The Gatherer Institute is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public charity dedicated to promoting respect for the environment and empowering individuals to become self-taught and self-sufficient. We believe that by strengthening the individual we can curb the culture of ignorance which leads us, as a society, to destroy the wilderness.

The Gatherer Institute was created in May 2001 to preserve a local forest and its wildlife. Some forest acreage was slated for development until the Gatherer Institute proposed using the area as a Wilderness Classroom and Playground for the community at large. The town agreed. Read about "How We Started: the 88-Acre Project."

THE MEANING OF THE GATHERER INSTITUTE LOGO

The symbol of the Gatherer Institute logo is an icon of harmony representing the unity of humanity and nature. Red represents the human and green represents the earth. It is a dynamic image that also depicts the everflowing river of life. Each human life is like a stone in a river. Each boulder in the current affects the course of the river. The white shape in the center of the logo is the stone, and the forces of humanity and earth swirl around the center stone. We can each make a difference in the world. And we can all make the world a little bit better every day. This is the central belief of the Gatherer Institute: We are all caretakers - not only of each other, but of the Earth itself.

Frank is an educator, linguist, scholar, author, naturalist, and tracker (Tom Brown's Tracker School). He has two missions: One is to rebalance the environment and protect wildlife; and the other is to help children and adults "at risk" improve their lives and contribute to society.

Frank gained his professional experience as CEO of LILAS, a language service company providing translation and instruction services in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He has also served as an Administrator for the LI Educational Opportunity Center in Hempstead, Long Island where he created a library and certification program. Frank is a world traveler who speaks many languages: English, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Italian, German, and even an endangered pre-historical tribal language. He also has an understanding of Hebrew, Chinese, and Russian. Frank graduated from SUNY at Stony Brook with a Masters degree in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), a BA in Linguistics and a BA in Hispanic language.

Frank's first accomplishment with the Gatherer Institute was to have 88 acres set aside in South Toms River, New Jersey, for the preservation of wildlife and to teach children how to respect themselves, each other, and their environment. Other offerings the Institute has developed include women's groups, peer counseling, anti-drug and domestic counseling, anger-management classes, leadership dynamics, a summer camp, immersion in foreign languages and their cultures, entrepreneurships, learning survival skills and playing "Manhunt", and building wigwams and a Gatherer Institute fort.

"In my Entreupreneurship programs, youngsters learn to run zero environmental impact businesses. Since each business must have its own disciplines in order to work, The Gatherer Institute teaches how important it is to have good English, math, and phone skills, and to be polite and articulate when dealing with customers."
- Frank Cipriani, CEO

Over the past several years, the Gatherer Institute sent Cheryl to the Tom Brown Tracker School, introduced her to a wide variety of people from all walks of life, and taught her enough about leadership that it was natural for her to take a leadership position in the organization.

"The Gatherer Institute has worked with many individuals, both young and old, from many walks of life. Individuals leave with a knowledge and confidence they never before possessed, including sensitivity to cultural diversity, and the universal sense of play that transcends culture and time."
- Cheryl Koerner, VP

The 88-Acre Project was the first project of the Gatherer Institute. We created an environment in which activities, both educational and recreational, teach self-reliance, support a sense of tribal unity in the community at large, and foster a love of life through love of nature.

The Target Community: The community of South Toms River is unique in Ocean County, and perhaps in all of New Jersey. It is a blue-collar community which is completely integrated racially. It is a young community, with the second lowest average age in the county, and among the poorest. One of the most economically disadvantaged neighborhood in South Toms River is the development known as Center Homes. Abutting this neighborhood's southern border is an undeveloped tract of Pine Barrens forest and Cedar Swamp Wetlands known as The 88 Acres.



In the past, these 88 Acres were used for drug trafficking, illegal dumping, arson and gang related activities. The acreage was slated for development until the Gatherer Institute proposed using the area as a Wilderness Classroom and Playground for the people of Center Homes and for the community at large. The town agreed.

