This feast under the stars is not only a gathering to honor visionaries and leaders, but also a celebration of the integration of art and nature, as we proudly showcase our second Artist-in-Residence, this time featuring a Youth Artist-in-Residence cohort.
This gathering is both a homecoming and a horizon: a moment to root into the soil of our shared struggle and rise toward a future we design together. This will be one night rooted in joy, justice, and imagination.
This September,
we celebrate
WILD! Miracles
On behalf of the artists, storyweavers, creators, goddesses, healers, witches, and conjurers, we invite you to our second annual gala, 2025 WILD! Miracles: A Feast of Gratitude in the Woods on September 13.
This celebration comes at a critical moment for both people and the planet. Now more than ever, we must center our healing. Restore Forward and The Reconciliation Center serve as a sanctuary, a place for the world to come to recover.
This year’s festival continues our bold capital campaign to transform 453 acres of land in Upstate New York into a healing and The Reconciliation Center, stewarded by Black and Native American women. It also honors the sheroes and heroes who stand on the frontlines of global and local crises.
WILD! Miracles: A Feast of Gratitude in the Woods is a sacred celebration of resilience and restoration, honoring the luminaries and allies who stood beside Black Women’s Blueprint, now The Reconciliation Center, through years of adversity, culminating in a transformative victory that breathes new life into 453 acres of reclaimed land in Ava, New York.
As WILD! Miracles approaches, these luminaries will be honored for their courage and commitment. This is not just an event, it is an honoring of miracles, a sacred gathering, a moment of celebration, remembrance, and profound gratitude.
It is where the forest itself will bear witness to generosity. Where tables will be set in wild splendor. Where we come together not just to share a meal, but to lift up those whose hands held firm through the storm, whose voices rose in defense of the right to exist, to dream, to build.
A Theatrical Ceremony of Magic and Miracles
September 13, 2025
The Story:
In a world unraveling, something divine has taken root. WILD! Miracles is not merely an event; it is a summons, a sacred rite, a ritual of remembrance and rejoicing. Beneath ancient canopies and across consecrated soil, we bear witness to a year that defied gravity, a year when the impossible became flesh.
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In this theatrical piece, we tell the story: Through the smoke of hatred, through scattered screws and slurs, amid a town’s resistance and a nation’s forgetting, warriors rose. Shoulder to shoulder, with steady hands and unshaken spirits, they guarded a dream, shielding a vision: the reclamation of land and destiny for The Reconciliation Center.
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And then, a miracle.
When all expected yet another battle, the town of Ava turned. A new path unfolded: acknowledgement, permission, possibility. This was the turning point, the divine breath that broke through stone.
Now, we name the protectors.
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These are not mere names; they are conjurers, shield-bearers, light-keepers. Their brilliance, legal power, spiritual grounding, and uncompromising love shaped a future once thought unreachable.
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So, on this Fall Equinox, in the heart of the woods, we gather for a feast not just of food, but of gratitude and miracles. The trees will remember. The wind will carry their names. A table will be set in wild splendor, and we will dance, cry, laugh, and bow in honor.
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This is not just theater. This is testimony.
This is the spell-work of justice.
This is WILD! Miracles.
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Come ready. Come reverent. Come radiant.
As part of our $10 million capital campaign to develop this land, we are committed to donating a percentage of all funds raised to the local community in Ava.
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Last summer, against all odds, the town of Ava approved the Open Development Plan, granting us the ability to move forward, building by building. After years of struggle and legal battles, expectations were set for yet another fight. But instead, the town board chose a different path, a fresh start, a new relationship.
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They acknowledged the wrongs of the past and signaled a desire to stand on the right side of history, at a time when the world is in turmoil, when wars fracture communities and divisions seep into daily life.
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Because of the unwavering dedication of our Luminaries, this victory became possible.
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Their brilliance, legal and strategic counsel, and steadfast belief in justice have paved the way for this moment.
When the world said “no,” love carved a path through the forest.
Event
Co-Stewards
Maria Motolla
Huong Nguyen
Ingrid Benedict
KC Wagner
Bonnie Collins
Iakowi:he'ne' Oakes
Gina Belafonte
Kelli Stidiman Hall
Leah Penniman
Kimberle Crenshaw
Host Committee
Dailisha Eve Rodriguez
Maria Neve
Alicia Luhrssen-Zombek
Cathline Tanis
Geraldine Deese
Dr. Yaa Elombe
Kim Waldon and Rhonda Waldon
Rosemary Didi Jordan
Whitney D. Smith
Alisha Santiago
Natalie Jeffers
Dawn Ramsey and Chekasha Ramsey
Monica Dennis
Karen Tronsgard-Scott
ML Daniel
Ed Heisler
Annika Gifford
Kelly Miller
Ann Duckett
Coleta Walker
Lorna Hines-Cunningham
Korea Kelly
Savannah Shange
Alexis Pauline Gumbs
Beverly Guy-Sheftall
Johnnetta B. Cole
Dara Cooper
Tarana Burke
adrienne maree brown
Autumn Brown
Ariel Jacobson
Sean Ridley
Delethia Hughes
For More
Information
​For sponsorships, capital campaign & fundraising questions, contact:
Sevonna Brown
Event Co-Chair
wildgala@restoreny.org
For FAQ and Logistics, including planning your stay
and how to get there contact:
Natalie Jeffers,
Interim National Director
info@restoreny.org
Made possible by:
