Everyone in the Alliance has felt or is feeling this way. We know, and research shows that collective action is the best antidote to being overwhelmed by big, complex societal issues. Whether you have one hour a week or five to meet others who care and get a mood boost, there is something for you to do. Please forward this email invite your friends to join the Alliance! It's free, and every event allows you to find solace by doing something that matters with other people who welcome and support you.
Here are 10 things the Alliance does to keep you feeling joyful and hopeful. Come join us!
Everybody knows getting outside to "unplug and reconnect" is good medicine. Every Monday morning starting Feb 10, we will have a Monday Morning Mood Boost walk at 7 (or earlier upon mutual agreement) am. Let's begin on River Road at the pull-off near Old Mystic. We will soon be adding other hiking adventures and then paddling when the water warms up...and not all on workdays!
The Alliance finds hope and joy in mutual and intergenerational sharing and action! In the photo, 6 of the 9 volunteers who are supporting the Play Friday Mystic River Scientist's Alewife Rescue at Mystic River Magnet Elementary are hamming it up for the kids at Fishtown Brook. Volunteers ranged in age from teens to 70s; kids in grades 4-5. We are looking forward to the rest of the program and are grateful to Aundré Bumgardner (State Rep) and CT DOJ for the funding to purchase microscopes, water thermometers, waders, water monitoring kits....(l-r: Lynne Marshall, senior; Zoe Wu, hs senior; Betsy Graham, senior; Gretchen Klens, ageless ball of energy; Jerry Timpe, senior; Derrick Strong, old enough to be wise). Let us know if you want to help!
Here's what else the Alliance does to build our community resilience with Watershed Action:
Caring for and listening to our neighbors and wider communities of life in our ongoing FREE community conversations, planners convenings, outdoor celebrations, citizen science, stewardship, and events geared to learning, planning, and acting together responsibly.
EIGHT MORE WAYS TO STAY ENGAGED (AND HOPEFUL!)
Volunteer your skills! Do you have special skills (fund-raising, GIS mapping, data management, water quality or habitat management, group facilitation) that you could contribute?
Join the All In for Alewife Count!! SAVE THE DATE: February 26 training at the YMCA in Mystic, 5-6:30, in person. Counting to take place on Whitford Brook in Old Mystic from mid March to end April…with a huge celebration of gratitude to wrap it up…
Join the Community Conversation and Design Circles process relating what we notice and wonder about (or are concerned about) to our Vulnerability Assessment (Feb through June intensively and then more beyond that) and our Watershed Resilience Action Plan.
Contribute to the Watershed Family Album and Story Atlas; Play our Scavenger Hunt Game
Join Youth Council–”if you’re old enough to care; you’re old enough” Help keep the Alliance fun and on track to real change.
Join the Water Quality Working Group and learn to check the water for bad bacteria! Training in late March–monitoring from late April to late October in the new BacLab
Join our Policy Helps group…How can we update regulations at state and local levels to enhance local opportunities for thriving??
Expand our learning experiences to enhance our communities’ capacity to intervene wisely in local and state decision making processes that protect us.
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