Every year to celebrate and recalibrate, EcoCenCal holds a retreat for board members. The stars truly aligned this year with a rare morning solar eclipse. We were able to watch the glowing sun turn to a bright orange crescent while sipping our coffee. The event also featured a full day of strategy, starting with a workshop on our organization’s purpose led by guest consultant Daniel Vasile. We lunched on the pristine shores of Shaver Lake. Then, headed straight into goal setting for 2024.
By a stroke of good luck, the retreat’s date, Oct. 14th, 2023 occurred alongside the solar eclipse! A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes in between the Sun and the Earth. At our retreat location, we were able to see a partial eclipse at about 80% coverage. Ready with our super cool (and safe!) eclipse glasses we were able to view a bright crescent shaped sun. The filtered shade from the trees created little dancing crescents all around us. Read more about the next solar eclipse here.
EcoCenCal Retreat Strategy Planning
After eclipse viewing, the real work began. Daniel Vasile, Lean Strategy & Implementation Consultant, helped us develop our organizational purpose. His workshop included pinpointing values and aligning visions. After much brainstorming and deliberation, I’m happy to announce EcoCenCal’s official purpose: “Cultivating human and environmental harmony”. Huge thank you to Daniel for his expert guidance!
More fun to come!
Watch out for more in 2024. Night hikes, astronomy, wildlife, and hands-on educational opportunities are in the works. The Earth Day Fresno team is already planning another epic event for April 13th, 2024. We’ll soon have a full community calendar release. If you’re interested in environmental work and want to have fun doing it, the EcoCenCal board might be for you. Please contact us by email at info(at)ecocencal.org. We are looking for a variety of skills to join, from outreach to accounting, all are welcome to apply! Board meetings are held the first Wednesday of every month.
EcoCenCal is a new community based organization focused on information and opportunity sharing. Check out our About page to learn more. And stay tuned for more posts on environmental stewardship in Central California!