Adult Agricultural Community Option for Residential Needs

April 2026

Hello AACORN Friends,

April brought a renewed sense of energy and connection to the farm. Our Spring Open House was a great success, with both familiar and new faces joining us to experience AACORN firsthand. Moments like these allow us to share our mission in a meaningful way—and seeing others connect with it is a powerful reminder of why it matters.

What’s Inside This Newsletter

This month, you’ll read a story of “new life” across the farm—from baby chicks to baby goats—and how these moments create opportunities for participants to build skills, form connections, and experience the human-animal bond.

Support Our Mission

AACORN exists because of people like you, and we want to stay connected in ways that feel right to you. We’ve created a short survey (just a few minutes) to better understand your preferences, interests, and how you’d like to engage as we grow.



Your voice helps shape what comes next. Please click below to share your thoughts - they are important to us. Thank you for your continued support of AACORN.

With gratitude,

Mary

PS - if you are a golfer be sure to check out the Annual Golf Outing details toward the end of this newsletter. Registration for the June event is now open!

We were pleased to welcome so many visitors on Saturday, April 18. From first timers to old friends, participants and their families, it was a great success. Of course, we had to have some drama just 15 minutes before people started arriving. Our goat Millie gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. Guess what the main attraction was? If it got too crowded in the doe barn, people could play with and hold the other twins who were just under a week old. There were other animals to pet as well, a cornhole tournament, and snacks and AACORN products for sale in the activities building.

Participants and staff worked hard all week to clean and spruce up indoors and out to have the farm look its best.

THANK YOU, ALL!

Volunteer Eileen Dolbee offers popcorn and cookie samples made from our jar mixes. This certainly helped boost sales!

A "pop up store" displays AACORN products such as soaps, dip mixes, and bath bombs.

Attendees shopped and also donated money, for which we are grateful.

Above: Participant Luke is helping visitors get comfortable with the goat kids who were nearly a week old and enjoying the outdoors with their mom, River.

Above and below:

Contestants in the cornhole tournament competed inside the big barn.

Above:Board President Liz Farner holding up one of the twins born on Saturday. Shown here, about 10 minutes old.

The SWMI Wireless team won cornhole and donated their winnings back to AACORN.

Thank you!

Jessica Griffioen, owner and therapist at the Portage Family Healing Center, met Cindy Semark, AACORN Founder and Board Member, on Friday and visited the farm for the first time at Saturday’s Open House. She was so impressed with what she encountered and the people she met that she and her husband Brad created a video and shared it with Cindy. Yes, the newborn kids and young chickens were undeniably cute, but the impact AACORN made on her and Brad was the use of all the animals to positively influence the people we serve. They experience the vital human-animal bond. Program Manager Sam explained further when writing about our fluffy new flock, "caring for the chicks gives everyone a chance to slow down and be present. It's not just about farm work. It is about responsibility, patience, and connection. Watching them grow, even over a short time, reminds us what spring is all about: fresh starts, new life, and the joy that comes with it."

At AACORN, we are learning what each season has to teach us, because we spend time outdoors caring for the animals, taking walks year-round, and tending gardens from seedlings to harvest. Learning new skills, cementing relationships with the animals, and with each other. It is why we say "AACORN transforms lives." Your donations fuel these transformations and ensure that AACORN's program and environs thrive.

With Jessica's permission, we share her video with you below.

Tuesday, June 16 ~ The Prairies Golf Club

5303 W Main, Kalamazoo



Join us for our Annual Golf Outing—supporting tuition-free participation in AACORN’s farm-based programming. Whether you play, sponsor, or donate golf-related items, your involvement helps make these opportunities accessible to all.

Learn more and register below, or contact mary.pickett@aacorncommunity.org

to be part of it.