The Elysium Foundation:
A History
In mid-2011, we found ourselves attending the 4th of July BBQ at the Shulgin FARM outside Oakland, CA.
Although Sasha rarely got sick during his long life, he was then in his mid-80’s and had been experiencing the effects of dementia for some time. Macular degeneration had also taken most of his sight and kept him from work in the lab for years. Then, just before the BBQ, Sasha suffered a stroke. Needless to say he was not in optimum condition when we arrived that day.
Seeing Sasha in such a condition, and hearing of the massive amount of money needed to pay for both 24hr nursing & medical expenses, we found ourselves reliving the pain and grief of Robert Anton Wilson’s passing years earlier.
It is almost impossible to imagine that amazing, insightful men, such as these, who had influenced so many, folks that were so often mentioned as influential souls and teachers that had changed countless lives, could be left scrambling for money at the end of their days. These are not people that live in any amount of luxury. They dedicated their lives to advancing human understanding of who we are, what we are, and what we might become. With general hopes of moving away from our robotic-animal nature and becoming perhaps more human.
Something needs to be done for people like this. Marginalized for the taboo nature of their research & ideas, funding for their work often arrives via a combination of paid appearances & very commonly ‘frugal living.’ The money simply stops coming in as they reach their later years and the travel & appearances become less possible. After discussing this issue with others at the BBQ that day, everyone agreed that something should be done. A few thought something COULD be done,…and well, a handful of the hypomanic assumed that this something could be done by us.
The Elysium Foundation Project was born that day to fill the gap between this “idea” and a functional, zero-overhead, no-profit organization. With the goal of providing financial relief to elderly members of the Visionary/Psychedelic community who, through their research, writings, or general contribution to this field, served as model ambassadors and representatives of our community.
We attempted to reach these goals by maintaining a Facebook page, holding the local FOTS/Elysium dinner salons in Jack London Square, and through private networking.
The Facebook page allowed us to have a permanent internet presence as contact point, serve as a resource for information concerning Sasha’s condition and needs, promote the community and their events in order to build a large base of support, and solicit direct donations to the Shulgin’s tax-deductible relief fund.
The local FOTS/Elysium dinner salons allowed us to meet regularly, stay connected, and exchange ideas and thoughts on fundraising for the Shulgins. This also gave us a space to stay updated on the fate of, and work in the lab, (stewarded by Dr. Paul Daley).
Separately, in our own lives we worked to identify, find, and contact potential individuals that could commit to larger donations to provide more guaranteed period of support. This often took the form of identifying well known persons that had expressed interest and respect for either Sasha’s work directly, or the positive effects of visionary/psychedelic substances in general. We then sought avenues of direct contact where possible, to insure delivery of our message.
The Elysium Foundation is a loosely organized group of variously involved individuals dedicated to helping both inform others of current projects in need of funding and securing the funding and donations for these projects.
Much of the work was (and still is) done independently because most of us had already decided that we were going to do what we could to help both Sasha and Ann. To do our part to ensure their lives were as comfortable and stress-free as possible in their final years. To give back something no matter how small. To say thank you with our actions.
With the Hellenic idea of the Elysian Fields to represent our ultimate goal of rewarding their bravery & dedication by attempting to ensure that their final years are as heavenly as possible…
We invite you to join us in this vision.
~L’society
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