We thought April Earth Month was busy, but we found this year that October rivals April in terms of intensity of effort and engagement by us and our audiences.  We continued nighttime Pier Peers and lowtide beach walks for all to explore the wonderful critters found at local beaches and piers.  Storming the Sound South, a professional development opportunity for teachers and non-formal educators, was overflowing with enthusiastic educators at Nisqually Wildlife Refuge.

In addition to our regular adventures and outreach work Community Educators, Gabby Byrne and Jamie Wine initiated some new projects.   Jamie provided Puget Sound Issues & Activism: objectives and activities, in a course sponsored by the Creative Retirement Institute at Edmonds Community College.  We think this is a key audience and could be a great model for engaging citizen activists.  Gabby started membership meetings with the goal of providing benefits to our members and engaging them as activists for Puget Sound.
In collaboration with our restoration program and community partners we engaged Eld Inlet shoreline landowners in a project to target key sites for restoration, and at Kayak Point to reach out to the community for support and input on a local restoration plan.

Outreach
Led by Jamie Wine, our outreach leadership team and volunteers got lots of people involved in People For Puget Sound’s advocacy work.  They reached out through fairs, community events and speaker presentations throughout Puget Sound.  We recruited many new activists on the Working for Clean Water Campaign, important priority for legislation this year.  We continue to talk to hundreds of people and get them engaged in supporting protection of Puget Sound, both through their personal choices and in their communities.

Volunteers
Volunteers were the key to our 2 major fall events: Harbor Lights and Duwamish Alive.  People For Puget Sound also reached out to local universities and businesses for interns and volunteers this quarter.  We held monthly volunteer orientations; trained data ninja, outreach leaders and Pier peer educators and managed volunteers all around the Sound.

We continue to be amazed and impressed with the number and quality of volunteers we have here at People For Puget Sound.  One of the keys to our success is matching our organizational needs with volunteer skills and abilities.  By doing this we insure that volunteers play a vital role in our work to protect and restore Puget Sound.  Our volunteers know they are part of the team that makes a difference for Puget Sound.  And of course, we have a lot of fun together.  

Ann Butler, (360.754.9177)