Eric
This is a rare picture of slightly shy Eric, our first "Hero Helper", who with his big heart was moved to help Dandelion tremendously with an extended stay in 2000, creating a website for Bindu Jewelry, the farm support and teaching us how to use the computer...a long slow and patience demanding job that won him our regard as a kind of saint.

Eric traveled after Dandelion to experience many intentional communities and returned to share his experiences with us. He has returned again and again to continue his help and presence as part of the extended Dandelion Farm Family.

Eric was later granted scholarships to University of California, Berkeley where he studied and graduated and is presently working. His kindness directed his research toward his degree using tracking methods of research with animals in nature rather caged animal research.

To learn more about animals as conscious beings, and what we can learn from them by right relationship:  http://www.fearnomorezoo.org

Naoya
Naoya Hori was one of Dandelion's volunteers in 2002, and was the first Japanese WWOOFer. He was happy to do ANYTHING to help and we were very touched by his wonderful spirit of service.

Before coming Naoya had cleaned the beach in Japan where he lived and surfed for a whole year, sometimes drawing other surfers into helping his efforts. But the garbage just kept coming. He looked out to sea one day and saw it drifting in and thought he had to do more. He decided to travel to the USA to learn English, where he hoped to find the means to make a more positive impact on his beloved surfing environment that he saw deteriorating before his eyes.

After Dandelion Naoya WWOOFed in Hawaii and had the opportunity to help teach children school. Nowadays, Naoya is pursuing his two passions - surfing and preserving the environment - through an amazing new concept known as "Eco-Surfing" (his invention born by inspiration on Dandelion, the answer to his deep desire to serve the environment and the future of the world). Naoya imagined that surfers, who automatically have a close relationship to the environment of coastal regions, could perhaps become the protectors of those areas, all while never stopping what they love to do - surfing! Naoya has made great strides in establishing the concept of "Eco-surfing" over the last few years in Japan, teaching about it to children, creating a mini magazine in Japanese on "Eco-surfing" that shows his gathering support and many other helpers in his tireless efforts to make a difference where it is so needed. Learn more at his website (in Japanese):

http://www.eco-surf.com

Shawn and Chai
Chai found Dandelion Farm on the internet one day. She had a passion for helping from a previous experience with Central American children. She called Shawn from her office (well, actually from the bathroom in her office) and whispered into the phone, "Do you want to go to a farm?" Shawn, in Central Park of New York City at the time, said, "Neat".

Both Chai and Shawn's stay at Dandelion has left a lifelong impact on each of them and us. Shawn is now following his dream of being an inventor, designing technologies for developing countries (primarily Haiti). He's been part of a small cross-continental group working on developing a process to transform sugarcane waste into cooking charcoal. He's also very excited about a new, very inexpensive way of disinfecting water with solar energy. His deep desire to help and his personal sacrifices of time and hard earned money made at places such as ice cream parlors (he's lactose intolerant), so he could support his inventing work, recently miraculously won him a job at his young age with an invention firm in San Francisco, that is sympathetic to his altruistic intentions.

He is in the process of selling one of his inventions of more environmentally sound packaging. This will help support him to do much more invention work on behalf of the most needy people in the world. We are honored to consider Shawn and Chai part of Dandelion Global.

You can learn more about the charcoal project here:

http://web.mit.edu/d-lab/portfolio/sugarcanecharcoal.htm

And he wants to tell everyone about a wonderful group doing amazing things through small scale agricultural in developing countries:

http://www.ideorg.org

Dianne

A couple years back a very special thing happened as we were selling our art at a show to support the farm. A beautiful woman named Lamis showed up and asked to help model and sell our work the next day. This would be our first day without Shawn and Chai's amazing help and we were hoping and praying for SOMEONE to help with the modeling. At the end of the day with Lamis, she told us she had read our Dandelion flyer and knew it was no accident she had found us, because she knew her sister, Dianne, would love to be part of Dandelion.

Six months later Dianne came for the first of uncountable times to Dandelion. She has become a beckon of light and every imaginable kind of help to the farm....from cooking fabulous goodies and house cleaning on her visits, to guidance and inspiration, to endless gifts of goods and support for some badly needed items.

Dianne is the devotee of a living Saint known as Amma, the "Hugging Guru". Because of Dianne's years of spiritual practice with the Blessings of Amma, she is a unique part Dandelion Global with whom we mutually share a deep spiritual sympathy beyond the differences of our paths. Dianne, along with many other volunteers share openly their spirituality, helping Dandelion to serve spiritual tolerance in the world and thus helping move humanity beyond one of its primary excuses for war  in our time.

When not working on her own photo art or making the gardens of her new home and wonderful fiancé beautiful, she  spends  long hours helping to reunite Katrina victims or gather goods to help the survivors of the Pakistan quake and other disasters.

Jonathan

Jonathan from England, came to Dandelion in spring 2003 for a short stay as part of a working holiday meeting climate change specialists in the Bay area. His experience in alterntive energy helping his homeland was most impressive. We loved his warmness, help and company, and we always hope he will come again.

Back home in Warwick, England he has been working on a range of issues around environmental sustainability ~ including a climate change strategy for Warwickshire, sustainable construction (commercial buildings) and renewable energy having previously been involved in a wide range of regeneration projects. His last regeneration project saw the development of a three storey innovation centre for smaller businesses that has now won four awards for it’s green credentials ~ especially the energy efficiency. The icing on the cake was the installation of a 105kW peak solar photovoltaic installation costing around $700k - 95% of the cost of which was paid for by others. The arrays will provide between 15-20% of the electricity needed.

In the intervening period Jonathan has begun exploring spiritual development for the first time which threw up a shed load of uncertainty about the future direction of travel both in the day job and personal life. He says this has been interesting, exciting and very challenging time with direct experience of spirit and strong signs that a change of direction and style was in the offing!! This has proven to be the case and in Summer 2006 work is taking a new turn with two new part time jobs. The first focusing down on supporting the move towards more sustainable construction of publicly funded buildings around Warwickshire, the second in the development of a new renewables micro-generation business.