Right after Grand Council last year, our local Pagan Pride Days “season” started. We had booths and gave out information at several of those across the state, including Fort Lauderdale and Treasure Coast. EMLC members organize and run the Treasure Coast Pagan Pride at the Savanah’s Preserve in Fort Pierce. We will again have booths and give out information at those this year, and hopefully also have a presence at Jacksonville’s Pagan Pride Day as well. Florida is a large state, and our goal is to have a presence at as many Pagan Pride Days as we can.
EMLC also continues to hold our annual Turing the Tides, which is a 3 day event in Miami at the beginning of December. Last year was our 9th year. We are very excited that this year coming up will be our 10th year doing this event. Each year participants also bring toys for the toy drive, and last year’s toy drive was donated to “Amigos for Kids”. They told us later that they had actually run out of toys, but when they got our donation, they were able to call back one of the organizations that had been turned down and were able to give out toys to 50 more children – all because of our donation.
Besides toy donations, EMLC is proud to be able to donate to a number of other local charities as well. Last year, some of our members participated in the Children’s Hunger Project and EMLC also donated to the Children’s Hunger Project. In addition, we have donated to the Wild Hunt, St. Francis Animal Hospital, Kindred Spirits Animal Sanctuary, Gadsden County Humane Society and the Cardiac Kids Foundation of Florida.
Kasha and Diana participated in the Parliament of Worlds Religions last year and Diana was honored to be one of the performers in the “Goddess Alive! A Ritual with Masks” which was presented there.
Two of our members were also chosen to accompany “Honor Flights”, which take Veterans to Washington, DC to attend ceremonies there to honor them. It is a moving experience for all who are privileged to attend.
Last year our annual meeting was held at a seaside park in Melbourne Fl, where we had a potluck and cookout. Highlights of the meetings included seeing dolphins swimming out in the ocean, as well as many curious squirrels who tried to get some of the potluck for themselves.
Each year we hold an annual retreat for our members to gather and just spend some time in each other’s company and relax. This time one of our members offered her vacation home in Elijay, GA for us to stay in. Highlights included visiting local falls, and sampling locally made homegrown beef and handmade ice cream.
We are also very excited that one of our member covens, Spiraling Heart, has just had reached their 25th year as of Litha. Many congratulations to them!
Our Podcast, “Reaching for the Moon” has just released Episode 24 for Lughnasaadh. If you haven’t subscribed yet, you can do so in iTunes or Stitcher. Our podcast is one way to reach new people and anyone can contribute by sending Lady Bridget your recording. We welcome contributions!
Our Facebook following and website visits continue to grow, and our podcast gets residual listens even to the old episodes, so we know that once folks are finding us, they are liking what they see and hear.
As you can tell, Everglades Moon Local Council is a thriving and vital part of this organization and we are very proud of our members and their many contributions and accomplishments.
Thank you and blessed be!