining those I want to describe some good news and hopeful signs indicating that we are already attracting new people to our core programs this year.

Good News and Hopeful Signs
In my report last December I outlined our plan to bring our activities, including our public presentations, “back home” since up to that time generally three out of four of those a year would continue to fit in our headquarters presentation room. Ironically, the good news is that in the meantime, all four of our presentations in the past year between October 2011, and June 2012 have been so well attended they had audiences exceeding the 50 we could accommodate at “home.” At these presentations we had more new people who gave contact information, and additional attendees who were invited by friends. Our plan at this time is to continue to hold these larger four-times-a-year, social orgonomy public presentations off campus in downtown Princeton while we develop new activities and events to be held at the ACO property.

We have talked for years and wracked our brains about how to attract young people -- those in their teens, 20s and 30s -- to our activities. The audience survey about fathers that I conducted at our recent June social orgonomy presentation had the unintended benefit of anonymously revealing the decade of birth of all of the audience members. The largest number of participants was born in the 1950s; they are now in their 50s and early 60s. There was then declining participation into the birth decade of the 1970s (30s and early 40s). Encouragingly, however, this was followed by a somewhat larger number in the birth decade of the 1980s (20s and early 30s). This is the core age of the target group we want to reach. [See audience survey on the ACO website Public Eye page, Fathers Follow Up.]

Though the numbers of this younger generation coming to our public talks are not large, they are certainly encouraging.

And in that vein, I invite you to join us and bring friends, family and colleagues to our next presentation on October 6, 2012. David Holbrook, M.D., a board-certified psychiatrist and clinical associate of the ACO, is making his debut as a speaker for our social orgonomy series. He will call on his experience as both a professional actor and as a medical orgonomist to speak on the compelling topic of non-verbal communication in, “Emotions Speak Louder Than Words.”

I am also excited to inform you that we have made great progress in evaluating applicants for both the medical and the social orgonomy training programs and are on track for an October, 2012, start date for a fully-enrolled, new session of the didactic seminar, the three-year basic introductory course for both the medical and social orgonomy programs.

The same trend in age of participants that we saw in our public presentation audience is also evident in our training programs. The youngest person among the current medical orgonomists in our continuing education program is in her early 50s. We desperately need new candidates for training in medical orgonomy. Our one candidate who meets the qualifications and recently applied is in his late 20s. In addition, a recent college graduate in his early 20s who moved to New Jersey for medical school has also expressed interest in our training program. While a small beginning, these two young people truly represent a new generation interested in working in medical orgonomy.

Interest in our social orgonomy training program has been very active. We have accepted five very strong candidates and have interviews scheduled for four more in August. These applicants represent a broad range of backgrounds and interests: real estate, corporate finance, elementary school education, rehabilitation and assisted care facilities management, art therapy, individual licensed therapy, law, a community therapist and a foreign language specialist interested in pursuing a career in art museum management. From the very inception of the social orgonomy training program, we have had in mind that we want to look for candidates from precisely such a wide variety of disciplines who will develop social orgonomy in a creative way by “cross pollination” with their own disciplines.

Among our social orgonomy trainees we also see the same age trend as with the medical trainees. All of the social orgonomy graduates from our last didactic course are in their 50s and 60s. The group for the upcoming course is also predominantly composed of people in their 50s and 60s but encouragingly we also have two candidates in their 20s.

What happened to the orgonomic “lost generation” of those in their 30s and 40s? Perhaps there are no easy answers. And I don’t know why the apparent new trend has occurred, but I do feel encouraged that we are making contact with a new generation in their 20s and 30s.

In June 2012 the ACO also saw a sudden increase in inquiries about medical orgone therapy and requests for referrals to medical orgonomists (mostly by e-mail but some by phone). In the month of June 2012 alone there were 14 such inquires compared, to only six for the entire first five months of 2012. These figures also are in contrast to last year when there were 27 for the entire year of 2011 with only three in June 2011. It is not clear where this new interest came from but we know it was geographically widespread with queries coming from: Vancouver, Texas, Toronto, Ohio, California, Virginia, Florida, Michigan, Illinois, New Jersey, Germany and New York City.

