Celebrate heritage, honor our connections with one another and the land, and enable more children to experience health and healing from a nature-connected childhood now and beyond this crisis.

ONLINE SILENT AUCTION

A few items remain unsold and are being offered on sale.

LIVESTREAM FUNDRAISING EVENT

Thank you for all your support! Stay tuned to watch the recording of our livestream gala.

With emcees Martha Enson & Kevin Joyce, EnJoy Productions

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE RECORDED EVENT

MAKE A DONATION

SPECIAL TREATS FOR YOU TO PURCHASE
Dinner & Wine to-go by EARTHEN
Limited edition Heritage Species print by Annie Brulé

GUEST SPEAKERS & PERFORMERS
Mark Timken, VWP Co-Founder
Davis Luanava (Hopi, Purepecha, Scandinavian), VWP Mentor
Ted Packard, Alumni VWP Mentor, Storyteller/Musician
Gene Tagaban (Cherokee, Tlingit, Filipino), Storyteller

HELP ENSURE NATURE CONNECTION FOR ALL
Help us raise $35,000 to further our justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives throughout our programming and leadership.

GROW A FOREST/GROW A CHILD
Support a multigenerational collaboration between Vashon Wilderness Program & Vashon Maury Island Land Trust to plant saplings and invest in healthy habitats for our collective future.

BE A PART OF THIS INCREDIBLE EVENT AND INVEST IN OUR COLLECTIVE FUTURE!

LIVESTREAM FUNDRAISING EVENT

Gene Tagaban (Cherokee, Tlingit, Filipino), Storyteller

Gene Tagaban, “One Crazy Raven” is an influential storyteller, trainer, speaker, mentor and performer. Gene is of the Takdeintaan clan, the Raven, Freshwater Sockeye clan from Hoonah, AK. He is the Child of the Wooshkeetaan clan, the Eagle, Shark clan from Juneau, AK. He is Cherokee, Tlingit and Filipino. He is a board member and trainer for the Native Wellness Institute. He has been a featured teller at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN, Kansas City storytelling Festival, the Bay Area Storytelling festival in Berkeley, St. Louis Storytelling Festival and the Singapore International Storytelling Festival. He can be seen on Northwest Indian News and the Native Entertainment Network. He is also featured in the films “Shadow of the Salmon” and Sherman Alexie’s “The Business of Fancydancing.” He was honored to perform with the Dalai Lama in the presence of an audience of 16,000 children at the “Seeds of Compassion” gathering in Seattle. WA and the Nature Conservancies 50th anniversary with Jane Goodall. Gene’s foremost passion is teaching. Using his gift of storytelling, dance, and music, he travels across the country performing, presenting, and facilitating workshops on suicide prevention, empowerment, leadership, relationship-building, communication skills, self-awareness, spirit and honor to participants of all ages.

Mark Timken, VWP Co-Founder

Mark P. Timken, MA, LMHC, has been a part of the Vashon Wilderness Program community for more than 14 years as a founding member, stakeholder, and now as an Elder. He graduated from Pacifica Graduate Institute in 2015 with a Masters in Counseling with an emphasis in depth psychology, and is currently in private practice as a nature-based psychotherapist. Mark is passionate about VWP’s mission to connect people more deeply with themselves, each other, and the natural world.

Davis Luanava (Hopi, Purepecha, Scandinavian), VWP Mentor

Davis is a lifelong student and social justice advocate deeply committed to connection and community. Growing up in Duwamish territory, she was able to participate in nature connection programs that inspired her love of tracking, edible plants, storytelling, songs, ecology and intentional relationship building which later fueled her passion as an Environmental Science major at the University of San Diego. Because of these programs, she was able to cultivate a sense of self within a loving community, within herself, and in the land. In the past 17 years she’s participated in numerous programs and become a mentor herself. Her roots come from the Hopi and Purepecha people, and also from Northern Scandinavia. When not working as a mentor, Davis can be found camping, engaging in community, journaling, cooking or standing up for what she believes in.

Ted Packard, Alumni VWP Mentor, Storyteller/Musician

Ted Packard is a storyteller, musician, artist, and mentor. He spent his formative years roaming the woodlands of Virginia, before venturing to the deeper forests of the Pacific Northwest, where he spent years honing his naturalist's curiosities, survival skills, and deep love for nurturing connection. After seven nourishing years mentoring youth and teens in the Northwest, Ted has come to Southwestern Colorado, where he is making art, music, tracking deer, and enjoying the dry beauty along with his partner and two cats.