Jonathan Snipes and Melanie Douty Snipes will discuss the multiple on-farm and school-based education programs of the non-profit Snipes Farm and Education Center at the Newtown Quaker Meetinghouse, at 9:45 a.m. on Sunday, January 12. Following the presentation, there will be worship in the manner of Friends at 11:00 a.m. with people speaking out of silence as they are moved to do so. The public is welcome at all events.
Jonathan Snipes is the 5th of 7 generations from Snipes Farm in Morrisville, PA and executive director of Snipes Farm and Education Center, a 501c3 nonprofit located on the farm. His wife Melanie Douty-Snipes is director of education responsible for on-farm and school-based programs year-round including nutrition education, field trips and Snipes Farm Day Camp. They will be sharing about the mission and work of the nonprofit: to model and teach sustainable farming, feed people in need and empower the community through nature and farm education. They will also share about how their faith and involvement in Fallsington Meeting and the wider Quaker fellowship has been vitally sustaining and an inspiration as life-long Friends
Jonathan Snipes grew up on Snipes Farm, believes nature is the best teacher, and his passion is to share the beauty and ecology of the farm with the local community. He spent a summer in Mexico in rural development, two years providing peace and conflict resolution training in Costa Rica, and a year as an intern at the United Nations studying environmental and peace issues on a global level. Jonathan has a BA in Spanish and political science from Haverford College, and a master’s degree in education from Temple University. He served 12 years on the Falls Township Board of Supervisors.
Melanie Douty-Snipes has been an experiential educator for over 30 years after receiving her degree in environmental education from Warren Wilson College in Asheville, NC. She has been an instructor at several outdoor education centers in the U.S., spent 9 years as coordinator of the Middle School Friends Program incorporating Quaker testimonies of peace, simplicity, integrity, sustainability, community and equality into weekend retreats, and spent over 15 years at Snipes Farm developing garden, nutrition, farm and environmental education lessons for local schools. She co-founded Snipes Farm Day Camp in 2008 which has becime a go-to camp in Bucks County and “a great blessing to Snipes Farm.”
Newtown Friends Meeting, co-founded by the Quaker artist and minister, Edward Hicks, in 1815, holds services every First Day (Sunday). During the school year, First Day classes for children and adults are at 9:45 a.m. and Meeting for Worship is at 11:00 a.m. Professional childcare is provided. All meetings are open to the public and visitors are warmly welcomed.