Big thanks, from our birds
Roaring Fork Audubon (RFA) extends a big thanks to RJ Paddywacks for supporting RFA with its annual bird seed fundraiser. Locally-owned Paddywacks donated a portion of its sales towards this important fundraiser, helping our all-volunteer board bring awareness to local conservation issues facing our native animals — especially the birds. Our hope is that awareness and education transfer to protection. Please join us in supporting RJ Paddywacks!
Mary Harris, Chair Roaring Fork Audubon
Become a Buddy
In honor of National Mentoring Month [January], the Buddy Program invites you to inspire a young person, and be inspired, through the power of mentorship. The youth of our communities are a gift; a promise of hope and, more importantly, a reminder of the power of connection. What is more inspiring than a community connected by positive relationships, meaningful experiences and sharing success?
The Buddy Program is an organization that formalizes this connection through mentorship and cultivates a pathway toward inspiration by pairing the amazing youth of our communities with our kind and courageous volunteers. I am honored to live and serve in communities where inspiration is at our fingertips, service and volunteerism are valued, and beauty is everywhere we go. Whether it is the kind faces I see in our schools, grocery stores or local attractions, the relationships developing between our children and their teachers and coaches, or our seniors and their social groups, clubs and healthcare providers, or our Big Buddy volunteers to their Little Buddies and their families, I am inspired daily by the sense of belonging that is cultivated through the power of mentoring, both formally and informally. The Buddy Program is here to empower youth through mentoring experiences to achieve their full potential.
If the idea of mentoring a young person inspires you. If you believe in the power of connection and want to make a difference in a young person’s life and your own, I encourage you to reach out and begin this inspirational journey today. Mentoring young people does not take a superpower, unique skill set or experience. It only asks that you come as your authentic self, willing to connect and share in the magic of inspiration.
Contact the Buddy Program at www.buddyprogram.org or at 970-920-2130 to see how you can get involved.
Andrea Ring, Buddy Program
Immigration
I’d so rather be spending time living the good life in our valley-wide wonderland, but as a U.S. Citizen, longtime Colorado resident and registered Democrat, I am deeply concerned about the direction my country is taking! So many scary things going on, it’s hard to pick, but let’s go with mass immigration.
Hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants from all over the world are pouring into the country. What’s up with that? If you were paying attention to what Europe has been experiencing, it wouldn’t be a surprise that, now, it’s our turn. But, the most puzzling question is, “Why”?
Why is the Biden administration not just turning its back (on what is definitely a major national security risk), but is actually helping facilitate this mass migration? We are a compassionate country, many of us are first-generation immigrants ourselves, and we do need workers, but this is lunacy. Why? It doesn’t make sense that our own Government would do this … unless … just like Rome, we’re being brought down from within by an ingeniously dark coup … of sorts. A loony right winger I am not (remember, I’m a Democrat), and this isn’t about right or left; it’s about the survival of our very way of life.
We’ve had it so good for so long that we’ve forgotten how precious it is to live in a free society. Don’t forget! Do something … anything … pick up your phone and apply some pressure on OUR elected officials to stop this mass migration. Oh, and Happy New Year!
Jackie Chenoweth, Carbondale
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