We do know that a significant portion of those people who have pursued orgonomy on a deeper level and then participate in our events, our training programs and/or become supporters of the ACO, have done so after experiencing relief from therapy and finding deeper satisfaction in their lives. Any increase in awareness or interest in therapy, therefore, is an important sign of our improving contact with the public we want to reach.

An Amazing Spring Cleaning at the ACO
I said it has been a remarkable spring for the ACO, because in addition to these hopeful signs in attracting new people, we have completed an incredible amount toward improving our property since my holiday letter to you. The ACO undertook, and in a few short months accomplished the most extensive spring-cleaning of our home that we have ever seen. We are now coming into summer when we will continue that work and hope to harvest the benefits of that project.

The previous owners used the property as a farm and since we bought it in 1986, the original out buildings of the farm gradually deteriorated. For years as we struggled with budgetary shortfalls we did not feel the buildings were of high enough quality to put money into maintaining them, especially without specific usefulness to us.

As a result we put aside those and other nonessential expenses related to maintaining the grounds and property of our physical headquarters when we felt we needed the money to support our more important core functions. We are now at a point in our development when we have had to reevaluate how “non-essential” such expenses are: and now we must invest in improving our property. For many reasons outlined in December and described below we cannot afford not to maintain and improve our appearance.

Our Image Is Important
I think many deep thinkers who have passion and intensity about their work, as I believe is true of everyone connected with the College, often do not pay a lot of attention to “image.” I also believe that in some ways in the past, the depth and value of the orgonomic knowledge that we deal with on a regular basis may have caused us to think that a focus on appearance and image was somehow “superficial” and less significant than the core work we are doing. “Image” and “façade” have also gotten bad names because people have so often hidden behind false images and facades to cover unhealthy, destructive or manipulative actions and motives.

Years ago I heard an interviewer comment about a statement by a rock star he was interviewing, “Isn’t that rather superficial?” The star responded, “Deep down we are all basically superficial.” I found his glib, off-the-cuff remark humorous but it stayed with me because I have often been struck by how profoundly true it is in a much deeper way than I am sure he intended.

“Superficial” refers to the surface. We could not have depth without a surface. The surface of an organism is where the energy moves in pleasure and love. We become suffused with pleasure. The surface of the skin is where the erogenous zones and sexual organs are. Does the position of these organs on the surface make them “superficial” or any less significant than the organs in the core of the organism that generate the energy experienced on the surface? Likewise, the surface of an organization is what meets the world and allows for satisfying discharge of work energy into the world. The surface appearance, the façade of an organization, is its image. To be a healthy organization our façade, our surface, must not only be able to meet the world but must directly reflect our nature, our healthy core function, a description that I much prefer to the traditional, more superficial and even religious sounding concept of a “mission.” All that we do must in turn be expressed through our character, an organizational culture in harmony with our core function and commensurate with its significance and quality. When we are whole in this way we have integrity and all of our parts are unified and working together in expressing our work function in the world.

Yes, the appearance of things may be superficial but as I’ve just explained, appearance is profoundly important, as it is with the flower. And as we said, the superficial flower is essential to the deepest function in biology and one of the deepest functions in nature. Likewise, without an attractive image an organization is blocked or even crippled in its ability to reach out and enjoy contact and have intercourse with the world.

At the ACO we want our image to directly reflect the depth, quality and significance of our work. The irony is that I believe we have had a false image, not a destructive or manipulative one that hides something untoward, but one that has hidden the true quality of our work, which is far better than the way we have appeared. We must change this to better connect with the people who will benefit from the work and also those who will continue this work. We are very much focused on our new initiative to improve our property, but our image extends to all of the ways we make contact with the world including our website, our publications and all aspects of our public events.

