On November 12th around 5 am Stephen Yoshen, beloved builder and community member of Western Massachusetts, walked down the hill from his house to find his 40’ x 60’ four-story wood shop / ceramics studio in flames.

Stephen is a prolific builder and artist who moved to the Hilltowns of Western Massachusetts 40 years ago to start the intentional community Earthdance with a close group of friends. He is a bright light in the lives of those around him and an inspiration to many. He is truly the embodiment of generosity and selflessness. “It’s just stuff”, he said as he watched 20 years of work and love and community burn down. “i’m just so glad everyone is ok.”

To call the shop a “shop” is an understatement and to call it “his” is a misnomer. While the shop legally belonged to him, it has served as a community space for the past 20 years where people have come from all over at any experience level and he has generously given his time, expertise, and resources to make their projects a reality.

The loss is incalculable. Truly, it is impossible to determine how many hundreds of thousands of dollars of industrial machinery, tools, and materials, not to mention the thousands of hours poured into various projects he lost. He watched it all burn to the ground with his son Henry, his niece Malani, and friend Nino. His only thought as he came down the hill was how to save the mobile sauna he had been helping Malani build for her new business venture.

We as a community wanted to organize this fundraiser to help Stephen recoup some of the losses from the shop. At this point it is unclear what Stephen at 70 years old will do moving forward, but he is already dreaming up the new work space. Please consider giving what you can to this fundraiser.