My dear friends of Lowcountry Land Trust,
Our world has shifted. Like you and everyone in our community, the Lowcountry Land Trust is coping with a new reality that continues to evolve. First and foremost, on this unusual first day of spring, I hope you and your families are safe, healthy, and secure.
I made the decision last week to close our physical office and LLT staff and board members have pivoted to working and meeting remotely. Every staff member is available to you through all previous means of communication. With our ability to route calls to mobile devices and staff armed with laptops in their homes, we hope this is a seamless transition.
We have made the following schedule changes:
- As you may have heard already, we postponed our Sporting Clays Shoot, presented by Anderson Insurance and Pure Insurance, to November 13-15, 2020.
- Our annual Spring Picnic, planned for May 2, is cancelled. However, we are working on some creative ways to continue to celebrate our LLT family and new landowners (with appropriate social distance). Stay tuned!
- At this point, all other spring events and volunteer activities are on hold.
We are all settling into new routines and creating a new normal together that we hope is temporary, but possibly could continue for a while. In these unusual and frightening times, our first wish is that you, our LLT family, remain healthy. We also hope that you may use the time, suddenly freed of outside engagements and meetings, to go outside with your loved ones and experience the wonder of the Lowcountry’s landscapes safely. Our connection to the land provides solace in times of crisis and we know that experience of nature improves mental heath and well being.
No one expresses this sentiment better than Wendell Berry:
“The Peace of Wild Things”
When despair for the world grows in me
I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
The Lowcountry has endured fire, flooding, earthquakes, war, and disease. We are a resilient community. Lowcountry Land Trust activities will continue, and you will hear from us soon as we seek your support to help us sustain our land conservation activities and carry out our mission. We cannot do it without you. We are taking the long view here at LLT. After all, perpetuity is our business.
Thank you for your steadfast support, now and in the future.
Sincerely,
Ashley Demosthenes,
President & CEO, Lowcountry Land Trust
