Our History
History of the Nature Connection and our Founder, Sarah Seabury Reynolds Ward
When founder, Sarah Seabury Reynolds Ward, conceptualized the organization, she was working as a nature educator in the 1970s. She began to inquire how children play and learn and saw wonder as the key to keeping curiosity alive. As an educator, Sarah sought to turn the classroom into direct engagement with the natural world. In the 1970’s, Sarah collaborated with fellow teachers to develop The School for Centered Learning, seeking to offer children an interdisciplinary approach to learning. Anyone who knows Sarah can attest to her fierce love for the natural world and her desire to share the healing power of the wild with others. The school allowed Sarah to fulfill her passion to heal others through nature, though she was also acutely aware that nature was not accessible to certain populations. To make nature more accessible for those living in closed-cared facilities, Sarah created a traveling educational and therapeutic arts and nature program. Thus, in 1983, The Nature Connection, then known as Animals as Intermediaries, was born.
Sarah’s daughter, Rebecca Reynolds Weil, MS, OTR/L, worked with her mother as a teacher from 1985-1993, carrying the organization forward as executive director from 1993-2002. Rebecca documented the work of The Nature Connection in her award-winning book Bring Me the Ocean, and now serves as an advisory board member. Sarah currently lives in Newbury, Massachusetts and still keeps in touch with our staff, volunteers, and Board of Directors.
Sarah and her team have drawn affectionate support from friends and community members alike who have related to and been inspired by their mission to bring nature’s healing and teachings to all. Once an ambitious dream, our mission to improve the wellbeing of individuals and communities through the therapeutic use of nature is being actualized across Middlesex County, providing the community with over 15,000 connections to nature since its beginnings.
Important Dates
1995
Bring Me the Ocean is Published
Bring Me the Ocean by Rebecca A. Reynolds is a collection of stories that chronicles the work of the organization and the people whose lives were transformed as a result. Each story beautifully articulates the healing capacity of nature and the message continues to permeate our work today.
2008
The year we changed our name
Between 1983 and 2008, The Nature Connection was previously known as Animals As Intermediaries. We still regard animals in this way, and they are just as important to our work now as then. Though in 2008, we felt it was equally important to recognize the essential role plants and natural materials play in healing, as well.
2019
A 10-year Cummings Foundation Sustaining Grant
A $200,000 grant from the Cummings Foundation was a huge achievement for the organization this year. One major goal was to double the number of program sites – the grant has helped to accomplish this and more.
The Nature Connection believes in the restorative power of nature. We also believe in the transformative power of stories. The current staff are embarking on a journey that they hope you’ll go on with them – imagined up by Board member, Nancy Stillman, they’re calling it 40 stories for 40 years. Each week, starting late-March they’ll be releasing a story – and each story will be a piece of The Nature Connection’s legacy – one of growth and healing. The stories will be from past and current staff members, board members, interns, volunteers, donors, supporters, participants, old and new friends, and a special one from Sarah, the founder herself. The hope is that these stories will act as a bridge from the past to the present. A bridge to connect thread to thread so we can see how our lives are woven together. We want to make sure that even the smallest acts of kindness and courage are remembered, no matter how far in the past they may be.
Bring Me the Ocean
In Bring Me the Ocean, Sarah’s daughter, Rebecca, lovingly documents the early years of the organization’s life. Bring Me the Ocean is a powerful collection of true stories that demonstrate the hope and renewal that can be found in interactions with the natural world. Poignant and sensitive, the stories come from bringing nature, animals, and the arts to people isolated from direct contact with the natural world, whether in a hospital, a nursing home, a residential treatment center, or other setting. Rebecca Reynolds has created a book that quietly embraces the power and resilience of the human spirit.
The form of this collection of stories echoes the way programs have been delivered since the start: beginning with the season. Each section of the book, commencing in fall and continuing on from winter, spring, to its end in summer, consists of true accounts of people transformed by their encounters with nature regardless of their abilities, circumstance, or socioeconomic status.
Bring Me The Ocean was published by VanderWyk & Burnham, Acton, MA, and was subsequently awarded the Parents’ Choice Honor (for adult readers), and two Benjamin Franklin Awards. It has been profiled on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, and has been translated into Japanese, becoming a bestseller in Japan. Bring Me The Ocean has been featured in over 140 newspapers nationwide and is available on audio cassette.
Read selected stories from the book: Emerald Green Moss | Inner City | Clouds!