Thank you so much to all of the community members who joined the EPIC team on Saturday, November 9th for our 2024 Fall Celebration in commemoration of EPIC’s 47 years and counting of environmental advocacy, and in honor of Rob DiPerna and his decades of tenacious forest activism, including two tours of duty at EPIC. All of your generous, heartfelt support of EPIC and Rob’s lifetime achievement made this one of our favorite annual celebrations in EPIC history. We thoroughly appreciated gathering with you all, sharing each other’s company during this troubling sociopolitical moment, and collectively enjoying a charming community venue, tasty tacos, and pleasant live music as the cherry on top.
The highlight of this year's Fall Celebration was the ceremony honoring Rob with the 2024 Sempervirens Award for his lifetime achievement in forest activism. Thank you to Tom Wheeler, Matt Dias, Maria Hernandez, and Alex DiPerna for sharing your appreciation of Rob during the ceremony (watch the speeches below). To Rob, thank you for bringing your humor, intellect, and strong character to your decades of forest advocacy work. Click here to watch a video of the ceremony, read Tom Wheeler’s 2018 ode to Rob titled “Kin to the Earth” here, and read about some of Rob’s past work at EPIC here.
An extra special thanks to the following people and groups for your contributions to such a joyful gathering:
Rob DiPerna, for your decades of forest activism;
Cullen Groom & the rest of the team at the City of Arcata Recreation Division, for welcoming us to your lovely community event venue at the D Street Neighborhood Center;
Toni & the rest of the team at Esmeralda’s 2.0, for catering a delicious taco buffet;
Lost Coast Brewery & Frey Vineyards, for your delectable donations to the bar;
Brice Ogan, Tina Robinson & Dennis Robinson of Aloha 808, for your live musical performance;
Amber Jamieson, Carrie Levy, Cecilia McGehee, Chris Chu, Dean Haynes, Josefina Barrantes, Judith Mayer, Kristen Chu, Matt Simmons, Melodie Meyer, Noah Levy, Ricardo Madrigal, Robbin Kohn, Susan Nolan, Tony Silvaggio & Will Suiter, for your time, initiative, hard work, and can-do attitudes as Fall Celebration volunteers;
Adventure’s Edge, Backcountry Press, Benbow Historic Inn, Blue Heron Botanicals, Bo Field, By Nieves Handmade Natural Body Care, Cafe Brio, CBe Ceramics, Coast Central Credit Union, Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate, Eco-Groovy Deals, Finnish Country Sauna & Tubs/Cafe Mokka, Gypsy Kat Designs, Historic Eagle House, Holly Yashi, Hossfeld Vineyards, Humboldt Distillery, Humboldt Bay Maritime Museum, Humboldt Seed Company, Josh Overington, J Lopiccolo Blades, Kimberly Baker, Kinetic Koffee, LiFTED Arcata, Los Bagels, Mir de Silva, Northtown Books, Pen + Pine, Pierson Building Center, PLAZA Arcata, Wildtrail Tours, Will Suiter & Zack Stanton Photography, for your generous contributions to this year’s silent auction in support of EPIC’s work;
Everyone* who bid on in this year's silent auction, both online and in-person;
Our team of EPIC staff, whom I am extraordinarily honored to call colleagues: Tom Wheeler, Kimberly Baker, Amber Jamieson, Matt Simmons, Melodie Meyer & Josefina Barrantes, for your support before, during & after Fall Celebration, and for your inspiring tenacity and brilliance in all of your work. Tom, EPIC’s Executive Director and our fearless leader, spoke eloquently onstage on behalf of our small but mighty organization; Kimberly, our brilliant, hippophile Conservation Director, crafted a gorgeous bouquet for the stage; Amber, our astute Jane of all trades and Director of Water Advocacy, greeted folks at the door with her signature amiability; Matt and Melodie, our intelligent, compassionate Climate and Conservation Attorneys, provided muscle power for setting and cleaning up the event; and Josefina, our savvy, hippophile/cynophile 30x30 Coordinator and Del Norte County Advocate, helped out with event setup, greeting guests, and event cleanup. I, Abigail Lowell, am very fortunate to serve as EPIC’s Communications Director alongside such a phenomenal team, and to have had the privilege of arranging such a heartwarming gathering for the EPIC community.
Last, but certainly not least, we want to thank all of you, our supporters and members, who are the reason EPIC can continue our good work advocating for the forests, watersheds, wildlife, and communities of Northwest California. These next four years will be difficult on multiple fronts, but we have been hard at work for almost half a century, and we certainly will not let up now. Please donate to EPIC today.
*Note: if you participated in the auction, please check your email for a message (from November 12th) about whether you won an item, and, if so, payment and delivery options. You may pay for your item(s) with card or PayPal on the auction website, pay with card on the EPIC website (as a donation), or mail or drop off cash or a check at the EPIC office located at 145 G St, Ste A, Arcata, CA 95521. We can mail you your items at the lowest extra shipping cost if you let us know your mailing address, or you can pick them up at the EPIC office this Wednesday, November 20th or Friday, November 22nd between 9:30am-2:30pm. Please contact me at abigail@wildcalifornia.org if you would like to coordinate a different pickup time.
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