If this image looks familiar, that’s because we’re into recycling. And the message is still very much true. The point, of course, being that Whidbey (and an expanding part of the PNW) really does need WEAN. And WEAN, to do the work it has done all these years, needs a large crowd of friends and supporters. That’s you.

And being the dark cold time of year, its time for another WEAN Annual Obnoxious Fundraising Letter. However, this year we’re under a watchful eye. We have a real genuine fundraiser who knows how to do it right and is showing us how. Different. Less snarky. Still heartfelt.

Part of why we have a genuine fundraiser now on our team is that WEAN is going through some major changes. You may have noticed that your loud and wordy activists have been getting a bit long in the tooth – gray hair, stooped gait, glazed eyes. Yep, we’re getting old. Time to recruit a whole bunch of energetic folks to step up, step in, learn the ropes, and start to pull them. That takes the folding green stuff. It seems people want to be paid for their work, so as new people take over various parts of the WEAN agenda, we need to raise the funds to pay them, to keep it going.

That’s where you come in. Word is we oldsters have outlived our previous reputation for being argumentative and disputatious – let alone irreverent – and that people actually think well of us. WEAN is succeeding in its mission!

No, Steve and Marianne are not going away. We will be right here focusing on passing on WEAN's decades of experience, knowhow, and technical skills to those who choose to take on at least some of this critical and fulfilling work. We keep trying to define our roles and each time we think we have it nailed, a whole other issue, campaign, field of study comes to light. Among other things, by sheer passage of time and our hanging in there, we have become the institutional memory of the Island County Planning Dept. We will be moving into semi-retirement, but we will stay on hand for insights and our inescapable irreverence.

We’ve had some major wins this year – protection of rare native plant habitat; protection of Western toads; requirement to use Best Available Science; and of course, the Not In Our Parks decision to keep our parks free of military spy training. Our EMF project, CLEAR, was able to convince Langley to pass a robust code governing cell towers.

We’ve also had some heartbreakers: serious trashing of Western toad habitat, and DNR demonstrating very clearly that it has no respect whatsoever for critical areas and will allow logging of anything, anywhere, anytime. WEAN will continue to work on that one until we assure our forests and critical areas are safe.

If you want to know more about what WEAN has done over the years, Mark Dworkin & Melissa Young of Moving Images (http://www.movingimages.org/) have made a movie, Ever Green, about us. It premiered at the Clyde Theatre in October. Check out the Moving Images website for future showings.

Back to the message of our recycled image: there will always be the need for WEAN’s efforts to educate, preserve, and restore here in Island County. WEAN gets important work done; WEAN inspires and sets precedent. And now, back to the obnoxity: WEAN needs your support. Please use the enclosed coupon to make your most generous donation. Thank you.

Your appreciative WEAN board