A LETTER OF GRATITUDE by Dan Mahle
Dear Friends,
It is with deep gratitude and bittersweet sadness that I share my intention to complete my role as a staff member with the Whidbey Institute this month. After seven years in the Seattle area, I will be moving to Colorado to be closer to my family.
My improbable journey with the Whidbey Institute began when I was 27. I felt a deep calling to be here, unlike anything I’d experienced before. In the three and a half years since I began my work here, I’ve had the honor of supporting many incredible programs, including Salish Sea Bioneers, Thriving Communities, Cascade Climate Collaborative, Winter Gathering, the 40th Anniversary Festival, and Generation Waking Up.
It’s been incredible to witness the Whidbey Institute grow and evolve so much over these few short years. Our team is stronger than ever, and our work is deepening in powerful and important ways.
While I am stepping out of my staff role and moving across the country soon, I will never really leave this place. The Whidbey Institute will always be a home for me, as it is for so many across the globe. I look forward to witnessing the continual evolution and growth of this place that I love—that we all love. It could not possibly be in more loving or capable hands.
With deep gratitude,
Dan
This issue also includes a memorial tribute to Charlie Murphy; conversations with Kirk Webb (Landscape of the Soul) and Anna Strick (Community Gardening); and articles from the Seattle Times and Whidbey Life Magazine on backcountry hiking and Potlatches, respectively.