The acreage sits on the border between the borough of South Toms River and Beachwood. Residents on the Beachwood border have access to the south side of the creek, although the entire parcel belongs to South Toms River. While the racial and economic make-up of Beachwood is very different than that of South Toms River, (the neighborhood on the south side of the 88 acres is much more affluent), signs of beer parties, illegal dumping, drug abuse and vandalism are evident here as well.

HISTORY OF THE PROGRAM

The Gatherer Institute was founded in May, 2001. Its immediate purpose was to provide principle-based educational environments for the people of the region. It proposed to offer Primitive Survival Skills Courses for the children and teens of the region, and through these courses to foster a caretaker attitude toward the earth, while challenging students to face fear. The Institute found a head instructor at the world-renowned Tracker School, a primitive survival school close by. At the school, caretakers live year-round off the land. Many of these caretakers have experience with survival programs for inner-city youth, and the individual the Institute hired to run its course, successfully steered inexperienced children through the rigorous course.

The South Toms River Alliance, the local branch of the statewide Alliances for Drug, Tobacco and Alcohol Prevention, offered a scholarship to offset the cost of the instructor. The program cost $35 for South Toms River Residents, and $70 for non-residents, but no students were turned away for inability to pay, and 30% of the students met income requirements for scholarships.

The program proved so successful that the Municipality took notice and allowed the Institute to continue to run programs indefinitely, and postponed plans for developing the land.

In the meantime, Harbor House, a local counseling organization was reporting a drop in the number of women and teens who were utilizing its programs. It was proposed that the Institute keep the campfires burning for the rest of the summer and volunteer social workers and therapists were found to staff the campfire and provide counseling for any who wished it.

As the program developed, many believed that it would be better to train women to help themselves and their families. A life-skills coaching program was developed, headed by a staff of volunteers from New York City who arrived each Wednesday to run programs by the campfire. A primitive longhouse was built to enclose the campfire, utilizing only native materials.

At this point, the focus of the programs began to change as women brought their needs to the group. Most women felt the need to find activities which would allow them to bond with their families, but most recreational activities were prohibitively expensive. Inspired by the lessons of the Life Coaching Program, they came up with their own proposal: A weekly free book reading in the longhouse with a marshmallow roast.

The Tuesday night book readings began in late August 2001. True to the vision of the Institute, the stories read not only illustrated life and survival in the Pine Barrens, but also stressed certain virtues from The Book of Virtues.

A weekly free Manhunt game (a type of hide-and-seek) was also instituted, and soon became a favorite activity, especially for fathers who had weekend custody of their children. The programs grew by word of mouth, and by the time school started, a regular group of people were attending the programs each week.

The programs success did not go unnoticed by the former occupants of the woods: The drug dealers. Daily programs in the woods meant that drug trafficking as usual was impossible. Members of the Institute actually uncovered stashes of drugs that had to be dropped when students or instructors had unexpectedly entered the woods. Arsonists torched the car of the Founder of the Institute, burning records, damaging tools and destroying books. Later, the longhouse was vandalized, the tools and equipment used in its building and maintenance were stolen, and the new roof under construction was torn apart.

The arsonists were never caught, but the vandals, who were also the ones who stole the tools, were found. Through outreach and conversation, the vandals agreed to help rebuild the longhouse and maintain it. It was recognized that these individuals were precisely the target group the Institute had hoped to reach. We have brought these individuals into the Teen Longhouse Program, where they have been able to learn to teach others to channel their destructive energies into an attitude of caretaking for nature.

Due to the presence of the Institute in the 88-Acre woods, criminal activity abated considerably. The fire warden reported the least cases of intentional forest fire on record (one) in those woods, and the discovery of the abandoned drugs were clear evidence of at least one foiled drug transaction.

Meanwhile, as a result of the Primitive Survival Skills Course, sixty (60) children in South Toms River will never go hungry or homeless. They have demonstrated that they know what to eat, how to build shelter, and how to make a fire. Many have faced fears they never thought they would overcome. One child, halfway through the survival program looked up at his instructor amazed. "This is even more challenging than Nintendo!" he declared. They are now able to truly help themselves and their families. They can find their own lessons in the wilderness. All we have to do is take care that the forests are protected and that there is a wilderness left for the generations to come.