Surrounded by our incredible community of friends, partners, alumni, funders, volunteers and fellow watershed enthusiasts, we toasted our 20th year with Bubbles & Bivalves at the David Brower Center! It was truly special to celebrate with the people who have been part of our watershed movement for the past 20 years, and we hope for many more to come.
We raised $20,000 at the event, thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, donors and silent auction winners. Many thanks to sponsors Franklin and Michal Crawford-Zimring and Recurrent Energy, LLC, without whom the event would have not been possible. Their support enables underserved students from across the Bay Area to visit local parks and shorelines and engage in meaningful hands-on learning.
Our hilarious MC for the evening, and Board Chair, Jane Gire brought us all together to watch a video celebrating our 20th Anniversary, and introduced some of the incredible young people on our staff, who are building the future of our watershed movement. Sara Gurdian, a member of the Green Collar Corps, spoke of experiences of engaging her home community of Richmond and San Pablo in place based environmental awareness. Calvin Abbott, former intern and current member of the Green Collar Corps, discussed how his experiences as a diver encouraged him to come upstream to solve the pollution problems he encounter in the ocean. And Nikki Muench, former ClimateCorps Americorps fellow, and current Education Coordinator, talked about the value of environmental education and getting students outside in nature.
Executive Director, Juliana Gonzalez shared her thoughts ushering The Watershed Project into it’s 20th year of accomplishments and on the power of volunteer driven grassroots organizations to restore habitat, clean our water, get kids outside and most importantly, to build community. Finishing the program was the inspiring local watershed poet Kirk Lumpkin, who reminded us all why watersheds are such special spaces.
No “birthday” celebration would be complete without a cake! Many thanks to Virginia Bakery, who created a wonderful creek scene on a delicious cake – complete with gummy worms! Paired with a champagne toast, The Watershed Project rang in our 20s in style.
Our festive party goers enjoyed delicious bites (and of course oysters!) from top restaurants Waterbar, Farallon, Woodhouse Fish Co., Fish., and Epic Steak while sipping on wine from Love & Squalor and beer from Gillman Brewing Company and Oakland United Beerworks and listening to local musicians COAMB. We are touched by the generosity of the greater Bay Area community to participate in our event, including Balance Hydrologics.
Many thanks to all our wonderful guests and supporters – we raise our glasses to you! And thank you for kicking off our Anniversary Annual Fund goal of $30,000!
photos by Carol DiBenedetto