The Feeling of Home
I hope I conveyed in my letter last December the depth of feeling I have for our having a property that we can call our home. I am so pleased that we are bringing it back to a level of care that it and the College deserves. I feel a heaviness lifted from the property. I also feel the lifting of a burden of sadness about having had to neglect the property for so many years. Every time I come to the College now I feel an openness about the property and a cleanness in the atmosphere, along with excitement about the many possibilities that this new look will open for us. It has been very gratifying every month to see a similar reaction from our monthly seminar members as well as many others who have come to the property. I cannot wait for you to come to the property to also see and feel this change.

The renewed appeal of being on the property has brought back fond memories of what it was like after we first bought it in the late 1980s. At that time my young daughter often asked, “Can we go to the College and watch the bunnies?” And we would come and watch them cavort around the back yard in the late afternoon sun. The bunnies are still here and we can again see them now that the undergrowth has been cleared.

Our Property Improvement Project (PIP)
In my 2011 holiday report and appeal I emphasized our need for a “home for orgonomy” and introduced our Property Improvement Project (PIP). You can read the details of our thinking by finding a copy of that report on the “Support the ACO” page of our website.

We have accomplished a remarkable amount in the past six months since that report.

So where are we with the plans for our home? Many aspects of what we need to do and how we need to do it have fallen into place as we make progress.

The project itself has quite spontaneously differentiated into two natural phases: Phase I is about the “removal of detractors.” Phase II is about the “addition of attractors, i.e., new improvements.”

We have completed a great deal of Phase I, of removing detractors. This work has included the removal of five unsightly and potentially dangerous outbuildings, the removal of dead trees, stumps, brush and other debris from the lawn and backyard, removal of a derelict swimming pool that had become a breeding ground for mosquitoes with its deck overgrown with poison ivy. We also installed a new concrete wellhead cover to replace the crumbling and potentially dangerous one that was on the hand-dug well of the original farm situated right by the entrance to our building.

As we proceed more fully into Phase II it is far more open-ended, with the possibilities for investing in improvements practically unlimited. Simultaneously with Phase I we have been researching aspects of what has to be accomplished so that we can proceed with Phase II in the right way. Some of the work that still needs to be done includes a down-to-the-subsurface refurbishing of the driveway and parking area, much needed drainage, improving and beautifying the property, creating usable outdoor spaces and updating the main building façade.

We have known for decades that our property becomes soggy and largely unusable for most of the year from late fall to late spring. In the wet seasons it is possible, although difficult, to walk on the spongy somewhat compacted sod of the lawn areas. But if one ventures off the lawn at those times it is easy to sink ankle deep in mud. Research on our soil composition and geology show that it is comprised primarily of clay -- generally eight feet deep -- on a layer of impenetrable bedrock, with seven of our nine acres inclined downward toward the main building and the adjacent driveway/parking area. With a hard rain the water runs down the slope from above, creating a veritable river (at times two to three inches deep!) flowing right by the entrance to our building and on down the driveway and parking area -- which in winter often turns into a sheet of ice. The reduced permeability of the soil also means that the water stays held under the surface and may take weeks to months to dry out after a wet period.

We have already completed some hydrology studies which, along with the knowledge about our soil composition, geology, and land contours, point to ways to improve much needed drainage on the property. Accomplishing this would make our home fully usable, indoors and out, in all seasons.

We have also largely defined the general esthetic that we need in order to create the impression we want people to have when they come to our “home,” a much less tangible but vitally important accomplishment. We have begun to call the property a “campus” with which we want to convey a sense of creativity as well as professionalism. We want the outside grounds to have vital growth with a variety of areas including manicured ones, as well as organized plantings with different types and sizes of plants in addition to natural but not “wild” or cluttered areas. The name, “savannah look,” was suggested for the open but not barren feel we want for the lower three acres of the property that have already been developed. This general ambiance has trees but with an openness underneath allowing the eye to expand into the distance.

The list of all that we have done is beyond the scope of this letter. Since a picture is worth a thousand words and a video is worth a thousand pictures, I hope you will look at the new PIP page on our website which is accessible from our homepage banner. There you will see updated descriptions of the work accomplished as well as photos of various aspects of it along with a short video of the barn “razing.”

Members of the ACO executive committee as well as our business advisory board have commented that for $30,000, this project has accomplished thus far what would have easily cost upwards of $75,000 done by any other organization without our hard-working volunteer team who have provided both direct efforts as well as careful management of the project.

Kudos to Our Volunteers
We could not have made such progress without our volunteers. The first volunteer on this project was Bob Kadlec, who in the spring of 2011 began clearing the undergrowth largely consisting of the invasive mulitflora wild roses that have taken over so much of the wooded areas of New Jersey. As that progressed, we began to see the value of opening up the look -- long before we had the word “savannah” to describe it. That beginning came together and dovetailed well with our desire to create more of a sense of “home” for our work so that by the end of 2011 we could announce this project in my holiday report.

We would also definitely not be where we are today with this project if it were not for Jim Wittes and Jack Sargent, who volunteered to take on the role of project managers.

Jim has worked tirelessly to research, select, negotiate with and manage our outside contractors. Not only has he made genuine contact with numerous contractors he has also worked right alongside many of them, inspiring the best work from them while helping us to find the ones most motivated to do good work and with whom the ACO may develop long term working relationships. Jim’s work has saved us tens of thousands of dollars as well as accomplished more in a shorter period of time than I have previously seen with any ACO project. His work also provides an example of the kind of organizational character commensurate with the quality nature of the ACO that I like to see, where things can get done expeditiously while at the same time people are treated in a decent and contactful way as they develop genuine working relationships with us.

Jack Sargent, who volunteered to help Jim manage the project from a distance, has been an invaluable sounding board. And when he is in town he has walked the “campus” with Jim, as well as Bob, to provide knowledge and perspective. Additionally, all of the members of the ACO Business Advisory Board have contributed much to the oversight, ongoing discussion and decision-making.

Astrid Chastka, an architecture school graduate with landscaping and design experience, (and member of our young people’s brainstorming group from a couple of years ago) volunteered her time to meet with members of the PIP committee to offer some architectural insights as well as a young person’s perspective on our property improvement project. Her reaction about how much better the property already looks and feels was wonderful and her excitement about the many possibilities for using the property was truly delightful.

We are also developing a nice group of volunteers who will be in a position to continue to be an ongoing property maintenance crew – a group that we hope we can expand and develop.

We welcome anyone to contact our Executive Director, Debra Sansanelli, to volunteer your time and labor to help, and to offer any areas of expertise that might be of use with this project.

Rethinking Our Public Meeting Space and Parking
Even as late as last December with my holiday appeal we had envisioned that we would move our public social orgonomy presentations back “home” and would therefore need to provide additional parking on site. But as I have already said, those are now consistently attracting audiences beyond what we can accommodate at our “home” as it is currently configured. After meeting with an architect we estimated that it would cost us between $100,000 and $200,000 to either enlarge our current presentation room or build a separate “bare bones” new building with a larger meeting hall. It is not economically feasible or wise to invest that much at this point in our development when the space would be used only four times a year. If future demand dictates the need, we will revisit those options and the value of our constructing a larger space only when we have a larger base of support for doing so.

We also considered how to handle sufficient parking for events accommodating 50 people, and looked at the cost as well as various options for locations on the property to build such parking. Not only would that also be more expensive than is wise until we have a larger base of support, but many of our options reminded us of the 1970 Joni Mitchell song with the lyrics, “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”

It turns out, however, that the most important consideration regarding enlarging our on-site parking is that our narrow, one-way entrance presents a traffic hazard if more than approximately 20 cars attempt to enter the property in a brief time -- such as before an event. To enlarge the entrance would also be a major and expensive undertaking that does not make sense for us to do at this time.

