A note from the Executive Director: Spring Thanks

April 14, 2025

We couldn’t do this work without all of you.

Three-flowered avens. PHOTO © AWA FILES

By Debborah Donnelly

Read the PDF version here.

I wanted to share a roundup of 2024 as we enter our 60^th anniversary. So many people have been involved with AWA over the years- board members, volunteers, supporters, funders, participants and staff that have together created this amazing organization.

I can honestly say that I’m super proud of the work that we do. While we don’t always see a positive result, I know that the Government of Alberta and industry people take notice when we speak. Our voices have continued to get louder over the years with every new member and every new fight.

This past year, AWA advocated on several environmental fronts and as always, we worked to spread awareness of these issues with many Albertans. We gave 10 presentations, hosted 11 talks/events, attended 11 tabling events, held four book club meetings and provided 31 (A4W) adventures. We collaborated with numerous other environmental non-profits, and we worked with several youth groups and academic institutions including the University of Calgary, SAIT, Calgary Arts Academy, Edelweiss Prep School, and Rocky View School. AWA shared our work through our biweekly newsletter, four issues of the Wild Lands Advocate, and of course across the spectrum of social media platforms.

In addition to the financial generosity of our members and funders, much of our work is supported by our incredible volunteers. We had more than 105 volunteers work with us in the past year and conservatively recorded over 1,230 hours of their assistance.

We couldn’t do this work without all of you.

Please check out our latest annual report, posted on our website, for a more in-depth discussion of the past year’s work. Thank you for being an AWA supporter. I look forward to seeing you in 2025!