Then and Now: Our Work and Focus

Fortunate Blessings emerged as a more recent part of a forty-seven year history of the educational activities before its formal incorporation of the Fortunate Blessings Foundation (FBF) in 1998. The first such effort was launched in 1978 under the names “East West Center” (EWC) which also functioned as the “Nutritional Information Center” and the “Women’s Resource Center.” EWC sponsored and conducted dozens of seminars, lectures and workshops on the relationship between diet and health, cultural dietary practices with a particular focus on macrobiotic philosophy and traditional Japanese healing practices, study groups on natural childbirth, infant care and child development and other topics. The EWC hosted many teachers from all over the US and Europe and sponsored various wellness classes in a small office and facility as well as through the local community center. Staff and EWC members also helped establish both a food cooperative and restaurant in Middletown, Connecticut beginning in 1976.

After operating for nine years as the Macrobiotic Center of Connecticut (MAC) with more courses, publications and workshops specifically aimed at introducing and spreading the macrobiotic way of life throughout the region, MAC moved to Litchfield, Connecticut where smaller activities were held in rented spaces until 1991 when MAC opened its 750 square feet office near the Litchfield town green. Publications and lectures resumed with an eventual support staff of four who helped organize ongoing conferences and retreats.

In 1998, William and Joan Spear incorporated the Fortunate Blessings Foundation which became the more formal non-profit educational entity that remains today. It was granted a 501(c)3 designation and began to actively solicit donation in support of its activities. FBF became the primary host of The Passage, the five-day residential retreat for caregivers, hospice staff and others I health care. The Passage was first offered in Switzerland and later in Italy, Ireland, England, Croatia, Portugal, Oregon, Georgia, California, Massachusetts, and New York. Parallel to FBF, the Silent Oceans Trust was established in 1999 as one of its initiatives to bring greater attention to the damage to marine mammals through the deployment of low frequency sonar.

Following the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami on December 26, 2002, FBF launched its disaster response initiative, Second Response (SR), leading teams of trauma specialists to Sri Lanka (2002-2005), Indonesia (2006), Samoa (2009), Japan (2011, 2012), the Philippines (2013), Croatia (2015), Nepal (2015) and Uganda (2018). Second Response facilitators trained more than 6,000 parents, caregivers, nurses and community health staff in these countries, resulting in 400,000 children participating in PLAYshops throughout the world. FBF also dispatched teams in the US to the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut after Super Storm Sandy (2012). Training for FEMA and Homeland Security staff and volunteers through the Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York took place from 2013 to 2018. Nearly all public educational efforts offered by FBF and SR as FBF then became dormant during the outbreak of the COVID epidemic.

As a result of a family members urgent need for care, FBF closed its Litchfield offices in 2018 and moved to Washington, Connecticut. With the onset of the pandemic, operations shifted to virtual courses without a physical space. At the end of 2021, FBF resumed minimal activities, first funding a 12 month “Mindfulness for Caregivers” series with surgical residents at the Danbury Hospital, part of the Nuvance Health; the program was repeated the next year. In 2024, FBF funded a new community outreach initiative in “Preventative Cardiology” through the same association with Nuvance Health following Nuvances merger with Northwell. This set the stage for FBF’s expertise on Diet and Health to reach 14,500 providers and over 1,000 sites of care, including 28 hospitals. Outside of these regional activities, FBB’s public-facing efforts remained somewhat limited to providing minimal online sessions and underwriting numerous scholarships to Community Colleges and High Schools in the region.

Now, at the end of 2025, FBF has reorganized its Board of Directors with the intention of enhancing multiple educational activities and pursuing additional collaborations with local hospitals, high schools, colleges, and community groups aligned with its mission. In addition to the Board of Directors, the new Board is assembling an adjunct Advisory Council comprised of community leaders, health care professionals, and numerous higher education specialists familiar with and supportive of FBF’s past and future endeavors.