Our plan now, as I said, is to continue to hold our larger, four-times-a-year social orgonomy public presentations off campus in downtown Princeton. As we develop new events at the ACO property, we will use shuttles from the nearby shopping center parking lot, at a fraction of the cost of putting in new parking, for any event with more that about 20 people as we did when we held our public presentations on-site with audiences of 30 to 50 people. To present an attractive face for shuttling people to our home we will purchase clearly identifiable professional looking signs to go on the sides and roofs of the vans. We will also hire two shuttles so that there will always be one waiting for our visitors.

Entering Phase II of PIP
We are now entering Phase II which is far more open-ended and in which the possibilities for investing in improvements is practically unlimited. There are so many things we could do to truly get our property in the condition we would like it to be in order to reflect our work as a professional, creative, educational and scientific organization, a vital institution that has kept orgonomy alive and will continue to develop it into the future.

The Most Immediate Major Need
Our current driveway and parking area with cracked and crumbling asphalt invaded by weeds badly needs attention and represents the last major detractor on the property. We need to upgrade it and in doing so will not only remove an eyesore but provide an attractive and functional surface that will accommodate easy entrance and parking for participants of our ongoing meetings and training seminars, as well as most of the small to medium-sized events we are currently planning.

In the course of our hydrology studies of the property it has become clear that the deterioration of the current pavement of the driveway is largely due to inadequate drainage. The base under the current asphalt when water logged is not solid enough to keep it from cracking when driven over, allowing water to seep up through those cracks in the pavement which is further broken down with freezing and thawing in the winter. We have estimates to redo what we have by removing all old asphalt down to the subsurface, installing a new 4” to 6” stone base and resurface it for about $20,000. Without improved drainage, however, it will continue to deteriorate more rapidly than it should and thus undermine our investment.

We have investigated and had estimates of $85,000 to install a comprehensive drainage system to improve the whole property. This is clearly beyond our reach, but for approximately $15,000 we could install sufficient drainage measures that would not only protect the investment we make in the driveway but would be sufficient to dry out the basement of the headquarters building as well as much of the property below the building that often floods or becomes muddy. The savings in electricity to run the sump pumps in the basement at their current almost continuous rate would also cover a portion of the investment cost of this improvement to the property.

Our current plan is to address the driveway and parking area in a stepwise manner by installing the drainage improvement first and observing the results of that for about a year before refurbishing the driveway and parking. In that time we will be able to evaluate the effectiveness of those measures and determine what else may be necessary to protect the investment in the repaving.

Currently we do not have the money for this project but the executive committee has unanimously endorsed the need for this project and believes it is a major investment worth making and raising funds for. It is not a “sexy project,” because there will be little that will obviously show but such infrastructure investment will improve the overall use of the property as well as increase its value.

What Remains to be Done?
With the drainage and driveway improvements we will be fully into Phase II. Much of the other improvements can be done concurrently with those infrastructure improvements but will also continue for quite some time to come. Quite immediate and very important among these is a professional looking sign at the entrance that both identifies our headquarters and welcomes people to the home of the ACO. This sign will reflect visitors’ very first impression of us and should be integrated with all other aspects of our image, including other signs on the property as well as our logo and our website. We also need to improve the appearance of the side of our building that faces the street, because it too greets visitors with a first impression. Initially we can accomplish this with simple plantings, seating areas etc. before considering much more expensive options of changing the façade of the building. Another first impression factor that will also improve our attractiveness would be to bury the utility wires from the utility pole to the building. In the process we could easily add additional lighting for the driveway and parking area.

We are also looking at creating spaces outdoors as “landscape rooms” that may include: sculptures, educational displays, and other manifestations of creative work. These outdoor “rooms” may include benches and other seating areas that will be welcoming and relaxing to facilitate contact with the property and our work. Designated paths between the various areas will also add to the appeal. We also want an outdoor area where we can convene for picnics, outdoor presentations or movie showings. Eventually such an area could be the site for a covered pavilion that could be used more fully for similar activities. We also are considering developing nature trails up into the undeveloped upper portion of the property, which will also give people the opportunity to relax and feel at home on our property. Many of these are beyond our current reach but will give you a sense of just a few of the countless things we can do to improve our property and make it more welcoming for you to visit us.

