Dear MPC,
I wanted to write this letter to share with everyone in the hope of conveying the deep, deep gratitude I feel for the ability to join you at MPC@Tahoe. Even if you weren’t able to join us – or camping isn’t your thing – if you contribute even in the smallest way to MPC, you were part of making the trip accessible for us because we need financial aid to make the trip feasible for our family.
The topic on climate change wasn’t a new one for us, but it was spiritually beneficial to sit in a group of folks ranging in age from high school to retirement and share about our fear and pain regarding our changing world. The evidence of such was all around us at Camp Richardson, from the emboldened bears desperate to scavenge food due to their destroyed environment to the significantly lower lake level, to the drive home along Mormon Emmigrant Trail where the expanse of dead, burned trees and bare hillsides miles in every direction humbled and scared us into silence. Traveling on a road where as far as we could see there was nothing but destruction, where we couldn’t see any green full-grown trees, was a hellish and horrifying place that made our reality sink in more deeply than any statistic or documentary could.
I am proud to be a member of the Montclair Presbyterian community and I hope to take what I learned from this trip to make more changes in my life to become a no- or less-waste household. I hope to take the gratitude that I felt at being included in this event and turn it into an increased effort to reach out and build accessible reduced waste strategies to share with those who feel they can’t afford or can’t manage changing their lifestyle choices. I am renewed in my urgency to lobby for change, not with signatures but individually with others around me, because that’s where my strength lies, in interpersonal connection. I am intensely grateful as well for those at MPC who have the patience and dedication that I lack when it comes to lobbying politically for change, they are another piece in our climate-change solution puzzle we cannot go without.
MPC@Tahoe restores my soul by grounding me in nature, but also restoring my faith in the welcoming and helpful spirit of our community. I struggled with feeling isolated over the pandemic but I feel connected once again and I am eternally grateful for each and every member of our community for showing up, listening with acceptance and love, putting aside judgment and leading by example. May I one day be half as helpful and capable as all of you.
Thank you MPC
-Jennifer Hansen
If you haven’t attended previously, here are some pictures to entice you for MPC at Tahoe 2023!
