Thank you to all the industry members who continue to reach out with questions, and who are sharing ideas for public policy, online marketing, and regulatory relief. The NYWGF Team and I are taking all your inquiries and ideas seriously, and we are diligently working to get the most accurate information to the industry. I want to acknowledge that your questions are taking additional time resolve because more of them relate to difficult operational decisions such as unemployment insurance, tax deferments, and access to capital. While we intend to remain a relevant resource for our industry, I highly recommend dusting off your Farm Bureau membership because they now issue
a daily COVID-19 update newsletter full of agriculture specific resources.
Given the Sunday night implementation on the
Governor’s PAUSE order, I anticipate that there will be fewer jarring changes to daily life moving forward. This special newsletter will shift to a semi-regular release on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings at 8pm. More regular updates and FAQs will continue to be posted within our
private Facebook group. I also plan to work with the New York Wine Industry Association and Long Island Wine Country on a joint public policy memo to be sent to the Governor’s office with wine industry specific requests for regulatory relief and financial assistance. Wineries and grape growers can help us put together a strong and well-thought out memo by completing our
Coronavirus Impact Survey by the end of this week.
Now for some levity, I received a request to share more inspirational or funny insights from my mom. This weekend, she shared
a poem by Kitty O’Meara, a 19th century Irish writer, whose words seem to capture the spirit of this moment:
And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently.
And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal.
And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.
Sincerely,
