What a year!!
I cannot believe that it is December already! This year went by so fast, and while we are still not back to normal, 2021 was a good year for Saws & Slaws. We had a handful of our normal-style events. While we haven’t been able to enjoy our traditional potluck meals, we’ve still been able to get a lot of work done toward making our community safer and more resilient through a wildfire event.
By the numbers, here is an image that details some of our key data points from this season.
I want to emphasize, particularly in this time of gratitude, that we would not be able to do any of this without YOU: our volunteers, our organizers, our property owner hosts, our neighbors, our donors, our firewood buyers, our community partners, our service providers, and so many more. As always, our volunteers both at events and those that help us pull those events together are the life blood of our organization. You make us successful. You make us impactful. You make it possible for us to love what we are doing. Thank you for all you have done in 2021. We look forward to kicking off a new year with you next month. Here is to our better and brighter future built on all the good work we’ve done to date!
Don’t forget to join us on Colorado Gives Day – December 7th
Colorado Gives Day is December 7th. As a reminder, this is a key fundraising event for us and other non-profits across the state. As I shared last month, your donations to Saws & Slaws as part of Colorado Gives Day will go toward new equipment for us. We are particularly hoping to get a new-to-us dump truck to replace the one we had before. Anything that makes our work easier is well worth it, and a dump truck makes our work significantly easier. One of the reasons donating as part of Colorado Gives Day is that there is an incentive fund that boosts the value of each dollar donated to us on or before Colorado Gives Day on the Gives Day site. When we come together as a state, it makes all of us stronger.
You can make an one-time donation or you can schedule something for monthly. Minimum donation is $5 and every donation will get us closer to our goal of replacing our old dump truck.
We would really appreciate your support. As I said above, this could be a really impactful fundraiser for us, so thank you in advance for your donations. If you have any questions or suggestions, please email us at sawsandslaws@gmail.com
Safety Tip of the Month: I often write about how to stay safe while operating a chainsaw, but it is important for our “swampers” to stay safe too. ‘Swampers’ is the name we havefor the people that are doing the hard work of hauling the material out of the forest while doing fire mitigation and forest health work. Most of the time (at our events) they are cleaning out fuels from the forest. Swampers stay safe by first watching for hazards. Situational awareness is key for everything from preventing a tripping accident or from getting hit by a stick while you try to haul it away. The old saying of “go slow to go fast” applies here because slow and steady will prevent an injury that might be bad enough to stop all activity for the day! It is also important to pay attention to where the sawyers are and what they are doing in order to keep yourself out of the danger zone. We also recommend that swampers make it easy on themselves by taking the time to do things more efficiently. At a Saws event, we recommend that swampers as well as the people feeding the chipper to chain material up/down/in to where it needs to go. Rather than having everybody climbing up and down the entire hill, pass the material from one person to the next to make it easier. (In the case of chipping, it also prevents people from getting in each other’s way!) Finally, be sure to take care of yourself. Recognize when your body needs a break, stay hydrated and fueled, and dress appropriately for both the weather and the activity. Swampers do essential work, so it is important to stay safe in order to get the job done!
2022 Season Applications Now Open
We already have most of our season for 2022 planned, so if you’d like to take one of the last few spots, then be sure to get your application in soon! We are looking for a couple more neighborhood events where we’ll come to your property with a bunch of volunteers and do a bunch of wildfire mitigation work!! Ideally, we would be working on two to three neighboring properties, so we can spread out a bit. Now is the time to talk to your neighbors about getting on the schedule for summer and fall. Get out, connect with those in your proximity, and work toward getting your properties safer and healthier. Got questions? Call Us! (303) 642-0273. http://sawsandslaws.org .
Saws and Slaws is a 501(c)3 organization committed to Building Stronger Communities Through A Healthier Forest. Find out more at http://sawsandslaws.org and Join Us!
