Delivering hope
“Rally is an enormous gift in these dire times,” said Carolyn Edelmann, community relations associate of the accredited D&R Greenway Land Trust in New Jersey. “Rally gives us hours, even days, of cooperation with courageous, devoted, original people who care about the health of our planet and devote their lives to its well-being. In other words, Rally delivers hope, as well as practical steps to realize our personal and professional missions!”
This year the pandemic may have thrown a curve ball at the Land Trust Alliance, but we hit the ball out of the park with virtual Rally 2020, held October 6 – 8. With 3,800 attendees, it was the biggest Rally in the history of the Alliance. “Going virtual with our premier conference helped us get our land conservation training and resources to many more people,” said Renee Kivikko, the Alliance’s vice president of education.
Highlighting diversity, equity and inclusion, Rally offered many sessions built around these themes. “This work of discovering and building common ground is one of the most important ways land trusts are serving our fractured nation,” said Andrew Bowman, Alliance president and CEO, in his keynote address.
Our two other plenary speakers expanded this message. “It’s critically important that we create an environment where everyone is ultimately made to feel welcome,” said noted journalist James Edward Mills. “My interest in the outdoors wasn’t just mine, it was something we did as a family... land trusts and all environmental organizations need to expose not just children, but families and possibly full communities.”
Relevance guru Nina Simon explained, “When people feel a sense of belonging, they don’t just feel like it’s okay for them to come in. They feel a sense of ownership. Belonging goes both ways — we start to belong to the place and the place starts belonging to us.”
With 60 workshops, several virtual field trips, the inspiring plenaries and online spaces to network and view exhibits, Rally delivered its message of hope to attendees from 49 states and five countries. The mix of people included land trust board members, staff and volunteers, students, government employees, consultants and more. We were thrilled to welcome so many “first-timers,” as well as a few who have attended all 33 Rallies, the “100-percenters”: Dave Froehlich, John v.H. Halsey, Steve Small and Peter Stein.
Andrew ended his keynote with a message Rally attendees could take to heart: “As we wrap up 2020 and move into 2021, let’s continue to support each other, maintain hope, communicate with those we serve, and continue to be an outstanding example of how progress continues even during the darkest of times.”
Those who participated will have access to all recordings and other features of the Rally platform until January 31, 2021. Didn’t attend? Register for access to all the recordings at AllianceRally.org.
See our 2020 award winner videos on YouTube and the many sponsors who made Rally 2020 possible here. Thank you to everyone who made Rally 2020 possible, including the faculty and our supporters.