Under 65 and Anxious? A Mindful Pocket Park Is Just What You Need
Patch of Heaven Sanctuary, a South Florida reforestation and nature preserve, is addressing historic levels of anxiety through development of a multi-sensory nature immersion experience designed to reduce the stress hormone cortisol in just 20 minutes.
MIAMI, Oct. 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In a time when quiet quitting, climate anxiety, and post-covid stress disorder has become the daily reality for many Americans, Patch of Heaven Sanctuary, a 20-acre nature preserve in the heart of South Florida, has just the thing to help reduce stress while supporting the positive effects reforestation has on absorbing the greenhouse gases fueling global warming. That thing is called the Nature Pill, a term coined by researchers at the University of Michigan School of Environment and Sustainability, who discovered spending just 20 minutes in nature can reduce cortisol.
With the support of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce's Leadership Miami program and this year's Class 44 team WEONEMIAMI, Suzanne Jewell, Chief Mindfulness Officer for Patch of Heaven Sanctuary, is delivering on a mission to provide the Nature Pill to all who visit South Florida through construction of the first of its kind Mindful Pocket Park. Designed to facilitate calm and tranquility in just 20-minutes through a neuroscience meets nature approach, this 10,000 square foot, multi-sensory immersion experience will be located at the entrance of Patch of Heaven. Supplemented with the Nature Pill app to take the experience beyond South Florida, the success of this first Pocket Park will pave the way for future Mindful Pocket Parks throughout the country in urban areas lacking green space equity.
In addition to assembling a workforce for the Park's construction, the WEONEMIAMI team is also tasked with raising $50,000 by December 1, 2022 to cover needed materials and supplies. The team's fundraising efforts include raffle ticket sales, an online silent auction, naming rights and sponsorship opportunities within the Pocket Park, all accessible via the weonemiami.com website. The team is also hosting a Plant-a-thon Gardening Day on November 12th and 13th, where, with the support of high school students from the pre-collegiate Upward Bound program and local community leaders, five garden stations of the Mindful Pocket Park will be brought to life.
"This project has given our team an opportunity to actively address the rampant rate of professional burnout in a way that enhances mental resiliency so we can all keep fighting the good fight," said Fernanda Kuchkarian, Team Co-Lead for WEONEMIAMI. "For frontline workers and nonprofit teams that have borne the weight of this post-covid world, Suzanne's vision for providing a safe space for these heroes comes at an important time in history."
The Mindful Pocket Park project is one of only four charitable endeavors accepted by the annual Leadership Miami program to receive aid from the diverse group of nonprofit, government and private sector leaders accepted into the annual class. Leadership Miami is a program of the South Florida Progress Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, with all donations and other financial support for the Mindful Pocket Park receiving appropriate tax benefits.
To learn more about the project and how to support or get involved, please visit www.weonemiami.com or contact Lilian Raji, WEONEMIAMI Communications Lead, at (646) 789-4427 ext 701 or [email protected].
ABOUT WEONEMIAMI
WEONEMIAMI is a diverse group of nonprofit, government and private sector leaders who have come together to make Miami an even greater place to live, working together under the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce's Leadership Miami 2022 program. As team one of the four that make up Class 44, the members hail from various backgrounds, with unique experiences and ideas of what Miami is and can become. They have come together to combine their many visions for the greater good of one Miami. For more information, please visit www.weonemiami.com
ABOUT PATCH OF HEAVEN
Patch of Heaven Sanctuary is a 20-acre non-profit reforestation preserve located in the Redland Agricultural Area in the heart of Miami. It provides sanctuary to trees, bees, birds, butterflies, bats, buildings (historic) and beings (the human kind). Patch is also a sanctioned and recognized agro-forestry and agro-tourism site, which grows and harvests cacao, coffee, vanilla and honey onsite.
Envisioned by a family of committed nature lovers and philanthropists in 2008 with the first 10 acre purchase of the original Matheson family summer forest dwelling, this "hidden gem" preserve is a 15-year reforestation & conservation project that expanded to include a neighboring 10 acre shade container nursery converted into the 20 total acre nature preserve it is today.
Patch's mission is to reconnect Humans to Nature one mindful walk, one tree and one breath at a time. For more information, please visit www.patchofheavensanctuary.org.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Lilian M Raji
WEONEMIAMI Communications Lead
(646) 789-4427 ext 701
[email protected]
Press Room: www.weonemiami.com
SOURCE WEONEMIAMI
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