The Pollinators Foundation

03/28/2026

Paper, Ink & Soul (April 18)
Step into a day of creativity, soulful expression, and heartfelt connection at the Healing Hive.

Join us for Paper, Ink & Soul — A Joyful Creative Retreat, a multi-media creative experience guided by Indian-American artist, published author, and lifelong Montessori educator, Jameela Alter. This nurturing program supports stress relief, self-care and meaningful connection.

📅 Saturday, April 18, 2026
🕙 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM
📍 The Healing Hive at Folkmoot

About the Artist: Jameela Alter is a richly gifted creative, educator, and published author of novels, poetry, and a children’s book celebrating gratitude. A passionate maker, she creates not only with words but also with paper, inks, and mixed media. Proudly embracing her vibrant age of 79, Jameela delights in sharing soulful crafting practices that inspire kindness, imagination, and connection across generations. She lives in Chesapeake, Virginia with her husband, close to her children and grandchildren, and continues to nurture a world made brighter through creativity.

Learn more and register at https://givebutter.com/paper-ink-soul-joyful-creative-jameela-alter

03/24/2026

Awakening Lakshmi (April 14)
Join Us for a Transformative Workshop Honoring Lakshmi!

Open your heart to grace as Karen McGovern leads a transformative workshop honoring Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of abundance, beauty, and generosity. This soulful offering blends ta***ic philosophy, myth, movement, and devotion—an ideal practice for anyone wishing to invite more ease and prosperity into life.

📅 Tuesday, April 14, 2026
🕑 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM
📍 The Healing Hive at Folkmoot USA

Meet the Facilitator: Karen's journey into the world of movement began at the tender age of sixteen, where her passion for physical education flourished. Following a fulfilling career in Elementary Education, she embraced her true calling and returned to instructing movement, igniting a vibrant new chapter in her life. In 2009, she launched her SilverSneaker®️ Chair Yoga classes, marking the beginning of an inspiring yoga odyssey.

As a 500-ERYT Yoga Alliance instructor and an Anusara Inspired®️ Instructor, Karen brings a wealth of expertise and a transformative approach to her teachings. She passionately leads Anusara Yoga sessions at Haywood Regional Fitness Center and The Pollinator’s Foundation, where she hosts enriching YACEP workshops tailored for continued professional development.

Learn more and register at https://givebutter.com/6Ij1Hi

03/24/2026

Starting on June 19th, we will host fitness classes, workshops, wisdom and wellness talks, live music and entertainment, vendors, dozens of local artists, artisans and wellness related products, as well as a variety of delicious food and beverage options, a children’s activity area, all culminatin...

03/19/2026

Thank you so much Robin King and Smoky Mountain Yoga & Wellness Festival, for your heartfelt work to bring this festival of hope, peace and wellbeing into our lives, our mountains, and our communities. It is a great joy and an honor to be a part of this amazing community of healers gathered to share hope and heart-opening gifts with the world. 🙏🏾❤️🐝

03/19/2026

Book Launch & Poetry Ritual (April 9)
A Book Launch & Poetry Ritual, with Poet Gina Malone, Honoring the Quiet Power of Women. A cozy, reverent, and intimate gathering where words become offerings and presence becomes medicine.

Join us for a soulful evening celebrating the launch of "What Does Anyone Know About Goddesses", the debut poetry chapbook by Waynesville-based writer and Hive member Gina Malone.

📅 Thursday, April 9, 2026
🕕 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
📍 The Healing Hive at Folkmoot

About Gina Malone:Gina Malone is a native of South Carolina and now writes in the mountains of western North Carolina. Her short stories and flash fiction have won awards in the Charlotte Writers’ Club’s annual competitions, most recently in 2018 with Wiley Cash as the judge. She was a winner of the Sidney Lanier Poetry Competition in 2012 and 2020, and, in 2013, she won a North Carolina Press Association award for feature writing. Her poems have been published in Poetry South, Quartet, Streetlight and Kakalak, and have twice been finalists for the James Applewhite Poetry Prize. From March 2020 until March 2022, she wrote 800 poems about the pandemic, and thinks occasionally of taking up work again on an as yet unpublished memoir of essays about her 19 years running a bookshop in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Read more of her published work at https://www.ginamalonewriter.com.

Learn more and register at https://givebutter.com/book-launch-poetry-gina-malone

03/18/2026

I’m so grateful and excited to be part of the Smoky Mountain Yoga & Wellness Festival this June! Registration is now open. Check it out and reserve your tickets 🙏🏽

Our Healing Hive will also present experiences of creativity respite, and renewal, and I’ll be offering a 1-hour Qigong class on Saturday, June 20 at 11:15 AM, indoors, in the Auditorium at Folkmoot.

If you’re curious about how Qigong helps you release stress and anxiety, regulates your nervous system and benefits your peace of mind and heart, please join us. I would love to share this healing energy and space with you.

https://www.facebook.com/share/1DaNTQeJgo/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Heartfelt gratitude to Robin King and Axis Yoga + Studio for nurturing and growing this beautiful festival in our community 🙏🏽❤️🐝

03/13/2026

Join us Tuesday, March 24, 2:00–4:00 PM at The Healing Hive at Folkmoot for a beautiful and immersive afternoon with our healing pollinator sister, Rev. Mary Clayton-McGlauflin, an ordained Interfaith Peace Minister, a Reiki Master/Teacher, and soulful guide who has been deeply inspired throughout her life by the teachings and presence of Mary Magdalene.

Through sacred storytelling, visual imagery, short readings from early texts, and gentle reflection, we will explore what may well be one of the greatest identity misunderstandings in history and rediscover Mary Magdalene’s role as a bearer of the Christ Sophia tradition.

Together, we will reflect on how her story invites a healing balance between Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine energies.

This promises to be a magical, meaningful, and spiritually enriching experience at The Healing Hive.

Learn more and register at https://givebutter.com/new-way-of-knowing-mary-magdalene

03/11/2026

Life brings storms that can feel heavy to carry alone. Join us on Friday, March 13, for our Compassion Circle—a safe and welcoming space to pause, share, and be supported in community. Learn more and register at https://givebutter.com/XE2QJn

02/18/2026

Mindful Movement Qigong for All Ages -- Wednesdays | 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM, The Healing Hive of The Pollinators Foundation, located Folkmoot

Join us for a gentle mind-body weekly practice of breath, flow, and compassionate connection. Through mindful movement and moving meditation, we gather in community to release stress, restore balance, and cultivate vitality — one breath at a time.

❤️ Pay What You Can: suggested $12–25
Your generosity helps sustain our social healing work and keeps our offerings accessible to all. Unable to pay? Please come as you are. No one is turned away.

🔗 Registration: online or by phone
https://www.thepollinatorsfoundation.org/classes/qigong-hive-feb26

🌼 What is Qigong?
Qigong, similar to Tai-Chi, is a gentle moving meditation and energy self-care practice that transforms stress into vitality. The practice supports emotional well-being, reduces anxiety and tension. It also strengthens the immune and cardiovascular systems, improves balance and joint health, which prevents falls, and nurtures calm, grounded presence.

Come breathe, move, and reconnect with the wisdom of your body in a compassionate, non-clinical space.

Every Wednesday at 11 am, we offer Qigong Classes at The Healing Hive at Folkmoot. Join our community and experience better balance and health, mental and emotional wellbeing, and inner peace.

12/30/2025

My friends -- A little ❤️ note to thank you for being part of my heart’s calling and work with The Pollinators Foundation, spreading seeds of love, healing, and compassion.

This year, our trauma-informed healing arts touched more hearts than ever, affirming how essential it is to keep growing this work, sharing hope, ending stigma, and cultivating belonging.

Watch a short film celebrating what we’ve created together.
If you feel called, please consider a tax-deductible gift to support our mission and work:
https://givebutter.com/3MQEXW

Thank you for being part of this living circle of care and compassion. Wishing you a Happy New Year with good health, peace, and gentle joy!

With love and gratitude,
Marga ❣️🐝

Watch the Pollinators Foundation short film, highlighting the social healing work we made possible together in 2025. With your support this year, we offered ...