EnglishAbout us
History / Mission statement / Vision / Goals / Board of Directors
History
1997Regina Splees (Tanizaki) begins a small playgroup at Chofuku-ji Zen temple, Fujisawa, Kanagawa with six families.
1999
Daycare with creativity and humanistic approach opens at Chofuku-ji Zen Temple. The day care was named 'International Children's Garden' and given a complete curriculum plan based on holistic and humanistic environments for young children.
2001
With a growing number of children, 'International Children's Garden' move to 2 apartments in Fujigaoka.
Our first Autumn Festival is brought to the community.
2002
Seedlings and Sunbeams programs begin
2003
In an effort to gain non profit status, and become more like a holistic studies center, a move to organize activities and build a group structure begins. Programs are grouped into like-purposes.
Unesco Living Values program is discovered, and given a trial go within the center's various programs and activities
2004
Gateway International Center becomes and official non profit organization in February
Happy Talk ESL program commences
2005
Unesco Living values is officially recognized as being a permanent part of our organization and we are now an official training center.
2007
Regina's resignation.
New Directors and new support members(later Active Full members) continue all GIC programs.
2008
GIC move to current location in Daigiri.
International Children's Garden becomes Kanagawa, Fujisawa, Kamakura, Chigasaki approved Kindergarten.
Mission statement
Through innovative educational experiences that awaken the best in the human spirit, build healthy bodies, guide us in our quest for the highest intellectual human potential, and create environmental sustainability, Gateway International Center provides hope and healing for individuals and society. Our programs and services:- provide multi cultural opportunities in English for the inclusion of all citizens in the Shonan area. These opportunities create cultural awareness, and social tolerance as the Shonan area grows in diversity and opens its arms to foreign citizens.
- provide opportunities of growth for educators and parents alike through various workshops , seminars and annual programs
- provide holistic and humanistic curriculums through educational programs touching the needs of our young children. These programs will produce resourceful, respectful and responsible adults who will then help create peaceful, compassionate and sustainable societies
Vision
Imagine a center that summons up tantalizing visions of adventure, and of human possibilities yet to be realized. There is wonder in the Garden itself, offering streams to be explored, flowers to be enjoyed, and meditative views of the Shonan area. A friendly hideaway offers only the freshest of organic living foods harvested locally. A place where the Autumn nights are so clear the Milky Way can light your walk along a darkened garden path. And always there is the sound of our woodland friends singing their peace songs throughout the night.And then there are people—the people who love the land; the children who go there to learn, the pillars of strength who guide the children through holistic and humanistic learning, the volunteers who live with the land and maintain a subtle balance of nature and humankind. And our community who come from all over to participate in our center’s contest of the body, mind, and spirit, committing themselves not so much to "stronger, faster, higher" as to deeper, richer, more enduring.
The community will come for the intellectual freedom to engage in activities and discussions of organic thought, and progressive lifestyles of health and sustainability. They will come to discover ancient wisdom and new wisdom through precious experiences of the body, and of the mind traveling eons beyond what we now know, and most importantly to experience the heart pulsing passionately in its discovery of the human potential. Children and adults alike will come to rediscover the miracle of self-aware consciousness. They will come for a new community, and at best, they will come away inspired by the precision of a desire to learn and keep on learning through all of life, and beyond.
This is what we are striving for at GIC. Why not be a part of the dream
Goals
- All Education programs will be non reliant on donations, and self sustainable by 2007.
- Train volunteers to open our Shonan Warriors youth group in 2007
- Increase the number of active board members
- Gain interest from the local community and local governments
- Create a savings of 25,000 yen per month towards the purchase of our own land. We would like to consider the purchase of our own land in 2010.
- Build upon our family camp program
Board of directors
Midori Matsumoto, Director
Yoshimi Asakura, Director
Yoshimi Asakura, Director
Makiko Takeda, Director
We would like to thank the original board members who played a vital part in our organization becoming a non profit.
Regina Splees
Regina Splees
Norico Fukuda
Sawako Yamamoto
Yuko Oikawa
Yuko Oikawa
Fumi Sato
Bali Iqbal
Bali Iqbal
Junko (Morimoto) Hachida
Call for board members
Here is your chance to make a meaningful contribution to the Shonan Community.We are in need of active Board Members who are ready to make a difference in our community:
The following board positions are needed:
1. Community Service Coordinators
a. Help develop, maintain and activate our community service programs.
2. Fundraisers
a. Help to research fundraising opportunities, write proposals, and implement actual fundraising activities3. Community Awareness Directors
a. Help with advertising, find means of letting the community know who we are, stay in touch with the needs of the community and how we can better serve.4. Secretary
a. Keep notes of board meetings, maintain communications between board members, maintain our rule book.
Characteristics of our board members:
- Live a life of health and sustainability
- Believe in and understand our vision and mission as a non profit organization
- Have two to five hours each week to spend on board activities
Interested applicants may take the following steps towards becoming a board member at Gateway International Center:
- Send us a letter or an e mail detailing why you wish to be a member of our organization, what position you would like to have, and what skills you have that would benefit that position.
- We will contact you for an interview
- An application will be presented to current board members for approval
- Upon approval a 2 hour introductory training will be scheduled with the director
- When available, attend a living values training and non violent communications training.