Intern Spotlight: Daniel Sidder

by Pete Iengo, Office and Volunteer Manager

Daniel Sidder, TWP star intern

This month’s volunteer spotlight falls on our dearest Daniel Sidder. Daniel is originally from Littleton CO, but moved up to Fort Collins to attend Colorado State University (CSU) and become a member of its growing, forward thinking community. With a driving interest for conserving our natural world and working towards a sustainable global environment, Daniel decided to pursue a degree in Natural Resource Management.

“Becoming part of the TWP family all just kind of came together”, Daniel exclaims. “First I rode my bike by and saw your sign in front of the house, and then I did my research and loved the mission. I knew it would be a good fit.”

He sure was right! By bringing a positive attitude, a drive for change, advanced English/Spanish translation abilities, and fantastic writing abilities, Daniel has become a part of both our Development and International teams.

When asked what Daniel has learned in his time at TWP, he mentions his increased awareness of the importance of funding and economics in the non-profit world. “When what is good for your wallet is also good for the environment, it’s a win-win,” he said when speaking about the effect of TWP’s community based programs on the people we serve. He went on, “When you do good things and people see that, it all starts to come together.”

Daniel has recently graduated from CSU with flying colors. Moving forward, his goal is helping people connect with the natural world in ways that will encourage them to conserve and appreciate what the planet has to offer.

To this end Daniel recently accepted the Naturalist Leadership Program Coordinator position with the Maria Mitchell Association. He will be spending his summer days designing curriculum and teaching 13-15 year old kids about the ecology on Nantucket Island. In his spare time you might even catch him sailing through Nantucket sound, the breeze running through his hair…

Thanks for all your hard work Daniel; Team TWP wishes you nothing but the best!!!

Volunteer Spotlight: Birch Hincks, Superstar

Birch Hincks has already been our Featured Volunteer for her hard work and sparkling personality around the Trees, Water & People office. Now we get to give her another very special thanks, this time for the month of service she just spent at our project site in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. Birch lived in and worked on the Red Cloud Renewable Energy Center (RCREC), helping improve the living quarters for trainees as well as generally improving and expanding the training campus with RCREC employees Henry Red Cloud and Leo Bear. She did an amazing job of reaching out the to the Pine Ridge community, reconnecting with previous solar air heater recipients to see how they are doing. In addition, Birch travelled with Henry and his crew to conduct installations and trainings on the Great Plains. Thank you Birch…we all love you!