☀️ June Newsletter & Member Drive!
June feels like the month we've been waiting for. Seventy-degree sunsets, lush green streets, summer here at last.
June is also the month of our Member Drive – our goal is to reach $2k in monthly donations by June 30. Here's the link to become a member!
On June 21, the summer solstice, we're hosting a very special "Teapotluck" event. We'll be launching bōcha issue #5, hosting a discussion panel, serving free food, and so much more. RSVP here!
Oh, and have you heard we're in Maria Hernandez Park every Sunday now? I'll let your host ziggy bee tell you all about it.
Today's topics:
🧧 Member Drive!
☀️ Summer Solstice Teapotluck
⛩️ Sundays in Maria (by ziggy bee)
Here's our June calendar:
RSVP for upcoming events:
☀️ Summer Solstice Teapotluck (RSVP)
June 21 – Bushwick – 2pm
🕯️ Silent Sanctuary (RSVP)
June 25 – BedStuy – 8pm
🌿 Wild Tea Workshop (RSVP)
June 27 – Highland Park – 1pm
Housekeeping:
- Our tea inventory is dangerously low right now, specifically herbal tea. If you have tea to donate – ideally loose leaf in large quantities – reach out and we can arrange a pickup!
- Silent Sanctuary is making its grand return after a year of hiatus! Hopefully we'll be back on a monthly cadence soon. Thanks to Mateo for hosting.
🧧 Member Drive
Over the past three years, we've served over 12,000 cups of free tea to our neighbors. Each cup represents an invitation to slow down, receive a gift, and casually connect with our neighbors.
In our lonely world – where our attention & our planet are sold to the highest bidder, where sources of meaning like art & community are systemically devalued, where we've forgotten how to trust one another – we desparately need more spaces to be with one another, to witness the goodness of humans, to co-imagine a better future. In other words...
WE ARE BUILDING SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL AND WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Become a member & help us reach our goal of $2k in monthly donations by the end of June.
Two years ago, we launched our membership program with the hope of one day reaching financial sustainability. We're not there yet, but we are certainly on our way.
As of writing this, 120+ people like you are making an average donation of $11/month to support The Tea Stand. This means we are $700 short from reaching our $2k goal by the end of June!
In exchange for your support, we offer a variety of perks – discounts at local tea shops, curated boxes of tea delivered to your door, locally-made teaware, the list goes on! All perks are intentionally designed to be enriching, educational, and engaging.
You can explore all our perks on our member signup page here.
I know we're all wary of the abused Subscription Model. In the context of big-tech corporations, it's a way to keep people hanging on by a thread, spending constantly and owning nothing.
But this is so much more than a tea subscription! Our membership program is our chosen path toward sustainability. Together, we can practice reciprocity, build local autonomy, and continue serving FREE TEA FOR ALL!
Member donations account for over 80% of our income – without this consistent support from all of you, my personal savings would be depleted and this project could not continue as it currently exists (read my privilege statement here). We've sold precisely ZERO cups of tea, we haven't received a single grant, and we haven't accepted a cent from any corporate anything.
By the people, for the people, baby!
Lastly: we're thrilled to announce a new membership tier starting at $33/month! We're adding this tier to bridge the gap between the $9/mo and $99/mo tiers, something which several folks have brought to our attention.
Members of this $33/mo tier will receive...
- access to annual, intimate tea ceremonies led by tea practitioner Tim Chacko
- free ticket giveaways to Ambient Church events
- free entry to Future Space's open studio sessions (1x/month)
- another special perk to be announced soon :)
(Quick note: we're naming this $33/mo tier "Big Steeper," and renaming the $99/mo tier to "Mega Steeper." Yes, we take our nomenclature very seriously.)
Memberships range from $3 to $99 per month! There's something for everyone :)
Thank you so much for your consideration. And to our members – we wouldn't be here without you. Forever grateful for your support <3
☀️ Summer Solstice Teapotluck
On June 21, the summer solstice, we'll be hosting a special Teapotluck celebration in Eldert Street Garden, a community garden in Bushwick off the Halsey L.
There is SO MUCH to celebrate – the solstice, the launch of bōcha issue #5 and the talented folks behind it, and the ever-growing Tea Stand community!
RSVP here! Free for members, $10 for non-members (100% of profit will benefit Eldert Street Garden). Free food & free tea all event long!
For the first half of the event (2-5pm), we'll be hanging out, doing some solstice reflections, and learning how to cyanotype print on tea bags (facilitated by community member Juniper Sokolov).
Around 5pm, we'll do some live readings from the zine and host a discussion panel featuring the folks who served tea during Perpetual Brew and contributed to the zine. The panel will be facilitated by beloved audiomaker Mae Nagusky.
Afterwards, we'll enjoy some free dinner, have a drink from the GIANT LUCKY TEAPOT, and bask in the beauty of the longest day of the year.
Oh, and we'll also have custom Tea Stand hats, mugs, and buttons for sale! Our first official merch drop!!!
I really really hope to see you there! This is by far the most energy we've ever put into a single event, it's gonna be great.
We're also looking for lots of volunteer support both before and during the event. If you're interested in helping out, join our volunteer group chat here :)
RSVP to our Summer Solstice Teapotluck here!
⛩️ Sundays in Maria
hello all (: it’s ziggy bee (:
I feel really, really, really, truly and absolutely blessed to be someone whose memories will contain the experience of The Tea Stand. How 30 years from now I’ll look back at these moments in the park and think, “Wow I was there. It was real. I was real.” That all this wasn’t a dream and that I have these experiences, these random little pockets of memory with strangers and friends alike. One thing I love about memory is its ability to create immortality. Through me, through Miles, through purveyors of the park, through you, The Tea Stand is able to live forever. How beautiful is that! How magical!
On the last day of Perpetual Brew, I remember telling Miles that we need to be in Maria Hernandez every week. Big smile on his face, openness in his eyes, he asked: “Well, what if it was you?” When I tell you my jaw dropped… What an honor! What a privilege! To be able to steward a space that I love so dearly? That has given me so much? The obvious answer was yes.
Having The Tea Stand in Maria Hernandez every Sunday feels to me like being a rock in a flowing river. And that the rock (which is pretty big and covered in moss and lichen) was carried into the middle of the river by some young kids who came to skip rocks after school. It is sort of like when you crush a milkweed pod and all its seeds fly through the air and scatter, landing in various places and planting themselves in the world. Or when you run into a friend on the train and catch up on your commute into the city. All this to say, being in Maria Hernandez on Sundays feels like I am conspiring with all of you to create some wonderful theatrical art piece that we can take home and show our relatives and friends.
I want Sundays at The Tea Stand to be a place you can come and feel grounded in reality. But also a place where you can enter into the vast void of collective consciousness and explore what it is to be human. I want it to be somewhere you can rely on like a friend. Somewhere to brainstorm ideas for the future with strangers or catch up on the local news. What I really want is for everyone in the world to feel the luxury of going somewhere and being welcomed with open arms.
So here it is! It’s official! We are in Maria Hernandez every Sunday! 12-6! I can’t wait to meet you and laugh with you and to create memories we will look back on in 30 years and smile at together!
Happy June,
ziggy bee
That's all for now! Thanks to...
Aidan R, Jesse, Aimee, John, Allyssa, Aidan K, and Sharon for becoming members.
John & Aidan for donating tea.
You, for reading! Hope to see you soon (calendar here).
Keep Steeping,
Miles 🍵
Member discussion