Community
Wildlands Restoration Volunteers
Heal the Land, Build Community. Wildlands Restoration Volunteers is a Colorado nonprofit that provides opportunities for people to come together, learn about their natural environment, and take direct action to restore and care for the land.
Colorado Green Building Guild
When I first moved back to Colorado, I wanted to make sure I found a green building group and I came across the Colorado Green Building Guild. I’m looking forward to becoming more involved in the group.
Foundation for intentional community
Community takes on many different shapes and sizes. I have been diving into to co-housing and learning a lot about the value of a strong community. We all have good days and bad days. Sometimes we need help and sometimes we are able to provide help. When you live in a place where you have shared expenses and responsibilities, you help create resilience. You also have more opportunities for new experiences that will help with creativity, growth, and much more. In our society today, we have a big problem with social isolation and we are seeing what negative effects it creates. I believe that being a part of an intentional community can help correct that problem and make the world a more compassionate place that embraces diversity. I am so happy there is an organization out there working on these issues and I am proud to be learning from these folks.
Natural Building Alliance
I remember first learning about natural building materials in college. However it wasn’t until I had the opportunity to work on a rammed earth house that I got excited to learn more. The more I learn about natural building materials, the more I realize it solves a lot of problems. I am excited to learn more.
NOLS, Wilderness First Responder
Part of me always wanted to be a firefighter because I so enjoy helping people. Also when someone you know gets hurt and you can’t help them, it’s a very shitty feeling. I decided I should get training and took an intensive 10-day course as a Wilderness First Responder. I have maintained my license since 2011. The big joke in the class is that once you get the training, trouble just finds you. That could not be more true.
I have helped kids we found out on a trail who were on their way to hypothermia and got them warmed up. I have splinted a high school football player who tripped. I believed he tore his ACL and I had to evacuate him down a mountain over 1.5 miles on my back. He weighed over 180 pounds and the trail was so narrow only one person could carry him at a time. I have also given someone CPR in a grocery store and they came back to life just as the paramedics arrived. I feel so much better knowing I can help.
NORTHWEST Eco Building Guild - past Board member
The Northwest Eco Building Guild is a group of architects, designers, builders, sub contractors, homeowners, or just folks that care about the environment. The group runs home tours, training sessions, conferences, project slams, works with governing bodies on improving building codes, and just tries to make green building easier for folks. My main focus was helping with the Slam, where we reviewed all of the greenest projects in the Northwest and picked the top ten for that year. I am proud to have been a judge for 2 years. At the Slam, folks that worked on the projects got 10 minutes and 10 slides to tell the story of the project. The idea of this is to inspire more folks to push building into the next level. I believe that positive change comes from folks taking risks and trying to construct buildings in creative ways. It’s the idea of taking action and not just talking. In 2020, our project was selected for the Slam. This project allowed us to save a 100 year old cabin from going to the landfill because we found a way to incorporate it as an addition to a small home in West Seattle
Kitsap Community Food Co-op - Past Board member
When we first moved to Bremerton, WA we wanted to find the local food store. A spot where we knew we could get good healthy food that was grown or farmed in a sustainable way. Bremeton was considered a food desert by the FDA, so there were not a whole lot of options. In our search we found a pop up co-op that was inside a restaurant. We showed up to one of their get-togethers and learned that they had been wanting to open a store for over 10 years. They had over 800 members who wanted better food options. The co-op was getting ready to make the next big push to get a store open. They needed help with design and permitting so I ended up joining the Board to help out and 7 months later we had a store. Because of all the hard work from the Board and volunteers, we were finally able to open a store in July 2019. It was a very rewarding experience to be a part of and it happened because a community came together to make something great.
