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Sustain DuPage + NEON
Sustain DuPage had a banner year in 2023 thanks to all of our volunteers. We are excited to launch a new platform that will make it even easier for you to stay involved in 2024. All volunteers and supporters will receive an emailed invitation in the next few days to participate in our new volunteer management app called NEON.
With this online dashboard you will be able to easily update your contact information and preferences, keep track of the mail subscriptions for particular projects, log and track your hours towards a free Membership, make donations, sign up for events, pay your membership dues, and also have access to our membership directory. You can even update a photo if you wish! To make it easier to navigate these new features, we've even created instructional videos, easily accessed on your Portal Dashboard, to refer to when completing your registration or when logging hours.
Why is it important to complete your NEON account with us? Sustain DuPage is a volunteer led and run organization, so having a volunteer management program is a must! Not only does it give our volunteers total access and control over how they can interact with us and get more involved, but it also provides us with a way to track how successful our programs are and get in touch with the people most interested in them. Also, this makes it a lot easier for our volunteers to earn their free Membership (and get all those perks!) by being able to track their hours.
Your invite will be addressed to the same email where you receive this newsletter, so keep an eye out! Please feel free to contact any of the Sustain DuPage leadership if you are having any difficulties with your account or have suggestions on how we can make your expedience with the platform easier.
Seed Cache
Seed Library Census Volunteer Opportunity
The Seed Library Network is looking for volunteers for a wonderful goal--to update and strengthen their Seed Library Census listing for organizations across the USA!
They are looking for volunteers to help from January 1, 2024 to March 19th, 2024. Seed Saving skills are not required. We just need help reaching out to groups to update and build this directory.
Sustain DuPage Seed Cache will work as a team! At first, we will focus on DuPage County and then try to help beyond that. This will really help seed savers in all locations work more effectively and collaboratively.
Please consider lending a hand! A zoom meeting will be sent to all volunteers from Seed Library Network in early January, which will tell us all we need to know. Here is a link with a littleMORE INFORMATION from Seed Library Network, and here is how to SIGN UP! Please note, if you want to work with Sustain DuPage volunteers, please also reach out toElena Nicholafter you have signed up with Seed Library Network.
Seed Inventory Volunteer Opportunity
Seed Cache crew will be working on taking our yearly inventory in January. Please reach out toElena Nichol if you would like to help with this.
2024 Seed and SeedLing Share
Seed Share: February 24th 1-3 PM, Wheaton Public Library
SeedLing Share: May 18th 1-3 PM, Wheaton Public Library
Compost Crew
We now have plenty of leaves and are not accepting more drop-offs this season. Thank you all!
The Compost Crew is also preparing to host a worm farm this spring adjacent to the compost bins. We will be purchasing our worms from the Northern Illinois Worm Farm. If you would like to start a worm farm on your own property, we would love to share worm farm best practices with you.
If you're interested in volunteering with our Compost Crew, please contact stasiak@sustaindupage.com. It's a great way to get exercise as you help the environment!
Volunteers Jim and Cathy Truesdale
The City of Wheaton hosted its first annual Sustainability Awards this November. We are very proud to see that among the award winners were long-time Sustain DuPage volunteers Jim and Cathy Truesdale, as well as the Prairie School of DuPage, which has partnered with Sustain DuPage many times over the past years.Click here to read more details from the Daily Herald.Congratulations, and a big thank you, to all of the recipients for making DuPage county a more sustainable place to live.
Did you know that DuPage County Representative Sean Casten was instrumental in securing a $1.5 million federal grant for improvements to the East Branch of the DuPage River Trail! Click here to read the full press release.
Protectors Rewilding Workday 10AM-12PM @ 1926 N. Main St. Wheaton, IL. Meet at the SD Garden.
12/9
Protectors Rewilding Workday 10AM-12PM @ 1926 N. Main St. Wheaton, IL. Meet at the SD Garden.
12/14
Leadership Meeting- 6:30PM- 8:00 PM. Active Members are allowed to attend and observe via Zoom. Please contact info@sustaindupage.com for the link and details.
12/16
Protectors Rewilding Workday 10AM-12PM @ 1926 N. Main St. Wheaton, IL. Meet at the SD Garden.
12/23
Protectors Rewilding Workday 10AM-12PM @ 1926 N. Main St. Wheaton, IL. Meet at the SD Garden.
Members: We'll be having our annual winter holiday party at Board member Stasia's house in January.
Sustain DuPage is a 501c3 nonprofit organization run completely on volunteer time and effort. One hundred percent of donations go back into our projects. Because we are a volunteer organization, we ask for your patience if it takes longer than 3 business days to return your email or correspondence.
