FPF Marissa-Kanduri Helping Hands Initiative: Supporting our Seasonal Staff

Feathered Pipe Foundation Helping Hands

Made possible thanks to generous support from Sudhanshu Kar (“Sudz”), FPF Helping Hands provides financial support to core members of our hardworking and passionate team in education-related endeavors and self-initiated projects that align with and enhance the Foundation’s values and needs.

Unsurprisingly, many of our staff are drawn to working at the Feathered Pipe Ranch because they enjoy proximity to the healing, health-giving, community-focused, and compassion-based programs that are the bedrock of our operations and reputation for nearly 50 years. We are eager to encourage and cultivate those values with the people who are essential to making it happen each year.

This initiative is a means of honoring the diligence and devotion of our seasonal employees. It is named in part to honor Sudz’s grandfather, Sri Kanduri Charan Kar—a mystic and healer from a tiny village in Odisha, India who never hesitated in helping others— and in part to honor Marissa Ward, a college student from Eastern Montana who works seasonally at the Feathered Pipe Ranch. When Sudz met Marissa during his 2023 visit to the Ranch, he was inspired by her goals of studying and working in nonprofit for the service of others and wanted to find a means to assist her along with all staff members in their continuing growth and education.

Heart-felt Dedication to Service

Anyone who’s been to a Feathered Pipe Ranch program witnesses our staff’s continual attentiveness and dedication to serving our guests alongside meeting the nonstop demands of maintaining and improving Ranch facilities and grounds. From preparing delicious food and cleaning rooms to maintaining grounds, tidying common space, and transporting or running all kinds of special errands for guests, our seasonal staff pour hearts, minds, and bodies to put our guest’s needs first.

FPF Helping Hands underwrites up to $500 per person annually of the costs of outside educational and Foundation-enhancing endeavors for seasonal staff to include, for example: participation in yoga, mindfulness, and meditation training; furthering their education in matters related to global sustainability, nonprofit work, and reverence for preserving the natural world; involvement in social justice initiatives; healthy food preparation; regenerative agriculture; creative expression through arts that enhance personal development and reflect FPF values; and securing supplemental training in techniques and modalities that align with the values, needs and mission of the Feathered Pipe Foundation.

The Feathered Pipe Foundation expresses profound gratitude to Sudhanshu Kar for bringing this long standing desire to tangibly support our seasonal staff to life! Contact us directly crystal@featheredpipe.com if you are interested in supporting FPF Helping Hands.

Helping Hands Scholarship Impact

Since the launch of the Helping Hands Initiative, we have been able to give a number of our staff scholarships to pursue the educational or creative endeavors that fuel their minds, bodies, and souls. Your generous support has given many of them the possibility to cultivate new pathways of personal development that may have not been possible without the financial assistance of the scholarship. Providing these kinds of opportunities gives our cherished staff a chance to explore vital pursuits for life in the off-season.

This unique opportunity allows them to return to the Ranch each summer with enriched perspectives, newfound skills, and hearts full of inspiration—gifts that uplift the entire team through the retreat season. We extend our deepest gratitude for the generous donations that made it possible for this initiative to flourish and grow over the last year. Here, we’re delighted to share stories from some of our remarkable team members whose journeys have been supported by the Helping Hands Scholarship.

Staff Stories and Endeavors

Diana- Astrology Mentorship and Dragon Medicine Workshop

“I feel so grateful for the Helping Hands Initiative that has helped me pay for programs that further my spiritual studies. In 2023 I was in a 10-month Astrology mentorship that was incredibly insightful and helped me develop a strong base of understanding for this highly complex field. Again for 2024, the support has gone towards an extended study I am doing, this time around opening and clearing the chakras of the body. Working for the Ranch during the summers already feels aligned and purposeful and to have this additional off-season support to help us develop even further is really amazing. I am grateful to all who help to make it happen. Thank you, dear ranch and sponsors”

Jacob- Scoring and Recording Music to use on Feathered Pipe’s Drone Videos.

“I think the Ranch is a place for creativity and expression and I feel that by working on music I can help carry that tradition forward. I was able to purchase a new microphone and stand that are really great and it has allowed me to practice and record so much more.”

Nikki- 200hr Yoga Teacher Training and Massage Therapy School

“I have never asked for help from anyone before I applied for a Helping Hands scholarship. It was a huge leap of faith and humility to admit that despite all my will, I still needed help. During my YTT, I learned that yoga is so much more than just a form of exercise, it is a way of life that can lead to peace that is indescribable unless you have personally experienced it. My teacher at YTT is a retired LMT and spoke a lot during the training about her experiences being a massage therapist. Her words and stories are a big part of the reason I am now in massage school. Now that I am enrolled in school and pursuing my career, I have found that the ways I can help to facilitate healing through touch are endless. I am learning what it means to be a true healer and how to best use my unique skills and talents in a way that is healing to those I work on.”

Marissa- University of Montana Bachelor’s in Sociology and Communications w/ Nonprofit Management Minor

“My education at UM has allowed me to expand and find my community that aligns with my values of helping others while seeking my own personal and community growth. Studying what I am in the university has really opened my eyes to the world around me and has helped me to find my path and passion to work in Nonprofit. The internship with the Feathered Pipe Foundation I was able to do with the scholarship has opened the opportunity for me to be able to continue my work as a new member on the social media team as the Instagram Manager.”