Mollywood Service 5-20-17

Saturday's service outing was unique in many ways. First, it was one of the first truly sunny days of spring, hoorah! Secondly, it was our dear Sonia's birthday! In honor of both of these occasions, we gathered at Cascade Montessori Middle School in preperation of a day of service. After describing the service outing and what to expect from Mollywood, we headed out to the county.



One GEC girl described the atmosphere at Mollywood Avian Sanctuary well when she poetically stated: “This place is its own world of sounds.” A world of sounds indeed! Imagine over 150 parrots, mostly cockatoos, squawking and screeching for your attention, and you have some idea of the audio chaos that we were fortunate to take part in last Saturday afternoon.

Mollywood was founded by Betsy and Nate Lott, whose love of the companion birds led to their unforeseen care-taking of hundreds of birds who have been abandoned, abused, or neglected by their owners. Taken from their native habitat in the jungles of Indonesia and South America, parrots are the third most popular pet in the U.S. and can be found in 17.3 million homes. 

Unfortunately most parrot owners aren’t aware of the effort and  commitment needed to effectively care for these birds, resulting in 85% of them being given away within the first 2 years (parrots can live to be 80 years old! Betsy's oldest bird, Grampa, is 73). This highlights the need for committed and compassionate people such as Betsy, who tirelessly work to provide shelter and sanctuary for these lively and lovable birds. Betsy volunteers day in and day out to care for these birds, forsaking a paying job and virtually all of her free time (she's had one vacation in the past ten years, and it took 6-8 people to fill her shoes!). She relies on other volunteers, such as the energetic hard-working Silverwing Bats, to help maintain the sanctuary and ensure a healthy and hospitable environment for the birds.

The Silverwing Bats really lived up to the EC mottos of Our Cups Overflow, Everyone Helps, Walk Your Talk and Get Dirty as they ambitiously and diligently cleaned out the debris and food discards from under the cages and swept up huge, heaping piles of wood pieces, bird seeds, paper scraps (parrots are by nature messy birds - it's how they help revegetate the jungle) and put them into the garbage. Imagine a room packed with 50+ birds, all talking (and screeching) at once. The girls tackled the work and managed the noise with enthusiasm and a positive attitude. Smiles and laughter were frequent as we cleaned and swept, all the while talking to the birds, who were whistling at us, calling names like "Pretty Lady! Pretty Lady!" asking "How Are You?", bouncing up and down (one bird kept whispering "I love you" to us as we cleaned its cage). Soon the girls had transformed the garage and a room off of Betsy's house into a clean sanctuary. 

One highlight of the day was getting to meet some of the friendlier birds. The girls took turns holding some very adorable cockatoos, including Picaba, who LOVES attention and affection. 

We came to Mollywood committed to serving and making a small difference in the lives of these birds and their caretakers, but walked away with so much more. We truly felt the pleasure that comes from sharing our work, time, and even birthdays with those that deserve it the most, and all were in a bit of awe at Betsy's commitment. For more information about this wonderful organization, please visit their website at: www.mollywood.org

EC Mottos especially alive today: Safety First, Walk Your Talk, Expect the Unexpected, Our Cups Overflow, LIBK, You See It You Own It, Many Hands Make Light Work, We're All Teachers, Collaborate and Compromise

Basket Weaving @ Govenor's Point 4-23-17

Picture this: large sandstone formations, wind dancing on waves, an isolated beach with a vista of tree-clad islands and the sparkling Salish Sea. Sunday was blissful, meaningful, and memorable!

The Silverwinged Bats arrived and quickly began on tasks with choosing and then cutting withies for basket weaving. We began Opening Circle with the history of Governor's Point... It's story started long ago when Governor's Point's only inhabitants were heron, seal, otter, cougar, bear, and myriad other non-human beings; then to the Mamosee people who plied these waters in dugout canoes; to the more modern usage of this land as boys' camp, rock quarry, and site of a future 7 lot housing development.

Along the way to the beach, we got to know Indian Celery, an amazing photo-toxic plant, played with cleaver, and thought about the impact of putting houses on this point. Nearing the cove, we left the well trod road and fox-walked through the forest, down to the bluff, and eventually onto the beach. At this special point we imagined, shared, explored, discussed, and played on rocks. We learned how to start a basket made from woven seagrass and willow withies. With focus, patience, and persistence, each of the Silverwing Bats created the bottom of a small basket. 

While we wove, the Silverwing Bats spotted an elephant seal, several Bald Eagles, Loons, and even traces of an otter family. Alas, time passed all too quickly, and before long we were hastening back to our ending circle. On our way back, we quite serendipitously ran into the owners of the infamous Lot 7. W were overjoyed to learn that although houses would soon be built on the Pointe, GEC will be welcome to enjoy its magic for many outings to come.

We mentors are so grateful for this group of girls, at once silly and serious, trustworthy and tough, wise and wonderful!

Mottos: Connect to Protect, We Are All Connected, Widen Your Circle

Service with WTA: 2-26-17

Mentors here at Wild Whatcom are connection lovers. And we're not talking about the internet, but rather the connection that happens in realtime, between humans interacting with themselves, one another, the community, and their physical environment. All these sorts of connections were evident during our service project last Sunday with the Washington Trails Association (WTA)!

The WTA builds and maintains trails over the entire state of Washington, and their volunteer trail maintenance program is among the largest in the nation. They log more than 105,000 volunteer hours statewide each year, and over 2500 volunteers giving back to the trails they love.

We started our day with an ice breaker so our two different groups - Trilliums and Bats - could intermingle.  We then gathered in council and met Kathy, Arlen and Ken, who offer many days out of their busy schedules to Walk Their Talk and work to create and improve trails all over western Washington. 

After learning about how to safely handle the multitude of tools provided, we grabbed shovels, Pulaskis, saws, clippers, and hoes, capped our eager heads with some fancy hard hats and made our way up and up the Fragrance Lake Trail.  

All along the way, the WTA volunteers acted as our teachers, guiding us in instruction and supporting our efforts with smiles and stories. These older, seasoned WTA volunteers are open-hearted, generous in their teachings, and made this day one of beautiful connection between young and old, tool and task, girl and group, and the empowerment of giving back to nature.

As our time together came to a close, we gave heartfelt acknowledgements to one another for our attitude and efforts. A truly wonderful and inspiring day!

Our Words of the Day? Ditches, Drains, Mud and Motivation! 

Check out the rest of the photo album here!