106 Monterey County GIVES! 2023 mcgives.com Environment & Sustainability DONate online mcgives.com Idea, this group is ready to share the joys of gardening with the community via members of the Pacific Grove Community Garden, Sustainable Seaside and the Monterey Adult School Garden in Seaside. These gardeners strive to show neighbors the benefits of working outdoors to grow healthy, year-round food in their own backyard. Donations will support a Garden to Go kit for participating households, complete with a raised bed kit or grow bags, soil, garden tools and organic seeds. “I’m very excited about joining the Our Families Grow Healthy project. This program is great, working with people in my local area that have firsthand experience with the growing zone that I live in. The community garden is amazing but I think there are a lot of people like me that have some space in their own yard and want to take advantage of the convenience of growing produce outside their front door, but are lacking in some knowledge and skills and thereby could truly benefit from this program.” -Mary Baribeau Elkhorn Slough Foundation Year Founded: 1982 Paid Staff and Volunteers: 32 paid, 120 volunteers Budget: $1,800,000 728-5939 elkhornslough.org Big Idea: As drinking water sources across California become strained by drought and overuse, Elkhorn Slough Foundation (ESF) has made protecting local aquifers its Big Idea this year. Donations to this nonprofit help ESF preserve more than 4,200 acres of wildlands, organic farms and ranches. Efforts to reduce erosion from steep, unproductive farms and to prevent legacy chemicals from seeping into sensitive wetlands combine to improve water quality in the estuary. Upland, ESF restores freshwater ponds to support endangered species like the Santa Cruz long-toed salamander. “For over 40 years, Elkhorn Slough Foundation has taken a holistic approach to conserving this last great wetland on California’s coast. From land conservation to habitat restoration to engaging the community in our work, ESF serves as a model of inclusive conservation. ESF is scaling up our work in acting locally to address climate change and safeguard biodiversity, and the support of the community is essential to our work.” -Laura Solorio, MD Fire Safe Council for Monterey County Year Founded: 2001 Paid Staff and Volunteers: 0 paid, 30 volunteers Budget: $282,250 (914) 409-8050 firesafemonterey.org Big Idea: Over the last three years, the Fire Safe Council for Monterey County has been hard at work on its Big Idea, expanding from zero to 38 chapters. This nonprofit educates communities about wildfire risk, helping them protect their homes and families through taking simple preventative steps. One of those steps creates “Chipper Days,” an opportunity for residents to clean up and safely dispose of tree and yard waste near their property. This is material that could otherwise act as easy fuel during wildfires. “The Monterey County Fire Protection District takes immense pride in being home to 29 out of the 36 Firewise communities in Monterey County. The Firewise initiative has been transformative, fosterLandWatch Monterey County Year Founded: 1997 Paid Staff and Volunteers: 3 paid, 50 volunteers Budget: $500,000 759-2824 landwatch.org Big Idea: Affordable housing—particularly for our local workforce—sits top of mind for many locally, and LandWatch Monterey County has made it a priority objective. This nonprofit’s Big Idea is to advocate for city-centered, climate-friendly housing that meets the needs of working people in Monterey County. LandWatch reminds leaders that housing needs are interrelated with transportation and climate issues. By focusing on the big picture of this Big Idea, LandWatch strives to advance affordable housing projects that are also located close to jobs, reducing commutes and greenhouse gas emissions. “LandWatch has been invaluable to me over the past 25-plus years: educating me about land use principles and advocating for sustainable development (infill, mixeduse), honest water policy, protection of the environment and, more recently, signaling the urgent challenges of climate change. Jurisdictions that adopt policies such as LandWatch proposes make important, beneficial impacts on social justice and economic vitality which also mean a great deal to me. A very effective aspect of LandWatch’s work is its education and empowerment of community members’ involvement in the decision-making process. This vocal support for sound land use principles made my time on the Monterey County Board of Supervisors less lonely. Please join me in supporting LandWatch’s critically important work this year.” -Jane Parker, former Monterey County supervisor spotlight Everyone deserves to have a feeling of belonging, to love and take care of all the living things around them.” Bibiana Carrazco, Habitat Stewardship Project
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