The Seed, Inc.
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The Seed, Inc. was created by Arthur Robert Barker (Art Barker) in 1970.
It was Based in Florida. (USA)
About the Founder:
Common Name: Art Barker
Born: 1924, in Brooklyn, NY.
At 16 years old, he was arrested for burglary and “being a wayward minor.” Charges were dismissed.
Two years later he was charged with assault and robbery. Those charges were also dropped as he enlisted in the U.S. Army a few days later.
Joined the U.S. Army in 1942 at 18 years old. Early in his army career he went AWOL, but when the war had begun, Barker found that he could fight well.
He was a tail gunner with the Army Air Corps which later became the U.S. Air Force.
"Seed can save the Nation." ~Art Barker
Barker received an Air Medal, with a silver leaf cluster, a Good Conduct Medal, a Purple Heart, and a Presidential Unit Citation.
Left active duty in 1948, he says ‘with a drinking problem.’
Barker said he lived out of his car for the next 8 years, his wife (of 20 days) left him and he had no friends except a dog name brandy.
Then he was in show business for a little while, but this often got interrupted because he was too drunk.
Barker says one day he got fed up and went down the street to an Alcoholics Anonymous Meeting.
Claude Green (head of the Seed Advisory Committee, Pinellas County) said that Barker found himself under a truck, close to death which “shook Barker out of his whiskey and into a lifelong dream of helping others”
Barker usually follows the story of his (self-claimed) downfall with his comeback to nightclubbing. The newspaper article states “By 1968 when he came back to Miami for a stint at the Playboy Club…, Barker was trying to help other alcoholics and drug addicts. Richard Ancona, the manager of the Playboy club at the time said that Barker lived in a boat at a nearby dock and often was used as a stand-up comic in the club.”
Barker claimed he wasn’t in it (The Seed, Inc.) for the money, but it was noted that his life style had improved considerably since he had become the president of The Seed, Inc.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE Here. (1973 December 16 – St. Petersburg Times Article: Art Barker: The Seed’s Chief Sows a Mixed Crop of People Reactions.)
Links to more Seed- Related News Articles: (more will be added as time permits)
1972 February 07 – The Child Addicts
1972 November 21 – Seed on the Wind–Big effort is needed to spread The Seed.
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