by Becky Rafter 

 

Please join me, the board, and staff in celebrating the promotion of Lindsay Harper to Deputy Director of Georgia WAND! During her 13-month tenure as Program and Communications Manager, Lindsay has had many accomplishments.  

 

She managed Georgia WAND's We Count! civic engagement efforts, maintaining an effective crew of canvassers, and reaching voter registration numbers that we haven't seen since 2014. She single-handedly oversaw and implemented a much-needed office and technology overhaul at Georgia WAND, including a new office layout, a new phone system (call us and check it out!), a new Internet provider, a new printer/copier lease, and a new website, which is being unveiled next week.

 

Lindsay is also re-calibrating Georgia WAND's volunteer and activist structure so that there are more clear, effective, and accessible ways for more people to plug in with us and make change. She is building new partnerships and joins her colleagues in representing Georgia WAND in coalitions, such as the Georgia Water Coalition legislative committee, the Just Energy Circle, ProGeorgia, US Climate Action Network, the NPU-V Community Coalition, Atlanta Jobs with Justice, the US Human Rights Network, and others. With an eye always toward the future, Lindsay helped herald a three-year strategic plan for Georgia WAND and professionalized our look with new branding. Coming from a business, creative, environmental, entrepreneurial, and international background, Lindsay is bringing innovative ideas to move forward Georgia WAND's work of addressing nuclear weapons, pentagon spending, foreign policy, nuclear energy, and white supremacy.

 

"With President Trump making dehumanizing, racist comments about Democratic Republic of Congo and Haiti all the while threatening nuclear war with North Korea, it is more important than ever to support the leadership of Black women who are addressing nuclear weapons and the relationship between white supremacy and the U.S.'s militarized, nuclearized culture," shares Becky Rafter, executive director of Georgia WAND and Lindsay's supervisor. "As a staff member, and before that, as a member of the board, Lindsay has been aiding in Georgia WAND's long transition away from the white supremacy inherent in nonprofit organizations. So we address issues of ecological harm from nukes externally as well as internally in so far as ensuring organizational sustainability and justice."

 

"It is with so much appreciation and congratulations that I join my Georgia WAND colleagues in welcoming Lindsay to her new position of Deputy Director! This promotion is just a confirmation and an affirmation of the fact that Lindsay has always held herself to a very high standard and excelled in reaching that standard with her work here at Georgia WAND. She has played an important role in our evolutionary process and we thank her for all that she has contributed. Congratulations Lindsay!" Dianne Valentin, President of the Georgia WAND Board of Directors.

 

As many people in the Georgia WAND community know, Lindsay is energetic, forward thinking, and compassionate. She is building out what cross-geographic management looks like through the supervision of our colleagues, Natalie Herrington and Janie Hill Scott, in Burke County, GA. Lindsay is the first woman of color to hold a director level position at Georgia WAND, and she is taking on her new role in stride, maintaining the vigor, vision, and love that has gained her such success. Please reach out to Lindsay and congratulate her and offer your support. You can email her at Lindsay@georgiawand.org or call her using the new phones at 404-524-5999 x 1016.

by Natalie Herrington

Georgia WAND Education Fund, Inc. (GA WAND) and UGA's Savannah River Ecology Lab (SREL) invite you to the January monthly "Community Talk" on Monday, January 22nd at 6 p.m. and Thursday, January 25th at 10 a.m.  The Community Talk is a part of a year-long education program for the Radionuclide Education Monitoring and Outreach Program (REMOP) in Shell Bluff.  The subject matter of the January Community talk is "What is Tritium." 

Megan Winzeler, a Community Outreach Coordinator for SREL will lead the talk.  Georgia WAND community organizers Janie Scott and Natalie Herrington will also be there to greet people and answer questions.  The Community Talk will take place at the Burke County Library located at 130 GA-24, Waynesboro, GA 30830.  

The Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board (SRS CAB) will meet on January 22-23, 2018 at Beach House,  1 South Forest Beach Drive,  Hilton Head Island, SC 29928. 

 

Day one will consist of agency and committee updates and  introduction of a draft recommendation.  Dr. Gene Rhodes will present an update from SREL requested by the Facilities and Site Remediation committee.  Items for voting during the full CAB will be selection of committee chair for the CAB, voting to close recommendation #338, and the draft recommendation for reclassifying certain high-level waste to enable acceleration of disposal and reduction costs.  

 

Please join us as we continue watchdogging SRS and the nuclear activities and legacy clean up at this nuclear weapons complex just across the river from Georgia.