Underground Good: Melinda Kashuba

Ed Note: This Opinion piece is part of our new series, Underground Good, which focuses on providing a window into the mindsets of ordinary people doing good work in their community. It’s written by sociologist, coach and evaluation consultant Sharon Brisolara. You can find the rest of our Underground Good series here. Want to nominate someone? You can do that here.

This month I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Melinda Kashuba who, among other things, is President of Whiskeytown Environmental School Community.  She has been deeply engaged in raising funds for Whiskeytown Environmental School (WES), often referred to as WES Camp, and shares her update and plans for reconstructing WES with us during the course of our discussion.

When I first contacted her, she said, “I’ve read that series! But you interview people who are way more interesting than I think I am. It would have been great to interview my whole team. We are a small but mighty group of dedicated people who believe very deeply in the importance of introducing children to nature and outdoor science.  All the women involved with my team are pretty extraordinary. We’re all part of this, so I’ll try to speak for all of us today.”

As we begin, I often ask people if they’d like to share a little about their backgrounds.

I was born in the Bay Area and grew up in California.  My mom was a homemaker and worked as a housekeeper in a convalescent hospital.  My dad worked at Chevron Refinery, so we have very blue-collar roots. I was the first of many generations to have ever gone to college. Both my parents just barely got high school educations. My grandmothers on both sides just barely had third grade educations. My parents always pushed it on all of us even though they didn’t really know what all it involved. So, believe me, education was huge, and I feel that privilege immensely.

I was lucky enough to go to UC Berkeley for my undergrad work in geography. Then I went on to Hayward State University to get my master’s in geography. From there, I transferred to UCLA and got my doctorate in geography in 1986.

When I was at UCLA, I worked for the Army Corps of Engineers – that’s where I met my husband. He was a brand-new civil engineering hire, and I was a brand-new planning hire in an organization that was, well, a very militaristic organization. The idea of having environmental planning was really new in the 1980s, so I was on a little bit of the cutting edge of that.

When did you first become involved with Whiskeytown Environmental School?

While I was at Shasta College, Dan Scollon, the geographer that I worked with at the college, obtained a National Science Foundation grant to teach elementary, junior high, and high school students GPS mapping work. We created a geocaching program as a fun way to introduce students to using GPS. We did that for two years, and I had students at Shasta College help me. One of the gigs we did was at Whiskeytown Environmental School during their very well-attended 40th anniversary welcome day. I taught students how to use GPS devices, and they went out and had fun finding things. That was my first introduction to WES.

All of my children went to WES and I got to go to camp there with my daughter as a chaperone. We went in February, and it rained literally every day, starting on Monday afternoon on the first hike until about breakfast time on Friday. But the great thing, Sharon, is that we did every single thing on the list of things that kids do at WES. We were in the creeks; we were on the trails; we did the night hike. They got to do everything, just in boots and rain slickers. It was a joyous, fun time. Kids discovered that they didn’t melt if they were in the rain! They just loved it and were so happy to be out there.

What have you learned about WES since that people might not know?

WES has been in existence since 1970. It’s actually the second oldest environmental education center within the National Park Service (NPS). It was called NEED Camp, which stands for National Environmental Education Department, a component within the National Park Service. The United States government was pouring money into environmental education. This was a direct result of the interest in Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and Stuart Udall’s The Quiet Crisis as well as the passage of major environmental legislation by Congress; there was a focus on ecology and pollution – air pollution, water pollution- and there was a lot of concern that children were not being taught about recognizing these issues or the possible ways you can solve them.

WES was founded in that vein by several teachers and a retired US. Forest Service forester, a man named Lee Morford who, after spending 40 years with the Forest Service, wanted to dedicate the rest of his life to educating children and giving them the opportunity to be out in a forest and understanding something about the natural cycles of life.

WES serves students in kindergarten through eighth grade and the residential program is specifically for 5th and 6th, sometimes 7th graders, depending on the school. A lot of people have great memories of the programs, residential program, and summer camps. The summer camp program has now been transformed into a day camp led by Shasta County Office of Education’s (SCOE) Project Share.

Have you observed a change in awareness of climate issues, environmental degradation, and potential solutions? And what role does WES play today in any such awareness?

I think everybody who has witnessed extraordinary storms and wildland fires in the last decade or so is starting to realize that things aren’t quite the same as they remember it being when they were children. Theoretically, I can say that there have been improvements in understanding air pollution and water quality issues in some places, although there still is a lot of inequality in the way that money has been applied. I think climate change has brought such things more into people’s minds.

WES emphasizes hands-on environmental science: taking water samples, learning where your water comes from, learning about animals, particularly invertebrates, that live in streams and creeks. Students learn about the forest as an ecosystem and conservation of resources is discussed. Even at the table, three times a day during the meals students receive, they learn about food waste and composting.

What is the current fundraising effort focused on? What does it hope to bring to our community?

Whiskeytown Environmental School Community is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2011. The group came out of earlier conversations over the concern that WES might close, and that the environmental education program would go away.

