Thank you!
A Note of Thanks for the 2023 Great Lakes Bioneers Detroit conference
The 2023 conference could not be possible without the generous help of these 2023 Conference planning committee members: Hanifa Adjuman (Detroit Black Community Food Sovereignty Network); Turkessa Baldridge (Marygrove Conservancy); Charlotte Burkes (Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice); Bob Chapman (St. Peter’s); Joanne Coutts (community activist); Yvonne King (UDM); Ziggy Kozicki (UDM); Erma Leaphart (Michigan Sierra Club); Chelsea Manning (UDM); Rahul Mitra (WSU); Gail Presbey (UDM); Sarida Scott (UDM); Jill Spreitzer (UDM); Dorothy Stewart (UDM); Judy Wernette (UDM) and Mike Whitty (UDM – retired).
Thank you also to our volunteers who took on large responsibilities during the conference itself like Sr. Karen Dunville, RSM; Renady Hightower (UDM), and Christyn Lucas. Thanks to Sally Mehtereab who takes care of our Eventbrite registration and mail chimp emails. Thanks to Sr. Gloria Rivera who is still our consultant and shares good ideas with us. Thanks to Chef Dominique Black and her staff as well as local vendors like On the Rise Bakery who supplied delicious food.
The support from our university has been fantastic. Thank you to our Provost and AVP Pam Zarkowski for your continuous support, and to Kim Koelb, Darrin Brown, and Cameron Lansdale (UDM) for help with the financial transactions. Thanks to Alysa Jackson from University Services, and Gary Erwin, Ron Bernas, Jeanne Morgan, Gaby Rivas and Ricky Lindsay from Marcom, as well as photographer Jose Juarez, and Michael Sadler from AV. Thanks to Randy Fowler and Shane Dokey from Metz as well as their staff, and also Housekeeping and Facilities staff. Thanks also to our many student volunteers including many Titan Equity Nourish Network (TENN) interns and students in the Leadership program. Thanks to UDM student Jenny Raptoplous for writing about our conference in Varsity News.
Thanks to our presenters and all speakers who took part in the program, and to our grants and sponsors who supported us financially. (Please check the program itself for presenter names, and our list of sponsors, both under past events 2023). Their names are too many to list here, but, each one has made a great effort to help our conference. Thanks to teachers who organized their classes and schools to attend. Thank you to Teo Grossman (President) and Stephanie Welch of the national Bioneers (bioneers.org) for their help in continuously supporting our annual pollinator event. Without all of your help, we could not have hosted our attendees and had a wonderful and educational gathering together. Clearly, “it takes a village” to host this conference.
I want to thank all planners, supporters and participants as I step down from being conference Chair and take a break from Bioneers planning. After volunteering to help with exhibitors and vendors in 2018 and 2019, holding online Bioneers sessions in 2020 (during the covid pandemic), and co-Chairing (2021, 2022) and Chairing (2023) the in-person conference, I can say that my heart is filled with gratitude, and I have hope that together we can save our planet and its people through care for the environment. I have full confidence that new conference co-Chairs and a planning team (with some continuing members, and some new members!) will step forward and continue our traditions, doing even better than we have been able to do so far. When the new leadership is announced, you will see the update on this webpage. If you have any interest in serving Bioneers in any capacity this coming year, please contact me at presbegm@udmercy.edu and let me know.
2024 Planning committee members so far includes: continuing members Hanifa Adjuman, Charlotte Burkes, Yvonne King, Chelsea Manning, Rahul Mitra, Sarida Scott, Judy Wernette, and then new members Arneshia Austin, Jim Rine and Ruby Woods. I thank them in advance for stepping up!
Sincerely, Gail Presbey