Sierra Club Florida Members Receive National Recognition
Seven leaders from Sierra Club Florida groups were honored during a virtual Sierra Club National Awards presentation on Sept. 17.
Alyssa Cadwalader, Loxahatchee Group, received an Atlas Award, which honors extraordinary administrative contributions to groups, chapters and regional entities. Alyssa's competence, calm nature and willingness to take on new tasks have been extremely valuable to her group and the whole chapter since 2008. She started as a volunteer in the Inspiring Connections Outdoors program and progressed to group treasurer, group webmaster and group executive committee member, bringing her diligence and organizational skills to every task. She served on the chapter's executive committee and was chapter chair in 2019-20, providing strategic planning and leadership in equity, inclusion and justice discussions. Alyssa is presently chair of the chapter's Group Empowerment Team (GET), contributor to the chapter on strategic planning issues and still leads ICO outings.
Bill Armstrong and Bill Snow, Northeast Florida Group, received a joint Oliver Kehrlein Outings Leadership Award, which honors service to the Sierra Club Outings Program either at the local or national level over an extended period of time. When COVID-19 hit in 2020 and Sierra Club outings were shut down, this pair of veteran outings leaders hit upon a great idea for keeping members, and indeed many non-members, engaged in the outdoors and in the club. The two Bills began an almost-weekly virtual outings program on Zoom, complete with video clips, trail maps and directions, and a well-researched narration. The programs, which covered several different areas of Northeast Florida, were well attended and well received. Bill Armstrong has been an energetic group outings leader, helped to administer a national outings program in Florida in 2010 and is a former treasurer of the Inspiring Connections Outdoors program. Bill Snow is currently the outings chair of the Northeast Florida Group.
Kip Fisher, Broward Group, received a Communication Excellence Award, which honors the best use of communications (either print or electronic) by a volunteer in a Sierra Club group, chapter or other entity to further the club's mission. Kip was recognized for his work leading, mentoring and encouraging his fellow leaders into using the Sierra Club's electronic tools to make internal and external communications more effective. With Kip's constant example and willingness to help, many others in the group gained the confidence to learn new methods of advancing the group's work.
Three Florida activists received Volunteer Service Awards, which honor Sierra Club volunteers for strong and consistent commitment to the environment or the club over an extended period of time:
Brian Paradise, Northeast Florida Group
Brian has been a valuable administrative and conservation leader in the Northeast Florida Group since the late 1970s. Every aspect of the group, from the executive committee, to the outings program, to the legislative committee, to the political team, to the conservation effort, has benefited from his dedicated attention to the Sierra Club's mission and goals and his willingness to do the hard work of keeping a group thriving.
Michael Fitzpatrick, Loxahatchee Group
Michael was honored for his nearly 50 years as an environmental activist, concentrating on saving urban pockets of ecological importance in Palm Beach County. His campaigns through the years have resulted in preservation of seven pieces of land around the county. He has also served as a city commissioner and on several advisory boards through the years. He is a former group chair and activities committee chair and remains today a member of the forests and public lands committee.
Max Goldstein, Broward Group
Max was recognized for 20 years of dedicated support for his group in a variety of positions and his willingness to take on any job when he sees it needs doing. He has been the group treasurer, the chapter's political action committee treasurer during the last election cycle, and for the past eight years he has also been an outings leader. Two years ago he stepped up to become newsletter editor. His most recent new undertaking was to become a member of the group's revamped political committee.
Congratulations to these inspiring leaders!