We were there to help raise money for student tuition, because it costs money for each student to go to WES Camp, and also for things that weren’t in the budget – stuff that would break, that needed replacement. One of our former board members, Kristen Schreder, helped raise funds for a washing machine and dryer so that campers could have dry clothes and bedding. She talked to Carmona’s Appliance Center, and they were able to reduce the price of those appliances for us and get them delivered. We were like a PTA in a way.

Then the Carr Fire happened. I became president in 2017, and I’m still president. I really thought I was going to be presiding in my first year over the demise of our nonprofit. Thankfully, over time, modeling has shown that the hazard the Park Service initially thought was there, wasn’t. The Shasta County Office of Education (SCOE) then issued a resolution to return in April of 2020.

That was fabulous and also meant we needed to figure out who was going to rebuild WES. The Park Service can’t ask for money, and SCOE can’t ask for money from the public directly. So here we are, this little nonprofit. We thought, if not us, who?  We wanted to get kids back to WES as soon as possible, and it fell to us. I said, let’s do it. Let’s do it.

We thought, if not us, who?  We wanted to get kids back to WES as soon as possible, and it fell to us. I said, let’s do it. Let’s do it.

Melinda Kashuba

All of us on the board are teachers. That’s where our hearts lie. Raising millions of dollars to rebuild a camp is way out of our league. People experienced in fundraising in our community told us we needed a feasibility study and a capital campaign.  Fortunately, we have been able to hire the consultants needed to help us get going.

We were starting pretty much from scratch. In the intervening year, we funded several classrooms to go to Lassen Pines Camp since kids had raised money to go to camp. Our nonprofit and Rotary stepped up and helped make that happen.

The fundraising effort was greenlighted at that point.  One of the earliest supporters was the Redding Host Lions Club. In August of 2020, they held a fundraiser in front of the Cascade Theater and raised about $25,000 and donated all of it to start the planning process. Another early supporter was the Community Foundation of the North State. They gave us the rest of what we needed to begin the capital campaign. I still kind of choke up when I talk about that because it was a game changer.  We hired a consultant well known for planning parks and children’s camps to conduct the feasibility study and, in December of 2021, hired an experienced consultant to help us form and launch the Grow Back Stronger campaign in May 2022. 

As of last week, with the latest allocation from the PG&E Zogg Fire settlement, we’ve raised $1.5 million in donations and commitments.

What is your ultimate fundraising goal and how will the money be spent?

Some cabins burned during the Carr Fire and much of the infrastructure for the camp was heavily damaged. Although seven cabins burned directly, most of the others were damaged, scorched by the fire, or are just simply too old. Some of the cabins were built in the early 60s when it was the Vision Valley Baptist Camp, built at that time on private land. That was sort of subsumed when the National Park Service acquired the property.  It worked out just beautifully to already have an existing camp that could be turned into NEED camp.

SCOE is interested in building a new administration safety building at WES.  Currently, the office is tucked back in a less accessible part of the camp. Any parent who needed to drive into camp at night, if their child was sick, for example, would have to wander back there and try to find their kid with virtually no lights. SCOE also wants staff to have eyes on the bridge to see who’s coming into camp.  That is the only brand-new building being planned. The others are replacement buildings for student housing and rehabilitating existing buildings like Hatcher Hall that houses the kitchen, dining facilities, and other functions.

The main focus of the campaign is on raising $4.3 million dollars for those efforts. Since we started this endeavor, the cost of supplies has gone up.  We decided, as a group, to include prevailing wage rates for labor. We’ve had five or six meetings over the last year with the Park Service and SCOE.  Our best plan is to build four fire-resistant fourplexes.

We have general plans on metal buildings that are fire resistant and low maintenance.  The Park Service also wants buildings that are sustainable.  Money from the PG&E Zogg Fire settlement has made the project viable. We worked hard to raise $500,000 in the last year and have hundreds and hundreds of donors who have given all sized amounts and have been very generous.

Artist Concept Drawing of Possible Student Housing at WES.

What is your role in this project? What does a typical project work week look like for you?

For the last year, by and large, it has been 40 hours a week. It’s not just me. We have a whole group of very talented women who are very dedicated to doing this work. We’re all volunteers and a lot of us also donate heavily, too.

There are a lot of meetings. I have at least one or two Zoom meetings a day and we will do a presentation, maybe every other week, to some group. Right now, we’re talking to architects about plans and options. Our plan will be to go through the environmental and economic review process. There are all kinds of things going on right now: talking to donors, calling people, asking for money, following up with people, writing newsletter articles, hosting events, and writing grants. It’s just a whirlwind.

One very important part of my day is supporting my fellow Board members during this endeavor. Several of our board members are artists, “right-brained people,” who are creative and people-oriented. They have assumed very “left-brained” roles involving budgets, database management, grant writing, and other organizational skills that were dormant in their skill set but have acquired levels of expertise that are inspiring. This is probably the thing that I love most about my role, watching people develop new capabilities, whether it be a child netting a pollywog out of the creek or an adult building and maintaining a donor database.

