July 1, 2016
Dear friends,
As the Peace Resource Center's most valued members, partners, donors and supporters, we are excited to share with you some changes that are coming and provide an opportunity for your input.
Last year, as we gathered together for the Annual Meeting in November, we marked and celebrated PRC's first 35 years – years of triumph, struggle, and accomplishment – and introduced you to the new Board of Directors. We recognized how important it is to continue to strive together to build the better world we know can exist.
This year, your Board came together in January for a strategic planning retreat. Since then, we have been working toward a future of nonviolent peacemaking, children's education, and conversations and collaborations around PRISMS (poverty, racism, immigration, spirituality, militarism, and sustainability). We plan to continue this work and more.
As we move forward through 2016 and plan for 2017, we are also preparing for transition. Our Executive Director for five years, Mariah Gayler, is moving on in July. With the vision of a strong PRC, we are working with her through a transition process, which includes steps to secure qualified leadership in 2017. We are grateful to Peta Hinds-Lametti, a current board member, for stepping up to learn PRC operations from Mariah and then provide leadership as Interim Coordinator for the remainder of 2016. These are big changes that also bring amazing opportunities with them.
With this, we invite you to a Meet & Greet to share with you the vision from the Board's strategic planning and get your feedback and involvement. In the spirit of partnership, cooperation, and collaboration, please mark your calendars for the Meet & Greet on Sept. 10th from 2-4pm at the PRC.
Thank you for your ongoing support. Change brings opportunity and we look forward to you joining us on Sept 10th for refreshments, good company, and visioning together.
Together for Peace & Justice,
Sara Haldeman-Scarr, Board President
Peace Resource Center of San Diego
P.S. On the next page, you will find a special message from Mariah.
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Hello all you dear people,
It is with mixed emotions that I tell you today is my last day as the Executive Director of the PRC. I will put in a bit more time to tie up loose ends and help Peta in the transition, but otherwise today is officially the end. After five years to the day as E.D. and nearly six years total of being employed by the PRC, I'm leaving to pursue new adventures. I will learn more about goats and farming, continue efforts with the food justice community, turn 40 years old, get married in 2017, and explore what else life may hold.
I am deeply grateful to have had the privilege to serve through this organization. Our work for "peace with justice and sustainability through nonviolence" is deeply meaningful to me, and it is difficult to transition away. I am honored to have been the first to follow in the footsteps of Carol Jahnkow, who led the PRC for the first 30 years. I will miss daily time at the beautiful Peace Campus, interacting with my colleagues here, the support and inspiration of the new wonderfully dedicated board, as well as working with the many incredible collaborative community organizations and the irreplaceable variety of people I've met along the way. It was a vital part of my position to have had flexibility to follow community interests and develop new programs, in addition to taking important personal/family time as needed and going back to school. Last May, I was able to receive my Masters in Nonprofit Leadership and Management. I hope everything I have learned and gained has been returned as much, or more, in benefit to the PRC and community. I feel so lucky to have made some wonderful friends through this work and overall to have had such a unique, memorable, and significant job.
Thank you to everyone who supported me and the PRC these years, through the ongoing challenges and successes of running and being a small progressive responsive organization. With the many activities we have hosted and participated in, I mostly fondly will take memories of rewarding conversations where people's eyes light up as they gain new information that ignites passionate action. I have learned so much from each of you and the transformative work that we have shared together. I am confident that – with the dedication of the Board, new staff, and all of you alongside – the PRC will persevere through the next phase and build a new future of important peace work.
The Board is committed and meeting regularly. Walking in hand with Peta, they will together provide capable leadership during this time of transition. We shall see what details will change or stay the same, but the PRC will endure. To use a song quote, don't stop believing! Show your dedication to peace, justice, sustainability, and the future of PRC by contributing extra generously through this transition.
In peace, gratitude, and love,
Mariah Gayler
Remember, send in your contribution or membership dues – right now! – with the form below or on to our website. Also, keep your eyes out later this year for information about new membership benefits!
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