Longtime-sol-student-volunteer-teacher trainee-teacher-board member-friend-contributor-name-Katie
Hello friends,
Before I make a blunt request of your time or money, I’d like to share a bit of history you may not know.
Sol has always been a passion driven, mission-directed community fueled by volunteers.
Today, I have an invitation for you to help us build the next chapter of a mission that has been unfolding for 20 years.
We’re moving from a few people’s generosity carrying the mission to a community’s generosity carrying it together.
From the very beginning, our work has been about much more than yoga classes.
Since 2005, Sol Yoga’s mission has been to “infuse and inspire health, wellness and wholeness into daily life through the practice of yoga.” (solyoga)
And over the years, that mission has expanded beyond the mat.
The mission of our non-profit division - Sol (Connection) Center is “the heart of a thriving community that offers healing, connection and recovery support to any human striving toward better living.” (solyoga)
For 20 years, we have been living those missions.
That has meant scholarships (over $400,000 worth) and donation-based classes. Community programming. Teacher training. Outreach. Recovery support. Housing and intentional community. Free gatherings. Meals. Volunteers. Partnerships. And countless small, often invisible acts of care.
Sol has evolved from “just” a yoga studio into a community with both a for-profit and nonprofit side, working together to make more healing, connection and opportunity available to more people.
Here is the blunt part:
For 20 years, when our charitable contributions have outpaced our revenue, I’ve typically reached into my own pockets to make up the difference.
It’s truly been my pleasure.
But 2026 is not 2005.
The world has evolved. Sol is different. And I’m different.
Today, we’re building a more diversified, integrated, and self-supporting Sol—one sustained through participation, philanthropy, membership and the many ways people choose to invest in what they value.
So, I’m asking for your help.
I used to have diversified interests and outside work to tap into, but it turns out all my areas of interests have synthesized into this one aim - belonging, community, and human flourishing. It’s no wonder Sol’s work has happily absorbed me exclusively for the past 6 years. I’ve been busy building our intentional community, deepening our programs, and expanding our nonprofit and philanthropic efforts. My yet unfinished personal website and substack The Belonging Experiment. shows the integrated threads.
I’ve invested all my eggs in this basket! Even from the early days of building Sol, I was a DINK - dual income, no kids, and plenty of time, money and energy I could draw on to help feed the Sol machine. That’s no longer the case. In fact, my oldest is heading off to college this year!
I believe deeply in this work. It will far outlast me, my children and your children. The work of connection, belonging and community passes from generation to generation.
So, it’s time for the way we resource it to evolve, too.
If Sol has mattered to you, please consider making a contribution.
Maybe you have the capacity to make a larger contribution. Maybe you’re currently a DINK and this is your moment to put some of that disposable income toward something you believe in. 😉 Maybe a lifetime membership feels meaningful to you. Or, maybe you can give $25 or $100.
Or maybe you get involved and offer time, care, passion. That is valuable too.
Every contribution in time, money and participation helps create the capacity to keep doing this work—to build community, deepen belonging, and carry the mission forward.
Interested? We are beginning the Sol Legacy Circle - to answer these questions:
How do we carry the experience of connection forward—for ourselves, for the people who haven’t found Sol yet, and for generations to come?
I’ll be hosting a Legacy Circle Round Table Happy Hour on Sunday, September 6, from 4-5:30 PM, followed by our monthly Community Meal & Meeting and anyone interested in our legacy is invited.
I’ll be reaching out personally to some of you who have been part of Sol’s story over the past 20 years.
We’ll gather around a table and ask:
What has Sol given us?
What makes this community feel like home?
What does belonging here mean?
What is worth carrying forward?
And what do we hope future generations will experience here?
Can you join?
I tend to be doggedly self-reliant. I’m pretty sure I can figure everything out by myself. Yet, yoga and community have taught me that this is actually a liability. There are many times when asking for help and working toward a solution together produces a radically better outcome than anything I can create alone. So I’m practicing what I’ve learned.
I’m asking for help.
Not simply to keep Sol going, but to continue building strong community that is directed toward something larger than itself.
Thank you for believing in Sol, supporting Sol, and helping us build what comes next.
With gratitude,
Dorcas
P.S. If you’d like to make a contribution today, you can do so here. For larger contributions, or if you’d just like to connect with me, feel free to text or call 301. 788.5154