We’re working toward a presentation to SCOE at the end of the month to update their board about where we are. We talked to them last fall, and a lot has changed since the last time we presented to them. This morning, I was on the Billy and Patrick radio show; that was interesting, boiling everything down into five minutes is really challenging.

If people are interested in doing so, how can they support this project?

Donations are very gratefully received. Our website, www.wescommunity.org/contribute, contains information about donating either to the Grow Back Stronger campaign or to the General Fund.

We have a dedicated fund at Morgan Stanley – they have waived their fees for processing donations and assets. We have someone who can work with noncash items like real estate, vehicles, all kinds of things. Some large employers have a matching program through Benevity.com or some other entity to multiply donations. We are starting to get offers of building materials. We have a very generous community, and we can accept those things on behalf of the Park Service because we became a philanthropic partner of the NPS.

Letters of support for the project are really helpful right now. People can reach out to SCOE Board members to express their support for the rebuild project or write about the importance of WES and what it has meant to them.  Those letters of support can be addressed to the SCOE Board President Kathy Barry. I’m also asking for letters that are addressed, “To whom it may concern” to help us with grant writing efforts.

Recently, we hosted one of Congressman LaMalfa’s staff on a tour through WES in order to update her. My hope is that next year I’ll be able to go to Congress during a day sponsored by the National Park Foundation, Hill Day, to meet Congressmen.  During Hill Day, we would talk about our projects, about the good they do in our community, and the importance of jobs and education in our communities. I’m crossing my fingers that we’re going to be one of those projects that will go.

We are looking for people to help us diversify and broaden our Board and for volunteers for specific tasks such as the layout and design of our bi-monthly newsletter, processing of correspondence and gifts, and helping with events. Volunteers can help as little as four hours per week. 

People can also buy WES t-shirts at Enjoy the Store; Enjoy hosts a place for our t-shirts. They sell them and take care of all the paperwork; we have one volunteer who focuses on the shirts. Net proceeds from the t-shirts are donated to the Grow Back Stronger campaign. We always need people to serve as ambassadors for us – to talk to their friends, to people who have money to let them know about the project and that we want the kids back as soon as possible. Over 10,000 kids have lost out on the residential experience in the last five years.

What motivates you to be as engaged as you are in this effort and similar work? 

My family wasn’t particularly religious or involved in community efforts, but, while growing up, I came into contact with people who were very giving of themselves in other ways, so it feels natural.  

Coming from a lower middle-income family background, not having a lot, and understanding that I was given a lot of privilege in my life by being able to get an amazing education at Berkeley. I was a California State Scholar; also, my father passed away when I was in high school, so I got Social Security benefits and veterans’ benefits based on his service in World War II.  Having that experience has made me feel like I owe something back- because life gave me something amazing. And the further I went in education made me think how astonishing it was, what I was given. I always feel like I need to give back and do so willingly.

I was lucky enough, privileged enough to be able to spend summers in Butte County when I was young.  My family owned property within the Plumas National Forest and built a one room cabin five miles from the nearest neighbor, a little house in the forest. I learned a lot of woodcraft from my dad, who was a hunter and fisherman. He grew up in the South and so he was used to living in a very rustic situation. My poor mother, who was raised in San Francisco, was not used to that, but she ably rose to the occasion. And so, it was really an interesting childhood growing up there until I was about 14. I loved being outdoors.

It’s funny.  My mom would not let us play in the street when we were in our home in the Bay Area. She was always afraid of us getting hit by a car or something. But she’d turn us outside the cabin door in the summers and say, “Go occupy yourself all day, kids.” There were bears, mountain lions, rattlesnakes, poison oak, all kinds of ticks, all kinds of things out there, but she wasn’t really aware of those dangers. Having that freedom all in the summertime to just dream and read under a tree and just watch nature is deep inside of me and I want to share that. Maybe it was that delightful experience that has drawn me to these projects.

We can close with this story as an example of the power of the WES experience. When my daughter went to WES, we had a cabin group. There were two little boys from her school who stayed in the back of the hiking pack; they stuck next to me like two little velcroed packages because they were scared. Their parents had not taken them to parks and being out in the woods was a completely freaky experience. They were worried about bears and tigers- the movie Jungle Book had just come out and they were worried about forest animals. That was Monday. By Wednesday, they were in the middle of the pack and by Thursday afternoon, they were in the front. They had gone through the night hike as well as some other experiences, and they didn’t die. They loved it. They were so joyful in their experiences. You could see it in their faces and hear it in their laughter. They had totally changed their thinking about what the outdoors was like.

I have heard so often from people who say that WES was a life changing experience for them. They share that they went into a certain career because of what the park rangers were doing or because they liked their teachers or the naturalists and thought, “I can do that, too!”

Experiences like WES can really turn a life around. Young people can acquire a sense of peace and learn how to be in relationship with nature, even if they’re living in San Francisco and spend time in a city park. They can go to a green space, sit down under a tree, look at clouds or people watch, eat their lunch, listen to birds, and have that sense the rest of their lives that there’s something they can do to help themselves feel better.

That motivates me- to see that transformation, and to have the realization that you can make a difference in someone’s life, even if it’s just one life.

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