Rena Priest

By smilingweb | July 8, 2022 | Comments Off on Rena Priest
Rena Priest

Rena Priest is a poet and an enrolled member of the Lhaq’temish (Lummi) nation. She spoke with us on Saturday, June 11, 2022. She has been appointed to serve as the Washington State Poet Laureate for the term of April 2021-2023. She is the 2022 Maxine Cushing Gary Distinguished Writing Fellow, a Vadon Foundation Fellow,…

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Poet Laureate Ashley McBunch returns to Step and helps us all find our inner poet January 2022

By smilingweb | February 1, 2022 | Comments Off on Poet Laureate Ashley McBunch returns to Step and helps us all find our inner poet January 2022
Ashly McBunch

City of Olympia’s Poet Laureate Ashly McBunch joined STEP in June 2021 to read her poetry about intersectionality and share her process of writing poetry. They returned to STEP in January with an amazing workshop that helped us gather our words about Belonging. Ashly walked through a scenario of being in a room of unknown…

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STEP – Sharing Teens and Elders Project, Seeds of Change, Thurston County Juvenile Court’s Youth Development Program

By smilingweb | February 1, 2022 | Comments Off on STEP – Sharing Teens and Elders Project, Seeds of Change, Thurston County Juvenile Court’s Youth Development Program
pink dahlia flowers in focus photography

2021 was a year filled with uncertainty and unique challenges. In spite of those circumstances, a powerful partnership has been established between STEP Sharing Teens and Elders Project, the Seeds of Change, and the Thurston County Juvenile Court’s Youth Development Program (YDP). In June 2021 a local gardener donated over 100 dahlia flower bulbs to…

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Donation Letter

By smilingweb | February 1, 2022 | Comments Off on Donation Letter
person showing both hands with make a change note and coins

Recently STEP had the honor of having Erin Jones as our guest speaker on our Zoom gathering. It was a profoundly moving experience and brought tears to some eyes. She spoke with profound wisdom, honesty and warmth. She encouraged us to be a part of healing racism in our country. It was an extraordinary program.…

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