350 Wenatchee Climate Conversations NCW

Hello SNCW supporters, 

I’ll get right down to it this month – we need your help! I am so thrilled to have moved into our new office space, (open house coming soon) to be interviewing for an additional staff member next week, and maybe most of all, to start some very important work on a local climate action plan. AND, I need your help in this. We need support in the capacity building we’re doing right now, and we need some consistent funding in order to take on the huge project of creating a plan for long-term greenhouse gas reduction in our two-county area.

SO. If you find value in my monthly emails, if you have enjoyed our educational programs, if you hear about local happenings by following us on social media, if you’ve enjoyed a blog or two, if you’ve found the Waste Wizard a helpful resource, then please consider becoming a member if you’re not already. We have 750 subscribers to this email list – whoa – but get this: we have only about 50 active members. That means there are a lot of people who are interested enough in what we do to subscribe, but haven’t yet made the leap on over to our membership page to sign up for $35/year.

Need one more little reason? In 10 days, Sustainable NCW turns FIVE. It has been five years since “Sustainable Wenatchee” went from just a twinkle in my eye, to a real-life, 501(c)3 nonprofit. I love that right around our 5th birthday, we’ve moved into our first office and are hiring another employee. Cause for celebration for sure. Now give me one more reason to celebrate by committing to a recurring gift of just $35/year as a member!

I know many of you reading this are already members, and many of your memberships renew this month. I want to first say, thank you so much and then suggest that maybe, just maybe, you could stretch from $35/year to say, $50? You can easily change the amount of your annual giving within your DonorBox account, or change it to monthly giving if you prefer. Consider me tech support if you have any trouble.

Regardless of whether or not you support us financially right now, I’m grateful for each of you. I love the enthusiasm you all bring when I get the chance to meet you in person. Thank you for a wonderful, fulfilling five years. Here’s to many more years of promoting a culture of environmental stewardship in our beautiful valley.

 – Jana

Upcoming Events

• Make a Difference Day is coming up this Saturday! We ended up not needing extra helpers for the trees being planted at the college, but here are some great ways to get involved this weekend:

  • Upper Valley Mend’s “Big Apple Glean” in Cashmere from 10am-1pm on the 22nd. Join UV MEND, Harvest Against Hunger, and Chelan Douglas Community Action Council for this year’s Big Apple Glean. They’ll be harvesting around 18,000 lbs of apples for food banks across Washington State. You will be equipped with all the necessary equipment. All you need to bring is water. If you would like to join, please email Lily Roberts, Upper Valley MEND Gleaning Coordinator, at gleaning@uvmend.org.

  • Rotary Pollinator Garden Project, 9am at the Columbia and Kittitas Park and Ride in Wenatchee. Join Wenatchee area Rotary groups this Saturday at the Columbia & Kittitas Park & Ride (behind the signage) to create a small pollinator garden. Coffee and donuts will be available at 9am, and they’ll likely work most of the day. For more information, email Natalie at nataliesees@gmail.com.

  • Cashmere Middle School Bike Repair Club’s Give Away / Learn to Ride Event on Sunday, October 23rd 12-3pm. Get your bike fixed or get a bike if you need one! Cashmere Middle School parking lot. More info in flyer below.

  • Other local Make a Difference Day events can be found here.

     

• Wenatchee Valley College Arbor Day Celebration, Tuesday October 25th from 1:30-3:30pm. Free and open to the public. WVC Sustainability Committee and Tree Campus Higher Education invite you to join the Arbor Day Celebration on October 25th from 1:30pm to 3:30pm on the Wenatchee campus. Please meet at the fountain in the middle of campus. We will learn from Ben Thompson and Jess Lloyd, WA Department of Natural Resources Urban and Community Forestry staff, about “Ten Things to Know About Selecting, Planting, and Nurturing Shade Trees on your Property.” This event will include a walking tour of trees on campus to demonstrate the 10 things to know so please dress for the weather. We will also be planting trees on campus to meet our tree campus goals of increasing diversity of species and improving our carbon footprint. This event is made possible by ASWVC support and is in collaboration with community partners Sustainable NCW, Wenatchee Rescue Mission, Department of Natural Resources, and Cascadia Conservation District.   

   

  There will be an optional field trip to Wenatchee Rescue Mission at 1450 S. Wenatchee Avenue to follow.  Rick Edwards, retired USFS forester and SNCW board member, will lead this tour to demonstrate what they are doing to improve the landscape with trees. Contact: Joan Qazi at jqazi@wvc.edu for more information.

   

• Save the Date for our next Red Barn event at Wenatchee River Institute: Sustainable Holidays, a partnership with Waste Loop on Thursday, November 17th at 7pm. This will be a hybrid event, so come join us in Leavenworth (I think there will be glass recycling available for event attendees!) or log-on from the comfort of your couch. More info available at WRI’s website here.
  

 Plant Rich Eating Guide for the Wenatchee Valley

If you missed out on the Rotary’s event at the museum last week about eating a plant-rich diet, you really missed out. I was re-energized to pursue eating more plant-based options to reduce my impact on the environment. The coordinators of that event put together a fantastic guide on where to find plant-based options locally, and we’ve added it to our website on our Food resources page. Props to Kris Cameron and the rest of the Rotary crew who put so much time and effort into this great resource on an important change we should all be working toward.

Waste Wizard Sponsor – TekniPlex (Dolco)

That’s right, there’s yet another local business who has generously supported our work! This time it’s specifically for the Waste Wizard. Thanks to TekniPlex, the company that owns the local Dolco Packaging plant, where you can recycle all #6 plastics (aka styrofoam) at 1121 S Columbia St in Wenatchee. You can learn more about Dolco’s sustainability efforts here. We appreciate their support of the Waste Wizard.

 New on the blog

Two guest blogs this month! The first is from our friends up north at Methow Recycles. I’m kind of a fan-girl of theirs and hope to replicate some of their programs for the Wenatchee area someday, like repair cafes and a library of tools/things. Check out the blog from Aspen to learn more about this awesome organization.

Also on the blog, local college student Madelyn shares a “day in the life,” offering ways she’s made changes to live more sustainably, including some wonderful local small businesses where she gets her eco-friendly goods.

Sustainably, 

Jana Fischback

Executive Director