The Status of our PIP Finances
Generous contributors donated a total of $30,000 last December toward our PIP. We also had an additional $5,750 from a 2011 restricted donation originally for a strategic marketing project that was moved over to the PIP with permission of the donor.

From that total of $35,750 we have had expenses totaling $29,382.60 as of June 5, 2012. An additional $2,300.00 already committed for required and approved work that is pending leaves us $4,067.40 in the account. Most if not all of this remainder of our current funds will likely be used to complete remaining details of further clearing the brush, cutting and removing dead and dying trees as well as already downed logs, and preparing areas for possible wildflower and other plantings.

Estimated PIP Phase II Costs

As I have described, the scope of what we could do to improve the property is far beyond what we can take on immediately. We will address the most pressing problems first, the largest of which are the drainage and the driveway. Because portions of our property are in designated wetlands areas, some expenses and the timing for this part of our project are uncertain until we can obtain determinations and approvals from the New Jersey State Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

Estimated Phase II expenses with funds needed in 2012 include:  
Drainage project fees for wetlands delineation, engineering, DEP and other permits: $8,000
Drainage project construction: $15,000*
Shuttle van signs: $500
Professional vandal resistant mailbox with sign: $500
Entrance sign: $1,200
Picnic tables (4 @ $300): $1,200
Garden benches (4 @$500):  $2,000
Landscaping materials:  $4,000**
Total needed in 2012: $32,400
   
Estimated Phase II expenses with funds needed by summer 2013 include:  
Complete refurbishing of current driveway/parking:  $20,000***
Bury utility cables: $3,000
Additional needed by summer 2013: $23,000
   
Total funds needed for current Phase II plans: $55,400
   
* Must be completed first to allow time sequencing of driveway improvements.
** The possible cost of landscaping materials including trees, shrubs, perennials plus soil and amendments is almost unlimited.  This estimate is minimal with the plan that much of the work will be done by volunteers.
*** Construction to wait until some months after drainage project.  Funds likely not needed until summer 2013.

Right now we need approximately $28,000 -- of which $5,000 is for signage and landscaping, with the remainder of $23,000 needed as soon as possible for studies, permits and construction costs to begin the drainage project. The urgency for this particular project gives us time to observe its effects in order to proceed expeditiously with the next step of redoing the driveway/parking, the funds for which we will need by summer 2013. After that we will be in good shape to welcome any new visitors and proceed deliberately in a stepwise fashion.

Your donations are needed to launch these initial, fundamental Phase II improvements. We also need your ongoing support to keep momentum going long-term on this vitally important project.

We Need Your Help Now
I am encouraged by the recent developments in making contact with new people and especially our making contact with young people. I am also excited about our progress with our new initiative to improve our property. Thanks to your help, Phase I is almost completed and if we stay on schedule our hope is to have the first annual ACO picnic and open house at our home before the end of the summer. Then in the fall I would like us to initiate our first ACO movie night with participants at our headquarters to have a fun and informal night of discussion about orgonomic principles illustrated in a movie. These are just some of the many activities that we will be able to develop in our home.

But let’s always remember that our property improvement is about having a safe and secure home for our core functions. I want to again emphasize that attracting new people to our training programs to sustain and continue them is the key to our ongoing survival, success and growth. Only by doing that will we be able to fulfill our ultimate function of making the world a better place for the future of humanity by supporting the health in the children of the future.

I hope you will join with us in making this possible with your financial support to insure our success. Please send your donation or sign up as a member donor so we can count on a steady income to sustain us in the coming months and years ahead.

And if you are not already on our e-mail list, please help us make contact with you more quickly by joining our mailing list.

From all of us at the ACO, I wish you and yours an enjoyable and productive summer and I hope to see you in the near future at our “home.”

Sincerely,

Signature
Peter A. Crist, M.D. President

Please support the ACO today.