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We're thrilled to introduce you to our Bill Grover from Salem, Massachusetts! Bill has been active in the work of The Pachamama Alliance since 2007. Over the past 6 years, he has facilitated over 25 Awakening the Dreamer Symposiums and participated in four trainings in the New England Area. His inspiration and action don't stop there though!
Bill Takes Part in Pachamama Alliance's Op-ed Program
Last April, Bill signed on for The Pachamama Alliance Op-ed program -- a pilot project initiated by our Communications Director, Pat Usner, and Sam Daley-Harris of the Center for Citizens Empowerment and Transformation.
Inspired by Howard Friend's (another Awakening the Dreamer Facilitator) Mother’s Day Op-ed, Bill – an architect by profession who was used to visual forms of communication – loved this new challenge to improve his writing skills. "Working with Sam and Pat has been an important key to my continuing—they made it easy,” Bill commented. His own Mother’s Day Op-ed was accepted by a local weekly newspaper. The week after, he submitted a second article that was published, so he set up a meeting with the Editor! At that meeting it was suggested he write a column for the paper, and he has since had weekly articles published. Each article has referenced the purpose of the Awakening the Dreamer program and he is starting to get positive feedback from friends in the community. The title of his new column is "Imagine This" and each piece connects the reader to a vision for a sustainable, fulfilling and just future.
Growing the Awakening the Dreamer Facilitator Community
Bill also works to create a strong community of Facilitators with connections to local NGOs on Boston's North Shore. "There is great diversity in economic, racial, and spiritual populations in this area, which could be brought together by activism like the Awakening the Dreamer initiative. It is important to build a committed community of Facilitators here to make that happen," he says. For a Symposium in Marblehead, MA taking place on June 8th, 2013 he has invited a number of representatives from local organizations. "There is a natural Awakening the Dreamer partnership possible with these groups,” he believes. “Symposium participants can hit the ground running with established local organizations working for change – a win-win for everyone, since NGOs can then bring Symposium to their constituents as well." The upcoming Symposium was covered by the local Marblehead Reporter, a weekly newspaper and online news source. The article can be read here.
In an attempt to grow the North Shore Facilitator community, Bill has scheduled a free Facilitator Training following the Symposium. Bill is trying out a format new to him, with the training taking place on two consecutive Saturdays in July and offering opportunities to connect in between. He is also reaching out to younger people as well, in hopes of creating a local Generation Waking Up Community. His goal with the training is to develop an organized volunteer North Shore Awakening the Dreamer Facilitator Community with the ability to bring on an intern to support Awakening the Dreamer outreach. "There is no reason why we cannot be scheduling a Symposium event every month and introductions to the Awakening the Dreamer twice a month on the North Shore."
These actions emerge out of a new awareness for Bill. Rather than being tied to the outcome of his activism he is choosing to simply follow his passion. "When I do that, the unexpected results are amazing."
