Farewells and Thank-Yous!

The Appalachian Voices family would like to bid a very fond farewell to two long-time members of the team. Maeve Gould, who served on our outreach and development teams since 2012, helped to fine-tune our membership outreach. She also functioned for four years as the Distribution Manager of The Appalachian Voice, single-handedly overseeing the movement of 60,000-plus newspapers every other month through our network of paid and volunteer distributors (over 90 now!) and delivered straight to the hands of our loyal readers.

Eric Chance, Water Quality Specialist and resident GIS expert since 2009, was responsible for sifting through reams of water quality data. His analysis helped uncover tens of thousands of Clean Water Act violations and led to lawsuits against three different coal companies for breaking the law. Maeve and Chance are heading to Virginia Tech this fall to pursue graduate degrees, and we will miss them very much!

We would also like to express our humblest gratitude to our three AmeriCorps Project Conserve members for their dedicated service during the 2014-15 term. Kimber Ray, who served as the phenomenal Associate Editor for The Voice for two AmeriCorps terms and penned some of our top features during that time, heads off to a work-stay farm in Costa Rica to obtain a certificate in permaculture.

Ebullient Energy Savings team member and communications specialist, Eliza Laubach, will stay close by, continuing with Appalachian Voices through spring helping to expand our Energy Savings campaign into new electric co-op territories. And passionate Jaimie McGirt, who cheerfully divided her time between our Energy Savings and Cleaning Up Coal Ash campaigns, will be getting married this fall and will continue to help AV engage with the High Country community as a volunteer.

We wish everyone all the best!