January Newsletter: Sharing Gratitude & Excitement for 2024!
Happy New Year! We hope you had a memorable holiday season and a positive start to 2024. At Be the Change, we are energized and excited for the year ahead!
Hello friends and family, family of friends, and recent work connections!
You have been directed here because you are part of my community and I think you may be interested to know of my work for the past four years with Be The Change Earth Alliance (BTCEA), a small local charitable organization. I’m hoping you may be interested in supporting our mission and projects, and/or passing this message on to others that may be interested in supporting our good work.
What BTCEA does… We focus on education that empowers youth to make more sustainable choices and become informed critical thinking citizens. We do this through creating curriculum materials that teachers can take into the classroom that inform on the global and local challenges we face, experientially connect students to how they are a part of these issues, ask some hard hitting-critical thinking questions, and empower them with different ways of taking action to support local solutions.
What I do… I am the Program Manager and Human Resources for our small dedicated team of three. I have been directly involved in curriculum design and augmentation, publishing, teacher support and workshops, teaching in classrooms, student experiential workshops and activities, strategic planning, and group facilitation. I simply love what I am doing, and the ways that we have been able to contribute to the communities we work with.
The need… With the skewed messages the media feed our youth, society’s focus on over-consumption, the intense environmental & social issues of our time, and youth craving a sense of purpose and connection, I feel like there is no better time to do what we are doing at Be The Change, and the need for this type of education and connection to action is clear. 
How we are doing… Teacher surveys give the curriculum an A+, but tight education budgets make it hard for the schools to pay for supplementary materials. Getting environmental curriculum into the classrooms means working directly with teachers and providing professional development workshops.
I also have had the opportunity to work with youth leaders on sustainability initiatives such as Waste Watchers, which has been really rewarding, as you can see by a sample student quote below this email.
We need support! I am reaching out to you right now because, despite being supported by hard-won grants for years, foundations want to kick start new projects rather than support ongoing programs, a funding situation that has kneecapped many great conservation charities in the past. BTCEA must move to a more self-sufficient model supported by the community it serves. BTCEA is facing a funding gap, where we need some immediate financial support from those in our community. So, I’m writing to let you know that we are working on both short and long-term ways to meet our operational funding.
In looking to become more sustainable and moving away from being so grant reliant, November 6th -December 4th will be BTCEA’s largest Donor Campaign so far!
THANK YOU. I was touched when so many people asked and cared when we did the Aviva campaign a couple years ago. Your actions made me feel so supported and that others cared about this work, and about supporting what I did. THANK YOU for that. With this campaign we are hoping to fundraise $25,000 and build our community (such as having a donors social, have more people following our work/social media, having named supporters on our website, etc). We also want to friend-raise! So keep posted on opportunities to connect in community.
Any donation over $10 will receive a Canadian tax receipt. We launch Friday here, and you can learn more about us here.
Please consider supporting BTCEA in this campaign, so we can continue this good work and/or forward this on to others that may be interested in this work, such as parents, friends, co-workers, etc.
If you signup for our newsletter than I will keep you updated in the month of November on campaign details, you can subscribe here to continue to receive updates.
You can check out our launch blog post here.
Thank you for caring and joining us in the building of a more environmentally and socially responsible and discerning society!
In gratitude,
Erin Leckie
“Erin - On behalf of everyone on the PW side of waste watching, I'd like to thank you (and Brandon, and Be the Change Earth Alliance) for being so, so supportive throughout the entire duration of our sustainability project. Thank you for giving us this awesome opportunity to not only learn about waste management, but to also educate others too. Not to mention, you made sorting trash a BLAST. We really couldn't have done this without you. Thank you again for… and for being such a great mentor.” – Jenny, Prince of Wales student.
Latest posts
December 2023 Newsletter - ⛄‘Tis the season to celebrate at Be The Change!⛄
As 2023 comes to a close and school winds down for winter break, we’re taking a moment to reflect back over the past year. 2023 was a very regenerative time for BTCEA! We developed and delivered our Climate Action, Resilience, and Emotions (CARE) program in communities on the frontlines of wildfires in our province. And as an organization, we prioritized creating space to discuss what decolonization could look like both internally, and in our programming. Here are the highlights:
Oct 2023 Newsletter - Check out our mid-October climate-justice resources!
Hello,
An introduction from Communications Coordinator, Lucy Wicken
Dear Be The Change community,
As we approach mid-October, I’m reflecting on the changing seasons, from the warm and active days of summer to the cooler and quieter days of autumn. Personally, I’ve noticed a desire to slow down, take on fewer responsibilities, and stay inside where it’s cozy. Have you felt this way too?
As 21st century humans living in a world that operates under capitalism, white supremacy, and other oppressive systems, we can be made to feel guilt or shame about listening & responding to our needs. We are expected to maintain the same energy and productivity levels throughout the year, no matter how cold or dark the days are, how heavy world events feel, or how much we’re struggling in our personal lives.
This is where the concept of regenerative education comes in. Introduced to the BTCEA team by former staff member Jake, regenerative education calls on us to slow down and turn inward to consider our connection with the natural world. It asks us to examine the living systems that are breaking down due to violent human activity (such as fossil fuel extraction, destruction of Indigenous lands, and human-caused flooding and wildfires) and connect this breakdown with our own high levels of stress.
