Newcomers Club of Grand Traverse

 

Remember the 60ʼs when many of us were going to change the world? We joined the Peace Corps and organized soup kitchens. We were joiners and change agents. Now weʼve moved to Traverse City and while we love our community, we still want to be a part of making it even better. But how do we engage? What programs need help? How can my skills be utilized? What if I go south for the winter?

 

Join us to learn about the many, many volunteer opportunities in the greater Grand Traverse Area. Habitat for Humanity (www.habitatgtr.org) builds houses with new homeowners to move people out of poverty into permanent housing. Newcomer Pam Doty-Nation, Executive Director of Humanity, will share their exciting plans for developing the property just north of the library and how you can become involved.

 

Sue Bauer, Volunteer Coordinator of the Father Fred Foundation (www.fatherfred.org), will describe their numerous volunteer opportunities from greeting clients to working in the clothing and food bank.

 

Lee Maynard will describe the valuable contribution the TART Trails (www.traversetrails.org) make to the community and the breadth of their volunteer activities.

 

Mandy Martin, Volunteer Coordinator for Habitat, will explain how to use the United Way website (www.unitedwaynwmi.org) to see which volunteer opportunity you would like to pursue.  

Many Newcomers are already volunteering and those in attendance will be asked to introduce themselves and name the agency with which they volunteer. In future newsletters we’ll highlight individual Newcomers and why and where they volunteer. Join us to continue the Newcomer tradition of supporting our community and being agents for change!

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Please join us for our March Program:

                                The Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay
                                                Maureen McManus
                                           History Center of Traverse
                                                 322 Sixth Street
                                                Traverse City, MI

Tuesday, March 27, 2012, 6:30 PM

 

Many of you have probably seen the blue and white building on M-22 on Traverse City’s West Bay and wondered, “What exactly is the Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay?” Here is your opportunity to learn about what this organization does and what it means to our region.

 

The Watershed Center advocates for clean water in the Grand Traverse Bay and protection of its 1000-square-mile watershed. The Grand Traverse Bay watershed covers major portions of Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Antrim and Kalkaska counties. The Watershed Center does this through on-the-ground projects, public education and advocacy.

 

Since 2003, the Watershed Center has brought more than $2.7 million to our region to implement its EPA-approved Grand Traverse Bay Watershed Protection Plan. Projects have prevented more than 7,000 tons of sediments and nearly 8,000 pounds of nutrients from entering Grand Traverse Bay. Project partners include local governments, area businesses and business associations, neighborhood associations, citizen groups, environmental and conservation organizations and many others.

 

Maureen McManus grew up in Traverse City and was thrilled to return to the area to help protect the environment for the future after completing a double major in Environmental Studies with an Environmental Policy concentration and Geography with a Geographic Information Sciences concentration at Central Michigan University. She was named Student Environmentalist of the year by the Northwestern Michigan Environmental Action Council for her three years as a summer intern at the Watershed Center. She began her work as Program Associate in 2010.

For more information on the Watershed Center, click on www.gtbay.org