So much positive progress – and more to come!

Dear John,

I’m writing with some truly wonderful news about our past year – and to describe the hurdle ahead for Harbin, and why we need your support now more than ever.We invite you to please make a donation now, to support our mission of fully rebuilding Harbin’s facilities, and restoring its beloved programming and services.

Among last year’s most meaningful successes:

Harbin won a $469,000 CalFire Healthy Forest Grant to support biomass cleanup and carbon sequestration, and to positively impact the Harbin Creek watershed. This Grant recognizes both our excellent environmental progress since the fire, and the significant financial support of our Harbin family. We are ELATED to have received it, and thank you SO MUCH for your contributions to last year’s Reforestation Campaign – those gifts enabled us to research and successfully apply for this extraordinary Grant. Will you please give this year, specifically to support our upcoming phases of construction?

In an unexpected miracle – a gift that came out of nowhere because the right person just happened to see our newsletter – Harbin received an anonymous corporate contribution of 140 maturing trees, worth an estimated $700,000! Most of these beauties have already been planted in our Mainside area, Garden, and Meadow, and are gracing Harbin with a bounty of shade, clean air, and natural welcome. Does your business offer matching or in-kind contributions that could help support Harbin’s rebuild?

Perhaps the best news is that Harbin’s pool area is now complete – and it’s gorgeous! (For more photos and information, please see our website, Harbin.org. There's also a great article in today's Santa Rosa Press Democrat – including a video with an extended look at our reconstructed pool area... see the link below.) It took three years of sweat and struggle, and far more engineering, materials, labor, and money than we ever imagined. But the results are perfect, and we know that you’ll be as thrilled with Harbin’s rebuilt pools as we are! Will you donate now to help ensure that all our upcoming construction is as beautiful as Harbin’s rebuilt pool area?

All of this good news is indeed significant and inspiring. But it’s also true, however, that Harbin is currently facing a very significant hurdle. The work to continue and complete Harbin’s rebuild is now threatened by what has become an extraordinarily competitive and expensive marketplace – and I am writing today to ask for your financial support.

With more than half of Lake County’s land burned in the past few years, as well as significant swaths of our surrounding counties, area-wide competition for building materials and skilled labor has become fierce. Prices have skyrocketed, and our permitting and approvals processes have become even more drawn out. The full rebuild we had planned and priced out for Harbin 3 years ago, would today cost over 70% more – a construction bill that would far exceed our entire financial reserves.

And as an additional obstacle, Harbin has had no operating income since the Valley Fire forced our continuing closure more than three years ago, though we have continued to rebuild physically and organizationally, and to pay significant operating expenses.

Because of these harsh fiscal realities, we have made the decision to step back and reassess. We are actively re-conceptualizing some of our rebuilding plans, including scaling back the planned footprints of some of our key buildings, and reconsidering our choices of design, contractors, and scheduling. Of course, we are maintaining an unwavering commitment to recreating Harbin’s unique character and essential beauty, while at the same time preserving its long-term financial viability. And that is where your support now, and as we move forward, can be so critically helpful.

I know that you share our love for Harbin, and our mission for recreating what is truly a unique and beloved refuge of peace, acceptance, and sanity in an increasingly fractious world. I’m asking now that you please give generously – specifically to support our upcoming phases of new building construction. With your contribution and your caring, Harbin will soon again be the powerful healing haven we all so profoundly miss.

I’m also quite pleased to mention that we are now offering a Legacy Program for Planned Giving, created to ensure that Harbin continues to grow as an organization, and that we will be here, for you and all our guests, for decades to come. So in addition to giving annually or monthly, you might now consider naming Harbin in your personal estate planning as well. Please know that all of us – myself, Harbin’s staff, and our future guests – are touched and humbled by your generosity, no matter how much, or in what form you choose to give.

With my love, and heartfelt gratitude for your continuing interest, time, and support,

ISHVARA

Founder of Harbin

PS Please consider an affordable monthly commitment to help Harbin complete our construction efforts and welcome you back fully. Harbin.org offers you the easy option of scheduling your gift in affordable monthly increments.

PPS Please give today! We need your help to continue our successes and to face our challenges. Gifts of all sizes and types are deeply appreciated.

PPPS: This video starts with two minutes of post-fire imagery followed by the latest footage of our pool area. The reporter that first video captured and reported Harbin’s fire damage, returned three years later to do a story on our progress and to create another video, this time of our rebirth.

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Harbin Hot Springs, P.O. Box 782, Middletown, CA 95461