Support Wild Earth in Securing a Home

Wild Earth is Ireland's first nature-based, resilience-building youth community for people aged 5-18. We run 4 days per week during school term. At Wild Earth, everyone is respected and valued as a unique individual; the rights of young people are upheld through autonomy, self-direction and community decision-making through sociocratic and restorative practices. Adults at Wild Earth listen to young people; we do not impose, coerce or manipulate. Instead, we support them in listening to their own bodies, in pursuing their own interests and passions and in finding confidence to speak for themselves. The aim of Wild Earth is to empower young people and support their wellbeing and resilience by providing natural spaces to explore their passions and set their own goals through self-direction while developing and deepening their connection to nature, others, and self.

Our intention is to be as accessible as possible to families in Clare, no matter their financial circumstances. Our pilot program (October '23 - January '24) was free of charge. We have been relying on donations to operate. From March of 2024, we asked families to make a contribution of €10/day to cover materials and supplies used throughout the day.

We spent our first year nurturing a beautiful site that was donated to us in Kilfenora; this included a magical little forest, a yurt, cabin, polytunnel, compost toilet and gardens. Unfortunately, we lost access to this site in August of 2024, a week before we were set to open our doors in September. We hit the ground running in search of another location and were offered temporary use of the CBS in Ennistymon--adjacent to the site that has been of interest to us since 2022!

This was an incredible turn of events and we have been very grateful, but it has come with its challenges. Use of this temporary site has required increased funds (rent, additional insurance, electricity, water, oil, maintenance) and its sheer size and limited access to the wild outdoors has impacted our little community. The reality is that we have been drained financially and need an alternative ASAP.

With financial support, we can continue to provide this beautiful service at a very low cost to the local families who are and want to be a part of our lovely community. We hope to overcome the loss of our beautiful site in Kilfenora and the subsequent struggles that followed by securing a fit-for-purpose site in Ennistymon town for our community. If you have or know of a suitable site for us, please reach out.

Resilience is a term that often crosses our lips at Wild Earth, and this opportunity to model resilience and positive adaptation to challenges for our 18 young community members is invaluable.

Thank you for supporting Wild Earth's young community members so that they may continue to pursue their passions in a safe and held space with deep reverence for nature while developing healthy and effective communication skills as they grow into the young adults and change-makers of tomorrow.

With Deep Gratitude,

The Wild Earth Team