WELL NEWSLETTER – June 1, 2006

Calendar of WELL Events

Monday, June 12 – Special Meeting: Project Updates!

6:30 - 8:30pm Willits Community Center

Come hear the progress of various projects that are happening NOW, in our community and get active.

Friday, June 16 – Film: “The Future of Food”

7pm Willits Library

This film explains the issue of Genetically Modified Foods and compares GMO foods to Conventional and Organic agriculture.

Monday, July 10 – Speaker Event: “Voices of Wisdom”

6:30 - 8:30pm Little Lake Grange Hall – 291 School St.

Come listen to stories addressing traditional values and agricultural practices here in the Little Lake Valley. This event will be co-sponsored by the Willits Grange.

Saturday, July 22 – Special Meeting: “The Future of WELL”

All day – exact times to be announced – Willits Community Center

This all day meeting will culminate in the adoption of WELL’s Membership and Governance structures and the Strategic Plan. Subcommittees have been working hard on drafts, which will be widely available by mid-June. Please come to this meeting to give your feedback, work on incorporating changes, and, to VOTE on accepting these documents. This is the culmination of months of work and visioning.

Saturday, July 22 – PARTY

6-10 pm, at the Bradford home – 284 Redwood Ave.

Join us to celebrate this day’s hard work and all of WELL’s progress. More details to come.

Our schedule is intentionally light this summer. We suspect that people will busy with travel plans, gardening and general warm weather frolicking. The events we have planned should be FUN, as well as informative. It is also our sincere hope that folks will take time to carefully read the documents that our three hard working committees – Strategic Planning, Membership and Governance – will be distributing soon. Broad, carefully considered input is welcome and vital in this process. We hope that by the end of the summer we will have a lot of these details agreed upon and in place, allowing us to turn our attention to further projects – large and small alike.

Other events

This came to us from Janaia Donaldson and Robyn Mallgren of Yuba Gals Independent Media. Some of you may remember them from RLNC.

Richard Heinberg's "Peak Oil" riveting presentation last November in Grass Valley, California will be shared with the world via Free Speech TV's "Keynote" series the week of June 12 (schedule below). Free Speech TV is automatically included in Dish Network's basic service on satellite, channel 9415.

Here's an easy way to inform colleagues, friends and family, and do it fossil-fuel free in their own homes. (Or your group can have a gathering to view and discuss it afterwards). Please forward this message to your relocalization group and personal friends. Some consider Heinberg's presentation to be a perfect follow-on to End of Suburbia.

The show will be aired at the following times: http://www.freespeech.org/schedule/

Monday 12-Jun 1 am

Tuesday 13-Jun 4 am and 8 pm

Wednesday 14-Jun 11 am and 1 pm

Thursday 15-Jun 2 am and 8 am

Friday 16-Jun 1 pm

Saturday 17-Jun 8 am and 12 pm

Sunday 18-Jun 4 pm

The video is a project of Alliance for a Post-Petroleum Local Economy (APPLE of Nevada County)

The Mendocino Ecological Learning Center on Pine Mountain offers great workshops and is an ally in localization. Their website is now fully updated. You can check it out here: http://www.melc.us

There you will find information about their organization, programs, classes, workshops and activities...

There will be a Zero Waste Building Demo in August - contact Ron Woolsey - dragon4ron@hotmail.com - for information

PROJECTS in MOTION - Spring, 2006

WELL has helped spawn projects that form the bridge between our current reality and our desired future. WELL creates a place where ideas, plans, and group feedback are available to initiate and keep projects on track. We offer this list of current projects for those of you who want to DO something. If you have a project happening – let us know.

GRATEFUL GLEANERS This is an ongoing and organized project to collect unharvested produce from local gardens. This produce is then distributed to our local food bank or other community programs.

SCHOOL FARM The 1 acre farm at our local elementary school will provide education opportunities, food for the community & demonstrates local food production

COMMUNITY GARDEN This garden is in a small downtown back yard and has the goal of growing enough food in this space for several families with some to give away as well.

BARN RAISING A monthly get together of anyone who wants to help some project manifest in a Saturday morning - 9-1pm, followed by a shared lunch.

WILLITS WELLNESS NETWORK An open group that meets monthly to explore present and future health care in our area. The Medicine Chest Garden is one of our current projects.

FILM SERIES The "Now and Then Film Series” plans to show films related to Economic Localization and community self-reliance once a month.

COMMUNITY MAPPING “Mapping a vision that will manage future development in the greater Willits area to provide an accessible and sustainable community.”

Want to get involved? Come to a meeting or call the office to get contact information for any of these active and inspiring projects.

Get Involved

Join the Grateful Gleaners in sharing our community’s bounty! The Grateful Gleaners are dedicated to promoting the growth, preservation and sharing of local, seasonal, organic food through communally harvesting fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Generous growers throughout our community offer us their excess, which we harvest and distribute. We donate a portion of our harvest to those most in need in our community, and the rest is enjoyed by growers, gleaners, and the community at large through donations to local events and gatherings. If you grow fruits, veggies, or nuts and have extra to share, or if you’d like to come glean with us, please contact the Grateful Gleaners through Karen Gridley at # 459-2101. By sharing our abundance and resources we strengthen community ties, to create a sustainable, cooperative future.

The Willits City Park Neighborhood Association is one of the groups pooling resources to monitor local governments. They have requested help in monitoring Willits government. Help would be in the form of attending City Council and City Committee meetings, or reading through government documents, or doing research around timely issues, or writing summaries to pass along to those interested.

The WELL Steering Committee is working with some other county folks trying to organize a County research and monitoring group. This group would focus on the unincorporated part of the county, as well as the existing municipal districts in this area [water and sewage].

Even once this is in place, we would still need groups to the cover the three cities- Ukiah, Fort Bragg, and Willits. If you are interested in helping in WILLITS – please contact Ralph Pisciotta - pisciottaelectric@sbcglobal.net

Job Opportunity

You may have seen the following add running in the last few editions of the Willits News. If you’d like to apply, call today as hires are being made presently.

REDI – Renewable Energy Development Institute Introducing 250 Willits homes to HELP, a new Energy Efficiency Program that will provide hands-on, direct assistance to all income levels.

HELP is hiring: Data Coordinator Set-up Excel; Enter and process Survey and Audit data; Produce summaries. $12/hr 12 hours/wk flexible M-Saturday 9AM-4PM June 19 – Oct 27

Household Surveyors Door-to-door; Assist interested households with survey questions. $10/hr 6-18 hours/wk; flexible; M-Thurs 6-9PM; Sat 9AM-4PM July 1 – Aug 12. Training provided.

Energy Auditors Conduct household Energy Audits. 10/hr 12-18 hours/wk; flexible; M-Sat 9AM-9PM; July 10 – Sept 15. Training provided.

Contact George at REDI – 459.1256

HELP

I need someone to volunteer a few sunny hours hanging our next schedule of events around town. I have the posters and a list of locations to post here at the office. Please volunteer – otherwise, it won’t get done!

Office Note: If you would like to be taken off this mailing list, please let me know and I will gladly oblige.

spring@redinet.org

Spring Senerchia, Office Manager

Willits Economic Localization - WELL

Renewable Energy Development Institute - REDI

75 N. Main St. PMB 234 Willits, CA 95490

707.459.1256